L Rizzy's Adventures: Scotland: L Rizzy's 10th Country- Edinburgh

After L Rizzy FINALLY slept like he normally sleeps (and thus so did his parents) we got up and crushed a gorgeous English breakfast. We packed and said our goodbyes to the lovely B&B and got on the road heading north. Thankfully with a full nights rest L Rizzy was in decent spirits throughout the 4 hour drive on the left side of the road. We crossed over the border from England into Scotland and I would be withholding the truth if I did not report that the scenery was strikingly more picturesque (sorry Englanders).

We made a beeline straight to our hotel in Edinburgh- the Best Western Plus in Bruntfield- so that we could start enjoying the day and stretching our legs. Unfortunately we found that the Best Western was not quite the four star lodgings advertised on the internet. Granted, we are traveling with an 17 month old kid who has an extremely loud voice and cry, but we are constantly put into the gutter room at the corner of each hotel. As such, our room was extremely hot without AC (which coincidentally we are used to), and also smelled of cat litter. No joke. What made matters worse was the toilet was less than high quality and L Mama had a hell of a time trying to figure out how to get it to flush. No joke. This is the second Best Western that has not been all we wanted it to be- the other being in Venice, Italy. Maybe we are just unluckily getting the Worst Westerns. Nevertheless, we set out to see what Edinburgh had to offer. We explored the park across the street including the Meadows (which actually used to be a lake before it was drained). We sampled some local beer and enjoyed the playground- especially the swings. L Mama was in her glory speaking to all the moms because, for once, she actually could. L Rizzy particularly enjoyed the bagpipe player and got out of the stroller to dance along with him- a video of this show is below. Once we had enough of the park time, we headed back to the hotel and had dinner in the restaurant in the hotel which was quite decent. We put L Rizzy down for sleep and settled into bed only to be awoken at 3am by our son who felt that it was time to play, and jump, and do row row row your boat... for 2 hours. Finally he went back to sleep and so did we.

In the morning we had a date with the Edinburgh Castle. We headed out on foot for the castle area as well as Royal Mile. We got passes for entrance into Edinburgh Castle (today), Stirling Castle (tomorrow), and Urquhart Castle (Wednesday). We had to walk down about 100 steps then up 150 steps to get to the castle but since L Rizzy sees steps as a personal challenge to his toughness he maintained a smile and cheery disposition. Once in the castle we enjoyed the views and tributes to the Guardian of Scotland: Sir William Wallace. We then left the castle and headed all the way down Royal Mile (Actually Royal more than a Mile). There were tons of shops and eateries to be seen. Once at the bottom of the mile we headed toward Holyrood Park. We really wanted to do an amazing hike up the hillside but our feet and dehydration made us think better of it. So instead we headed to the Royal College of Surgeons at the University of Edinburgh where there is a Surgeon's Museum. This museum was a nice gallop through the long history of surgical interventional. Fully exhausted we rolled back to the hotel getting amazing African wraps on the way. We enjoyed Edinburgh, but we all agreed that York was more impressive and family friendly.

Tomorrow we will climb back into the car and head to Falkirk battlefield, Bannockburn battlefield, Stirling bridge, Stirling Castle, and the coup de grace... The National Wallace Monument. Come L Rizzy, buddy, sleep well tonight. Daddy's got a big day tomorrow.