Wednesday: A Royal Excursion to Edinburgh

Greetings, lovelies!

Here we are... another full day of fun filled excitement and adventure to report! We started off with our morning coffee trip to Smile! Cafe... our new favorite local hangout.

:: Luna's Italian Style Hot Chocolate ::

Auntie Cindy said she is renaming this "A little cup of heaven." We've never had anything like it - (we all basically pushed the kid out of the way to get a taste.) It is like a cup of the best hot pudding you've ever had. Strange and fabulous at the same time. A true delicacy! 

:: Ready... set... GO! ::

:: Nutella Cornetti (Croissant) - Yes, please! ::

:: Said Cornetti ::

 :: No morning is complete without a cup 'o' Cindy! ::

:: Good to the last drop! ::

We adore this place! Our new friend Santino is one of the owners and he is beyond adorable. We enjoyed talking with him for a good hour this morning. He is in love with NYC and very excited that Jenna & Diana are from NJ (originally.) He loves when Jenna says "water." It's so funny encountering "reverse" accents... we have the accents here! He and his friends try to say "water" the way we do (with more of the NJ/NY dialect) and they just laugh and cannot pronounce it. LOVE!

Here are most of us with Santino:

:: Our new friend, Santino with MommaRam, Luna & Cindy ::

Back to the flat to prep for the day. Luna wanted to explore the back area of the flat. What a great idea! It's amazing how many sweet little places can be found around every corner.

:: Secret garden, perhaps? ::

:: Diana & the Door! ::

We the prepared for departure. On today's menu: a train ride to Edinburgh. It's about an hour's ride. 

:: Luna gazing at the countryside ::

We arrived in Edinburgh and were overwhelmed by the sights to be seen. It is a very different city than Glasgow. It has an energy to it that is almost palpable. It has a very dark energy to it. It isn't "bad," per se, but reflects its dark history. Jenna took a lot of black and white photos to capture the old & melancholy feel of the place.

:: Arrival - Edinburgh Waverly Station ::

:: Every building has a mysterious old charm to it ::

:: Old castle? Negative. Just a freaking Radisson. ::

:: Just a few blocks and we're here... ::

:: The Ancient Royal Mile ::

:: MommaRam & Luna and creepy open mouth dude ::

 :: Public School in Edinburgh ::

We will most likely be heading back to Edinburgh again when the rest of our party arrives. We decided to do the lower half of the mile today - so we really did more of a "Royal Half Mile." We headed to Holyrood Palace, which is an active palace today that the Queen stays in when visiting Scotland. Part of the palace is devoted to historical preservation, and that is the part we were able to visit today. It was breathtaking.

:: The Palace of Holyroodhouse ::

 :: Entryway Fountain ::

:: Entryway ::

:: Hello... anyone home? ::

:: The Forecourt ::

And... scene. That is where we end our photos. Thanks for joining us! Seriously... no cameras are allowed inside the palace. (Freaking stupid palace rules, what the hell?!) But never fear, we're brilliant and purchased post cards and then photographed the postcards for you, which actually are more professional than anything we could do so everyone wins!

:: This is the King's bed chamber - oh my! ::

They have these handy little "tour guide" phone like devices that you hold to your ear and the pretty voice tells you about the rooms you are in. No joke - we're a couple of rooms away from the King's Bed Chamber and the voice tells us to pay attention to how each room leading up to the bedroom gets more and more extravagant, leading to the "CLIMAX" of the King's Bedroom. Ha ha ha... she said climax. Cindy and Jenna were like giddy little school girls and jokes were rampant. We're still laughing. (After all the buildup... somehow it "fell short" of our expectations...") Tee hee..

 :: Much more exciting - Mary Queen of Scot's bedroom ::

Standing in the room that Mary Queen of Scots once slept in is an experience beyond words. Rich with history, soaking in every little detail... we were dazzled.

:: Cool but Creepy - Mary's Ante Chamber ::

In 1566, Mary's secretary, Davide Rizzio was dragged from Mary's supper room in her apartments (you can see this through her bedroom photo in the second picture above to the left of her bed) through her bedroom chamber and into this room that is pictured above, and was brutally stabbed 56 times to death. It is said that Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, was violently jealous of Rizzio's influence over Mary and conspired to have Davide extinguished. 

Here's a photo of Mary in case you're curious:

:: It's Mary! ::

We all highly recommend a visit to Holyrood Palace. The payload, if you will, is NOT found in the King's Chamber. The real highlight of this trip is what is found outside. The Abbey.

:: Handy information plaque ::

What can we say... we could have spent the whole day here... sitting and soaking it all in. Best experienced in solitude, we think. We spent as much time as we could taking pictures, walking around and just... feeling it. 

:: Abbey Window ::

Jenna had a photography field day...

:: Light and dark... ::

:: Ancient Secrets ::

:: No words... ::

:: Skulls abound ::

:: Just Imagine ::

:: Cindy & Jenna ::

:: Lovely Luna ::

It was, to say the least, an extraordinary experience. We were pleasantly tired and ready for some fine food!

 :: Tolbooth Tavern, Est. 1820 ::

:: Little Miss + Mac 'n' Cheese, Scottish Style ::

:: Luna took this one of her momma! ::

:: Diana's Beer 'o' the Day - Edinburgh! ::

We had a delightful dinner and then headed back down to catch a taxi. On the way, Jenna spied some sweet tartan tights that she just had to have! Hilarious story - we went into this shop to pick up the tights and the bloke working the store was super entranced by Jenna's "American Accent" and pretty much just openly hit on her and gave her a free key chain for being a "Sexy American." Super. So that was pretty sweet, and then Jenna annoyed everyone by singing, "I'm... too sexy for my tights... too sexy for my tights..." and all sorts of different versions for the rest of the journey home. 

:: Said Sexy Tights ::

Now we're all too sexy for this blog. We're so tired. You have no idea. Cindy and Jenna have been sitting in front of the computer, (which is possessed, Jenna is convinced!) for the past 2 and a half hours writing tonight's entry for you all. We sincerely hope you realize how much we love you all! Slave to the blog, indeed!

Tired (and sexy!) kisses to you all... well, not too sexy.

Jenna & Cindy (and Diana & Luna)