Palace of Holyroodhouse

While I still have not yet written my blog about my second week in Edinburgh, I would first write on my visit to the Palace of Holyroodhouse when my memory of this afternoon is still vivid.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of The Queen in Scotland, and it is famous as the home of Mary, Queen of Scots. As said in the leaflet,

Holyrood is a house of many memories. Wars have been plotted, dancing has lasted deep into the night, murder has been done in its chamber.

I did not expect that a visit to Mary's, Queen of Scots', chamber could be such a scary experience. After walking up a dim spiral staircase, I saw the chamber in which Mary witnessed the brutual murder of her Italian secretary, David Rizzio, by her jealous second husband Lord Darnley in her private room. The dim light, the atmosphere, the narration (on the audio guide)...everything...filled me with horror...!!! What a pity that no photographs could be taken inside the palace...


Royal Mile - on the way to the palace. I like this building very much - very fairy-tale-ly. There is a tavern on the ground floor.

Canongate Kirk (Kirk: "Church" in Gaelic)
The Queen's Gallery (11.5 pounds for unlimited admission to the gallery and the palace for 12 months. For those who come and visit me in Edinburgh, I can be your tour guide!)

Palace of Holyroodhouse


A beautiful lamp along the corridor to the great stair of the palace
The picturesque ruins of the 12-th century Abbey



It looks like the manor houses I imagined from reading the English novels...

The Statue of A boy with a violin
A giant tree in the Holyrood Garden


Ye Old Christmas Shoppe in Royal Mile. Owning a small shop selling only Christmas trees and decorations in the old town (all around the year) is such a VERY romantic idea, even IF it does not make a lot of money, given that Christmas is my favourite festival. :) Perhaps it gives me some lights on what I can do after graduation! :P Definitely worth visiting!




(Thanks Ling-yun for capturing the precious moment!)

On the way home, we caught a glimpse of a Scottish-style wedding service at the Canongate Kirk. It is my second time "witnessing" a Scottish wedding here. *Daydreaming* It would be great fun and romantic (again) to get married in Edinburgh...inviting family and friends AND of course Scots wearing Tartan to the reception, followed by a Scottish banquet (I have no idea what it is like exactly, but no Haggis please!) and a crazy Ceilidh evening (like the photo below - taken by Morton - when we went to the Ceilidh dancing class in St Peter's Church!) as well as a pub crawl (for my guests, not for me - too tired already!).

(Jenny: Remember we also caught a glimpse of a wedding or whatever reception at an Oxford college?)

The highlight of the day (for me, at least) is that we saw a very elegant lady (the lady in the above photo - she is a mother of two children!) - I could not help NOT watching her (looking at is not too accurate in this case) during the service. I liked her light blue suits, I liked her black hat (I saw them in Harrods before, but I could not think of any occasions I can wear them in Hong Kong without being stared at on the street...so I ended up not buying any!), her black peep-toe high heels, her beautiful face, her long natural hair...Everything is just so British...and EXACTLY the same as I "imagined" what an elegant and well-educated British lady should be like - from watching TV and films as well as reading novels (stereotype...I know!) The closet person I can think of is Kate Middleton - Prince William's girlfriend.

Oh I almost forgot to say I bought from the palace two postcards featuring Prince William of Wales in military uniform (50p @)...I will post one on my noticeboard. Haha! :P


Spinning - The closet thing to crazy?!

Kate Middleton. So elegant!