Edinburgh Take 2, Day 3 - Duddingston Loch, Arthur's Seat, and Porobello Beach

Our destination on day 3 was Duddingston Loch, "where you can spend hours in the winter hoping for a glimpse of a bittern or just take the kids to feed the ducks and swans" (RSPB).

We neglected bread and didn't stay for the bittern, but the scenery was nice.

On what a local signboard called "Hangman's Rock":

Duddingston Loch is at the base of Arthur's Seat, and we found the pull of the hill irresistible:

Pausing for breath... 

 Seated...

Instead of returning home, we decided to continue on to the ocean. We enjoyed a quick lunch at June's Cake & Candy Tearoom...

Before sampling the beach:

Edinburgh Take 2, Day 2 - Blackford Hill and Craigmillar Castle

On day 2 after t. left for the national archives, s. and I took a bus to Blackford Pond...

...and hiked up Blackford Hill in the Hermitage of Braid and Blackford Hill Local Nature Reserve:

 

From there we walked "home" for lunch, and then set out again in the opposite direction to Craigmillar Castle, a late medieval castle beloved by Mary Queen of Scots, who enjoyed hunting, and by modern children, who enjoy being able to wander from room to room without let or hindrance:

  

The view back to Blackford Hill:

And the next day's destination...

Edinburgh Take 2, Day 1 - Holyrood Palace

We arrived in Edinburgh late yesterday morning, after a mostly uneventful trip from Cambridge. (Next time we will try not to leave a bag behind on the opposite side of the Ely train station or attempt a last-minute rescue just as the train is pulling into the station. But all's well that ends well: both passenger and bag made it in time.)

The National Library wasn't open on 2 January--Hogmanay recovery day in Scotland--so we walked from the Waverley station down the Royal Mile for an afternoon visit at Holyrood Palace, the Queen's Edinburgh residence.

On our way we paused for a picture with Robert Ferguson, "Scots Poet, Born in Edinburgh 1750, Died in Bedlam 1774":

We began our tour with the Queen's Gallery, which is running an exhibit on the "resurgence of the arts in England" under Charles II:

 I was delighted to chance upon one of my favourite paintings from one of my favourite stories in the Apocrypha:

The very unsaintly Charles II also collected this fine painting of one of my favourite saints by George de la Tour:

As usual, no photographs were permitted within the palace:

 But the ruins of Holyrood Abbey were fair game: