Tuesday, 2 October 2007

A Castle in the Clouds

My trip back in time to the Old City of Edinburgh....

As a lover of the fantasy genre since I was a wee girl, you can imagine my excitement to be able to see a REAL castle! I had not seen pictures of Edinburgh castle so I didn't know what to expect, and when the bus rounded the corner into Edinburgh my eyes just widened in joy and surprise. I turned to Evelyn and said, "the castle, its in the clouds!" It was a sunny day with white clouds when we entered Edinburgh and from the base of the hill it really did look like it was in the clouds. SOOO awesome!
Of course I was itching to go up into it but Evelyn wanted us to have coffee and scones at Debenhams, which is a British department store. The interesting story about this particular Debenhams is that it used to be an old hotel, and both of her parents used to work there and actually met each other/fell in love at the hotel. Sweet. So to commemorate that occasion we went to the cafe at the top and had our coffees overlooking the princess gardens and the castle.
We then walked past this amazing monument on the main shopping street, Princes Street, that was dedicated to the writer Sir Walter Scott who popularized Scottish life in the 19th century with his many novels (i.e.Rob Roy).

The City of Edinburgh grew outwards from the Castle rock, and the first houses in Edinburgh were built on the area in front of Edinburgh Castle, which is now known as the Lawnmarket, and then the house building continued down the High Street and The Cannongate towards the Royal Palace of Holyrood House (which we visited the following day). These streets collectively form a single street known as The Royal Mile.

The Royal Mile acquired its name over the ages as Scottish and English kings, queens and royalty in general, have travelled to and fro between the Palace of Holyrood House and Edinburgh Castle - hence the name The Royal Mile. Walking up the cobblestone streets of the Royal Mile to the castle at the top of the hill was quite moving because the city just oozed history and stories waiting to be told! Case in point, there were multiple adverts for ghost tours that I instantly knew we had to check out later. I soon forgot about the ghost tours when I reached the top at the castle entrance and my eyes beheld these regal gates and scottish 'guards'.
We had audio guides to walk through the castle and learned so much history. Many of the castle rooms were still ornately decorated or had plaques telling interesting stories. There was a Scottish National War Memorial in the middle of the main courtyard that had sections devoted to every regiment of both world wars and a main vault containing names of the fallen. It was completed in 1997 and the detail that went into every window, fresco and vault was breathtaking and a great way to commemorate the lives of the fallen. No pictures were allowed inside so you will have to see this marvel for yourself.

After taking in the amazing views of the city from the top of the castle we checked out a tartan weaving mill that is a tourist shop where they have a working mill so people can understand how tartan is made. Very interesting, but very old and noisy machines!

We then went to an authentic scottish pub for dinner where I had a meat pie and Evelyn had Haggis, Neeps and Tatties (i.e. haggis, turnips and potatoes). We were filling our bellies to prepare for our spooky ghost, torture and terror tour put on by Auld Reekie tours. Ediburgh is full of these types of tours because of its popular witch-hunting history. Our tour included going into underground vaults where there is a current/active wicca temple. I took a picture of the temple (below), and then my camera battery instantly died, though prior to that it still had half-life. Seconds after my battery died the tour guide told us to turn off our digital device as the poltergeist in the next vault likes to steal electricity from digital devices...coincidence? Enough to freak us out a bit thats for sure. In the next vault it was pitch black and they spoke of a poltergeist that hates women so they kept us women all huddled together. Evelyn screamed when someone spooked us (below the belt tactic if you ask me). I love ghost tours though and thought that it was great fun. Evelyn on the other hand had had enough 'spooking' for a long time. ;o)

On our second day in Ediburgh we visited Holyrood house - the working palace where Elizabeth II stays when she visits Edinburgh. It was also the home of Mary Queen of Scots during her brief rule.
To end the day we met up with Lilian, Evelyn's oldest daughter and her lovely daughter Emily (15) for dinner. They drove in for 1.5 hours to meet up with us. They live at a beautiful house in the borders, which we hope to visit next summer with my parents.
The four of us went through an attraction called Mary King's Close, which was a series of closes (i.e. narrow pedestrian streets) that were built overtop by the Chamber of Commerce in the 1700s and thus are now underground and preserved in the same state that they were in the 1500/1600's during the time of Mary King (famous merchant who lived on that street). What made it really neat was that the series of streets were buried 8 stories underground and there were clothes hanging on clotheslines above your head and it was easy to picture what it would be like back then. The guide told us how different people lived, worked and died there. The more wealthy people were, the higher they were in the buildings to stay away from filth in the street. For you see, the streets were formed downhill so that patrons could chuck their daily 'waste' out onto the streets every night at 10 p.m and announce "Guardy Loo!". The waste would then trickle down into the lake at the bottom called the 'Nor Loch'. Very neat to learn of the crazy times before sewers were invented, I highly recommend it!

I was sad to leave this amazing city and can't wait to return soon. I think I could easily live in Scotland, it is so lush and interesting, steeped in so much history and with family to boot!

Sorry for such a long blog but I wanted to fit it all in. Stay tuned for more London posts. We are getting Internet service this week. yay!

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