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Published: July 13th 2006
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Edinburgh Castle
From below in Princes Street Gardens Well I did not expect the London heat wave (it did get up to 31 degrees Celsius for a few days whilst I was there) to follow me to Edinburgh …and it did not. I enjoyed many days of cool and overcast weather but, thankfully, no rain to speak of. And my final day, which I spent walking in the Botanical Gardens and along the Water of Leith from the city to Portobello was just lovely and sunny.
A great thing about this city is its compact nature. You can see virtually all the sights from one of the many lookout points close to the city. I walked up most of them, including Arthur’s Seat and Calton Hill (see pictures).
I spent several hours at Edinburgh Castle and was there for the 1pm firing of the canon (to give the sailors accurate time). There were terrific exhibits in the castle. However, my favorite was the war memorial - a lovely 20th century building and inside there were books you could flick through containing the names of the Scottish soldiers who had died in the first and second world wars (and since then in conflicts such as Korea and Iraq).
Edinburgh Castle - The 1pm cannon
Given that I jumped what seemed like 10 feet into the air whilst taking this shot, I am amazed that it is in focus! Next door to the castle was the scotch whiskey heritage centre. Loved that tour and tasting. Despite not previously considering myself a whiskey connoisseur at all, after successfully differentiating between the lowland, highland, Speyside and Isle single malt whiskeys, I may change my self-rating. Not a fan of the lowland whiskey at all, but the others each had there own good points, the latter being very ‘smokey’!
I also visited the National Gallery of Scotland and got my Monet fix for the month. They had ‘Giverny’ and a ‘Haystack’ (in the snow) along with a few other lesser known paintings of his. The gallery also had some terrific Reubens. The Museum of Scotland was also fantastic. Lots about the history of Scotland over 7 floors with the final one being a roof top terrace with a great view of Edinburgh Castle and Calton Hill.
In terms of going further a field, I spent one day in St Andrews. I visited the remains of St Andrews Cathedral including climbing up St Rule’s tower. Legend has it that St Rule received a vision whilst in Patras, Greece, that the Romans were coming to take the remains of St Andrew,
Edinburgh from Arthur's Seat
Not a bad view on any day.... which he had in his possession, to Constantinople. St Rule set sail with the bones to the ends of the earth and was washed ashore where the St Andrew’s cathedral now stands. And this is how St Andrew came to be patron saint of Scotland and why St Andrews was the medieval religious centre of Scotland. I also visited the remains of St Andrews castle which had great tunnels underneath that got too tight for me, my camera, and my backpack. Pity, looked like a lot of scrambling fun.
I also walked along the gorgeous beach of West Sands which just happened to run alongside the Jubilee and New courses of St Andrews links. The Old Course was more impressive if only for the number of cameras is evidence if nothing else. I suppose if you had forked out £120 (that’s $300 Australian), you would want a few pictures of yourself and buddies playing too!
Finally, the best part of my trip to Edinburgh has been staying with Andrea, Alan, Holly and Bridget Sneddon. Andrea is the sister of one of my work colleagues in Australia and kindly agreed to let me stay or a week. It has
Princes Street
Taken on my way down from Calton Hill, the foreground is a student group about to be let loose to explore and the backgroud features one of the main tourist meccas in Edinburgh. made my stay here very relaxing, which is exactly what I needed, and I am now recharged and ready to take on France, Italy, and Greece over the next few weeks.
It was great having a normal-type life for a while. We spent a few hours at the beach together (on a cold and windy day but the 2 girls did not seem to mind), had a BBQ in the backyard with a few of Andrea’s friends (see picture) and I even managed to get in one night’s babysitting to give Alan and Andrea a chance to go to the movies.
A great week in Edinburgh…..
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