Edinburgh Castle

Castle Confusion

After reading Bob Morris' article about the restoration of the castle, I was a bit nervous about how it would influence my experience. Couldn't he have just let me life in my blissful oblivion imagining that everything I was seeing was actually original?!?! but, in all honesty, I think that even without his influence I wouldn't have been thrilled about experiencing the castle. It all started when we had to wait in a 30 minute line just to obtain out tickets. As soon as you enter the castle, you are bombarded by commerce and consumption. "Buy this!" "Remember your experience, take home a bottle of whiskey!" I found the entire experience to be a bit gregarious, not to mention I had a difficult time navigating at all. People would stop in the middle of a walking path to take photographs, and there were simply too many people there for me to feel at ease. My favorite part of the castle was seeing the crown jewels in the small museum they have set up, although even that was slightly claustrophobic. For people visiting Edinburgh, I would recommend walking up the royal mile and being a tourist for a moment, walking up to the castle and seeing the archway, but I'm not sure if the admission fee or wait would really be worth your time to actually access the castle. (And maybe avoid Bob Morris' article until after your visit!)