Edinburgh- Linlithgow Palace

 After an 8 hour bus ride north through the winding roads of Britain and Southern Scotland, I arrived in Edinburgh to the smiling face of Vanessa. We left the bus station and headed up the street to a cafe for a classic Scottish breakfast of bacon and eggs roll. It's a bunch of bacon and an egg on a baguette roll. Pretty tasty but the bun to meat ratio was too high for me.

We caught up on our walk back to Vanessa's flat she is renting with 2 other girls. It is huge compared to what I was expecting. We headed out to the train station for the short ride to Linlithgow to see the palace where Mary Queen of Scots lived... along with the rest of her family before her. It was built in the 1400s but had a re-model in the 1600s which is mostly what can be seen today. Of course there was a fire so all the wood floors and roof is missing. The church on the palace grounds has been there since the 1200s which is even more amazing. They celebrated their 750 anniversary a while back with a new stained glass window installed... no pictures but it was stunning.

Vanessa at the fountain.

Me at the fountain.

Guards' lookout at the main entrance.

Well in the kitchen. Vanessa falling in the well. 

Great Hall. If you click on the picture you will see what the hall looked like back in the 14-1600s with the King and Queen sitting at the head table at the far end in front of the big fire place. One feast was recorded as serving over 48 gallons of ale and along with a load of other food, 5 3/4 sheep. Not sure where the 1/4 was missing from... the next morning, a "meat breakfast" was then served along with 28 more gallons of ale.

Being a lady waiting for a dance from a prince. I did eventually get asked to dance, but it was not by a prince... Vanessa and I danced in the Great Hall.

Looking out over the loch in the back of the palace. 

Climbed up the spiral staircase of one of the towers. This is looking out along a wall to the other tower. 

Courtyard with the fountain below. Also see the town of Linlithgow in the background. 

Palace from the back. The right corner on the second floor is where the Queen's apartments are. The floor below are the King's.

Looking through the main gates back into Linlithgow.

These pictures are already on facebook so no new ones if you've seen them already there. This post was done on Vanessa's laptop... yeah for normal blog formatting!

K