I cannot say I like Edinburgh too much. It was a pleasant walk in its old town stepping on its cobbled streets and alleys. As the capital city of Scotland, like most big cities, I find it too much crammed with buildings.

The new Scottish parliament building in Edinburgh was opened in 2004 following the devolution of power from Westminster to Scottish parliament. I was interested to see the building to find out what had made its final construction cost exceeding initial budget by 390 million British Pounds. Regardless of the appearance of the building, its location with the Arthur’s Seat (a hill) at the back has already won its credit. At the time of my visit there, there was no parliament sessions and anyone was welcome to visit its assemby hall and other meeting venues. It is indeed an open parliament.

Holyroodhouse (palace of Scottish monarch) is another interesting place in Edinburgh, not for its architechture, but for the legendary and tragic life of Mary, Queen of Scotland (1542-1587). She became queen of Scotland at 6 years old. At 15 years old, she married King François II of France. After her first husband died and at 22 years old, she married Lord Darnley who became arrogant and had attacked her and unsuccessfully attempted to cause her to miscarry their unborn child. One year after her second marriage, Darnley murdered her private secretary, David Riccio in front of her because he was jealous of her friendship with Riccio. The next year Darnley was killed and the killer was believed to be Bothwell who then became Mary’s third husband. Then she was imprisoned by the Scottish lords and was forced to abdicate the Scottish throne in favour of her one-year-old son. She then fled to England but was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth I of England for 19 years and was executed at 44 years old. Elizabeth I wanted to remove Mary because Mary was next in line to the English throne after Elizabeth who was childless. In the eyes of many Catholics Elizabeth I was illegitimate, making Mary the true heir.