We are in Scotland. Home of the cutest accent ever.

We landed yesterday early evening and had a very scenic drive from the airport to the hotel. It is so beautiful here and the buildings are gorgeous. You can quickly see how much history there is. The hotel is in a great location, located in New Town (which is as old as 250 years), a ten minute walk from Princes Street (one of the main streets here).

Our very pleasant and informative cab driver pointed out a favorite pub of his, just a block down from the hotel, so that is where we decided to go for dinner.

Admittedly, ordering was kind of a struggle for me. If you think I'm picky in America, watch me when venison is a main item on the menu. After ordering our dinner, our waitress asked if we wanted to share an appetizer. When Justin asked what "Haggis Fritters" were, she got a look on her face as though she was going to deliver bad news. She pointed to her stomach area and said, with a kind-of frown that "it's the gross part of a lamb, like from 'this' area, and it's mixed with other bits. But you can't really tell what it is and it's really good".

Sold!

Justin was anyway. She brought it with two forks (no need), and Justin loved it.

After dinner we walked up to Princes Street. Gorgeous. We could see some cathedrals and government buildings off in the distance. It was pretty dark, so the pics are a little blurry, but still cool.  And let's just take a minute to acknowledge that in the photo above I look like Sue Heck from "The Middle".

Here are some of the night-time pics.







Today was our first full day here, and we were anxious to take photos in the daytime. We ate at a small cafe nearby, really good, and then walked up to Princes Street. I say "up" because it seems like a very steep hill.

It is so gorgeous here. I feel like I'm repeating myself in saying that, but it is! I've never seen anything like it. It's cool because it's a busy town, but there's a calmness about it. In London, and in L.A., while they're really great cities, there's this sort of "get out of my way, I'm busy!" sort of vibe, but not here.

There's also a large amount of open land, trees, grass, beautiful.

The first thing we took pics of was the Castle of Edinburgh. It's a stunning view. It's just like in any Scottish movie I've ever seen. Which by the way I am definitely re-watching "Braveheart" when I get back home.

Some version of the castle has been there since like the 1000's. The version that is there now has been there since around the 1500's, I think (I sort of had a super-fast-crash-course in the castle's history so I could be off by a few years/decades/centuries). Here are a few shots of the castle and surrounding area.









Next we walked up to the castle. It's open to the public, so there were a lot of people there. We did an audio tour, learning a lot about the castle. It was kind of emotionally overwhelming. You know, you go to this place that all of these intense and/or tragic historical events have happened like all the way back to 900 or more years ago, and then there you are, just standing there. Right where they were and where everything happened. And it boggles my mind, and some of it makes me kind of sad, all of the stories they tell you about the kings, queens and other people that lived there. I kind of wanted to cry at one point, but I felt it would be out of place while tourists with panda hats took pictures smiling in front of cannons, so I did not.

One story, referred to as the "Black Dinner", talked of how a ten-year-old king (James II) invited a sixteen-year-old rival Earl (of Douglas) and the Earl's fourteen-year-old brother to dinner at the castle, served what apparently is an omen of impending death (a black bull's head), and had then had them beheaded right outside.

Another story involved Margaret (very religious and later made a saint), who died of a "broken heart" in one of the castle's rooms upon learning that her great love had died in battle.  King David, her youngest son, built a small chapel in her honor close to where she died, and it is the oldest surviving part of the castle (built around 1100).

I also can't help but look out at the city-- it's an amazing view from the castle-- and wonder what all those people thought centuries ago when they were doing the same. And I also wonder, like with the bloodline and the royalty, did they think that the way they did things would last forever? Did they know there would be a souvenir shop in the maids chambers or a ticketing booth by where they used to bring in the artillery? Obviously not. It's just kind of odd (not in a bad way, just odd) when you see this great historic castle with these new, commercialized things. But, also extremely cool that we are able to see that stuff.

At one point I told Justin, with great enthusiasm, that Scotland was like a "time machine!", and then I realized how loud and excited I said it, and I told him I hoped no one heard becasue I probably sounded like a huge dork. "SCOTLAND IS A TIME MACHINE!!!"

Here are some pics we got at the castle.















After checking out the castle we walked further down "The Royal Mile". I'm thinking it's called that because one end leads up to the castle and the other end goes to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is one of Queen Elizabeth's vacation homes. We got some more pics of the scenery.