June 30 Edinburgh

Photos: The Great Hall, The Long Stairs, Within the castle walls, Part of the castle, part of the castle. View of Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth.

Wednesday June 30, 2010

Slept well, got up had breakfast—Nancy made omelets—and got cleaned up. Jess went to work as usual. Left Pete and headed to the train station for two reasons: one to get the advance tickets for our return from the Highlands on Monday and to get a train to Edinburgh. The clerk was quite nice, and we got off-peak, senior, flexible round trips for 14 pounds. Walked to the platform and soon we were on our way to the nation’s capital. The train ride was very quick with lots to see. In 40 minutes we were in Edinburgh. Peter had mentioned that Edinburgh is all uphill almost, and he was right. Walked up hill from the train station to the steps up to the tourist information center.

We were in search of a city map and some free information. We found some great highland guides, what to do, where to stay, where to eat, and we decided we would get them on the way home—but the Tourist information Center closed at 5:00 and the earliest train we could take off-peak would be at 6:30, so we decided now was the time to get them—they were heavy, and we knew it and did it anyway. We headed for the castle, along Princess Street to the Royal Scottish Academy then left on the Mound and the uphill stuff begins again. Up Ramsey Lane, Up Castle Hill, up across the Tattoo Grounds, and to the Castle. He really means up…as in staircase up steep. We paid our money and began an exploration of a wonderful building, actually buildings.

Edinburgh Castle is, of course, at the top of a very steep hill, so even though we had reached the castle, it was still uphill, uphill, and uphill again. Edinburgh Castle is an amazing piece of architecture. How did they get all of those stones up there? Parts of this castle have been there forever…ok, since about the 12^th century. We took part in all of the overlooks we could find to check out the city of Glasgow and the harbor. The views were amazing. We went through all of the museums on the castle grounds: the National War Museum, The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Regimental Museum, and The Royal Scots Regimental Museum. The museums all had their requisite medals,, weapons, uniforms, and of course, silver of all kinds. There were stories of the Regiments and most interesting—stories of people. Perhaps the most sobering was the Scottish National Memorial to World War I dead later expanded to include World War II, which had the records of soldiers killed in the various wars. We looked at a number of the First World War Memorial books. In one of them there were 16 James Russells killed in battle…this doesn’t include the Russells with other first names. We even found a Russell soldier from Airdrie, the birth place of Neil’s dad.

We went through part of the castle that held the exhibit for The Honours of Scotland: the Scottish Crown Jewels. The exhibit explained how The Honours had been put in a chest for over a hundred years to protect them from enemies. They were finally rediscovered when Sir Walter Scott received permission to break down a wall and look for the chest. They had the crown, sepulcher, sword, and the Stone of Destiny. We saw the Great Hall, which was huge, but with the most beautifully carved woods at both ends. St. Margaret’s Chapel is a very small chapel that was quite beautiful. I think we went into every building that was possible for us to enter and checked out all of the identified sights.

We had lunch in Queen Anne’s Café. It was a small café built near the Great Hall. It was like a wide hallway with a very Scottish menu. Neil and I had a steak and onion sandwich and a club sandwich which we shared. For dessert we had a fruit (raisin) scone with clotted cream (butter) and strawberry jam…..very good.

After lunch we resumed wandering around the castle and the museums marveling at the age and massiveness of the structure. The whole experience was amazing.

With tired feet we had to consider getting down the hill which I am sure was still uphill….it’s all an illusion. We stopped at a woolen mill and petted all of the tartan blankets, shawls, kilts, and scarves. They are so gorgeous. I need more money, more suitcases and someone to carry the suitcases. We stopped in a number of stores on the way down to check out the cashmere products. It is so soft and cuddly.

We reached the bottom of the hill with an hour left before we could board the train. (At least as far down the hill as we had to go to reach the train station. We checked out the Prince’s Mall and went to the green space on top of the mall. We sat there and read with the youngster’s smoking pot and the teens who seemed to be missing dinner in favor of doing things their parents would not approve of. We caught the 6:45 train back to Glasgow Queen’s Station. The train was quite full with people who commute from Edinburgh to Glasgow.

We made our way back to the flat. We had some of the shells and cheese that Pete left for us….quite tasty,…and collapsed.

Steps: 18,070