Edinburgh Castle

Today we visited Edinburgh Castle; I visited all the public areas I could find except two. We then ate dinner at the Elephant House Cafe, where J.K. Rowling started writing the Harry Potter series.

This is a view of the castle from the back room of the Cafe:

The two exceptions were the Lang Stairs, which would have done bad things to my vertigo, and the military prison section (which involved some slippery-looking rain-covered stone steps with no railing).

I'm not quite sure what to write about the Castle, because you can probably find higher quality photos on the 'net of any part of I might post. So here are proof-we-were-there photos of Margaret and me:

Also, the shortbread I had at the Castle tea room:

I had visited the Castle once before, on a conference trip back in 1994, but had forgotten most of it except the general shape and Mons Meg. There were bits I'm sure I never saw, such as the regimental museum of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, who have had a fascinating history, and a recreation of what part of the castle looked like when it was used to house prisoners of war. I don't remember an audio tour twenty-two years ago, so that might have been "new"; I really like going at my own pace, so being able to punch number into a device that would talk at me (and which could be paused or restarted) was a win.

Edit: here is Margaret's blog about the same day.