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Published: August 14th 2016
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Tour of Edinburgh Castle this morning. Walked up there taking a detour down Princes street the main shopping street. Poked our heads into Jenner’s, that last of the old Victorian department stores. Beautiful architecture, kept our hands in our pockets. Then up the hill to the castle. Mostly somebody’s been living on that rock for 3000 years. They know that because a few years ago they dug up the road and found a cooking pot from the bronze age. So the history of the castle goes something like this, the Scots invaded the English, the English invaded the Scots, the Scots had another go and this went on for about 700 years. After one particular invasion Robert the Bruce threw a match to the castle hoping to finally stop the English. It was raised to the ground excluding St Marys chapel which is the oldest building on the site dating to the 12
thcentury. Now you can book that darling little chapel for your wedding with a great blessing from the father of the bride as it holds a total 25 people.
Stopped at a pub for lunch where we had Cullen Skink (fish soup). Walked the Royal Mile
from the Castle to Holyrood House where we had a tour passing through the state rooms that are used by the Queen for state visits and important occasions. The apartments of Mary Queen of Scots and heard how she was betrayed and ended up on a path to the chop by Liz the 1
st. Finished with the display of the Queens clothes to commemorate her 90
th birthday year. Really enjoyed looking at some of the beaded gowns from the 50’s. One of the State Carriages is up from London to take part in the Tattoo including the beautiful white horses that pull the carriage. They are being housed in temporary homes in the courtyard… Such magnificent animals, so calm and serene. They all have their names and DOB displayed. The photo is of Meg born 2005.
Finally, for the day, The Royal Tattoo. We were very fortunate to be able to walk up to the Castle as the crowds started to build. There is so many people in Edinburgh due to the Fringe festival. It’s so huge, there must be hundreds of productions during the festival and many performances of each one. A week spent in Edinburgh
for the festival alone would be a great holiday and I wished we were here for longer.
After a bit of a rest it was time to head up towards the castle for the Tattoo. A very lovely walk stopping in a pub for our dinner on the way. A couple of wines with the company of some locals while we waited to get in the que. Amazing crowd management and such a lovely atmosphere. Apart from the precision of the bands I enjoyed the lazer light projection onto the castle walls. They were so colourful and artistic. The first year for this. They even managed to get some Māori motifs and silver ferns up there when the NZ Army band and the Lochiel (Christchurch?) Marching team were performing. The girls were great and the Army band provided the comic relief. (Apparently they are a favourite with the Queen). Such a great atmosphere… clear and dry but a very chilling breeze. Walked home and into bed at 2 am.
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