Monday saw the whole group up early and back to Stevenson College. We had a lecture on politics, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We talked a lot about the parliamentary system and how Scotland now has its own Parliament, separate from the UK on in London. We also had time to use the internet, which was great because we all needed to work on our blogs and post pictures, not to mention catch up on email and chat with family and friends. You never want to spend all your time in another country staring at a computer screen, but it's hard to drag yourself away after you've been offline for so long.

If there was one thing that could drag us away from the internet, it was a castle. We had been staring at Edinburgh Castle all week and it was finally time to visit. We saw lots of guards going in and got to see them shoot the cannon (loud! even from way above and behind the cannon area). I was a little disappointed by the layout, which was hard to follow. There didn't seem to be much effort put into laying out a natural walk through for people. We had audio tour guides so we could press a number to hear about any exhibit, but there didn't seem to be much order to the numbers. I spent a fair amount of time retracing my steps to see if I could figure out how we got from #32 to #68. Also, big portions of the castle we closed off or restricted. All in all, I expected something more.

The history of the castle was interesting though, and I was impressed in spite of my confusion. The chapel was beautiful and the grounds had a spectacular view of the city. It is sometimes hard to understand how a castle functioned as part of the city, but this castle is perfectly positioned to both see and defend Edinburgh. I can see why they built the castle here and kept it for so long. There is a war veterans' museum on the grounds. Policy inside the memorial section prohibited taking photos (out of respect) which I understood, but regretted because f the absolutely spectacular stained glass and memorials. The castle section looked drab outside, nothing but rock and turrets, but the inside was huge and airy, with rooms sectioned off for specific memorial statues and remembrances. The mood there was very quiet and somber, but tranquil, right next to the bustling courtyard full of tourists. The last part of the castle to see was the POW museum. There were exhibits from around the world, detailing the conditions of POWs held during various wars. There were even whole doors, with graffiti from multiple prisoners carved into them. One door had a little American flag along with a bunch of multilingual graffiti. There were also lots of war artifacts and memorabilia and exhibits with fake soldiers in recreated army camps.

Kelsey and I left the castle after that, realizing as we walked through the courtyard that the Camera Obscura people could be watching us. We waved up at them and probably scared the bejesus out of the whole crowd in their observatory. It was a great day. We worked our way down the Royal Mile, grabbing some food from a convenience store and picking up some souvenirs as we walked downhill to meet the group for our tour of the Parliament Building. We made it in time to sit on the little toadstools outside and scarf down gingersnaps while glancing around at Salisbury Crag in the distance ad the seriously trippy Parliament Building front and center. Aside from the airport, this was the first time we encountered serious security. After the metal detectors we entered into a long, low lobby with replicas of the St. Andrews cross carved into the stone above our heads. I can't believe I wasn't claustrophobic, but the architect put in enough windows to make it seem open and airy, like a well designed cave, but not. You really have to go there to understand.

Our tour guide was good, but he was really interested in the theory and symbolism of each architectural feature. I guess that's great for a tour guide, but I don't really buy all of that. That said, the architect did a great job with the building. Really great. The floors were made from slate tiles mined in the Highlands, the wood was a mixture or Scottish pines and other woods, and the whole place felt a little like a ship. Come to think of it, the lobby did feel a little like a ship's hold. The main area inside the building had a cafeteria for parliament members to eat and gather. It was a really neat design, with a split-level roof and windows all along the vertical portion in between. The ceiling felt like it was sitting on your head in the one half, but the whole place was naturally cool and they didn't need any lights for most of the day. Plus, it had a great vaulted ceiling in the other half, set off by wooden slats that warmed up what could have been a giant slate and drywall cave. The main parliament room was enormous. It had these awesome squiggly chairs that were actually comfortable and technology everywhere. There was also a giant golden mace, which signified that the Parliament was official. We couldn't touch it because it was in a locked case.

We finished up the tour with some time left before dark. On the Royal Mile with free time on our hands? Whisky time! We headed back uphill to get tickets for the whisky experience. The tour starts off with a room full of relaxed people holding their free whisky glasses. The guide pours whisky into each glass and leads a tasting session. Apparently, I should have paid more attention, because I thought I was supposed to drink it like a shot after the smelling part was over. Oops. Good thing I didn't sip it though, because that was the nastiest, smokiest whisky I've ever had. Points off for choosing to give away samples of the only whisky I hated (and I tried a bunch during that week). Kelsey couldn't finish hers, so I choked that down a little slower. Well lubricated, we sat through a short play about distilleries and then a ghostly bartender visitation from the founder of the whisky tour. Maybe the whisky sample choosers should get back in touch with that guy. I bet he could give them some advice.

After the haunted bar segment, we hopped into whisky barrels for a ride through hundreds of years of whisky history. We had an awesome time, laughing and joking the whole way. Even prohibition didn't slow us down. We hopped out and hit the gift shop (again) before heading out. Conveniently, St. Giles Cathedral is right near the tour. I took pictures of it every time we walked by, but this time we saw people going in and out. Score!

We walked inside and I immediately started snapping pics of the gorgeous stained glass windows they had all over the place. There were statues and carvings and people milling around. We sat down with some brochures and a concert started. We had walked into a rehearsal, but the show must have been soon because the music was great and only rarely interrupted by the director. I listened for a while and then got up to take more pictures. I walked up to a little chapel off to the side, but didn't want to pay to go in. Who charges to see a chapel? It was closing anyway, so I chatted with the attendant for a few minutes and asked some questions about the history of the Cathedral. Another employee walked up then and showed me a symbol on the wall. She explained that the cathedral had been consecrated by the Pope before the Reformation and was one of the few in the area to still be standing, now as a Protestant church.

After the concert, we headed back to the hotel. Kelsey and I hung out for a while in my room and then Kyle came over to buy us drinks. He took us to the hotel bar and I had this stuff they call AlcoPop there (WKD). It was really good, like pre-mixed juice and vodka, but I can't find it in the States. Of course. It was way past bed time (and it wasn't like we were getting enough sleep anyway) so we went to bed after that.