Ballantrae Hotel Edinburgh

... hope that this will serve as a record of our travels and will also help to keep us in touch with friends and family.
I should be uploading photographs to accompany this but at this stage I am unwilling to share the shambles that we are surrounded by! Piles of clothes and shoes - many of which I know that I will have to discard!
Our plans are almost ...

... filling breakfast. We wanted to have a look at the 3D Loch Ness "Experience" attraction. Bit of a mistake cause it wasn't very good but still! Me and Mum (Chezza) decided to go inside Edinburgh Castle and Mark went and had a wander around the city and find another battery for Chezza's camera. They said it was pretty nice inside but not really that castley. well worth a look though.

In the afternoon Chezza decided again that she wanted to go shopping!! Boy was ...

... I doubt I'll get much more done tonight.

I have had to be beyond minimal with the packing - to the point of debating over whether I really do need a fifth vest top ( I don't) or two pairs of jeans (I do) . And as many of you know, my travelling shoe collection consists of flip flops, (fake) ugg boots and a pair of really ugly trainers.
But, thanks to Katy, I do have at least one high ...

Arrived Sth Queensferry Scotland around 630am under cloudy skys but still warm and comfortable we hired a car to drive us to the Falkirk Wheel, this is a marvel of engineering that rises about 35m above the level of the lower canal. This wheel is to replace traditional locks and transports boats to the upper canal in about five minutes which using traditional locks would take the best part of a ...

... but never again... They were disgusting! Next time I come back, I will go on the underground tours here, where you can visit the city under the city. A long time ago it was all covered up and the current Edinburgh was built on top of the old. Sounds like a crazy thing to see, but I have run out of time unfortunately. I'm off now; a shout out to Robbie for your trip and wedding in Thailand. Best wishes bud and I hope all goes exceptionally well! Miss you all!

We started the day off with a hot breakfast and then moved our bags to our new hostel. Jess and I started the day with a free walking tour of the city. We met the tour at Starbucks on the Royal Mile. It was a great tour, again it was a case of too much information for me to remember!

... The Military Tattoo and Fringe Festival were on which made for an amazing atmosphere! I so want to come back for the 'Fringe'!! Lots of buskers and cool shows to see! Wish we were here for longer! Went to a show and dinner tonight at 'The Taste of Scotland'. Great dinner and the show was fantastic!! Had the Scottish tenors perfom and lots of traditional dancing and singing. And I ate Haggis!!! Was actually very tasty!! Tasted a lot like mince....

... no avail. We decided to scale a hillside to see if we could see her and we saw inside the gates and saw the Queen!! (Side Note: We saw someone who could have been the Queen, but we were way up on the hillside and it was very hard to see, but we decided that we would go home telling people that we saw the Queen because it sounds way cooler than saying that we didn't.) I also tried to find ...

... I managed to cram in the states. The Verdict from there is that NY is cool and I could live there, LA would be given a miss and the best hostel so far was in the North Shore of Hawaii. Staying in a few other hostels made me realise actually how good we had it in Waikiki, so I have changed my view of the place. I guess as it was first I did't get to appreciate it as much, as I ...