The Camden Markets are a number of adjoining large markets in Camden Town near the Hampstead Road Lock of the Regent’s Canal (which is usually called Camden Lock), often called collectively “Camden Market” or “Camden Lock”. The stalls sell crafts, clothing, bric-a-brac, fast food, and other things. It is the fourth most popular visitor attraction in London, attracting approximately 100,000 people each weekend. It began in its present form in 1974 when the Camden Lock crafts market was formed. There was a small local food market in Inverness Street long before that; as of 2008 this market retains only three fruit and vegetable stalls in addition to stalls like those in the other markets.

My guide book recommended two different markets besides Portobello market, the first was Camden town and the other was Brixton. We went to both on Saturday, but only one impressed us, the other was totally disappointing. Camden town market, obviously was the happening one. There was tons of great food places, and we even found a Malaysian family from Penang which had their own restaurant serving amazing Malaysian Chinese food! Yum. There were all kinds of unique clothing with stalls from all over the world. This place is a must, however forget about Brixton. Totally dodgy and not worth it at all.

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish city after Glasgow. Edinburgh is one of Scotland’s 32 local government council areas.

Located in the south-east of Scotland, Edinburgh lies on the east coast of the Central Belt, along the Firth of Forth, near the North Sea. Owing to its rugged setting and vast collection of Medieval and Georgian architecture, including numerous stone tenements, it is often considered one of the most picturesque cities in Europe.

It forms the City of Edinburgh council area; the city council area includes urban Edinburgh and a 30-square-mile (78 km²) rural area.

It has been capital of Scotland since 1437 (replacing Scone) and is the seat of the Scottish Parliament. The city was one of the major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, earning it the nickname Athens of the North. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city. In the census of 2001, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 448,625.

Edinburgh is well-known for the annual Edinburgh Festival, a collection of official and independent festivals held annually over about four weeks from early August. The number of visitors attracted to Edinburgh for the Festival is roughly equal to the settled population of the city. The most famous of these events are the Edinburgh Fringe (the largest performing arts festival in the world), the Edinburgh Comedy Festival (the largest comedy festival in the world), the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

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After the Palace and the Scotish Parliment, we headed down town to see Edinburgh proper. Its a really beautiful city. Anywhere from the city you can see the beautiful castle up on the hill. There are tons of statues on almost every round about, loads of shops too. There is a nice park which used to be a moat, and every now and then you see somebody wearing a kilt playing the bagpipes. Its truly a beautiful city, but the lack of sunlight and showers during the day I was visiting made it rather hard to take photos that truly reflect its beauty. I will definitely come back to Edinburgh one day.

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The Palace of Holyroodhouse, or informally Holyrood Palace, founded as a monastery by David I of Scotland in 1128, has served as the principal residence of the Kings and Queens of Scotland since the 15th century. The Palace stands in Edinburgh at the bottom of the Royal Mile. The Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence in Scotland of Queen Elizabeth II, who spends time at the Palace at the beginning of the summer.

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The first place Joe and Allan brought me to was, Holyrood Palace, which is the Queens official residence when she comes to Scotland. This place is full of history, as it is the house where Mary Queen of Scots lived. Visitors are allowed to walk around and see most of the interrior of the Palace, but photos are not allowed inside. It gives you an idea of the Royalty of the time live and how they live today as well. The master bed was really really small which lead us to believe that there were hobbits back then. I doubt that the size of Queen Elizabeth’s real bed. Haha. The grounds of Holyrood palace also has the ruins of Holyrood Abey, which is a beautiful sight! A must see.

A note however is this. Don’t bother eating at the Cafe at the palace! Yucks! I definately don’t think the Queen eats this at all. It was all terrible! Worse Chocolate cake I ever ate.

Just some shots of us together