Edinburgh Trip: Hostel 1, Hendersons 0

As most of you know, we went to Edinburgh last weekend. We planned a nice relaxing weekend seeing the sights. We boarded the train from Glasgow for the 54 minute trip after getting through the confusion of never having ridden a train before. The boys loved getting to go on the train!

We arrived in Edinburgh, dropped off our luggage and headed off to Edinburgh Castle. Walking towards the Castle we ran into Mercat Cross and St. Giles Cathedral. Mercat Cross is where Bonnie Prince Charlie was proclaimed King of Scotland. The earliest part of St. Giles was built in 1320. John Knox was pastor/member there during the Scottish Reformation in the mid-1500s. It's absolutely gorgeous inside! The stained glass and the architecture are amazing!

Along the way we hit a few tourist shops and ate lunch. The Edinburgh Castle is built on a hill where there is evidence of people living since 600BC. The oldest part (still standing) of the Castle was built in the 1100s and is the St. Margaret Chapel. The Great Hall was full of old weapons on every part of every wall. The kinds of weapons you see in the movies are real, and are somewhere on the wall. The Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny are located there, but no pictures are allowed. They're really impressive.

The boys enjoyed getting to run around and see the canons around every turn.

On our way out, we hit Camera Obscura, which has a lot of magic and optical illusions. They also have a 150 year old camera on the roof that focuses images on a table in the building (only real nerds can appreciate that). We did see John Knox's house, which is also the oldest standing house in Edinburgh built in 1450s. It's now the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Finally we hit the Italian buffet and headed to the hostel.

We booked a hostel that has "family rooms" because it was cheap and in a great location right on the Royal Mile. Turns out, they forgot to mention that they were having late night karaoke right under our window. While I was at the front desk complaining, the fog machine from the karaoke set off the fire alarm in the entire building! Since it was about 9pm, we decided to catch the late night train home. Thus the title: Hostel 1, Hendersons 0. Overall, it was a good trip until bedtime. We'll definitely take whoever comes to Edinburgh for some great sights!