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Edinburgh, Abbotsford House and Melrose Abbey

My apologies for being slow but yesterday was a really full day. We had another birthday, it was Dennis’s special day.
We started out with a guided bus tour of Edinburgh from a true Scotsman in a kilt!  It is a beautiful city. We ended our tour at Edinburgh Castle, which sits up high overlooking the city.  It was quite a hike to get up there! We had lots of time to explore the Castle.  We also views the Crown Jewels but we weren’t allowed to take any pictures.
Around noon we departed for our optional excursion out into the country. Ten people stayed back to explore Edinburgh on their own.  The drives out into the country are amazing.  The vistas are breathtaking and the leaves are beginning to change color.
Our first stop was at Abbotsford House, the Home that was built by Sir Walter Scott. We were served a delicious soup and sandwich lunch, followed by desert and singing “Happy Birthday “ to Dennis. As you will see, Abbotsford House looks more like a castle than a Home!!!  I told Carl that it was what I had envisioned for us when we started to build our house! 😂. We had a guided tour of the house by a very knowledgeable man (too knowledgeable for some of us 😉).  It was really interesting to learn more about Walter Scott and life back in the early 1800’s. We are all thankful that we didn’t live back in that time period!!
Next we went to see the ruins of Melrose Abbey. This was an amazing monastery back in its day but it was awesome to be able to walk around the remains of the majestic Abbey.
Just as we were finishing our free time it started to rain lightly, so it was a good time to get back onto the bus for our return to Edinburgh. As we got closer to the city, the clouds disappeared, leaving us with a very lovely evening.
Once again we split into groups to have dinner.  The group that I was with got dropped off in the city centre.  We checked out some shops before finding a nice pub for a pint and a bite to eat.  We really enjoyed our walk back to the hotel as it was a very pleasant evening.  It is amazing to see the castle, all lit up and towering over the city.

































































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