Thursday, March 10
Thursday saw us in Edinburgh (pronounced Ed in bur uh) Scotland. We had a tour of the city and the castle, then spent the afternoon sightseeing in the city. We had a fabulous guide who met us at the hotel and took us around to see the sights by bus, then led us into the castle before leaving us on our own. He told us some great stories of "body snatchers," "radical rascals," famous writers, and less famous personalities. We went up the hill near the dormant volcano (more than a million years dormant, so not exactly a threat) to get a view of the whole city (see picture on the right). The view of the castle below is also from the hill.
One of the stories that Tink really liked was the story of "Greyfriar's Bobby." Bobby was a dog who loved his master dearly. When his master died, Bobby showed up at the cemetery every day (after hours because the priest wouldn't allow dogs in the cemetery) to sit by the grave. When he finally died years later, the locals insisted that he should be buried close by. He's buried just outside the cemetery, and has his own statue out on the road. He's also the subject of a Walt Disney movie by the same name. The cemetery is also famous as the source of the names that JK Rowling used for a series of novels--but I'll let Teach and Tink tell about them.
Edinburgh Castle is a working castle that is one of the largest we've seen in England. The original structure was very old, but Robert the Bruce tore it down after his men massacred the English soldiers there. Bruce didn't want to use the fort because of the massacre, but didn't want the British to acquire it. The castle was rebuilt in the 16th century. The castle is still a working military base. It has a garrison and is the location of the "one o' clock gun" that is fired each day at 1:00 pm to let people know what time it is. The Scots, being practical, fire the gun at 1:00 so they only have to fire once--rather than 12 times at 12:00.
 |
| Firing the 1:00 gun |
Entering the castle, below, takes you through the various defenses that were used to make sure no one made it through the gate during an attack. It certainly wouldn't have been fun to try--archers, multiple portculis setups (that's the iron gate you see drop in the movies), boiling water (they didn't generally use oil--too expensive) and--just to demoralize you--the waste buckets. It's a lot easier today.
The weather was interesting on this day. We already had blustery winds--30-35 MPH most of the morning. Just as we were about to start looking around inside the castle, we went from sunny to rain to snow to hail in about 15 minutes. The hail pretty well drove us indoors. The pic below gives a bit of a feel for the chaos that ensued. It's hard to tell much about him, but that's our guide in the middle of the picture--complete with full Scottish regalia (including the kilt that costs about 500 pounds)
 |
| At the top of the castle, looking out over the city |
 |
| St. Giles Church -- the "mother church" of Scottish Presbyterianism |
 |
| The castle from the main town |
 |
| Sunset over the Edinburgh skyline |
Thursday saw us in Edinburgh (pronounced Ed in bur uh) Scotland. We had a tour of the city and the castle, then spent the afternoon sightseeing in the city. We had a fabulous guide who met us at the hotel and took us around to see the sights by bus, then led us into the castle before leaving us on our own. He told us some great stories of "body snatchers," "radical rascals," famous writers, and less famous personalities. We went up the hill near the dormant volcano (more than a million years dormant, so not exactly a threat) to get a view of the whole city (see picture on the right). The view of the castle below is also from the hill.
Entering the castle, below, takes you through the various defenses that were used to make sure no one made it through the gate during an attack. It certainly wouldn't have been fun to try--archers, multiple portculis setups (that's the iron gate you see drop in the movies), boiling water (they didn't generally use oil--too expensive) and--just to demoralize you--the waste buckets. It's a lot easier today.
No comments:
Post a Comment