On Friday we decided to see the other castle, Holyrood Palace, along with a Leonardo daVinci exhibit that was on display there. We couldn't take pictures inside the palace, but I got plenty outside.

Adjoining the palace is the no-longer-intact Holyrood Abbey, which still has a lot of gorgeous stonework and fascinating gravestones.

We took the bus up to North Bridge to see the National Gallery next, wanting to see their small (but very impressive) collection of Impressionist works As we walked along the Princes Street gardens, we kept seeing (and hearing) seagulls everywhere.

The bronze relief map of the city was just neat.

Lunch at the Gallery: I had a hot buttery, which apparently is a pastry, with smoked salmon.

When we came out of the gallery, there was a little band playing, complete with piper. Really quite good.

We walked back down to North Bridge and hopped the bus to Grassmarket, which is a lovely little shopping area on the southern side of the castle.

And at last, we wound up at Greyfriars Bobby -- the statue, not the pub -- which is a tribute to a faithful dog that visited his master's grave for something like fourteen years after the man's death. Apparently there's some doubt about the truth of the story, but it's a sweet tale.

Dinner that night was at Angels with Bagpipes, and it was so good. On the walk back, it was raining, but we bundled up in our wool wraps and were completely fine. This shot is probably one of my favorites of the whole trip.