Edinburgh: Day 3 Britannia

On our next day in Edinburgh (which was last Monday), we went to see the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Basically, HMY (Her Majesty's Yacht) Britannia was Queen Elizabeth's mini-cruise ship. It was originally built in early 1950's for Queen Elizabeth's father, King George VI. But, he died four months before it was completed. So, when Elizabeth succeeded him to the throne, her and her husband, Prince Philip, took over with completing the design and choosing the decor for the ship.

Since the time of its commission in the 1950s, Britannia has traveled around the world several times. It has hosted many world leaders, including several US presidents, and was even equipped to host up to 250 people for royal banquets. It also served as a Honeymoon vessel for 3 of the Queen's children, including Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981.

In the late 1990s, it was decided that the cost of maintaining the Britannia was too excessive, so the government decided that it should be retired. It is said that the Queen wept openly when she disembarked Britannia for the last time. Apparently, she treasured this ship as a place where she could truly relax. It isn't easy being queen....
Anyway, the tour was very nice. Our admission included an audio tour, and we were able to walk about at our own pace. This is a picture of the queen's bedroom. Prince Philip had his own room that connected to hers.
This is a picture of the State Dining Room. The audio tour said that it would take over 2 hours for this table to be set, as all of the pieces of silverware, etc. were measured with a ruler!

After a meal, the guests would then move into the drawing room, below.We also were able to see the crew's quarters, and the officers lounges. It was fun hearing of the quirky games that they had made up. For example, in one room, there was a stuffed animal on the overhead fan that served as some kind of fun, and there was also a stuffed monkey that was hidden each day in a new place. (If you look really closely, you can see it hiding in the glass cabinet, just to the left of the gold ship).
The queen even had a garage for her Rolls Royce on board.
There were a lot of personal photographs on board. Ethan and I liked this one of the Royal Family the best (sorry, my flash blocked out Princess Anne's face).
It was a neat tour, and we learned a lot about the royal family.

After we left the Britannia, we headed to the Royal Botanic Gardens. When we got there around 3:30pm, all the kids were napping in the car. So we let them sleep for a few minutes more before we headed into the gardens. Just as we walked in, we heard the guide at the gate saying how the gardens was closing at 4pm (in 5 minutes). So, we ran around one loop, and took a picture to prove that we had gone there. We obviously didn't get to see very much. So, we finished our day back at the hotel, eating dinner there, and of course, swimming in the pool.