So much for our great weather. It was a little cool in the morning, mid-50s, warmed up in the afternoon, mid-60s, w/ some sun then...rain. Luckily our resident weatherman (Tom) was watching the weather and we headed back to the ship before the front arrived in Edinburgh.
The ship used dynamic positioning to secure our position in the Firth of Fourth. Wha...?. A firth is an estuary and the river is the River Fourth. Hence this crazy name Firth of Fourth. There are some nice looking bridges. The red one is the The Fourth Bridge built in 1890! It is a cantilevered rail bridge and a UNESCO sight. I can't believe it's 134 years old.
The cable-stayed bridge is the Queensferry Crossing built 2017 and opened to road traffic.
The last of the three bridges is the Forth Road Bridge open to peds, cyclists and public transportation. It looks like a mini white Golden Gate Bridge. Completed in 1961.
Queensferry is about 9 miles from Edinburgh. We started our day with a visit to the HMY Britannia. It was a fun self-guided audio tour. Especially fun for those of us who watched "The Crown" (historic fiction on Netflix).
We started on the bridge (of the Britannia) level 3. The captain's rooms, captain's kitchen, QE II usually took a car with them. Sometimes the Land Rover and sometimes a Rolls. Next was the sunroom at the aft (back) of the boat. The Queen's bedroom which connects to the Prince's bedroom. Various family photo are posted throughout the boat. Across the hall is the queen bed for visitors.
Level 2: The room with the glowing "fireplace" is the officer's room attached to the dining room. No one was allowed to touch the monkey, but somehow he moved around. Kitchen, which is still used today for Tea. Pantries for silver, dinnerware, etc.
The dining room, wow. Further aft is the Queen's office on port side. The Prince's office across from the Queen's on the starboard side. Then grand room which can be closed off or opened to accommodate lots of people.
Lower level is where the officer's can hang out. The crew's quarters. The Marine Band quarters, they were the main security for the royals and they played music! Practice room, more quarters, mail room, doctor's office, sick bay & laundry room.
The boat used by the royal couple to go places off the ship.
Engine room & engineering. The bathroom & shower room (9 showers for 220 yachtsmen aka yotties).
Once we finished we took the light rail into Edinburgh and arrived near St Andrew Square. I think that's who's on the top of the column. There is so much to see here!!!
Scotts Monument (spiky) constructed for Sir Walter Scott. I thought it was for the Scottish people. Nelson's Column (toilet paper roll-looking) atop Calton Hill in honor of for Horatio Nelson Navy Admiral 1805. The Parthenon-looking structure on Calton Hill is National Monument of Scotland. It is an unfinished monument from 1829.
Looking across to Arthur's Seat, the green hill. Then looking across to Edinburgh Castle. Some pretty Scotts broom (haha).
Then it was off to Edinburgh Castle. Funny story, the night before we tried to get tickets and all were sold out. We got off the ship pretty early so not many tourists about. A wee man was handing out maps and asked if I wanted a map. I told him we were headed to Britannia then Edinburgh but could not get tickets to the Castle. He drew some dots on the map where we'd get off the tram (light rail) in Edinburgh and put a wee dot on the map and says "go here and they may have tickets for the Castle". I didn't have a name or direction, just a dot about where we should go. So we went - and found tourist info devoid of tourists but a funny helpful man who got us tickets to the Castle. Hurray.
The Castle is huge swarming with tourists! We got the audio tour which is well worth it but I'm not sure you can get through the whole thing in a week. They were also setting up for the tattoo in June, (tattoo is a military exercise given by troops as entertainment) in front of the Castle.
We got on the bus just as the rain was starting. It wasn't quite the bus we wanted but it took us close enough to Queensferry. We toyed with crossing the bridge (to Fife) then coming back just to say we crossed the firth on the bridge. (I believe it would have been the Forth Road Bridge)
Link to pictures https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/jE7482gu1e