After breakfast, I set off towards the Edinburgh Castle, which dominates the city of Edinburgh like no other castle in Scotland, and Edinburgh Castle is unequalled in the whole of the British Isles. Over one thousand years of history sit on top of the famous Edinburgh rock and over a million visitors a year visit Edinburgh Castle. I joined in the queue in front of the caste entrance and waited for about 15mins before the officer lets us in to get the ticket. All the tourists had to go through a security‘bag search' before entering the castle compound. Paid 12pounds for the entrance tickets, I ventured in and search for the free castle tour commencing at 9.45am. There is only this other Brazilian guy (an economist) joining me on the tour. So we had the tour guide to ourselves and it felt like a private tour. The guide, Jim, is a very informative yet humorous guy who took us through the main sights in the castle, introducing us what's what and why it's important. It's easy to tell that he is really proud to be Scottish from the way he speaks and tell us the information.
After about 30mins tour, he ended the tour and left us exploring the castle ourselves. I went into the Military building first (listing the names of the soldiers n officers sacrificed during wars), then went to the Main Hall. There are 2 Scotts in ancient Army uniform explaining what's it like during the war time, how they operate their musket and also how their armor protects them. Later on they let young children try on the head armor and pose with the musket. Next, I went to see the Crown of Jewels and also the 'Stone of Destiny'. These are enclosed in a glass box and the area is pretty small so as more crowds come in you got to move on. Next to the Jewels, it's the chamber where King James was born. Opposite the Jewels is the exhibition showing the place where they kept the prisoners of war and the prisoners' life during that time. Also there were exhibitions of the crafts and counterfeit money done by the prisoners. Those are actually pretty high quality stuff.
Then I went to the St. Margerat's chapel, the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh Castle, is an example of Norman architecture and the oldest building in Edinburgh, Scotland. Legend had it that St. Margaret worshiped in this small chapel, but recent research indicates that it was built at the beginning of the 12th century by her fourth son who became King David in 1124. The building has been restored and the interior presents much the same appearance as it did when first in use. Next to the chapel is the viewpoint of Edinburgh city. There were some reporters from BBC News setting up the cameras. I later on realized that they are there because the Team GB Olympic medalists (those from Scotland) will be coming up to the castle to be interviewed. Many more reporters showed up and all of them flocked over them for interviews. I too joined in the fun and tried to get some shots of the Britain's Sprint Cyclist Gold medalist in the recent Beijing Olympics 2008, Chris Hoy.
After that, went to watch a Scottish soldier perform the bagpipe tunes. Next, went down to visit the military museum showcasing the uniforms, weapons etc of ancient times. As it's approaching 1pm, I went back to the viewing point again to wait for the 1 o'clock canon shot. It's been a tradition that they will fire a canon everyday from the Castle at 1pm. Why 1pm and not 12 noon? Because if they were to fire on 12noon then they need to fire 12 times instead of just 1. So I guess its cheaper. Originally, I had my camera all set up and focused on the canon so that I can capture the firing of the canon. I know it will be very loud but when it was fired it was so much louder that it gave me a fright, causing my hand to shake and the camera went off focus. Also, initially I thought there will be a small troop of soldier (at least 3 soldiers) for the canon firing ceremony but end up there is only a single soldier doing the stunt. Well, fair enough, one soldier for a canon ;)
After exiting the castle, I went into the Weavering Centre to see how the Scottish Kilt is weaved. The machine is pretty old and they are really loud during operation. Next I went to the café as they have free Haggis tasting. Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish, and most of them have the following ingredients: sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. They taste pretty good actually. Opposite the center is the Scottish Whisky Centre. Didn't take the tour but went to the shop to have a look instead. The most expansive whisky I saw in there actually cost a whopping 7250 pounds!!! I got a free sample drum of the whisky there. Hehehe...
Then I went to King IV Bridge road to take a photo of the Elephant Café (where J.K Rowling sat and wrote Harry Potter). Next, visited the St. Giles' Church, also known as the High Kirk of Edinburgh, it is the Mother Church of Presbyterianism and contains the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle (Scotland's chivalric company of knights headed by the Queen). Next to it is the Parliament Hall. Upon entering, I come to a huge empty hall with lawyers and advocates pacing up and down the hall talking in hush voice, quite an interesting and funny scene. It's a tradition so that their conversation will not be heard by others. Later I wandered around and walked down the road (along Edinburgh University) and bought a panini for ￡2.10 and head back to the royal mile. Stopped to watch caricature drawing and was very fascinated by the ability of the artist to capture instantly the most important feature of the person and cartoonized it. 
Later, sat by the church and wrote my journal. As it’s getting pretty cold so headed back to the hostel to shower. After that organize my stuff and went down to the bar for a beer and internet access. This time I got myself a pint of Millers (￡2.20). It's a type of lager, quite bland, preferred McEwans (the one I had yesterday) over this.
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