Up in Ol' Scotland

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March 14 - 18
Friday March 14
I set off early Friday morning to catch my 7:30 train up to Scotland. The journey went off without a hitch - except for a half hour stop. Something was wrong with the train, I think, but whatever it was we never found out because the PA system cut out after that. Once in Edinburgh, I found the Tourist Info Center and booked a witchery tour for Saturday night before I made my way to my hostel which was right at the base of the castle and about 100 meters off the Royal Mile - a street that runs from the castle to Holyrood Palace. It also happens to be where most of the tourist attractions and shops are. I dropped my pack off and made my way to the City Art Center where they were having an Ansel Adams exhibit. The exhibit included his original portfolios and the photographs were amazing. Seeing the originals was so much better than seeing reprints in books or magazines. They were so alive, so captured. There was one where it looked like the rock was being blown or melted or had just been created, and Ansel caught it at its birth. The only unfortunate side effect of this exhibit was that I wanted to take photographs like that for the rest of the trip. Then I stopped at St. Giles' Cathedral which had beautiful stained glass. After finding some food, I was worn out and returned to the hostel to plan the rest of my stay.
Saturday March 15
I started Saturday off nice and early with a climb up to Arthur's Seat. Arthur's Seat looms over Holyrood Palace and gives a spectacular view of old Edinburgh. So I wandered down the Royal Mile to Holyrood Park and began my climb. It was a hill not a mountain, but still gave me a pretty good workout. On the way up I stumbled onto St. Anthony's Chapel, of which there is just part of a wall left. It was built sometime in the 15th century, but fell into disuse after the last chaplain in 1581. After taking a few pictures I continued my climb. When I reached the top, I was not disappointed in my view but would have liked it to be a little less cloudy and gloomy looking. Climbing didn't take nearly as long as I had thought it would, and if it would have been nicer I might have spent more time up there, but as it was it was rather windy and I was getting cold. So I climbed down and decided to wait around until Holyrood Palace opened at like 9:30. Little did I know that the Scottish Parliament was right across the road from the palace and opened earlier. So after wasting a bit of time, I went through security into the Scottish Parliament. The building design was really cool and was built to represent the connection between the people and the land. I also saw the debating chamber, but they were not in session, so it was just an empty room. Unable to find too much to look at in the building, I went back outside to wait for Holyrood to open. While I waited I was able to find both St. George and St. Andrew on the gates. Once I was able to go inside, the first thing I saw was a fountain. The fountain had so many figures - both animal and human - on it but nowhere did it say who or what the figures represented. Every year the Queen visits in July and like 700 people gather in the forecourt to welcome her. The inside of the palace was amazing. The rooms were so beautifully decorated - maybe not as nice as Neuschawnstein, but still fit for royalty. The highlight for me were the apartments of Mary, Queen of Scots. I saw the room where her Italian secretary, David Rizzo, was murdered right in front of her by her husband and his friends. In one of her rooms they had a display of jewelery and stuff, and in the collection was a plaster cast of the skull of Robert the Bruce! I wandered from the Darnley Jewel to the skull a few times trying to decide which one amazed me more. When I finally left Mary's rooms, I went out to the Abbey that had been founded by King David I on the spot where he had seen the vision of a stag with a cross between its antlers. The roof collapsed in 1768 and the abbey has been abandoned since. Leaving Holyrood, I walked back up the Royal Mile - which is up hill - to Edinburgh Castle. The castle was also pretty sweet as it housed the Honors of Scotland - what were the Scottish Crown Jewels - and the room where James VI of Scotland and I of England was born. The Honors of Scotland were amazing. They were hidden in to stop them from being destroyed by Oliver Cromwell and were rediscovered by Sir Walter Scott in 1818. The Stone of Destiny was also on display. To show the link between the people and the land, the kings of Scotland used to be crowned upon this stone. Another highlight were the reenactors who went through how Highlanders were tricked into being in the Army and explained that the Ace of Spades was the receipt for a deck of cards. It was pretty great. After the castle I returned to the hostel to rest for a while before my Witchery Tour.
At 7:30, I joined a large group of Canadians and two other Americans for my Witchery Tour given by Adam Lyal, deceased. Lyal was a victim of the justice system of old Edinburgh and met his end at the end of a rope on 27 March 1811 after being charged with highway robbery. His ghost had returned to Edinburgh to haunt The Witchery - the most haunted pub in town - and was pressed in to service giving tours and telling tourists about the darker side of Old Edinburgh. I learned that those accused of being witches were nailed into barrels, spikes were stuck through, and then they were rolled down the Royal Mile until they confessed. Another gruesome story was that of the body snatchers William Burke and William Hare. Before bodies were donated to science, people used to dig up graves and sell the bodies to doctors and medical universities. Burke and Hare took a different approach. They would lure nobodies in and the next place the nobody - nobody because no one knew who they were or would miss them - was seen was on the dissecting table in the medical school. Unfortunately, for Burke and Hare that is, one time they picked the wrong person and were found out. However, there wasn't enough evidence so Hare was let off the hook to give evidence against Burke. Burke was found guilty and ended up on the dissecting table himself and his skeleton is still on display at the medical school. So all in all, the tour was pretty great and a lot of fun.
Sunday March 16
On Palm Sunday I went to the church next door and felt really welcome, but I didn't know a single song that was sung during the entire service. A dramatic reading of the Gospel, but they didn't do congregational response I found out after the first line that was in bold print. Oops! After service, I walked to the National Museum of Scotland. In the museum I got to see a sword fighting demonstration and learned about what weapons would have been used and carried in like the 1600s and 1700s - maybe later. After spending some time in the museum, I wandered through shops and ended up on top of hill that offered a great view of the city. It was on this hill that a vigil was kept for 1,980 days for a Scottish Parliament. It is built from rocks from all over the world which I thought was pretty neat.
Monday March 17
Before I left for my day trip to Glasgow, I hit up the Writer's Museum which told about the lives of Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns, and Sir Walter Scott. It was kind of creepy, because I would walk into a room and suddenly a voice would be speaking - either reading a poem or book passage or journal entry from one of the three writers. I know I jumped a few times. After that, I boarded a train to Glasgow. I was slightly disappointed in Glasgow as I couldn't find what I was looking for and it didn't seem quite as nice as Edinburgh. Also there were no bagpipers on the street corners. That made me sad. I did check out the People's Palace, however, which gave a short history of Glasgow and was pretty interesting. I also managed to find some cheap sunglasses that I knew I would need later on my trip. In the late afternoon I headed back to Edinburgh and spent the night in the hostel watching movies.
Tuesday March 18
I made it out the airport way too early on Tuesday and so spent some quality time reading my ever dwindling supply of reading material. Finally I was able to board the plane and I was off to France leaving the fluent English speaking countries behind.

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Photos

The Scott Memorial
A view of the Sir Walter Scott Memorial down one of the closes.

Robert Louis Stevenson
A memorial to Robert Louis Stevenson in St. Giles' Cathedral.

A HUGE organ
The organ in St. Giles'

The Saints
A window depicting different saints. Middle top: St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland. Middle bottom - St. Giles

William Wallace
Scotland's hero in stained glass

St. Anthony's Chapel
On the way up to Arthur's Seat.

At the top
At the top of Arthur's Seat

Looking down
Holyrood Palace, home of the Queen in Scotland, viewed from above.

Edinburgh Town
The Old Town of Edinburgh from Arthur's Seat.

Scottish Parliament
The new Scottish Parliament building

The Abbey ruins
Ruins of Abbey founded by King David I