Scotland for the 4th of July

Since we will be missing the American festivities of the 4th of July – no fireworks, cookouts or parades, we are instead planning 4 days in Scotland. We will spend the majority of our time exploring the Royal Mile. The Edinburgh castle is on one end and the Holyrood Palace is on the other end. We will also probably take advantage of the double-decker bus tour, to make sure we catch all the other must see sites of the city, and our neighbor told us we must check out Mary King’s Close. This sounds interesting but I had never heard of it, so I looked up the story of Mary King’s Close:
The Close was a street back in the 17th century and much of it is still intact. It runs from beneath the City Chambers -- Edinburgh's Local Government. The Close is said to be named after the daughter of wealthy advocate and owner of the property, Alexander King, although little evidence has been found in that respect. A woman by the name of Mary King did live there in mid 17th century. 'The Real Mary King's Close' presents tourists with a historically accurate interpretation of life in these narrow alleyways from 16th up to the 19th century. The presentation also includes local legends about the alleged existence of ghosts in this underground close. In mid 17th century the Old Town had been infested with black rats from ships at Leith Docks and disease spread out. The local council attempted to contain the plague and the decision was made to block up the entrances to Mary King's Close. Some plague victims are thought to have been locked in. In the following years the close had been reopened due to overcrowding in the Old Town and sightings of ghosts, mainly headless animals and disembodied men, have been reported. The most frequent sighting in recent years has been that of a young girl, no more than 5 or 6 years old called 'Annie' by those that have seen her.
Alrighty then, let’s hope we don’t see any ghosts. We also plan to rent a car and drive to Roslin, Scotland to take a tour of the Rosslyn Chapel, also more recently known as the ‘Da Vinci code chapel’. Maybe we will find the Holy Grail, which is said to be hidden at this chapel? And someone that clearly does not know me well at all suggested that while we are in Scotland, we need to try the Haggis. In case you are not familiar with what Haggis is, let me enlighten you with a description: ‘Haggis is a dish containing sheep’s ‘pluck’ (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt, mixed with stock and traditionally simmered in the animal’s STOMACH for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach.’ Are you kidding me? There is NO WAY I would try eating that. But all in all, I am hoping we will have a great time. I will post pictures next week when we get back. Happy 4th of July!