Edinburgh

Andrew and I spent last weekend in Edinburgh.  A lovely city, Edinburgh is the only place Andrew and I will visit during our time in the UK where we had both been before.  It was fun to experience it together.

We enjoyed views of the Edinburgh Castle, but opted not to tour the castle this time.  We'd each done this tour previously and it was rather expensive.

We walked the Royal Mile and paused to admire St. Giles Cathedral:

The Royal Mile named because it is one mile from Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where the Queen stays when she comes to Scotland.  We walked the mile and toured Holyroodhouse:

We also visited the National Museum of Scotland, and when we were approaching the museum, we saw this lovely rainbow:

The National Museum's top floor is a terrace where you can see almost all of Edinburgh:

As lovely as Edinburgh was, it was made so much better by a few important people.  Johnnie MacLeod is my 3rd cousin.  He, along with his wife Rebecca and their daughter Ellie were our hosts for the weekend.  We had such a nice time getting to know them better and visiting them.  Johnnie also took us to visit Nanda, my late Grandfather MacLeod's cousin.  We really enjoyed our time with extended family.

It was especially important to me this weekend to be with family, as many other members of the MacLeod clan gathered in New York to witness and celebrate the new marriage of my cousin Kate to Manuel Valdivia.  As much as Andrew and I would have loved to join in the celebration in New York, we celebrated from Edinburgh and toasted the newlyweds from Greyfriars Bobby Pub, a MacLeod family favorite.