After church we took the bus back up to Prince's Street to head up to the Edinburgh castle. We got off a couple stops after what we were supposed too. We all fell asleep and didn't wake up until we were past the castle. Ha ha oops! We had to backtrack a couple of blocks. So much walking all the time. I guess it's all a part of the experience and you really do get to see a lot more when you walk. It's so tiring though. Anyway, we took our time walking up to the castle entrance. The entrance is huge! And so insane. It's the oldest portion of the entire castle. I'm not exactly sure how old it is though. We walked through the large entrance into the main square. The castle was not as big as I thought it would be. It looks HUGE on the outside, but the majority of the castle was made up of the center courtyard. My favorite part about the structure of the castle itself was that it looked as though it had been created right out of the rock. The castle seemed to just grow out of the ground. It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen. After walking around the courtyard for a little bit we went through the castle. There were the state rooms of Mary Queen of Scotts. This was really cool. Design side of it, they were not very well designed, but they were from midevil times... so I guess they were doing the best they could. We also got to see a huge war memorial that was dedicated to the Scottish army. Scotland spent many years fighting the English for independence. A lot of soldiers were killed. It was a beautiful memorial. My favorite part of the interiors of the castle was where the Scottish jewels were held. The coolest part was that they had the stone that the royalty kneels upon when they receive their coronation. This includes the English royalty. It was so cool to see.
The best part of the castle was the view! It was so beautiful. You could see all of Edinburgh from one spot. Below I have some of the pretty pictures.
After the castle Julia and I had to run, with our heavy backpacks, all the way to the train station because we weren't going to make the 6:00 train. We ended up making it and we were so relieved. The first few hours of the train ride we had a little heart to heart and told some stories. Ha ha it was so funny! After this we sketched for a couple of hours and these funny scottish boys tried to talk to us. Their accents were impossible to understand! We probably looked like such losers because we weren't able to understand half of their questions. It was super funny though.
This little weekend adventure to Scotland was one of the highlights of my entire trip. I loved every second of it. The land itself is beautiful and I just fell in love with the people. They have such a pride for their culture and their country, but not in a conceided way. They are really into family and preserving the name. I really liked that. Scotland will definitely be put on the to do list for when I return to Europe.