Edinburgh

We arrived in Edinburgh around noon today after a pleasant 2 1/2 hour train trip. Southern England is  open fields with sheep and English mustard separated by overgrown fences of green hedgerows. It has low hills dotted with small villages that had spires or towers of churches we could see as we passed by. It got more hilly the farther north we traveled. All of a sudden as we were looking out our windows there was the North Sea. We didn't realize how close we were. We went along the coast for awhile before arriving in Edinburgh. It is very close to the Firth of Forth. After we checked into our hotel, we got our on/off bus tickets and went to see the Britannia, the royal yacht that is now a museum. It was very interesting and wonderfully preserved. Everything is just as it was when the Queen and her family sailed on it. We had lunch in the tea rooms on board (very cool!) then went back to our hotel. We will be visiting Edinburgh Castle tomorrow.

A small fishing village we passed, you can see its low tide

Edinburgh castle, across from our hotel

The Britannia

The Queens daily schedule