Royal Day Out 2: Edinburgh and St. Andrews

Arthur's seat at 59

On Sunday my mom and I took a really early flight to Edinburgh. It was a quick flight and when we arrived we grabbed our bags and went to our rental car. For some reason we were given a mercedes, that my mom hated, but nonetheless it was a fancy car.

Holyrood

Our first stop was Holyrood. Holyrood is the official residence of the Queen in Scotland. We saw the garden and her state apartments. The castle was magnificent. Fun Fact: Zara Phillips, one of the Queens many grand children, held her wedding reception in the courtyard of Holyrood. They also had a really informative exhibit on Mary Queen of Scots. Her story is very tragic.

Arthur's Seat

Next we went to Arthur's seat. How did I even hear about Arthur's seat you ask? The novel One Day, by David Nicholls, begins and ends at Arthur's seat. It is one of my favorite books and it was made into a decent movie with Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway. Arthur's Seat is right behind Holyrood. It is straight walk up a hill but it is worth it because you get a beautiful view of the whole city of Edinburgh. We met another mother and daughter who told us all the things we had to do on our visit to Edinburgh. One of which was to go to the Britania. We didn't schedule to go there but we couldn't pass up the chance.

Driving the Britannia

My attempt at Princess Diana's famous Britannia Pose

So, we ended up touring the Royal Yacht Britannia. This was the Royal family's yacht from the early 1950's until 1997. We saw the Queen's bedroom and study, Prince Phillips bedroom and study, Prince Charles' bedroom, the dining room, and the living room. We also saw the help's quarters such as the captains bedroom, the shipmate's room and hang out, and the kitchen. It was so cool to walk were the royal family had been. Fun fact 2: Zara Phillips had her pre-wedding reception aboard the Britannia.

Lastly, we travelled to St. Andrews, where William and Kate met. On the way there, my mom managed to do the unthinkable and got a flat tire. The way she explained it to Hertz was : "I guess I hit the curb...But I don't like this car anyway!" We got it fixed in about thirty minutes though.

Our fixed flat tire

When we got to St. Andrews it was already dark but we were able to see the big golf course and the college. We were told that the college is spread throughout the city. We went to the University building and got to see and hear the fresher's party. Then we ate dinner in the city centre.

Hogwarts or St. Andrews?

I was pretty disappointed by the amount of Americans there. I swear, every other person was American! The students were also pretty unruly and didn't seem to appreciate the wonderful place they were studying in. I hope to believe that William and Catherine were more dignified than how they were acting but sadly, you can't believe everything you read.