For breakfast this morning we had Haggis & Black Pudding along with the usual other breakfast items - scrambeled eggs, yogurt, fruit, juices, etc. etc..It was good (for a Holiday Inn, but not great.  Note: Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish, is made of the following ingredients: sheep’s heart, liver and lungs, minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal’s stomach for about three hours. Today the dish is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach.   Black pudding is traditionally served as a part of full English/Scottish/Irish breakfast with baked beans, mushroom, bacon, eggs, (normal) sausage, breads, hash browns, and tomato. Not all necessarily must be in your plate though. It also can be served deep fried in a batter with fries as an alternative to Fish & Chips. Black pudding is a sausage made by cooking blood (usually from a pig) with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. And just like its name, its colour is totally black. The Stornoway black pudding is regarded as one of the top gourmet puddings in Britain.

Again we rushed out to hop on a double-decker bus, with the proper coins, to go downtown to visit the Edinburgh Castle. We  were there in about 25 minutes; were in the ticket line before it opened.

 

We had to checkout of our hotel by noon, so we had to rush through our castle tour but thanks to Mindy's astute planning we did see everything important to us. i.e. the Scottish Crown Jewels (no  pictures allowed), the Chapel, etc.

 The Stained Glass in the Chapel.