I lived in the shadow of this castle for years. Its appearance never ceased to delight me. Daylight in Scotland is constantly changing - depending on the time of day, the weather, the sky, and the season - and the Castle reflected these changes. On August nights the sounds of bagpipes, gunfire, drums, and fireworks flooded into my home from the Military Tattoo taking place on the Castle Esplanade. My parents met each other in Edinburgh Castle during WWII, where they were a youthful doctor and nurse in the army hospital. It is still a military base, guarded by real soldiers. When I left Scotland to live and work abroad, I had my going-away party there during the worst of the IRA outrages. I had to give a list of guests to the sentries, who wielding machine guns, interviewed each guest as they arrived to make sure they were not carrying bombs.

Edinburgh Castle from the South East