The Royal Edinburgh Ticket gets you discounted entrance to the Castle, Holyrood Palace, and the royal yacht Britannia. The first two are slated for tomorrow and the last one we did today.
En route to the boat, we also stopped to see the Royal Botanic gardens while the forecast rain was still holding off. It's a lovely spot with magnificent trees thanks to the maritime climate. It has 10 glass houses for temperate and tropical plants, but outside is magnificent. The season for rhododendrons is just past, but a few blossoms still linger, and the blue poppies were spectacular. Then, it was on to the boat.
After the decommissioning of the yacht in 1997, several cities bid for the right to become the berth place and Edinburgh was chosen. The boat is moored just opposite the cruise ship dock in Leith at the mouth of the firth of Forth. It is beside a large mall, in fact, the entrance to the yacht is from the 3rd level of the mall by a glassed walkway. The tour of the boat is fantastic with each visitor getting a wand to listen to about 30 stations each with their own narration. One starts at the top of the boat and works down from the bridge, through the crews quarters, through the royal half of the ship and finally down to the engine room. It is maintained in meticulous condition as the royals left it with many of the queen's articles remaining on board. Suffice to say, tea on the yacht was a must. The queen certainly travelled in style!
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