Edinburgh is a wonderful city with more Georgian architecture than…Georgia. Really lovely.
But dirty. Apparently the Edinburgh stone used to build is soft and porous, so cleaning damages it. That’s why all the old buildings look soot-stained.
Way back when, Edinburgh was the dirtiest capital in the world. Every night, folks would dump their raw sewage out their windows to flow down the street.

Below is history-filled Holyrood Palace, the Queen’s official residence when she comes to Scotland.

Pretty old and citified. (It’s not Balmoral, her vacation pad. ) We saw some old thrones, tapestries and all sorts of royal stuff.





We then zipped over to Edinburgh Castle, below. A palace is a gracious place to live, while a castle is primarily a stronghold. And this is the best example of a stronghold we’ve seen, M. thinks.




Castles, palaces–I’ve now seen my fill and if I never visit another, it’ll be too soon. (Unless I hit London in August, when Buckingham Palace is open, but have never been there in August.)

Edinburgh’s a city of arts, culture, education and history. It’s beautiful, in a historical way.

But as far as livability goes, we’ve got our eyes on Dublin. For sure.