Lewis Chessmen

Even I would be tempted to take up chess if I had access to such fabulous chess pieces as this Lewis chessman on display in the marvelous Museum of Scotland. I had seen pictures of them before but there's nothing quite like seeing the real thing from all angles. We also got to take in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year (2013) exhibition. Admittedly not as visually stunning as in London where you see them huge on lightboxes in a darkened exhibition space, but, on the plus side, it was free of charge. Some fab photos, tho' I disagreed with the choice of winner.

We then walked along the Royal Mile, stopped in at the Scottish Parliament building, pretty ugly from outside (and I'm usually predisposed to like modern buildings) but the debating chamber is really nice.

After that we 'did' Holyrood Palace - impressive, tho Queen Victoria's choice of gloomy tapestries to 'brighten the place up' tells you a lot about her!
Spent the rest if the day wandering around the stunning buildings in the Old Town.

Loving Edinburgh.