We got a later start than we intended to today because Danny‘s phone alarm decided not to cooperate with us, go figure. So by the time we got to Melrose Abbey it was already closed, an hour and a half earlier than we thought. We were a bit bummed, because it was so pretty, but we still took a few pictures and let the boys play and run around at a park nearby. We continued on to NB’s Bed and Breakfast (stay away from this place, more about it in a bit). We were upgraded to an apartment for free since they did not have enough room for us in the main house. Not a problem with us, we had more space and didn’t have to worry about keeping quiet for anyone else. After unloading the car, we were starving since it was already about 7:45pm. We found this reasonable pub just around the corner from us, but by the time we got there it was 8:01pm and they don’t allow children in after 8pm. So on to the next place, but again, same problem. So the boys were getting their wish Pizza Hut it was for them, while Danny and I found a Chinese take away about 10 more minutes up the road. I had fried rice, which I would have to say is the best I have had from a restaurant and Danny’s stomach was not feeling so hot, so he had egg drop soup and some spring rolls that we shared. The problems started when we tried to log onto the free wireless, it was not free, when I tried to call to ask a few questions about the issues we were having, nobody answered the phone. So I wanted to work on the blog and ended up paying to connect for 24 hours at 5GBP. When the sun went down it got really cold in the apartment and we just assumed the oil was turned off for the summer months, not the case, we were not told how to turn it on. So therefore when the boys went to take a bath we had no hot water for the tub, we used the weird shower contraption to fill up the tub, since apparently it was on its own heating pump or something. We went to bed around 12am and pilled up like 3 feather beds to keep warm.
The next morning we toured Edinburgh, this time on our own. We were told parking was really expensive the closer to the city center we got, so we opted to walk into town, which we thought was only about a 20 minute walk, again wrong, but it wasn’t so bad. It was really windy and cold, so we stopped at Cocco Coffee for some hot chocolate and a bathroom stop for the boys since this morning Ryan woke up with a sour stomach, but it wasn’t bothering him too bad, so we carried on with our day. We walked for about 45 minutes until we finally reached Edinburgh Castle, the boys were very excited about another castle (insert sarcasm, lol). Edinburgh Castle’s powerful stone walls have withstood many sieges and its sumptuous apartments were an important residence of Scottish kings and queens. Today it is home to Scotland’s crown jewels, three military museums, the National War memorial, the Prisons of War exhibition and much more. We toured the entire castle and then we headed down towards the royal mile where we ate lunch at the Hub Pub at the foot of the castle. Danny had a poached salmon baked potato with a salad and I had a roasted chicken breast with garlic mayo on ciabatta bread. The boys enjoyed their meals as well, Ryan had a cheeseburger with salad and Brayden had a ham and cheese wrap with crisps (chips).
We continued down the royal mile and stopped in at a few shops where I bought a few postcards, souvenir pins, and a Celtic sterling silver necklace for myself. We decided after the royal mile we wanted to hike up to Arthur’s seat, which was much more challenging than I initially thought, but I made it up just fine, Zumba is paying off and oh how I miss it. After our long trek back down we decided we burned enough calories to partake in some ice cream. We sat on the lawn of the park and enjoyed the views and our treat. We continued our walk back to the apartment stopping by Holy Rood Palace, to take a few pictures, since this is where the Scottish royal family reside, it is like the Buckingham Palace of Scotland. We finally made it back by our apartment and decided to try the pub right around the corner again since it was about 6:30pm. At The Merlin, Danny ordered a much needed Tenants beer to go along with his haggis, if you are not sure what it is, Google it. It looked like a piece of poop on his plate, but he said it was pretty good. I had a Scottish lasagna, which was different, but good. 
