Edinburgh

Our first stop in Scotland was Edinburgh, the national capital.
Yes, Scotland is a separate country but all foreign policy is handled by Great Britain. We had to tender into Queensferry, then take a bus for our excursion. You can count on tendering to get great shots of your cruise ship!
Our excursion was to the Royal Yacht, decommissioned in 1997. During it's 44 years of service it sailed over 1,000,000 miles, going around the world several times. It was operated by a crew of 20 officers and 220 sailers, including a 26 piece Royal Marine Band. We were able to tour the entire ship.
This picture is of the formal dining room where heads of state were entertained. The ship was very spacious and luxurious as you can see from this picture of the family sitting room
Basically the front half of the ship was for the crew and the back half for the Royal Family. Several couples honeymooned on this ship, including Charles and Diana. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip each had their own bedrooms, while 4 others were shared by other Royals.
After completing our tour of the ship we took a bus ride through Edinburgh. Unfortunately we hit a rain shower so few pictures through the bus windows turned out. This one is of the train station. The tower clock is kept 5 minutes fast to encourage people to be on time for their trains.
After we got back to the ship, we had lunch and are enjoying a quiet afternoon.