Edinburgh Castle

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Ahhhhhh, a quiet day (relatively). We woke up to drizzle, so said some curse words (new ones like feck and shite) and then decided to run later in the day. (Incidently, the rain kept up during our bus ride to town and then stopped before we got off the bus and never did start again!) After some breakfast, we hopped on the A44 down the road (that's a bus) and arrived right on Princes Street in downtown Edinburgh! Sightings today of: Germans, Americans, fellow Canadians, Dutch, Norwegians, English, French, and so on. We were surrounded by tourists! The only Scottish accents we heard were the tour guides and the people riding the bus with us! Very touristy.

Anyways, Edinburgh Castle was crowded but worth seeing. The views were great and the displays around the various castle buildings were interesting. We also took advantage of the guided tour to get some inside scoop stories. Highlights were the military prison (used by the Royal Scot Regiment until 1928), the separate prison where they kept the prisoners of war (French prisoners were treated with respect but Americans were rebels and thus were mistreated), and best of all was the firing of the cannon! It happens at 1pm each day and we happened to be right there at 1pm! It was so loud it shook the castle! The history of it is that since the 1800's, a cannon has been fired every day at 1pm to let sailors and others know that it is 1pm. The tradition continues to this day. Nigel's watch turned out to be off by only 28 seconds (slow, just like Ben Nigel).

We walked the High Street and through Princes Gardens. Then back on the bus and home early to relax for the rest of the day. When we did run, it was dry!

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Photos

There's a piperrr doon
This piper "announced" that the 1:00 o'clock cannon was about to fire.

Walter Scott Monument and the Castle behind
Walter Scott in front and the castle behind.

Castle guard
This is one of two castle guards on duty today. They are only on duty when the Queen is in the 'hood and she happens to be down the road at Holyrood just now.

Armour and swords
There were lots of weapons on display...luckily the kids were NOT allowed to touch!

Typical Scottish row houses alongside a local church
This is a typical view along the main road from Balerno to Edinburgh on the bus ride.

Comments

[Joanne]

Back from Peru
Hi Ben Nigel. Since I heard you want to hear news from home, I thought that I would share that I'm back from my own exciting adventure. Though in my case exciting adventure sounds more like our trips to the toilets – always an experience. On a more serious note – it was a great trip – hiked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu (survived the high altitude), visited the jungle (saw lots of wildlife would have wished to stay longer), saw Lima & southern Peru (Paracas & Nasca). Utilized planes (jets & a Cessna – got shifted off one jet plane cause it would end up being too heavy to fly in high altitude – landed in the bush – skimmed the tree line & landed with the wing tips looking like they were going to touch the jungle’s edge), trains, automobiles & boats (jet, river boats & dugout canoe). The only thing we didn’t ride in was a motocab (think tuk tuks if you’ve been to Thailand). Love following your trip (you got envious comments out of Gilles when you visited Glenmorangie!) Joanne

[Dad "C"]

Scottish Kippers For Lunch
Hi from the highlands (viz. Almaguin) !..............as you know, this old fossil has always enjoyed eating Scottish Kippers for lunch (or anytime for that matter)............I had Kippers with toast for lunch today............I eat them at least twice a week...........I may turn into a Kipper one day !.....they come from Aberdeen, on the NE coast of Scotland..............I viewed the city on Google Earth and found it to be a very lovely and interesting city............most of the buildings are constructed to last..........of stone............is Aberdeen included in your itinerary ?................one thing I would appreciate knowing are the approximate driving times between places................tonight is Mom's BIG NIGHT at the KCC............the annual Creative Changes Art Show and Sale Wine and Cheese Event..............yours truly will be doing "kitchen duty" as always.......getting pushed around by all the busy and nosy ladies !..................I responded to Sweet Rachie's blog a bit earlier today..................Piper says "Hi"....................Dad "C"

[Grandpa David]

I am just a little bit homesick hearing the gun and seeing the other pictures.