Edinburgh

I was in Edinburgh for the weekend which was rather nice. As I went there for uni, I still have quite a few friends there (and some of those friends are almost like family which is lovely). It was quite a busy weekend. It started off on Thursday. I flew to Edinburgh, met my friends and we went for dinner at Luca's in Morningside which was very nice. The ice cream is amazing there and as always it was really hard to decide what to have for dessert (I went for Fudge Mallow Sundae which was very tasty).

On Friday the weather was gorgeous so we went to Peebles and Galashiels (in the Scottish Borders). They have amazing charity shops. It was really warm and the drive down along the River Tweed was beautiful. In the evening we went for a few drinks. On the way into town I saw a few buses with pictures of Mary Queen of Scots on them and thought 'Ooh, I'd like to go to Holyrood Palace tomorrow' which I did. I had only been once before and remembered it differently for some reason - I think at the time I went I had a bit of a dislike of spiral staircases so didn't go up to the Queen's apartments so had just seen the other rooms then. I've got over my dislike so this time I went up. There was quite a low ceiling at one point on the staircase and there were signs warning people of this and I couldn't help thinking that it wasn't really built for someone as tall as Mary! When I got up to the apartments it almost felt like time had stopped (in a good way), I have read so much about Mary Queen of Scots over the past wee while and really admire her and just to be standing in her apartments was very cool. I loved the relics and I also really liked the painting of her as Catholic icon, with a crucifix in her hand and with the beheading scene on the left side of the painting. I find it really beautiful but disturbing at the same time. Before I left the palace I went to the Abbey ruins and for a walk around the gardens. It's so peaceful there, it's almost like you're not in the city at all. I really loved Holyrood and can't wait to go back next time I'm in Edinburgh.