The boys had chicken and fries with a rainbow cookie for dessert that Brayden insisted on paying for, it was super cute. The boys were going to head over to the park about 15 minutes up the road while I would head back to the apartment to work on the blog. Well I decided to walk by the car first since we were unable to extend our parking ticket due to us not having our plate #. We were hoping since we were pretty far out of the city center we would get lucky, not so much, we had a 60GBP ticket on the windshield. We are going to try to contest it, like our waitress told us too, but if that doesn’t work we have 14 days to pay it to get it half off. Still stinks, but nothing we could do. When I went back to the apartment the key would not work, not sure why, but I was not happy especially after the 12 miles that we walked already today, I was tired. I booked it over to the park where the boys were playing and we had to drive over to NB’s to try to get help, that was just a disaster, but after 2 hours of trying to get into the apartment we were inside. I have to write an email explaining all of our issues to hopefully get our money back at least for one night. But if you are ever in Edinburgh stay away from NB’s Guest House, apparently we are not the first people that have had issues with this place and there are so many other places you can stay. When we got into the apartment we got the boys ready for bed, worked a bit on the blog, which I was unable to post because my 24 hour time I had paid for the night before ran out, but it was late at this point and we just crawled into bed and passed out.
The next morning we toured Edinburgh, this time on our own. We were told parking was really expensive the closer to the city center we got, so we opted to walk into town, which we thought was only about a 20 minute walk, again wrong, but it wasn’t so bad. It was really windy and cold, so we stopped at Cocco Coffee for some hot chocolate and a bathroom stop for the boys since this morning Ryan woke up with a sour stomach, but it wasn’t bothering him too bad, so we carried on with our day. We walked for about 45 minutes until we finally reached Edinburgh Castle, the boys were very excited about another castle (insert sarcasm, lol). Edinburgh Castle’s powerful stone walls have withstood many sieges and its sumptuous apartments were an important residence of Scottish kings and queens. Today it is home to Scotland’s crown jewels, three military museums, the National War memorial, the Prisons of War exhibition and much more. We toured the entire castle and then we headed down towards the royal mile where we ate lunch at the Hub Pub at the foot of the castle. Danny had a poached salmon baked potato with a salad and I had a roasted chicken breast with garlic mayo on ciabatta bread. The boys enjoyed their meals as well, Ryan had a cheeseburger with salad and Brayden had a ham and cheese wrap with crisps (chips).
We continued down the royal mile and stopped in at a few shops where I bought a few postcards, souvenir pins, and a Celtic sterling silver necklace for myself. We decided after the royal mile we wanted to hike up to Arthur’s seat, which was much more challenging than I initially thought, but I made it up just fine, Zumba is paying off and oh how I miss it. After our long trek back down we decided we burned enough calories to partake in some ice cream. We sat on the lawn of the park and enjoyed the views and our treat. We continued our walk back to the apartment stopping by Holy Rood Palace, to take a few pictures, since this is where the Scottish royal family reside, it is like the Buckingham Palace of Scotland. We finally made it back by our apartment and decided to try the pub right around the corner again since it was about 6:30pm. At The Merlin, Danny ordered a much needed Tenants beer to go along with his haggis, if you are not sure what it is, Google it. It looked like a piece of poop on his plate, but he said it was pretty good. I had a Scottish lasagna, which was different, but good. 
The boys had chicken and fries with a rainbow cookie for dessert that Brayden insisted on paying for, it was super cute. The boys were going to head over to the park about 15 minutes up the road while I would head back to the apartment to work on the blog. Well I decided to walk by the car first since we were unable to extend our parking ticket due to us not having our plate #. We were hoping since we were pretty far out of the city center we would get lucky, not so much, we had a 60GBP ticket on the windshield. We are going to try to contest it, like our waitress told us too, but if that doesn’t work we have 14 days to pay it to get it half off. Still stinks, but nothing we could do. When I went back to the apartment the key would not work, not sure why, but I was not happy especially after the 12 miles that we walked already today, I was tired. I booked it over to the park where the boys were playing and we had to drive over to NB’s to try to get help, that was just a disaster, but after 2 hours of trying to get into the apartment we were inside. I have to write an email explaining all of our issues to hopefully get our money back at least for one night. But if you are ever in Edinburgh stay away from NB’s Guest House, apparently we are not the first people that have had issues with this place and there are so many other places you can stay. When we got into the apartment we got the boys ready for bed, worked a bit on the blog, which I was unable to post because my 24 hour time I had paid for the night before ran out, but it was late at this point and we just crawled into bed and passed out.
Ryan's Corner:
Today I hiked up a very high hill. Then when we got back from hiking down the hill we got ice cream at the bottom of the hill. After I got ice cream I walked back to my apartment.
