When we woke up on Monday, we had—unbelievably—only two full days left in Edinburgh. So it was time to really focus.
One place on my “must visit” list was Gordon Nicholson Kiltmakers, because the owner’s wife sells lovely tartan accessories for ladies. I had been salivating over her online wares and now it was time to check them out in person.
The shop is located in the Canongate part of the Royal Mile (the Royal Mile has several names as you go through it—Lawnmarket, the High Street, Canongate, etc.). We walked to the shop since it was downhill!
Some of beautiful wares for sale!
I finally decided on two things—the Highland Rose cowl and a coin purse. There are so many things that are so beautiful I really had to restrain myself! (And placed an online order once I got home!)
The shop makes handmade kilts and trews, and also runs the Edinburgh Kiltmaker Academy!
After making our purchases, we headed a bit further down the mile so I could….see Jamie’s print shop!
If you are an Outlander fan, you know that the exterior scenes of Jamie’s Print Shop were filmed in Edinburgh, in Bakehouse Close…..(these closes are all over the city)
The entrance to the close….
PRINT SHOP STAIRSSSSSS!!!!
(If you are not an Outlander fan none of this makes sense to you and it’s too much to explain, so just move on.)
After this we went back to Mimi’s near our hotel—my throat was so dry because of the weather change that I desperately needed some hydration.
Iced hot chocolate? Sure! (It was so nice to have real glasses.)
After hydrating, it was time to visit a Royal Yacht. This was our longest cab ride, from Edinburgh City Center to Leith, where the Britannia is docked. We had booked our tickets, but you can’t book reservations at the tea room, so our plan was to get on the ship and head to the tea room for lunch and then do the tour.
Just like the Palace of Holyroodhouse (and Edinburgh Castle), there was an audio tour that was part of your tour experience. You could pick up the transmitter after you finished the little “museum” part of the tour, but before you got on the yacht itself.
one of the very elaborate binnacles (ie, the things that hold the compass). This was taken from the Victoria and Albert III and moved to Britannia.
There are elevators on the yacht—one for tourists, but also one that was installed for the Queen Mother! There were also accessible bathrooms, but some of the bathrooms were originals and were very definitely not accessible!
Lunch!
View from the tea room, which is the area where the Royal Family used to entertain on the Britannia.
I went for fruit scones! Changing it up.
(In case you are wondering, I am “Team Devon” in that I put the clotted cream on first, followed by the jam. :) Sometimes I’ll even omit the jam completely!)
After the delightful food, it was time to tour the yacht. This is self-guided, which I liked.
A few snaps:
The sun room, the queen’s favorite room, and I can certainly see why!
The Games cabinet
Princess Elizabeth with her father, George V, her mother, Queen Elizabeth, and her sister, Princess Margaret.
The Queen’s bed.
Of course I spotted the hidden corgi.
Prince Philip’s room (and another corgi)
Every bed on Britannia is a single (twin) bed except this one in the Honeymoon Suite. (This is where King Charles III and Diana spent their honeymoon in 1981).
A family snap from 1985.
Cocktails in the sun room.
Below decks: some of the five different ironing boards that serviced Britannia, because one can obviously not be royal with only one ironing board.
The general purpose press!
Th Britannia gift shop was amazing, and I had quite a few things I’d been commissioned to buy, so the shop got a lot of my pounds!
For dinner, we went to the Scran and Scallie (“Scran” being a Scots word meaning a cheap and filling meal, or, variously, just food) in Stockbridge. (You can see our table on their homepage! :) )
The steak pie I had was definitely delicious, as was the chocolate panna cotta—I’d never had chocolate panna cotta!
