Relatives, walking tours, some odd facts and ghosts

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A short flight from Dublin early in the morning and I was in Scotland. No paperwork done or documents checked in either country.



I went to Edinburgh mainly to visit Scottish relatives from my father’s side. My grandmother has 6 Scottish cousins and both families in Chile and Scotland are well connected. The common surname is Walbaum. Here's a Walbaum family tree that an American Walbaum descendant has been working on for some time.

I stayed with Charlie & Anne Laing (I had also stayed with them the last time I was there in 2006 for X-Mas during a 6 week trip to Europe). They have a dog called “Mosca” ("Fly" in Spanish) that apparently remembered me. Charlie's the youngest of my grandmother's cousins.



Right after having arrived in the airport I took a bus to Waverley Station (Edinburgh's train station). From the last time I had been there I vaguely remembered how to get to the house (but not exactly), so I needed a map.

I did however remember that there was a tourist office in Waverley Station and I went there to get a map. Unfortunately it was too early when I arrived and it was closed. But right across the street I saw a hotel and headed there. The woman at the reception was really nice and printed out directions for me to get to the Laing’s house.

It must’ve taken me about 25 minutes to get to the house and a lot of the streets I walked I remembered from the last time.



After arriving in the house, seeing the Laings after several years, settling in and having had a shower, I went to sleep (I hadn't slept during the whole previous night).

I stayed for about 5 days in Edinburgh and mainly toured the city and spent time with Charlie and Anne.



During my stay with the Laings we had some interesting conversations on various topics ranging from history (Chilean and Scottish, travels, diving, etc.). And of course, whisky tasting.



When he was young, Charlie was in the Army for a few years, participating in conflicts in some rather remote areas. After that he got a job in a firm that made windows and window frames for buildings. He lived in Hong Kong for a few years where he was involved in the construction of the first “Skyscraper” in the city (I think it was about 25 stories high). He was also active in sports and did diving, which turned out to be a common interest.

On one occasion Charlie showed me an old Kodak photo camera that belonged to his mother (my grandmother’s aunt). I was impressed by it, especially because I really like photography.



One day I went with Charlie to Braid Hills to take "Mosca" for a walk. I had been here with him the last time I visited the city, but it was cloudy and I didn't get a good view of the city. This time however, it was a good day and the view from the hill was excellent.

After the walk we went to visit the allotment where he and Anne cultivate their own fruits and vegetables. These are small allotments that the city rents out. Anne was already there "working the land".



A school classmate of mine, Andrés Labbé had moved to Edinburgh a few weeks before with his wife Constanza ("Coni", who was also in the same school) and their two daughters, Trinidad and Amelia. Andrés had just started an MBA 2 weeks before and adding that to settling in a new country with the 2 girls and everything, they were pretty busy. But nevertheless we agreed to meet up for dinner at their place on Saturday evening.

The place they’re living in was walking distance from where I was staying. The last time I had seen them was for their wedding, a few years before. So this time I got to meet their daughters and got familiar with Trini’s favorite cartoon character “Peppa Pig” (which Andrés also seemed to know a great deal about).

We had a typical Chilean meal with empanadas, pastel de choclo & wine. I hadn’t had this in a long time and I really enjoyed dinner. Andrés, Coni and me all come from the same city, our fathers were all in the Chilean Navy and we were in the same school, so of course we have a lot of friends in common and move in similar social circles. So it was also a great time to catch up on old friends’ and acquaintances’ lives. We stayed up talking until about 2am. It was great fun.



The rest of the days I did a lot of walking around the city. One day by myself and on another one I did 4 walking tours in a day.



The day I walked around by myself I went to have lunch in the historic market square of Grassmarket. I went on a Saturday and it was full of people and street vendors selling all kinds of foods. Also, kids shooting with bow and arrow, medieval folk singing groups, etc. Very lively in general.

Since 1477 this place, besides being a market, was also used for public executions. During one of the tours, we heard the story of a man named William Brodie (known as Deacon Brodie), who was hanged in the square. He was a prosperous man who made cabinets (usually for rich people) for a living. But he had a secret life as a burglar, mainly to fund his gambling debts, two mistresses and bastard children. The story of his interesting life, trial and death is in this link. In the Royal Mile there's a tavern called Deacon Brodie which I had seen before, but I had no idea about the story behind the name of the tavern until I did the tour.



The day of the 4 tours started at around 11 in the morning with the free walking tour that starts in front of the Starbucks Coffe Shop in the Royal Mile (The Royal Mile is made up of the streets that form the main area of Edinburgh's old town). By coincidence, the tour guide was Ben, a guy I had been having drinks with in Dublin a few days before and that was the friend of a Cuchsurfer I met with there.

