Goodbye Iceland and welcome back in Scotland
The plan was to stay in Edinburgh for 2 nights and then 2 nights Glasgow but soccer came in our way....well, in my way really. Ed wanted to see Celtic vs Rangers in Glasgow and as Iceland was really my treat, I thought I can hardly say no. Tickets were bought and hotels rearranged. I had a hard time with the receptionist in the hotel in Edinburgh, he actually made me cry but I suppose that was because we walked all the way from the train station to the hotel in the pouring rain after being up at 4am that morning. I was just not in a good mood.
We didn't get up to much that day because of the rain. It stopped eventually and we went out for a walking tour and some grub. The castle looked fabulous at night and the old part of Edinburgh is absolutely beautiful. I have taken a bucnh of pictures but I have never got a CD, only prints, so you'll have to wait for pictures. After the tour we went for a couple of pints and then back to the hotel as we wanted to get up early to explore the city at daylight.
A friend of mine told me he went to the vaults in Edinburgh but they are only accessible via tour. He couldn't remember the tour operator but it wasn't hard to find out. The crowd is called Mercat Tours and most tours start at the Mercat cross on High Street. We had a look at the different tours and as I like ghosts and stuff, I could persuade Ed to go for the Ghosts and Ghouls tour. The tour is about 1 1/2 hours long and costs £7, that includes the Vaults as well.
Our tour guide was very funny and had some really gruesome stories to tell about Edinburgh. There was not only the telling of the stories, no, also some demonstartions. She was carrying a little whip and would snap this now and again. The highlight of the tour was the vault. Apparently you can see ghosts in there and if you have a look at the website you can read a lot of testimonies. I'm not sure what to think of that. We didn't see any ghosts and our tourguide said, she has never seen any either. Mayb next time.
For an extra £1 you can add the Tavern option to the tour. You'll go to a pub after the tour and there will be more stories told. Unfortunately there wasn't enough people to do this in the end and got a refund. Nevertheless it was a great experience and I would certainly recommend Mercat Tours.
