Royal Museum
10-5pm daily
Free!

This is one of the best-displayed exhibits of natural history I've ever seen. Each animal is in its own little habitat. Some are sitting, some standing, some lying down -- one tiger is even leaping! It doesn't have nearly as many specimens as does, say, the Natural History Museum in Dublin, but the ones they do have are presented very well. Even if natural history museums creep you out a little bit, as they do me, you still might find yourself enjoying this.

There is another exhibit full of ironwork, jewelry, armour and other arts and crafts, including stuff from ancient Egypt! Especially interesting is the art in industry pieces -- I love looking at how people work to make functional objects look nice. You don't think of art tying into things such as kitchen appliances, but it does! It does! These things are designed not only for a functional purpose, but an aesthetic one, as well.

I could have spent a lot more time here. Unfortunately, we were in a bit of a hurry by this point, so we sort of hustled through. I'm planning to revisit it next time I'm in Edinburgh.

The Royal Museum of Scotland sits next to the new Museum of Scotland. The older building and the new building are connected. While the Museum of Scotland focuses on Scotland's history, the Royal Museum is a more eclectic collection of art and artifacts from around the world, although mostly Europe.

The space itself is wonderful. You enter into a light-filled ground floor that rises three stories up. Except for special exhibits, no admission is charged. The ground floor has a simple cafe, an area for children's activities, and pools with fish. It can be very soothing just to sit and gaze around. At the far end is the Millennium Clock, a fascinating sculpture and mechanical piece created for the year 2000.

The displays we enjoyed were the stuffed rare animals and birds, and a display of glass.

Enter into a large Victorian open space and begin your search through ancient Egypt, Vikings, the Orient, science, animals, history - an Aladdin's cave of interesting exhibits in modern settings.

Few people come away not having learned something new - no matter how hard they try.

And one day is not enough to see everything.