EDINBURGH Day 3

 We plan to tour the castle today and Rick Steves says we should get there early to avoid the crowds so that is just what we do.  It opens at 9:30 and we're there at 9:35.  We activate our special 7 day pass to different attractions throughout Scotland and waltz to the front of the line.  Feel like real VIPs.  

This church is at the corner where our street meets with the Royal Mile so we walk past it often.  The red shutters just make me shudder.  Looks like it is inhabited by some evil monster.  But back to the castle.

The cobbled stone path takes through the impressive front gate complete with heavy iron doors and a little later a big metal gate full of spikes that comes down.  We're inside!  We walk up to the line of canons and a great view of the city.  (Really better than Cantrell Hill).  We make a bee line to the crown jewels (again recommended by Rick Steves) and get there before any of the crowds.  Of course no pictures are allowed.  The crown is red fabric with a jeweled framework.  Along side are royal swords and the stone of destiny which must be returned to England for any royal inauguration.  

From there we go to the private chambers.  They seem more livable than many castles.  The next part we enter is the memorial to war veterans.  There was even a section honoring the musicians!  From there we entered the great hall.  The king had a special grate that he could look through to secretly watch his guests.  

On to the Chapel to Saint Margret.  Very small and very simple.  It is the oldest building in Edinburgh.  It survived several stormings of the castle as the invading armies were superstitious enough or religious enough not to harm it.  

There is a special area for the burial of the royal dogs.

Next stop is a gift shop/whisky tasting.  A Bailey's Cream type  was the sample being given out.  Yummm!  I bought some whisky fudge.  Probably will be eaten as soon as Nick and I meet up in London in a couple of weeks.  

We're heading to a cafe inside the castle for lunch.  What!?  It's closed off and we can't get there?  Well, in 30 minutes there is going to be a special 42 gun salute to celebrate the Queen's jubilee and they are clearing the area out.  We find a place to stand behind some nice short people to wait.  We are entertained by the people in special uniforms trying to go down a steep stone section of the road without slipping.  Tension is mounting and it is obvious that they are preparing for the pagentry to begin.  A brass band in full kilt regalia, military personnel with lots of ribbons, braid and stars.  Escorts with dignitaries.  Then the bagpipes play while a special guest is escorted to position.   We find out later that it is Moira Nevin.  

After the pageantry, we head down the Royal Mile and end up at our old favorite pub where we were last night.  I get a luscious brie sandwich with cranberries and chutney.  I know the brie is extraordinary because it was paired with one of my whiskies last night.  We know we're in the right place when some of the sailors who were at the ceremony come in for drinks.  

We head back to the hostel for some rest before heading out for our Underground tour.  The gathering spot is a few blocks from the hostel.  We're old hands around here now and know just where it is.  Others are gathering too and we're warmly greeted by our guide.  She is lively, dynamic and dramatic.  We have a couple of stops and hear some history of the gruesome, violent life in early Edinburgh. Being homeless was a crime that could be punished by hanging!  Blasphemy could be punished by publicly nailing someone by the tongue in the public square!  YIKES!  Then we head down to the underground chambers that were once used to store goods.  But since they were made of lime stone, they eventually started to have water drip through and ruin the goods.  They then became a very rough area with all kinds of unsavory activity going on.  Some areas were used for pagan rituals.  How much of what she told us was factual is left to our imaginations but it was fun and entertaining.  My guess is that there were grains of truth that were embellished.  

After the tour, Melodie and I walked down the last half of the Royal Mile that we had missed earlier.  We poked into a few of the close courtyards on the way down.  There was one that was particularly peaceful and had modern apartments hiding behind the old front facades.

 The end of the royal mile is the Royal Palace.  It is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and of course, today is Wednesday so we could only view it from the gate. 

 On the way back up, a beautiful tunic type top caught my eye.  I went to take a closer look and it was on sale!  Yes, I ended up buying it.  

We met back up with Connie and Marilyn and went in search of dinner.  We ended up at Bert's Fish and Chips.  Quite a large place.  Once we finally were seated, we were overlooked,   Once we finally ordered, the order was lost.  I think it was about an hour later that we finally got our food.  We did get our haggis egg rolls quickly and they were quite good.  

After dinner, Melodie, Connie and I went to a pub that was just down the street and recommended by Stu and Ole.  We enjoyed a nice pint of porter and then headed back to the hostel.

We're leaving in the morning to move on to Sterling.   

Edinburgh Day 2

 Today we're doing one of the Hop On; Hop Off city bus tours.  Great way to get oriented.  We sit up top in order to get the best views and pictures.  The guide is friendly, tells the history and stories in an entertaining way.  

