A Celtic Cross
Once we made it up the hill to Edinburgh Castle we were surprised to see members of the Royal Regiment of Scotland out in force. Although the Queen doesn't celebrate her birthday until June her actual birthday was today, April 21st. So there was a bit more activity than usual at the castle. She chooses to celebrate in June because the weather is usually so much nicer. This year, however, April 21st was a beautiful day.
You can hear the band playing in this video as they exit into the castle. If you are Mormon you may recognize the tune as "Praise to the Man" which was a melody based on "Scotland the Brave." I especially love the cymbal player's stripey fur he wears in front of his uniform.
This well actually was the cause of the Scott's defeat by English troops in 1573 when a piece of debris fell in the well and ruined the water supply.
Yes! I was looking forward to hearing bagpipes in Scotland.
Here is the 21 gun salute for the Queen's birthday.
Lilly was less than thrilled. She has never liked loud noises. She still gets nervous every Independence Day and today was no exception. But she plugged her ears and made it through the ordeal.
We spent a few hours strolling down the Royal Mile, seeing the sites and doing a little bit of shopping.
Here are the kilts we bought at one of the local shops. We wore them to church last Sunday.
Another bagpiper. This one was playing for spare change. We ended at Holyrood House. This has been the official residence of kings and queens in Scotland since the 15th century. Queen Elizabeth spends a week here every summer. Just to the left, towards the back is the remains of an old Abbey that was founded in 1128.
After this we rushed back to our hotel, grabbed our luggage and headed to the bus station. Rushing with luggage and children is never fun but we made to the bus station with at least a few minutes to spare. The bus ride was beautiful as we were driven from Edinburgh through Glasgow, and down the coast to the ferry in Stranraer.
Old ruins, small towns, and beautiful Scottish countryside.The route along the coast was especially beautiful. I also found it interesting that on one side of the road the farmers had sheep grazing and on the coast side they had cows grazing, right next to the water.
We caught the ferry in Stranraer that would take us across the Irish Sea to Belfast in 2 1/2 hours. Everyone in our group was amazed at how nice this ferry was. I've been on ferries before, none of them looked anything like this. This one had an observation deck, a quiet lounge, a teen room with video games, a kids room with computer games and Tom and Jerry cartoons, a movie area showing Megamind, tables and chairs for eating, comfy chairs for relaxing, and a couple of places to get some food.
Lilly running by one of three movie viewing areas.
The kids room.
More places to relax.
We had brought our dinner so after a nice relaxing dinner the kids went off to play and the grownups watched the sun go down over the Irish Sea.
