The Scottish Blog Memorial

John Knox's burial site outside St. Giles Cathedral. You can see the marker above the number 23. It doesn't say anything, it is just a marker. Protestant austerity in the extreme!Princes Street Gardens looking up at Edinburgh Castle. You can see why someone coming from this direction wouldn't be very successful getting in.

Emily dancing the Dream Weaver dance with some very helpful Scots.

Me in front of the Scottish War Memorial (this is actually the back of the building).

Emily in front of one of her favorite movie heroes - William Wallace.

Emily enjoying her Brie and Bacon pizza at the Elephant House - who knows, maybe Harry Potter was born right there in the seat where she is sitting.

An entire parking lot of matchbox cars - yay! I was very envious of the town they had built to display them.

A tiny box pew at St. Giles. There is actually a pew complete with a cushion between the green wall and the stone pillar - not sure who was supposed to sit there - it was even too small for Emily!

WE LOVE SCOTLAND! There just isn’t any other way to express it. These past two days have been absolutely fantastic. This morning we had our traditional fry-up – and it was excellent – Colin is a great cook. We also met a nice American family from Pennsylvania who is also staying here at the Priestville Guest House. After our delicious breakfast, we headed out to try and figure out Edinburgh. It turns out to be a great thing that we walked all the way into the Royal Mile yesterday, because we knew enough to take the bus today! We bought the day ticket on the Lothian Busline for £2.50 each. It allowed us unlimited hopping on and hopping off.

We got our money’s worth right away as we had to stop half-way into town and pick up Emily’s shirt from the launderette where we accidentally left it yesterday. We then hopped back on the bus and took it all the way to Princes Street (which is the first street on the “New Town” side of the old North Loch; the “New Town” being built in the 18^th Century. We then walked UP and I do mean UP to the Castle and spent about 2 ½ or 3 hours touring the oldest part of Edinburgh. One thing we have noticed since we got here, the Scots love their memorials. There are memorials here for everything. On the bus on the way into town we passed the huge memorial to Sir Walter Scott, and then got off the bus near a memorial to The Scotch Greys (a Cavalry Battalion). Everywhere we turn, there is another memorial for us to see. Once we got to the castle, we went on the free guided tour (free with purchase that is - it cost 12 pounds each to get in) which was very informative and humorous. The Scots certainly aware of the stereotypes about them and have a great sense of humor about it. According to archaeological evidence, they are pretty sure that someone has been in residence on top of the dormant volcano where the castle is now located since about 800 years BC! A short list of some of the things we saw in the castle: St. Margaret’s Chapel (built in 1180ish), The Royal Residence (including some rooms still used – though not slept it in), The Scottish Crown Jewels (the oldest complete set in the world), The Stone of Scone (which the Scots finally got back after 700 years in English hands), The Scottish War Memorial (which, to me, outshines any of the war memorials in DC – because they list everyone’s names in books throughout the shrine), the tiny room where James I was born (the first monarch to rule over both England and Scotland), the store rooms and prisons under the courtyard (including where some Americans were kept during the “War for American Independence” as they call it – we saw a picture of an early American flag carved into a door), and the statues of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace outside the castle. Funny thing is – the statue looks nothing like Mel Gibson – go figure!)

When we finally left, it was one o’clock – and our very filling breakfast had long since packed its bags and gone. So, we decided to have a quick bite of lunch at The Elephant House. In case the name doesn’t give it away, this is the “Scottish café” you may have read about if you’ve ever read a news-article or book that says JK Rowling wrote book one of the Harry Potter series in a small Edinburgh café. The food was really good – and it has a great view of the Castle. We both enjoyed just sitting there thinking about Rowling sitting somewhere in this room and writing such a momentous story. Even so, we needed to move on if we were going to see all we could in four days. So we headed back to the Royal Mile to Mercat Cross (where Royal proclamations are made) and took “The Vaults Tour”. We’ve discovered that we love walking tours. The guides are generally really good and fairly humorous – without it being just a series of one-liners. This particular tour took us down the Royal Mile a little way and down into the vaults underneath South Bridge. Before descending, we went down one of Edinburgh’s famous “closes”. I’ve heard they were called that because you could close them off (they are only as wide as a doorway). But this guide said they were so named because of the distance between the two buildings. They were very narrow (less than an arm span), fairly long and steep (on both sides of the Royal Mile), and you can definitely get a sense of just how dark and dreary it must have been in them during the middle ages. Originally it was the riff-raff on the bottom, the merchant class in the middle, and the upper class on top (farthest from the filth in the street). When the upper class were there, they would make sure the buildings were somewhat taken care of, because they lived on the top of them. But once the wealthy had cleared out, they were left to decay and many fell or were torn down. However, enough building still remain to give you the full effect (or close enough for my tastes anyway). Apparently, by the time the “New Town” was built, there were 55,000 Edinburgers living in the ONE square mile of the ancient city. They were pretty eerie and VERY dark. Anyway, the vaults were built to hold up the bridge, but then built around to rent out and make money. There were tanners, cobblers, oyster bars – all sorts of craftsmen who couldn’t afford a street-side shop. Unfortunately, they forgot to water proof them, so the legitimate businesses left and it turned into an area full of moon-shining and body-snatchers. Eventually they were all filled in to “clean the place up” and have only recently been excavated.

We also visited the Museum of Childhood where I had a blast and took a lot of pictures of the Matchbox Cars and Emily loved looking at all the dolls. There were also a ton of dollhouses, which made me think of Aunt Marilyn and Shelley. As the Museum of Childhood was our last planned attraction of the afternoon, and we had a couple of hours, we decided to see St. Giles’ Cathedral (really the High Kirk (Church) of Edinburgh). Like all of the Church of Scotland, it is Presbyterian. It was interesting to note the contrast between it and York Minster. Apart from size, St. Giles was also much more plain and austere. It also felt more like a working church. The original part was built in 12^th Century, but the pipe organ is from the 1990s. There are martyrs buried in the church and memorials galore, but also a sense of everyday use. It was very pleasant. We then went out back and found John Knox’s grave (he was the father of the Presbyterian Church). He is now buried, unmarked, under spot 23 in the parking lot.

After a quick rest at the B&B (gotta love the day-ticket) we went to dinner at Bella Italia (where we were greeted with Buona Sera!, and Emily promptly answered back in Italian (Frank, you would have been proud). Our waitress was also Italian, so we hope that we made up from our Pizza Hut excursion. After dinner we went across the street to the Prince’s Street Gardens to what we thought was a concert with Traditional Scottish Country Dancing. We sat in the front row and were excited to watch the first dance. After the group finished, everyone around us got up and started going out onto the dance area. Emily and I looked at each other with very confused expressions trying to figure out what was going on before we realized that it wasn’t a concert – it was “dance-a-long”. It was kind of like going to a country line-dance, except you only got to watch once at full speed and then you joined in! After two dances, a very nice gentleman who was part of the group came up and talked to us and invited us to dance. Emily took him up on the offer and did two different dances. I had a great time just watching. Rick Steves would have been proud of Emily for sure! There were two American college girls there filming as a part of a project they are working on (they are studying abroad). I chatted with them while Emily danced, and then we ended up on the same bus with them because their Residence Hall is just up the street from us.

So our first full day in the Kingdom of the Scots is complete – and it was awesome. Tomorrow looks to be just a packed, so we should probably get some sleep. Sorry this entry is longer than normal – and not as pithy as I normally try for!

Cheers for now!

-Cary

PS – Check the entry below this one for a video of Emily dancing.