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UNITED KINGDOM - DAY 10
Later start to our day today. Breakfast was at 8 o'clock before we headed into Edinburgh for a tour of the city. It was windy and raining, which we have been told is pretty normal. Keith pointed out the huge monument to the bard of Scotland, Robert Burns. You could climb up the 287 steps to the top of the monument if you had the stomach for it. Next he showed us an abbey and the royal residence. We saw the bath house of Queen Mary, where she bathed once a year. Boy would they stink! We continued our tour with Keith pointing out significant and important structures, such as Greyfriars Bobby, a dog, who when it's owner died and was buried in the Greyfriars churchyard, lay down on the grave and there he stayed guarding his master's grave for the next 14 years until he to died.
After the tour, the rest of the day was ours to do as we liked. We headed straight up to Edinburgh Castle. It was built on the plug of an extinct volcano that had been left when an ice glacier had carved its way around it leaving three sides cliffs and the remaining side it's only access. There we saw the firing of the guns, which occurs everyday, except Sunday, Christmas and Easter, at 1pm to let the town folks and fishermen know what time it was. We wandered around and saw the coronation stone, which is used for all coronations of kings and queens of the United Kingdom and the crown jewels of Scotland. We saw where the prisoners of war were kept and lots of other fascinating stuff. The wind up there was amazing. Could almost blow you off you feet if you weren't careful.
That night we headed into town for a dinner and show where we were entertained by traditional Scottish music and dancing as well as the 'Piping in of the Haggis'. Everyone got a piece to try and surprisingly it wasn't too bad. Tasted like hot pate. Didn't even faze us when they told us what went into the haggis, which we won't divulge and turn your stomachs. Even the girls tried it and they quite liked it. The music was good, the food was lovely and the dancing great. The girls even wore a traditional kilt to the show which they were very excited about. They looked adorable.
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