Northumberland - Day 3

An Edinburgh Adventure beckons

Since we planned to visit my Boyfriend's parents, we knew we'd take advantage of the close proximity of Scotland and go up to Edinburgh for a day. I had booked a 1:30pm 'City of the dead' underground ghost walk so we planned the day around that, deciding to get up early and head up to Edinburgh for 10:00am so we could visit Holyrood House.

Thankfully there was minimal traffic between 8:30am and 10:00am on the A1 and the parking wasn't too bad either, therefore we were able to park right next to the Palace and head straight in. The wind was bitter and incredibly strong, so we were grateful to be inside the palace, looking around all the beautiful rooms and listening to the free audio guide we were given. Unlike Kensington Palace in London, there were numerous antiques and display cabinets full of beautiful curiosities and we spent a good hour walking around, before happening upon a ruined abbey.

Now I've never, ever been particularly bothered about marriage - relationships, yes, fine, but marriage? Not really fussed as I've always been financially independent and even if I had children, I wouldn't want that to stop. Saying that, if I ever was to get married, I've always said it would be a ruined abbey, or somewhere that's very Gothic, at about 7pm on a Summers evening - Oh, and I'd wear a black wedding dress and have blood red roses and white lilies in my bouquet :-) The ruined abbey at Holyrood house was beautiful and exactly what I'd want. Sadly my Boyfriend said he doubted we'd be able to get married there, so it remains a pipe dream!

After walking around the gold exhibit in the building opposite the House, we got back in the car and parked it in central Edinburgh, much closer to the Cathedral, where we were meeting our guide at 1:30pm. It was already midday and my stomach was rumbling like crazy and had started to hurt a little bit as I'd only had my obligatory porridge and blueberries for breakfast and as we got up rather early, that was devoured at 7:30, so a few hours previous...

Finding healthy food in a City you're unfamiliar with can be rather hard and after looking at the food court and only seeing 'Spud U like' as the option (the rest being pizza, KFC, Chinese food) we decided to Google 'Sushi in Edinburgh' and found a restaurant 10 minutes walk away called 'Tangs'. This was great, except it was up a steep hill, followed by over 100 steep steps, so by the time we had reached the top, and indeed, the restaurant, I was rather out of breath and ravenous - It certainly hammered home the point that I was not as fit as I have been in the past and should keep up my promise to exercise at least once a week in the gym.

Despite being really hungry, I think I ordered quite sensibly, opting for a couple of portions of nigiri and some salmon skin maki (my boyfriend had half of these) and I opted for chicken teriyaki with rice for my main dish. 

It tasted absolutely lovely, however I was mindful of the fact that the chicken had arrived with skin on it - Whilst it was really flavoursome, I made the decision to take it off, and give it to my Boyfriend who was only too happy to help :-) I didn't need the skin and it's the most fatty part of the chicken. After eating half of the sushi and the chicken teriakyi, I felt a lot less hungry, but still felt I could eat more, which is perfect, right? 

After a lovely lunch, we headed to the Cathedral to meet our guide, only for me to check my phone and realise that I'd booked the tour for Friday and today was Saturday! Whoops.... Thankfully the tour guide didn't mind at all and we were able to join in and get spooked. After a brief introduction as to why the Scottish wear tartan, we headed to the underground city and learnt about the poor people who had to live in incredibly squalid conditions if they couldn't afford any other lodging and about the ghosts of the people who have died down there. 

I can't say I saw anything supernatural, however the guide certainly made it entertaining and managed to scare a few of our group during her talk :-) 

Back out in the fresh air, we headed back to the car, past the beautiful cathedral, trying to avoid the rain and the wind (and failing miserably). We're now back in Northumberland, recovering from the wind and the copious amounts of walking we did today - over 10,000 steps, get in! Once we've had a nice cup of tea, we're off out for dinner and I hope I'll be able to continue my healthy eating for our last night in Northumberland.