Edinburgh, Day 1

We got up early, 6:30, as we weren't sure how the Underground would be with the morning rush hour, so wanted to give ourselves lots of time to get from Earl's Court to King's Cross. It ended up not being busy at all, got there easily, plenty of time for breakfast at King's Cross station before our 9:00am train.

The train ride was uneventful. I used a speedometer app on my phone to calculate the speed of the train, it was going around 180 kph. It made a number of quick stops on the way, but was a great way to travel. Total time from London to Edinburgh, about 1h 20m. We arrived around 1:20.

Along the way, we cancelled the booking for the hostel, as the reviews on it were not good, and Tracy was grumbling. We actually got a good deal on a really nice hotel for 3 nights as we were approaching Edinburgh. We're staying at Ten Hll Place Hotel, a short 8 minute walk from downtown Edinburgh.

All I can say is Edinburgh is BEAUTIFUL. The old town completely escaped any damage from WW I or WW II, and is in  virtually immaculate condition. We only saw part of it today, but it seems to go on for a long time.

We went for lunch/supper in the middle of the afternoon, and booked a "free" ghost tour for the evening and also booked a scotch tour for tomorrow late afternoon. We are Scotland, after all.

The weather was cool and cloudy, but it wasn't raining.

We headed back to the hotel room to bundle up and get our rain jackets, as it seemed to be threatening, before heading to the ghost tour. The ghost tour is free to buy, but then you can tip at the end if you liked it.

It was 1.5 hours of some of the history of Edinburgh, as we walked to a number of landmarks in downtown Edinburgh. Unfortunately, I can't really compare it to a paid tour, but it was interesting. I think some of the paid tours actually take you into buildings and dungeons and crypts and such, but not sure.

We went to the Frankenstein bar afterwards for a drink, then back to the hotel.