It must be time to go home, because I hardly took any pictures today. We went to Holyroodhouse Palace this morning. It was kind of fun going back and seeing what has changed. They have recorded sections of the audio guide to talk about King Charles, absolutely no mention of Prince Harry or Prince Andrew, and the best part of the abbey ruins was shrouded in scaffolding for conservation.
Holyroodhouse Palace is a working residence of the royal family, but it also has preserved the rooms of Mary Queen of Scots and describes how her husband, Lord Darnley, formed and carried out a plan to kill her friend and secretary in Mary’s chambers. There are also examples of her embroidery on display. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos inside.
I’m sad that we didn’t get to walk up Arthur’s Seat, but between Irving’s knee and my ankle, it didn’t seem wise.
In the afternoon, we took a bus to Leith. We thought we might get a glimpse of the Royal Yacht Britannia, but it was hidden behind buildings with no public access. We wandered around instead, found a nice gin distillery, and walked along part of the Leith waterway.
We are now packed up and ready to go. We just learned that our flight is already delayed by 90 minutes, so we’ll see what it looks like in the morning.
It has been a great trip. The hike was a good experience and we’ve done quite a bit of exploring since. After 12 different beds in 16 days, I’m ready to stay put for a while.
The Reid family 