Edinburgh Trip: Day Two (of Two [and a half])

The weather forecast for Thursday was rain, all day. So I made my plans accordingly. Luckily when I first headed out of the hotel to the Starbucks on the Royal Mile it wasn't raining. I enjoyed a relaxing coffee with a magazine and a few pages of my book, before walking up towards the Castle and taking a turn off to the left to find Victoria Street. There are some lovely shops all along this street, which leads down to Grassmarket. One-off shops, boutiques, galleries, etc. All very lovely to look at. I love how they're all painted different, bright colours too.

The view looking down onto the street.



At street level, looking down the hill



At street level, looking back up the hill



 After a fun time browsing, but not buying, I headed back up Victoria Street and over the George IV Bridge to Chamber St and The National Museum of Scotland. 



Here's an absolutely dreadful photo of the outside of the museum.

My main reason for heading here was to see the Fascinating Mummies exhibition. But first, I had a little look round some other parts of the museum. I picked up a map/guide and decided to concentrate on just a few of what the Museum considered to be its "highlights". First stop - the iconic Lewis chessmen, found on the island of Lewis in 1831. Eleven of the 93 pieces found are here in Edinburgh while the others are in the British Museum in London.

 

 And how they made me chuckle; just look at these two (the King and Queen pieces, I believe), talk about fed up!

 Then it was on to the Connect gallery to meet...

Dolly the Sheep! The first cloned mammal ever to be created from an adult cell. You can just about see some authentic-looking sheep poo in amongst that straw. No idea if it's real/cloned.

 Through then into the Grand Gallery - what a fabulous bit of architecture with it's high windows and steel columns. So bright and airy. Definitely my favourite part of the Museum.

 This is a dioptic lighthouse lens, designed by David Stephenson in 1889.

 In the centre you can just about see a cast iron drinking fountain (see the domed item?) from the 1880s.

 And here's a lovely Buddha from Japan.

 I spent about an hour enjoying the Egyptian exhibition, but no photos were allowed, so I'm just going to have to leave it to your imagination; although I will tell you that my favourite bit was the description of how mummies had their organs removed (including hooking out the brain through the nose...)

After all that culture, it was time for a little shopping, so I caught the bus down to Ocean Terminal in Leith. No photos from here as it's just a bog-standard shopping centre; I know, it doesn't sound like the most exciting thing to do in Edinburgh, but needs must when there's rain to be avoided.

A little later it was time to meet hubby, so I sat and waited for him back in my favourite Starbucks. This time I took a couple of better shots of the great view out onto the Royal Mile.

 Our evening was a relaxing one with dinner in Prezzo, a drink in a pub and then back to the hotel.

Next morning (Friday) and it was time to head home. Not before breakfast though, which we had in The Elephant House, famous for being the place where J.K. Rowling wrote some of the early Harry Potter books. A very pleasant place indeed to spend an hour or so

eating toast, checking important things on mobile phones (Facebook, probably) and doing a spot of reading.

And that was the end of our little trip.