Tuesday, October 4
We meet for breakfast at the hotel buffet, featuring eggs (fried or scrambled), bacon, sausage, fruit, pastries, yogurt and more. And always baked beans. Our routine for most of the trip will be 7:30 breakfast with departure at 8:30. This morning we have a bus tour of Edinburgh ending with a tour of the castle. This afternoon is free time, as is dinner.
More of the Georgian New Town Buildings.
Light rain this morning as we board the bus. Our driver is a local named Neal. A gentleman named Frazier comes aboard too, as our guide, complete with kilt. We are given "whisper" ear phones which makes it easy to hear him when we are out of the bus. Edinburgh is a city of 500,000. It is the 2nd largest city in Scotland (Glasgow is #1), the 2nd largest investment city in the UK, and the 2nd most expensive city in the UK (London being first). It has been the capital city since the 1400's.
We do a drive around Old Town, then New Town, which was started in 1766. We stop at Charlotte Square which was quite a posh address back then. Alexander Graham Bell was born here. Many of the houses have wide doors, which was a nod to ladies' hoop skirts, and there was always a boot scraper outside because of all the horses... He points out historic buildings like The Toll House and gives a bit of history. Very cursory tour. We disembark and walk a short way to the Castle which sits on rocky Castle Hill, overlooking the city - an obvious strategic advantage.
Approaching the castle, we cross a later- addition entry over a moat. It is flanked by states of Robert the Bruce, King in the early 1300's and William Wallace (Mel Gibsons' Bravehart)from the late 1200's. It is the most besieged place in Britain, so it saw a lot of action! The older gate is accessed through a narrow walkway and is quite narrow - so that attackers would be forced to enter single file!
William Wallace
From an iron age fort through innumerable Kings and Queens, it is kind of amazing to think of all the feet that have trod this path in the past! It even housed German POW's during WWII! It is a military station today, as well as the city's most popular tourist attraction.
The oldest building in Edinburgh is St. Margaret's Chapel named for Queen Margaret who was later made a saint and died in 1093.
The castle complex is comprised of several different buildings. Below is the Great Hall. which features some interesting weaponry and tapestries - and a secret window which allowed folks to eavesdrop on conversations. Judging from the weaponry, those early Scots had to be very strong!
We waited in a short line to see The Scottish Crown Jewels, (no photos) which while few, are quite spectacular. A gorgeous crown and huge ceremonial sword and a scepter. The Scots take great pride in the fact that they are older than the British ones in London. There is also The Stone of Destiny - an ancient symbol of Scotland's monarchy that has been used for centuries during the inauguration of kings and queens. It will be taken to London and placed under the throne during King Charles' inauguration.
With a free afternoon, we decide to walk The Royal Mile, which begins at the castle and goes through Old Town to Holyrood Palace, home to the British Monarchy when they are in town. (We checked yesterday and there were no tickets available for the part open to the public.)
The Royal Mile is a collection of shops, restaurants, offices, churches and other buildings which ends up at the Scottish Parliament Building, which is across the street from Holyrood Palace. We check out a few shops, several closes (alleyways) and other buildings. Lots of kilt shops, woolen shops, souvenir shops, etcetera.
Found a few cute ornaments called donks that look like gnomes that have the kids' names on them.
Another kirk and church, above. This one's still a church. Holyrood Palace below.
Parliament. Best I can say about the architecture is that it is unique!
Then, we head back up the Royal Mile to Northbridge, where we stop for a nice lunch at a sandwich shop called Breadmeatsbread. We share a reuben and some chips. Then we continue walking, back to the hotel. It has been lightly raining off and on all day, but nothing serious. Raincoats are everyday wear here I think, with not a lot of umbrellas (brollys). Temperatures have been in the 50's and 60's mostly.
(Who is that old lady?) We browse through some of the shopping areas near the hotel, including a local Tesco which is a chain of grocery stores - bigger than a convenience store but not by much - where we get a few more pounds from the ATM and then buy nuts and candy to break the large bills. A snack and a beer at the bar is dinner. A little telly, catching up on emails, and downloading photos ends the day.
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