"a wee dram"

The title of this post is my father's new favorite saying. He thinks it means "a little drink." They definitely don't say that in Scotland...anymore.
Today we had an eventful day. We went to a pub and had haggis, which was much less scary and far more delicious than I anticipated. We walked down the Royal Mile and took a tour of Holyrood House Palace, which is the residence of the Queen for three weeks in July. It is also where Mary Queen of Scots and James the IV and V lived. It was absolutely beautiful. In the back there is the ruins of Holyrood Abbey. The Abbey is said to be one of three churches that once held the remains of the cross that Jesus was crucified on, hence the name Holy Rude.
Once we left the Palace the beautiful, perfectly sunny day had become gray, windy, and rainy. Before going back to my Dad's hotel, we stopped at the brand new Scottish Parliament building (new because the Scottish parliament itself is new) and saw parliament in session. Not as interesting (or just as boring) as you'd think. After that we went back to Dad's warm hotel room and had a nap and watched the news, mainly about Egypt, before dinner and our ghost tour.
Dinner was delicious, though not as good as last night's which was truly amazing. We had a few drams(?) and then headed to the Royal Mile for our tour. Our tour guide painted his face and neck white and wore a cape; he essentially looked like a vampire. The guide was hilarious, but as the tour progressed his sidekick, who was supposed to scare us, became more and more disobedient while our guide became more cynical about his acting career. However, we did learn some interesting facts including:

• In an area where 6,000 people live today, 40,000 people lived in the middle ages
• The Royal Mile used to be the only road in Edinburgh
• Because of over population, buildings would be about 10 stories high
• Edinburgh burned the most witches out of anyone in the world

Lots of learning today. Lots of Billiam. It was awesome.

Since formatting got messed up yesterday, some pictures:

oh meeoww holyrood palace

holyrood house palace (the left side is much older than the rest and is where mary queen of scots resided after her time in france)

our tour guide

random thought: girl next door to me has friends and they are loud and annoying. sounds like they are drumming?

Tomorrow my dad and I are going to Cambridge, England to visit some family. On Saturday our cousin Claire and her one year old son, Finlay, are coming as well! I am very excited to meet Finlay and to see Ian, Fifi, and Claire, who I haven't seen in a couple years. Expect lots of pictures of an adorable one year old...and pray for better weather! (though I know everyone reading this is probably experiencing worse weather than high winds and occasional rain in 40 degree weather).