England-Scotland Day 4 (Part 2) – Walking down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh

6 April 2010

After visiting the Edinburgh Castle in the morning and taken our lunch near Castlehill, it was time to walk down the stretch of cobbled street leading from Edinburgh Castle to the Holyrood Palace. This road is called the Royal Mile and is the heart of Scotland's historic capital. Holyrood Palace is the Queen's official residence in Scotland. Despite being crammed with tourists, this is one of Europe's best sightseeing walks.

We even get to see an invisible man.

Striking red door of the St. Columba's Free Church.

St Giles Cathedral with the steeple that looks like a king’s crown.

St. Giles' serves as a kind of Scottish Westminster Abbey.

Decorative figure of a stag surrounding the statue of the Duke of Buccleuch, outside St Giles Cathedral.

View of Scott Monument through n alleyway along Royal Mile.

Statue of Alexander the Great taming his horse Bucephalus, outside the City Chambers.

Unicorn at the top of the Mercat Cross. "Mercat” is a Scottish pronunciation of “Market”. A central meeting place where Royal proclamations and other official announcements were read.

Along the way, we made a detour to look for the statue of a dog called the Greyfriars Bobby and also made a short visit to the nearby National Museum of Scotland before it closed for the day. Dinner was at an Indian restaurant along the Royal Mile.  It was good to have Asian food again.

Then it was back to the apartment to watch Lionel Messi do his magic against Arsenal in the Champions League game.