I think the 19th century is too modern to be commemorating dragons, but maybe they lasted longer in Scotland

On our second day, Matt came to Edinburgh.  Liz, Matt, and I started off our day going to Edinburgh Castle.  It was really pretty and interesting.  It had a bunch of museums about the Scottish military.  There's a special brigade called the Dragoons.  This is disappointing, because at first we thought on a monument it was just an old English spelling of dragons and were really excited.  But they were pretty cool.  The museums didn't really go that far back in history, I think only to about the 17th century or so, which was slightly disappointing, so no Braveheart stuff.  However, they also did not have that much space and had to skip large chunks of time in the exhibits.  For WWI, there was a sign on the wall in the Dragoon Museum between the 1904-7 stuff and WWII.  But this is tangential.

Edinburgh Castle!

A fancy hat to win the battle

The Scottish War Memorial inside the Castle

A view from inside the castle

The castle itself as well as it views were pretty sweet.  There was also a really cool Prisoners of War Exhibit in the Dungeons.  We saw the chapel and the War Memorial.  There was also a giant cannon called the Mons Meg.  I'll put up the proper name when I add pictures.  It was giant.  We saw the crown jewels of Scotland, which predate those of England and include the Stone of Destiny, which may or may not be the stone from the Sword in the Stone. I just don't know.

For Dad: a gun wheel inside the Great Hall

Prisoner of War Museum. They had a pretty sweet deal and even got a weekly allowance.  And there were American prisoners held here too, but they were considered pirates and given much less food than the others.

Giant medieval war gun.  Look at the size compared to my hand.

Finally, we watched the "expert gunman" shoot one of those giant guns that sits on the ground. (Please don't judge me anyone from the 3rd MD, I'm tired.)  It made a loud bang and everyone clapped.

Gotta be precise

After the castle, we met up with Natasha and Megan on Prince's Street, basically the main street in Edinburgh.  We did some sight seeing and photography and then a bit of shopping too.

Stock bagpiper!

The stone building is part of the castle

The Sir Walter Scott Memorial

Then Tash, Liz, Matt, and I went back and walked the Royal Mile past the surprisingly modern Scottish Parliament building and down to the Holyrood Palace. It's still the queen's official residence when she visits Scotland.  As we were pressed for time, and I was feeling somewhat pressed for cash at that time too, we didn't go inside, but took lots of pictures instead.

The mod Scottish Parliament

Holyrood Palace, seen through the gate.

We met back up with Megan for dinner and I ate Indian food.  Aren't you impressed?  We called it an early night because of our plans for the next day and watched some Jersey Shore before bed.