Seems like there are several places that were gathering spots for public hangings.  One woman survived her hanging!  They decided they couldn't hang her twice for the same crime.  She went on to live another 40 years!  Then there were the serial killers who sold the bodies to the medical school.  I guess they were a little too ambitious and finally got caught.  It was decided that a public hanging wasn't enough punishment for them.  So, they were donated to the medical school where they were publicly dissected.  Their skin was made into leather to bind medical books.  That seemed to satisfy the crowd.  

Hmmm.  somehow the macabre is what I remember.....  

The city has a lot of what they call underground because it is a lower level than all of the bridges that were built to connect different hilly regions.  Sir Walter Scott was born here in Edinburgh and we went past his birthplace.  Mother always claimed that we could trace our roots back to him.  DK if that is true or not but Grandmother Becker's maiden name was Scott.  

We rode the whole circuit (about 1 1/2 hours and then planned out where we wanted to explore further.  We decided to go back to the science museum, Dynamic Earth.  We took a time machine way back to the big bang!  It was all well done and quite interesting.  Had a bit of a Disney feel with the special effects and crowd management.  

Touching an ice berg.

We hopped back on the bus to where we could start the ascent up Cantrell Hill.  It was a nice view but I must admit that I wasn't real impressed.  

Back to Castle Rock where we relaxed and ate our left overs from last night.  The hostel is quite large and has several big common rooms and lounge areas and a big kitchen with lots of small fridges with signs on them of the day of the week it gets cleaned out.  

Melodie, Connie and I went out after to dinner to a little pub that advertised live Scottish folk music.  On the way there, we met 4 guys wearing kilts who wanted their picture taken.  Turns out 3 of them were from Spain and I from England.  They were planning to have a wild, fun night.  A coulple came up and asked if we were familiar with the area.  Well, we were one day more familiar with the area than they were.  They joined us to go to the pub.  Rebecca and Toby, on holiday from a suburb of London. 

 

The whisky flights paired with chocolate or cheeses caught our interest.  They were wonderful!  The brie was amazing and I really like the whisky paired with a blue cheese.  We were not in the room with the music but Lauren and Jeremy (our new good friends) alerted us when space opened up.  The camaraderie was  heartwarming.  

A leisurely walk back to the hostel along Victoria Terrace before turning in.  

Grand Europe Adventure!

 Hello from Edinburgh!

Melodie, Marilyn and Connie and I have been planning this trip for several years.  It was supposed to happen June 2020. Covid hit.  We'll go next year.  Still couldn't.  We'll go next year and here we are!  

Happy reunion at JFK where we had quite a wait and the plane was late getting in due to be stored at a "remote location" but now we're here and everything is wonderful.  The flight over was uneventful and not at all full.  Melodie and I each had empty seats next to us that we were able to spill into.  Customs and immigration were quick and easy.  Got a taxi that could accommodate the 4 of us and our luggage.  The driver pointed out several points of interest on the way to our hostel which is located right off the royal mile close to the castle - perfect!

We're at the Rock Castel Hostel where we have a SMALL room with 2 sets of bunk beds. It is on the top floor so it is quite a hike up.  A nice young man helped Marilyn and Connie with their luggage.  We're in the Lord of the Rings room and their are name tags for each of the beds.  I'm Aragorn.  Melodie is Legolas.  Marilyn is Gimil and Connie is Frodo.  

We're all quite hungry so venture out in search of food.  We decide on a Mediterranean place just down the street.  Good choice!  Marilyn gets a full meal and the rest of us get appetizers.  I got some hummus topped with swarma.  Now that we're fortified, we walk to the beginning of the Royal Mile to start Rick Steves audio tour.  On the way up we hear what will probably be the first of many bagpipers.  I think Connie got a little teary eyed.  

Rick Steves does it again!  His walking tour was great; pointing out all kinds of little details and history that we would have missed.   Loving the architecture!  Thinking a lot about Mother and her history of attending the Presbyterian church.  We visited the St Giles cathedral where John Knox preached his reformation speeches.  According to Rick Steves, this led the way to Edinburgh being the leader of the the times in education and the arts and put Scotland on the path to democracy.  The stained glass is really beautiful.  

These have been repurposed as ATMs.

We only got about half way down the mile and Marilyn said she needed a stop for hydration.

  It ended up being as far as we got on the mile.  Connie and Marilyn took an ubber back to the hostel and Melodie and I walked.  

On the way back, there was a man with a huge owl that one could pay to hold.  Melodie has such a history with loving owls that she felt a real need to hold him which I totally encouraged.  It was a Eurasian Eagle owl named Hazel, who was 14 years old.  They can live to be about 40.  

For dinner we went to Makar's Gourmet Mash Bar which was recommended by Stu and Ole.  It was great!  I had wild boar sausage with black pudding mashed potatoes and rhubarb soda.   We all got takehome boxes to stuff in the refrigerators at the hostel.  This way we had room for dessert which was sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch drizzle.  All totally yummy.  

Boy, this morning and flying in to Edinburgh already seems like eons ago.  So much to take in!