Last Night in Edinburgh

 Back to the City

On the bus tour up the Royal Mile, the local guide was kind enough to point out some of the prominent locations featured in one of my favorite books, Outlander. I had never, at all, intended to be any kind of "fan girl" of the book or show while we were here...but when I realized how close we were, and my wonderful husband asked if I wanted to go see the filming locations of the show, and my lovely children agreed to take the walk...well, I jumped at the chance!

And yes, we found The World's End, and the famous "print shop" scene location. #IfYouKnowYouKnow

We spent the reminder of our free time wandering slowly back up the incredibly steep hills to our hotel. 

First ever public clock - on our way to The World's End

We were all starving, and trying to find food near the hotel. I made a reservation online at one restaurant but when we arrived, we were told the kitchen was closed. The manager walked us over to their "sister" restaurant - the lovely "rapunzel" looking place - and got us a table there, instead. 

Remember this place? We call it "the Rapunzel restaurant".

We enjoyed some burgers, fries and beer, to tide us over until our later "dinner and show" that night. After dinner, we noticed writing on the ground that said this was a perfect place for a selfie. We ARE those tourists!

The Spirit of Scotland Show

To round out this amazing day, we joined our tour group for dinner and a Scottish show, yet another Optional Activity.  We were all excited to try our first haggis! Well, all except N, who absolutely refused to even consider it. 🤣 We actually had deep-fried Haggis, and it was quite delicious!

There was music and singing and highland dancing. We heard fiddle, bagpipe, and - the one instrument I'd never consider "Scottish" - an accordion. They told stories, and jokes, and generally entertained for an hour or so. Of all 3 shows we saw, our family enjoyed this one the least, but it still had its bright moments! 

Weird glow-in-the-dark trim effect

Here are some short samples of the dancing and music:

Even writing this now, I am sad that I had to leave this beautiful city. I cannot wait to go back someday. This was the one place I felt so connected to that I had to buy a souvenir I would see and use a lot.