Sorry but somehow my pics for Scotland got mixed up in their order. This pic is one of the Royal Mile. This road goes from the HollyRood Palace to the Edinburgh Castle. It was filled with shops all along the way. Mom did some shopping there. Me - true to form - sat and rested.
I took this pic because of the name - can you? Didn't you always wonder where on earth "The World's End" was? Well....rest easy now you know - it is in Edinburgh Scotland.
A narrow, narrow street.
Along the Royal Mile we stopped at a small police museum where we saw some of the costumes of the officers. And we were again amazed that the officers in Scotland do NOT carry guns - just these bobby sticks. Well...I have to say with one of our family members in the force I'm glad that our officers in Canada are permitted to carry guns. I think that it's pretty hard for a policeman to say (as he threatens with his bobby stick) "Mr. Criminal put your gun down or I'll hit you with my stick"
This pic depicts how you see the old with the reconstruction and preservation work going on. To preserve these heritage places takes so much work there are often scaffolding somewhere at all the tourist places.
This is Hollyrood Palace. Mom and I went in to look at the Palace. The neat part about this palace is that it is a working palace. The queen was actually coming there to do her work in a month or so after we had been there.
This is Edinburgh Castle showing the barracks and such for the soldiers. What I noticed and appreciated was all the stone and cobbled streets. That's why I took the pic.
Notice the varying patterns in the rock work.
This is the common room of the hostel. They had computers for the guests to use which allowed us to keep in touch with our children.
This is the kitchen
This is the eating relaxing area. So...all very nice. If there's anyone who ever wondered about hostelling - I really enjoyed it. You meet interesting people and it's great that you can cook your own meals etc.
On our last morning in Edinburgh we went to Hollyrood Park and climbed the hill a little ways. I really enjoyed being close to nature again - touch the grass and breath the air. 
Behind David is the top of the hill called Arthur's Seat. We would have loved to climb to the top but I know that I couldn't have made it up there.
On our way to Glasgow we stopped at Bothwell Castle. It is the largest 13th century castle in Scotland. We stopped and ate our lunch in the grassy area surrounding the castle. It was very peaceful.
This was an old castle and I really was impressed with the thought that many others throughout the centuries had walked the grounds and climbed the stairs of this castle before me. In my e-mail to my kids I mentioned my thoughts and how I laid down on the grass for a nap while Mom and David continued to explore the castle. And then Missie (my poet daughter) wrote this poem for me that so well reflects my visit to this castle. Thanks Missie.Hilltop Thoughts
She is as young as the first spring daisies
But bone weary and ancient as the hill she climbs
In this her not-home, the old country
She lies down in the flowing grass
Lets time flow over her
Thinks about the Celtic kings buried beneath her
Bone weary and ancient as the hills
Wonders if the air smelled like this to their nose
What they god-shapes they saw in the clouds
What dreams they dreamed when they laid down in the grass
Letting time pass over them
In one of the rooms of the castle were these huge boulders that were used in the catapult in military skirmishes in the area.
In Glasgow we went to a very good gallery. I really enjoyed it as the best gallery that we saw on our trip. I liked how they would post notes on the paintings and give pointers to what to look for. The whole gallery was geared to the average person and art - not the art connisseur. There were lots of hands on art displays also.
I thought that this modern art hanging art work was cool.
Our hostel in Glasgow was right along the river. The river was pretty.
While mom and I were walking along the banks of the river we came across a group of young teens just waiting to go to a concert. For some reason we started a conversation with them and they enjoyed listening to our Canadian accents. It was fun to talk to people right from Glasgow. What struck me as interesting was the fact that these teens were very proud to be Scottish and in a joking way couldn't understand why we had even gone down to England to holiday - they figured we should have just come up to Scotland.
We left Glasgow early early in the morning and caught a flight to Belfast.
