Scotland Day Four: National Museum and Spamalot

We were delighted to learn that our hotel buffet breakfast comes with a cat. She's a long-haired beauty named Mary, who has shown up at the window just above the buffet every day for years. Today she managed to sneak in through the window, hop onto the buffet table, and then to the floor. We all enjoyed petting her for a while, then the Spanish waiter escorted her "afuera" (outside).

We walked to the National Museum of Scotland in the late morning, and spent all day there. We covered the geological history of Scotland (fascinating!), the Galloway Hoard, Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites, an old loom, an old steam engine, Roman pottery, enormous swords, a 1599 rifle, beautiful carved wood from St. Giles church, Viking silver, and much more.

Dinner was to be at a tapas restaurant that features haggis arepas, but they were unexpectedly closed. Instead, we chose a little pub across the street from King's Theatre, a historic and beautiful theatre that opened its doors in 1906. And that's where we saw the musical Spamalot, which was absolutely wonderful! We loved the actors, the music, the voices -- really the whole thing was just a delight. And we were fortunate to have seats in the seventh row. Fantastic seats and a wonderful evening.

Edited to add that the next morning, we read that some fellow had been stabbed in a gang-related attack right outside the theatre the night before we went. Glad we didn't know that, because at the time, we felt quite safe walking there and back!