Day 3 of our Scotland Adventure!

Thursday: July 12, 2018

Today is our day to go exploring in Edinburgh, but first, we MUST stop at Doune Castle-the castle known as Castle Leoch in Outlander.  
Also used in the Monty Python Holy Grail movie, and Game of Thrones.

Doune Castle

This was an amazing castle.  They had an audio tour of the castle so you could explore it in your own leisure.  It included commentaries by the actor who plays Jamie in Outlander -Sam Heughan-as well as funny stories from Monty Python's Holy Grail.

We were able to walk through the entire castle, and envision what it was like.

 

         

Exploring the outside of the castle.

Cindy went to the gift shop and found a pair of coconut shells like the ones used in Monty Python's Holy Grail.  So we had to re-enact the scene where the knights were riding their invisible horses and they hit two coconut halves together to make the sound of horses galloping.  LOL --that was fun.

On the train to Edinburgh

After we left Doune Castle, we drove to the train station and took a train to Edinburgh.
       

Clarinda's Tea Room

We were pretty hungry by the time we got to Edinburgh, so we went directly to Clarinda's Tea Room for some hot tea, and scones. 

The food was amazing!  I fell in love with the Scottish clotted cream.  Yum!

Then we began exploring the city.  We went together first to Bakehouse Close where Jamie had his print shop in Outlander.  In the show it was Carfax Close....and there was where A. Malcolm's Print shop was. We had to go see it. 

Then we split up as a group because Jess and Rachel really wanted to see Edinburgh Castle, while Cindy wanted to see the places associated with J.K. Rowling who wrote the first Harry Potter novels in a coffee shop called the Elephant House. The rest of us just wanted to shop.  LOL

And look who we found!  Be still my beating heart....

   

Edinburgh Castle

It turned out to be a very long day!  My feet had blisters on them, and my legs hurt.  Edinburgh is a really hilly city.  We walked up and down The Royal Mile, shopped, saw some sights, then ate at an Indian Restaurant where the food was delicious.  

The purple sign at the top left is the sign for our restaurant, which was upstairs.

After dinner, we limped back to the train station and went back to Stirling.  Then we drove back to our B&B and I don't know about the other girls, but Jess and I hit the hay.  We were exhausted!  We tried to get onto the internet to post on our blog, but I could not get in at all.  Hence, we are writing this blog belatedly.  Sorry. 

But tomorrow is another day.....and we are heading out to Fort William in the morning to ride the famous Jacobite train,  fondly known as Hogwart's Express because it the the train you see going over the Glenfinnan viaduct  in the Harry Potter movies.  Tomorrow, we are Fort William bound, bright and early!