On Wednesday morning and noon, I had school. Due to the astonishing weather, I visited the Edinburgh castle in the afternoon. Kaplan International offers a social programme, and on Wednesday afternoon a teacher shows the way to the castle but as soon as we arrived everyone went their own way. The citizens of Edinburgh is very proud of there castle, which I understand to some extent. In my opinion, the price of 19.50 £ is too high and there isn't a student discount. Nevertheless, I went there and made some pictures, which I will show you here.
To get to the castle, you have to make your way throw old town. In general, if you are in Edinburgh, you never speak from the city but from old town and new town. Whilst new town is the city centre, old town is surrounding the castle. A long time ago, old town was surrounded by a loch, a lake. This loch is now dried out and makes a nice area for a park. The train station of Edinburgh is also placed in the former loch. In old town, most of the buildings are very old. The most famous street is the royal mile, which leads to the castle. As soon as you've entered the castle you have a beautiful view over all of the city of Edinburgh.
To get to the castle, you have to make your way throw old town. In general, if you are in Edinburgh, you never speak from the city but from old town and new town. Whilst new town is the city centre, old town is surrounding the castle. A long time ago, old town was surrounded by a loch, a lake. This loch is now dried out and makes a nice area for a park. The train station of Edinburgh is also placed in the former loch. In old town, most of the buildings are very old. The most famous street is the royal mile, which leads to the castle. As soon as you've entered the castle you have a beautiful view over all of the city of Edinburgh. You can see the princes street in the front and the ocean in the background. Princes Street is the most famous street in Edinburgh. A sunny and clear sky with temperatures up to 25 degrees is rare. It was really beautiful.
The Royal Palace is also keeping the stone of destiny and the Scottish crown jewels. In the room with both of these, you aren't allowed to take pictures. They are really beautiful. During the second world war the crown jewels were buried in the already destroyed David's Tower to keep them safe. That was around 1941 but Germany didn't invade and the jewels were returned to their rightful Crown Room. While walking over the platform that was originally built for the David's Tower I heard a guide talking. Maybe you have heard of Game of Thrones. That is a fictional TV-series and most of the showed scenes are based on a true historical event. One of the more famous scenes is the red wedding. This scene is based on the massacre of the David's Tower. During that massacre the David's Tower was destroyed and the place where the tower stood is now a platform with canons on it.
Close to this platform is a chapel, the St. Margarets chapel. It was built in 1130 and was most likely a part of the great stone tower. It was dedicated to Queen Margaret who lived in the castle during the late 1000s.
Fun Fact: on the area of the castle is a graveyard for dogs that belonged to military officers.