Sunday, October 2

After visiting the Falkirk Wheel we continued on to Edinburgh. The first thing we needed to do was to return our rental car to get the Enterprise Car Rental location at the city’s central train station. This meant driving the car right into the middle of the city. We chose this particular drop off point because it is only a few minutes’ walk from our hotel.

Thankfully the GPS got us there without much stress. I figured that we drove about 1,200 kilometres since we picked up the car in Liverpool 8 days earlier. Back home we would not think too much about driving that distance in only a day or two but it was quite a challenge to do this on the “wrong” side of the road, with the steering wheel on the “wrong” side of the car & on many roads that are much narrower than what we are used to. I really enjoyed most of the driving parts of our holiday & would not hesitate to do it again.

When we finally got to our hotel we were pleasantly surprised at the location & at the view from our room! I took the photo below from our hotel room window!

After we got settled in we went out to get something to eat & explore the neighbourhood. Our hotel is in the Grassmarket area in a part of the city often referred to as “Old Town”.

Edinburgh is a beautiful city. Every time we turned a corner there was another stunning view. I was taking so many photos that I drained two camera batteries.

We walked down the Royal Mile, the main street that starts at Edinburgh Castle & ends at Hollyrood Palace, the Queen’s residence when she is in the city.

At approximately 1/3 the distance down the Royal Mile is St. Gile’s Cathedral, the High Kirk of Edinburgh. For the Church of Scotland (i.e. the Presbyterian Church) this particular church is the equivalent to “Westminster Abbey”.

St. Gile’s was founded in the 12th century. The present church dates from the 14th century & was extensively renovated in the 19th century.

The church is beautiful inside & out. There are several massive stained glass windows & the ceilings are intricately decorated & painted.

As it turned out, our timing in visiting the church was great as there was an organ recital being given early that evening. It was really neat to hear the organ played to its full potential.

Catherine & I had an early dinner & returned to the church for a wonderful recital that lasted about an hour. Visiting St. Gile’s was very special to Catherine & me as we felt that Dad was there with us too.