For my American friends, it is pronounced “Edin-bruh”. I have heard it enough from our local tour guides and it is ingrained in me now. Before the trip, I read on google “Edin-burah” but that’s not correct.

From a tour guide I learned the city has a population of about 500,000–the entire country only 5 million and 80% live in the southern part of the country. Consequently, northern Scotland is now high on the list to visit. A lady on the tour said “There’s just NOTHING there.” Definitely moving up the list.

We arrived in Edinburgh Wednesday and have spent time exploring the city. Here we have an unbelievably convenient apartment. Boy did I luck up in this booking! We bought groceries and have enjoyed cooking breakfast and a couple of evening meals as well. It is a welcome break from eating out. (We did go to a wonderful Indian restaurant we had been to in London.) Another perk is being able to do laundry.

The city is basically divided into “old” town and “new” town. New is a relative term as it was built in the 1800s. Old means 1100s. The buildings and their architecture are amazing. We have no concept of such history in the US.

Today we were gone all day on a guided tour to St. Andrews, the home of the oldest golf course in the world. We aren’t golf fans but it’s on the coast and offered opportunity to see several towns and countryside outside of Edinburgh, thus the booking. We also stopped in Falkland. For fans of Outlander, many scenes of Inverness were actually filmed here. Tomorrow we are touring Edinburgh castle in the morning. We have been so fortunate with no rain this week but it is forecast for tomorrow so we’ll see where we end up.