Friday June 9th we took two local trains to get to King's Cross Station, then we hopped on the London Northeastern Railway to get up to Edinburgh. Parts of the train trip were very pretty, at one point coming close enough to the water to see the cliffs crashing into the North Sea. Our train was crowded and the Wifi was not fabulous, but they served beer and gin and tonic, so all was good! We had a good mile to walk to our Airbnb once departing the train, it wasn't the easiest dragging our luggage through the crowded streets over uneven sidewalks, but we made it. Our Airbnb is located in a not so pretty street with office buildings surrounding us, but it is central to everything. Inside has been totally renovated and is quite modern, containing two bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms (woo hoo!), good size living room, and small functional kitchen, this time with a dishwasher. There are a few oddities here, one the bedrooms seem to be underground and the windows look out to what appears to be drains from a street above. Sounds worse than it is. The other thing is in the kitchen there are two sink, but one of them is very shallow-what's its purpose? We are assuming a drying rack, but if anyone knows for sure, please let us know.

Saturday June 10th we took a train towards Glasgow to see some local Highland Games at the West of Scotland Football Club. It was a fun and warm day out. We saw Haggis Hurling, including the world champion, kids wrestling matches, ongoing football games, and some really big Scottish men participating in the hammer throw. The hammer is a metal ball weighing 22 lbs attached to a long wooden pole. They dig their feet into the ground with spikes and then swing this hammer around and let loose seeing who can throw it the farthest. These guys had some big shoulders! We also listened to a Scottish Pipe Band play, which was nice. All in all it was a nice day out and away from the city. Paul and I went out to a very old pub that evening back in Edinburgh, dating back to the 1300's, whilst the boys decided to go get Chinese take away and relax at the flat.

Sunday June 11th we took a hike up an old volcano in the middle of Edinburgh. Arthur's Seat is the highest peak at 251m above sea level in a collection of hills in Holyrood Park next to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. It was a beautiful hike up the hills with many paths diverging in different directions. Kyle's favorite part was the bouldering that was needed and giving his mother a few minor heart attacks by getting too close to some cliffs. We all thoroughly enjoyed the hike even if I was huffing and puffing up the hill, apparently yoga didn't prepare me for steep hiking! But the views were spectacular from the top so it was totally worth it! It's amazing this area is located in the middle of such a busy city. We walked down the hills, stopped by the ruins of an old chapel, walked around a loch (or as we American's would call it, a pond) with ducks and swans swimming in it. Made our way all the way up the Royal Mile to the Edinburgh Castle. Stopping off in a few tartan and wool shops and whiskey shops, and grabbing some curry fries to eat while watching a street performer. At the castle the boys decided to forge their way back to the condo, as Paul and I enjoyed a Gin & Tonic at an outdoor pub people watching and soaking up the sunshine. Edinburgh has a lot of history and the buildings are beautiful and ornate.One of the difficult but also rewarding things about traveling is figuring out the local public transportation. Since we knew we were taking this hike, we decided to take a bus as close to the beginning of the hike as possible. It's always a bit tricky to figure out which bus stop you should be at and what side of the street, then how much is a ticket, how do you pay for it and how do you know which stop is the one you want. Luckily Google Maps has made all of this way easier these days, but it's still a bit challenging. The feeling you get after you accomplish it is great though: phew I just saved myself a lot of walking! I recommend trying public transportation in every city, instead of just hailing a taxi.

Monday June 12th we had a Harry Potter walking tour scheduled for noon, but I still wanted to get in a tour of Mary King's Close, as Monday morning seemed to be the only time that we could do this tour with Paul, I thought we should do a back to back tour, the boys disagreed. They did not want to do two tours back to back, so Paul and I went on our own. This is what we saw and learned on our tour. "Closes" here are basically alleyways, really close to the buildings on either side. Edinburgh has built upwards, so what seems to be underground (like our Airbnb) is really ground level with things built upon it. Mary King's Close was named after a prominent business owner on that street, which rarely was a woman. There were 17 story high buildings on either side of this close, so needless to say it was hard to see the light of day. People would empty their toilet buckets out onto the close between 10 PM and 5AM each night, all that waste ran down the street into a man-made lake, aptly named, Black Lake. They had these narrow spiral staircases without railings that people had to use to get to the higher up residences. After a few drinks, because the Scots like their drink, many people would fall of these staircases, so the close could be quite a dangerous place. Many years ago, 4 of these prominent closes were closed up and built over to make room for a better trading place. Mary King's Close you can still access, but obviously is not in use other than a museum.Afterward Paul and I made our way to the meeting point for the Harry Potter tour where the boys were supposed to meet us. Unfortunately the boys got lost and struggled with Google Maps trying to find the right location, it took them about 35 minutes instead of 20 to get there. Luckily they made it on time and safely-although Braydon was quite grumpy by that point and didn't really get much out of our tour. Oh well, Paul, Kyle and I enjoyed learning about J.K. Rowling's inspiration and life in Edinburgh! She took many ideas from the buildings, names in the cemetery and etc. from what she saw on her daily walks pushing her baby through the streets, parks, and cemetery.Monday was busy, after the tour, Paul went to work and the boys and I had lunch out then explored Camera Obscura, which is a museum of illusions. The whole museum was really cool and fun, plus they had a huge camera on their roof spying on all of Edinburgh, we had a live tour on the rooftop observatory. Tuesday June 13th we had tickets for a self guided tour of Edinburgh castle, we opted for the additional audio guide which was well worth it. They did a great job making the audio tour enjoyable. They do a 1:00 gun salute everyday except Sundays and holidays. This originated from boats coming into the harbour and not knowing the time, so they could rely on the 1:00 gun salute every day to base their day around. The tradition stuck. Paul went back to work after our castle tour and the boys and I went shopping. Braydon bought another hat-surprise surprise! This time he bought a navy blue Stetson. Kyle bought a lambswool scarf. I really wanted a scarf with a highland cow on it, but couldn't rationalize the suitcase space! Maybe tomorrow I'll buy something with this adorable cow on it! The Internet is not working well here in Edinburgh for Paul to work properly, so he is checking into the Sheraton once again. If you remember, he did this in Nuremberg last year too. ;) That afternoon I went out walking and discovered a river path called Water on Leith Walkway. It was a very pretty little village and this walkway went for many miles, I even found a waterfall. Wednesday June 14th I took everyone back to the lovely river walkway I found and we walked all the way to the Royal Botanical Gardens. A wonderful display of flowers, plants, trees and good nature. All for free. Braydon really wanted to find a local geocache, so we went searching for it, as Paul took the quicker route back, so he could gather his stuff and get over to the Sheraton to work. Meanwhile Braydon picked up some stinging nettles all over his knee when searching for the geocache. This ended our quest pretty quickly with him in a lot of pain. Luckily an older lady was out walking her dog and heard Braydon's woes and found a certain leaf that when smooshed and the oils rubbed on the stinging nettles helps with the pain. It helped, but he was still very anxious to get back and shower. That afternoon as Paul worked, Braydon and I took advantage of the Sheraton's pool, while Kyle used the fitness center. Then we all enjoyed some free food and drink at the concierge lounge-it pays to have status! Luckily we were able to use these amenities and the better wifi, since we paid for the room and no one slept in it!Over the week there we all really fell in love with Edinburgh, the old buildings, the history, the charm, the fun atmosphere, the modern amenities, the nature so close by, and the excellent public transportation all make Edinburgh a wonderful city. That ends our time in Edinburgh, because on Thursday we woke up very early to fly to Bergen Norway.