There is so much to see and do in Edinburgh that we split our first visit into two days.  The first we drove to St. Andrews and then spent the evening exploring Edinburgh for the first time.  Our second day we wandered down the Royal mile, stopping at Cafe Nero for a latte and some breakfast.  We opted to sit outside, even though it was freezing cold, but it was such a gorgeous blue sky day and we wanted to take in the city and look around.  Following breakfast we headed up to the Edinburgh Castle, wandered around and took in the views from high above Edinburgh.

Following a quick walk around the castle, we headed down through the Princes Street Gardens, made another quick round through the Christmas market and then, after realizing we were freezing, we jumped on the ferris wheel on Princes Street.  It turned out to be such a cool experience, with amazing views over the city.  I’m so glad we jumped at the chance to do this because it really was memorable and offered a spectacular vantage point of Edinburgh.

After our ferris wheel ride, we continued up Princes Street, wandering through stores and looped our way back up to the Royal Mile, continuing all the way down to Holyrood Palace (the Queen’s residence in Scotland) and the Scottish Parliament.  On our way back up the Royal Mile, we meandered in and out of shops, picking up some tartan cashmere and shortbread cookies.  We finished our walk back on George IV Bridge, near our Hotel Missoni, and wandered up the street a bit to check out The Elephant House (where the first Harry Potter book was written) and took in the gorgeous little streets in this area before heading back to our hotel and grabbing our bags.

We finished up our last day in Edinburgh as we walked down from the Hotel Missoni to Waverly Station to catch the Airlink (an amazing service) back to the airport.  But on our way down the hill, we stopped for a bit to take in the sun setting over the city and to watch the twilight fall over Edinburgh.  It was freezing cold but a beautiful site to see.

Edinburgh was a magical place, a city full of stone buildings, streets lined with cobblestones and spires spiraling into the sky.  I’m so glad we got to experience this city and it’s a place I’d love to go back and explore more of in the future!