I’ve visited Edinburgh before with my pal Bert and really enjoyed it. My dad on the other hand, had come for the tattoo 40 years ago and insisted that it was an unfriendly shit hole, where the English weren’t welcome. So I was keen to share the great experience that I’d had there with him. We were invited to his cousin’s wedding celebration at Airth, near Stirling, so we decided to make a fun trip of it.
We flew from Bristol to Edinburgh Friday evening, with our flight being delayed over an hour because some asshole decided to kick off in Geneva. My Dad’s cousin Gareth and his wife Fiona picked us up from the airport and dropped us to our hotel 11pm. Saturday morning, we met for breakfast and took us to his house before dropping us to Stirling for the afternoon. We visited Stirling old jail and then it’s famous castle.
Saturday night, we headed to the wedding celebration, had a few drinks and met up with family. It was great to catch up and learn more about my grandads side of the family.
Sunday, we got a lift with Gareth’s friends to Edinburgh airport and kicked off our adventure with walk to the castle and down the Royal Mile. We had a stroll around, grabbed some food, and checked into our apartment. We got a few supplies in and booked our activities for the days ahead.
Monday morning, we took a stroll through the park and headed up to the castle to have a look inside. The day was clear, so the views of Edinburgh were amazing from all angles. Jim was excited to see the 1pm gun firing and we even witnessed a wealthy oriental wedding at the castle Chapel.
Edinburgh castle!
We grabbed a bite to eat before heading for our second excursion of the day, which was Mary Kings Close. We were recommended this by multiple people, and it took us on a tour of how life was in the houses under the royal mile. Our guide gave us a good picture of what life was like, with cramped dirty conditions and people launching buckets of shit out of their windows.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to chuck buckets of excrement around down there anymore or take any photos. But we did see an American bloke knock himself flat on a low doorway in one of the haunted rooms!
On the evening we met up with my dad’s friend from the prison for dinner and they had a few drinks. Was cool to hear alot of funny prison stories, some involving celebrity pedophiles!β¨οΈ
Tuesday morning, we headed down royal mile to dynamic earth. This was a science exhibition I was dying to visit! Unfortunately, it was the school holidays so was rammed full of screaming kids. But it was still a great experience! We swung past Holyrood Palace and also visited Mr Wood’s fossils where I bought a few more bits to add to the collection!
One thing we both loved about Scotland was the food. We got in as much of the local food as we could! My dad is now a massive advocate of haggis and I’ve promised him I will try to cook some Cullen Skink one weekend!
kyesadventure 