Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II---Edinburgh Day 2 conti

I'm so so so so sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I have been sick. I am recovering from a food poisoning (will blog about it later). So I haven't had time to do anything but sleep and rest.
So, last entry I included two photos of the Queen. I had to zoom in like crazy to get those shots. The Queen was NOT close to me at all!!! So, that's my excuse for fuzzy photos. To top the photos, here is the address that the Queen gave that I recorded.

 

Hopefully this would make up for delay. My huge apology!!!!!

Thus, we can begin my second day in Edinburgh (July 2, 2011):

I woke up early on Saturday because I knew the first place I wanted to visit was the Edinburgh Castle. Obviously, when you hear the word castle, you know there would be lines! So, of course being the crazy person (or uper prepared :P) that I am, I had to beat the lines! My breakfast was included as part of my stay at Pollock Halls (once again, I love the place). The breakfast was the first HOT breakfast I had in over a week. I couldn't be happier! One particular thing that I want to introduce to you all is the black circular thing on the upper left hand corner. It is haggis. It is a traditional Scottish food. I had it for the first meal in Edinburgh and I didn't realize they would have it for breakfast as well. I really really like it, despite the fact that it's made out of lamb/sheep organs. It was very tasty. (side note: I didn't finish all of my breakfast, I snuggled the bread out to be my lunch, bahaha!) 

My first HOT breakfast in a week!

After breakfast, I left my hotel immediately. I had plenty of time and I planned on using it to wander around the city in the early morning without any tourists, cars,buses or noise. Here is a photo of a castle-wanna-be that is located within the vicinity of all the residence halls. I think it's a restaurant/up-scale dining hall now. I didn't go in, but it looked gorgeous from the outside. 

Castle turn dining hall

One of the great things about Pollock Halls is the area where it's situated. It's about 25-30 minute walk from Edinburgh city centre and close to is this amazing highlands:

See the highland/mountains in the back?!

The highland is actually called Salisbury crags that is part of the Holyrood Park in Edinburgh city. There is a path that you could hike up to the top to look at the Edinburgh city, but I did not have the gear or time to hike up there, but I did go up to another hill that I will explain later (yup, that's right, keep you hanging!). So, I began my wandering around. The first place I walked by was The Meadow (as it is printed on my map). The Meadow was actually really huge, I only walked around 1/4 of its circumference. There were many playing tennis already when I was there (Wimbledon was well under its way), people jogging, dogs running. It was such a nice morning. It was a great start to my day!! After walking through The Meadow, I walked through the University of Edinburgh, but honestly I wasn't sure which buildings are which because they were having massive construction.

Part of University of Edinburgh (?) 

 One thing about traveling without a tour guide or group travel is that you encounter city like Edinburgh, you are lost in its magnificent buildings but you have no idea what they are. It is a downside I would say, but the upside is the reward of walking around the city with a simple map on your hand and able to conquer all that you have planned (without getting lost). This is what I love about (semi)-solo travel! There is no deadline, no "let's meet here at this time", the amount of freedom allows me to do what I want! Ok, back to my walk:
So after passing the University of Edinburgh, I passed my the Museum of Scotland (free admission), which unfortunately I didn't have time to go in:

 The museum has a very modern look on the outside, yet the materials it used allow the museum to blend in very well all of the historic buildings surrounding it! Apparently Dolly the sheep is in there (miss it :( )
(to be continued...sorry)