Day 6 Thursday

What an exciting trip this has been so far.  We have no regrets at all.  Every day has been an adventure.  We have not taken too much time to sleep or rest and it is starting to catch up with us.  But, we continue to do and see everything we can in the short time we have here.  We arrived yesterday on the train in Edinburgh station and waited in a long line to catch a taxi.  We were told that it was a short walk to the hotel but we didn't know the directions.  The last time we were told that, in London, we took the LONG way instead of the short way to the hotel and we did not want to repeat that.  It appeared the taxi would be the best mode for us to get there.  When you have more time, click on this link to a comercial web page all about Edinburgh.  It will open in it's own window and has more history and pictures.

We set out this morning on foot with directions from the desk clerk telling us where the tourist buses staged with the intention of starting our Edinburgh stay by taking one.  The walk turned out to be about 10 or so blocks.  Not too bad because we are seeing the city as we walk.  Edinburgh is a mixture of old and new.  They seem to try and make the new fit in with the old and there is a lot of building and remodeling going on all over the city.  We arrived in the area where we saw several different tour busses and just spent a few minutes looking around as we were over looking a large part of the center of town.

We finally get onto a tour bus and we start this days adventure.  We climb to the upper level of the bus and off we go.  We turn the first corner to monuments and statues.  I am interested in the architecture of the city.  We passed the Episcopal church and more interesting buildings.  Edinburgh, in the 1700's was a place where modern medicine was being studied and there was a great need by the medical students to have cadavers to work on.  The fresher the better.  People were not willing to donate bodies to the studies so the "suppliers" of cadavers had to find different ways to supply them.  The main source was fresh graves.  To make it more difficult for these suppliers to rob graves, the churches put up watch towers to deter theives.  The cemetaries are still well maintained.

The streets are narrow and close together.  It is not long before we get close to Edinburgh Castle.  The castle is built on top of a bluff with cliffs around most of it.  But we are not quite there yet.  We pass more churches and shops and arrive at the bus stop to tour the castle.  You have to walk up to the entrance past shops and hawkers.  We purchased tickets to enter and walked up to the gate.  Walking into the castle grounds is like walking into the 1700's.  Security is pretty basic.  Because the castle is built on the highest point in Edinburgh, the views are simply fantastic of the city and the bay.

The living quarters for the Royal family are interesting but we were dissapointed that they did not have them furnished.  The interior was only displays of pictures and frescos depicting life in ancent times.  This building has been turned into a museum of fallen military personnel who have given their lives for the motherland Scotland.  It seems that every building in the castle grounds were made of stone.  To me, the most interesting room in the castle was the "The Great Hall".  It was explained that there are still government functions taking place even in current times.  The hall has displays of firearms, weapons, armour, and tributes to important people. We did see the display of the Royal staff, crown and other important jewels related to the Scotish royalty.  Unfortunately there were no pictures allowed in any of these displays.

The day was getting on and we still had a lot to see from the tour bus.  We completed the tour loop and returned to an area near the local hospitals.  Susan wanted to find a museum that we thought was the "Museum of physicians and surgeons".  We spent about 2 hours asking people where this place might be.  Nobody knew about it, but everyone had a suggestion on who might know of it and where it might be.  We walked and talked to hospital workers, security people, and people on the street.  Everyone had an idea and suggestions.  We finally ended up by going through the park past the skateboarders, into another little park, past the chicken resturant and pizza place and into a little court where there was a medical school.  Our mission was to find a specific painting that Susan's boss, Dr. Ann Arvin, is interested in.  She is one of the people that helps choose artwork for the cover of a medical journal.  There is a painting called "Theatnus" that she had a small picture of and Susan was on a mission to find it.  We went into the building where the sign said medical school and asked them if there was a museum for physicians and surgeons.  The administrator of the school said she thought there was a museum next door and up the stairs.  We went there and climed three flights and knocked on a frosted glass door.  A couple of nice people were in there and we would be allowed to look at the displays that they had.  We mentioned that we were looking for a specific painting and the young woman said she thought it might be one they have in a private area.  Susan mentioned that we were on a quest for her employer and if we could see it we would be very appreciative.  Her words were that she was newly employeed but would take us inside the private area.  She took us in and the specific painting was on the wall.

I'm not sure if the people in Scotland just think differently or display their sense of humor.  The shops and pubs seem to advertise differently than in the US.   Do you see the same humor that I see?  Street performers are a little different in Edinburgh.  Here is a little clip of this one.

Day 7 Friday

This day, we spent walking and never got on public transportation.  It must have been 5 miles at least.  We started by leaving the hotel and walking to the area of tourist busses and went into a little shopping mall for a quick breakfast.  From there we walked to Princes street or as they call it the Royal Mile.  To get to Princes street we had to walk past and up several interesting streets and hills. The Royal Mile has Edinburgh Castle on one end and Hollyrood Castle on the other.  In between is shopping and residences.   We arrive at Hollyrood Castle to see where the Royal family spend their weekends.  We are able to walk into the grounds and tour inside the public areas.  One of the Queens carriages is nearby for people to look at.  The country carriage for casual touring is on display also.  The castle is large and it takes two guards to make sure only the correct people enter. Beside the castle and connected to it is an abbey.  It is somewhat in disrepair.  Beside the abbey is the cemetary for some of the royal family.  Some tombs are interesting.  The views from the castle are magnificient.  The entrance to the castle grounds are really kind of small.  

We are into museums and we heard that the Scotland Museum was a really good one.  So off we walked.  We had passed in the day before but there was a major fire directly accross the street from it and the road was closed off to everybody.  That and it was almost closing time, we decided to see it today.  We walked into the main entrance to a large hall.  It was almost like an atrium under the ceiling.  They have a "century clock" but we didn't stay long enough to hear it strike.  There are seats for people to rest on near the century clock.  As I said, we are into museums, but for some reason this one just did not capture our interest.  Perhaps we were too tired, or just wanted to move along, I'm not sure.  In any case, we left without seeing too much.  What we did see was too modern for our interests this day.  

Outside and half a block down from the museum is the Sheriffs department.  Next to that is a bank.  And across the street are pubs.  Greenfriars Bobbys bar is a famous one.  It is named after a small scotty dog that would go to his masters grave everyday for 14 years.  There is a picture of the dog over the entrance.  It has been a long day, se we walked back up to Princes street and started the trek back to the hotel.  Along the way we passed the main office of the Bank of Scotland.  We were on top of a large hill and we walked down many steps to get back to the hotel where we packed for the trip back home in the morning.

This is the end of most of the pictures that I took.  I have chosen what I think are interesting and have more on line.  I might put links to them in the future on a picture page if people want me to.  I have also obtained a couple of Quicktime movies that are interesting.  One is of a Tatto in the Edinburgh castle grounds, and one is of a VERY scottish gentleman explaining what Haggis is.  These are both large downloads of over 4 MEGs.  If you don't have broadband it will take a long time to get them. It took me about one and half minutes to download the tatto. Be patient.  If you do have broadband, they are really interesting.  If you need a free copy of Quicktime, you can get it here.

Thank you all for following this adventure with us.  If this has been interesting and fun for you, please let me know.  I have a lot of fun putting these travels up and we like to share our experiences.

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