Before heading off to our next adventure in the Scottish Borders we decided to spend a few days in Edinburgh to live the city life for a bit. We booked a private room through AirBnb with a wonderful host who truly made our stay amazing by the great tips he gave. As they say, do as the locals do - you won't regret it!

Our first day in Edinburgh was filled with museums as it was a chilly and rainy day. What better way to stay warm and toasty than by taking advantage of all the FREE museums and galleries.

We stepped into the Scottish National Gallery and were invited in by a very warming red room.

The gallery is quite expansive and has many floors that walk you through various parts of history.

We found a few of our favorite pieces and circulated through the rooms.

Having had our fill of history for the moment we walked back outside to a light mist and began wandering the streets in search of lunch.

We had heard of a great new Thai restaurant and as soon as we arrived there was a queue a block long - no thanks. We decided to duck into a pub just a few doors down and we weren't disappointed.

Fueled up for more exploring we decided to try out the National Museum of Scotland - again free so why not? Wow. The entrance itself was amazing. You walked into a lobby that felt as if you'd stepped into an underground cave but once you hand over your coat and bag you walk up a flight of stairs to an enormous gallery with light shinning from the glass ceiling above.

We took a few minutes to enjoy this part as it seemed like an exhibit on its own.

Honestly we only made it through a few rooms as the amount of artifacts in each exhibit was incredible.

We had booked a Scottish Whiskey Experience tour for the afternoon and made our way through the streets to the very sterile looking entrance. Stepping in you feel as if you are in Willy Wonka's Factory.

Every staff member is friendly and hopping around trying to accommodate the immense throng of customers queued up for tickets. We got into the line for our tour time and were welcomed to the tour by our 'ghost host' who discussed the production process of whiskey while we rode along in a whiskey barrel.

We were then led into a room and introduced to the aromas of whiskey by a scratch and sniff card - very creative - and learned about the various areas of Scotland and the different whiskies they produce.

We were given our dram of whiskey and walked into the most beautiful room that was decorated with floor to ceiling cases filled with amber-colored whiskey.

The tour guide taught us how to smell, swirl and finally taste (sip) our whiskey. She said this isn't a college party and we don't take a shot of whiskey. We actually found a whiskey we wouldn't mind having ourselves - Old Pulteney 12 years.