Museum / Exhibition / GalleryRoyal Yacht Britannia

For Hubby's fiftieth birthday we took a short break in Scotland. Hubby is 57 this week and so this must have been 7 years ago. How time flies. However this set me off reminiscing and remembering our day trip to Edinburgh. We were actually staying at the Spittal of Glenshee in the highlands, or was it lowlands? Our hotel was in the heart of the countryside and our holiday company had included a few day excursions in the price.

When we visited Edinburgh we did the ususal Edinburgh Castle, The Royal Mile and Princess Street, and we loved it. We then finished the day visiting the Royal Yacht Brittania at Leith, where it was permanently moored, now it was in retirement. Entry was £7 each which was reasonably pricey then. At the end of the tour though we did feel we'd had our monies worth.

Despite being late October and snowing back in Yorkshire, where we had come from, it was a lovely sunny day in Leith. Having said that it was cold, with a bitter wind blowing, when we approached the docks. Entry was through an exhibition centre which had interesting displays, information and photographs. Neither Hubby nor I are Royalists but we still found the whole experience enjoyable and informative, so it does have widespread appeal. In this exhibition centre there was the small launch, on which the Royals would be taken ashore.

Going outside there were towers with stairs to climb to access the Yacht. Not all of the Yacht is open to the public but much of it is. Some rooms/cabins though just had a glass screen which you could look through but not actually enter the room. Looking at such areas as, the banqueting hall, where the Queen has entertained many dignitaries, it looked much smaller and less impressive than expected. Yes parts of the boat and its furnishings are grand but not as much as expected. Some of the furnishings look a little tatty. I wondered if, as when we move house, the older furnishings had been left behind, and the best taken.

As you travel around the boat some parts of the deck are quite narrow so you need to be unafraid of water. Also this means that if you are visiting with children you need to take care and have a mind for their safety. Also it is a difficult space, in parts, for access for less mobile visitors. When you pay at the entrance you are given a 'phone headset' which you can press as you tour the boat and learn interseting facts about the Royal Yacht and it's occupants.

The boiler house was pristine white but ancient looking these days.

Overall though it was a good day. It was strange walking where dignitaries have tred. There are photographs of Diana and one has her sat in the mess hall talking to the crew. There is a photograph of the Queen as a child playing deck games with the crew also. As you leave the yacht there is a fairly large souvenier shop. Many of the goods are pricey but there are small, cheaper items for children for example.There is quite a large cafe come restaurant here. Our visiting time was limited, due to our coach, but I would think you would need a good few hours to visit properly and see everything.

If you visit remember that a lot of the day will be spent outside and near the Scottish coast, and wrap up warm.