Edinburgh - castle

Made my way up through the crowds of Fringe to Edinburgh castle (somewhat marred by the huge bleachers erected in front for people to watch the Military Tattoo in the evenings, pic 1). I took a nice photo sphere of the upper/inner buildings (probably won't display right, pic 2).
History: this was where the most important people stayed, including where Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI (of Scotland) who was also James I (of England and Ireland), uniting rule of the 3 countries for the first time. Mary became queen at 6 days old and was forced to abdicate to her son when he was 13 months old - they certainly lived in "interesting times".
These buildings also hold the Scottish crown jewels (no longer in use) which have their own long history of conflict (pic 3 of metal version, no pics allowed of the real thing). Not as extravagant as the English crown jewels.
A very elaborately decorated room (pic 4) was restored to how it was decorated when king James VI/I returned to visit Scotland for the first time since becoming king of England (14 years prior, it seems like the Scots were a little sour about this).
There was also a military prison (pic 5) and plenty of cannons with great views over the city (pic 6).
The oldest building still standing was a small stone chapel from the 1100s.
Tons of history here, and very worthwhile. I didn't get an audio tour but I felt there was enough to read and there was a free introductory walking tour that explained the main points of interest.Read more