The walking tour was great, with a lot of history behind it (this is when I learned about Deacon Brodie). Of all the other facts and characters, another story that got my attention was the one about George Mackenzie (also known as "Bloody Mackenzie"), who I'll talk about later.

A couple of odd facts I remember from that tour. In the Royal Mile, next to St Giles' Cathedral is a heart of stone on the floor called "The Heart of Midlothian". Everyone spits on it, it's customary. The origin of this is that this heart marked the doorway of a tollbooth (prison) which was a place for public executions. And this way people showed their disdain to the prisoner. Nowadays it's usually done for good luck. And it also has another meaning. There's a football club called "The Heart of Midlothian". For the fans of the club, it's good luck to spit on the heart before a match. To the fans of the other teams, they spit on the heart to show their dislike. So basically everyone has a reason to spit on it. And for the tourists, as the saying goes: "When in Rome..."

The other odd fact; not far from the Heart of Midlothian is the statue of David Hume. He was an influential Scottish philosopher in the 18th Century. He was an atheist and rationalist and loathed anything having to do with superstitions.

Ironically, Scottish students rub David Hume's big toe for "enlightenment", usually before exams, tests, etc.



Just before finishing this post I remembered about another story, with which the tour guide ended the tour. The story of the attempt to recover "The Stone of Destiny" and take it back to Scotland".

The Stone of Destiny is a block of sandstone that has been used for the coronation of Scottish monarch for centuries. I'm not going to go into details (as everything can be read in the links). In 1296 it was captured by Edward I, taken to Westminster Abbey and placed under the seat of the English throne. And there it remained for centuries.

In 1950, an attempt was made by Scottish students to retrieve the stone from Westminster and return it to Scotland. The story is pretty spectacular and you can read about it here.



In the afternoon took a paid walking tour to Edinburgh Castle (with the same company). It was also very interesting and had a lot of different facts than the other tour I did. Both tours were really good. I ended up with a notion of the most influential monarchs and part of the independence process of Scotland (one thing I got from the tour was that the movie "Brave heart" is not at all accurate).

Within the precincts of the castle there are several museums. It was also good to see how certain characters and parts of history intertwined with part of the history I had learned in Dublin (The Jacobite risings and Oliver Cromwell for example).



After doing both tours I went back to the house, got a rest for a few hours and then went out again to do the first ghost tour (with Mercat Tours). The name of the tour was "Doomed, Dead and Buried". I’ve got to say that the guide was excellent and there were a lot of stories involving people in the city (scary stories, of course. Of murders, deaths, body snatchers, apparitions, ghosts and so on). It was a walking tour stopping in different places of the city that had a story behind it. The tour included a visit to the City Vaults (I recommend reading this link), which are said to be one of the most haunted places in the UK. And then it ended in the Canongate Kirkyard. Best part about this tour were the stories behind it.



After I finished the tour, I managed to get to the start of the last tour of the "City of the Dead Tours" company. I did the tour called "Double Dead Walk". This one didn't have many stories behind it and is more focused in getting paranormal experiences. There have been about 2000 reports of people suffering different phenomenons ranging from anxiety, blackouts and physical attacks such as bruises, scratches, etc. The tour goes to a different part of the city vaults. It is pretty spooky when all lights are out in the vaults.



The second part of the tour is in Grayfriars Kirkyard. And here's when George "Bloody" Mackenzie comes into play. He was an advocate who was renowned for his harsh treatment of Presbyterian Covenanters in Scotland (imprisonment, torture, etc.). The Covenanter's Prison was adjacent to Grayfriars Kirkyard. When George Mackenzie died, he was buried in a mausoleum in Grayfriars Kirkyard, right next to where he had so many people killed and tortured.

Apparently it wasn't until 1998 when a homeless person broke into the mausoleum on a story night and fell on George's remains that the "Mackenzie Poltergeist" became much more active (here's an interesting link with the whole story). From what I could gather, the most common occurrence during the tours is people passing out.



I personally didn't experience anything on either tour and even though I've never experienced any kind of "paranormal events" I do think that they're real.

Both tours I did enjoy a lot and it was funny seeing people freaking out and screaming.



That's about it for my activities in Edinburgh. In general pretty relaxed. On a Monday morning I said goodbye to the Laings and then went walking to Waverly Station where I got on a train to London.

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Photos

Visiting friends
Andrés, Coni, Trini, Amelia and myself