The City of the Weird

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Had a lovely day walking around Edinburgh. It seems to be a a very lively City, it is just a shame that we are not here for the festival. We did get a glimpse of what it must be like during the festival as there were lots of street artists. There was also a group of thespians walking the streets dressed as zombies shouting brains as they were advertising their version of Macbeth. They did look quite scary from a distance, and Kayles had to hide behind the Mercat stone yet when they came closer the make up was actually quite crap and they were not scary at all. We also had a bit of a scare in the tourist info where I was paying for the use of the internet when I decided to leave our digital camera on the kiosk. It wasn't until we got outside that I realised what I had done. Luckily it was still there but Kayles was not haqppy as it is her camera. Needless to say I was taken off photographic duties for the rest of the day.
We took a walk down the royal mile to where Holyrood House and the new Scottish parliament building. Now the Scottish parliament building looks horrible. It looks like a model made by a five year old. You know when in primary school where you made things and stuck small lollipop sticks on things with PVA glue and it got stuck all on your hands, well this is what the building looks like with what looks like Bamboo stuck everywhere. I think that there is one rich 5 year old out there after how much it cost to build. Holyrood house looked very nice. I say looked as we seem to be picking up on a theme at visiting possibly the most expensive tourist attractions in Britain. It makes me mad that because of tourism British historical places are becoming owned by profit making organisations.
Anyway rant over. We then did another walking tour which was okay. Saw lots of parts of Edinburgh we otherwise wouldn't have seen. Saw where JK Rowling apparently got the idea for Hogwarts and the diagnol selling road thingy (sorry Potter fans I have no idea what I am talking about as I have never read the books or seen the films). Saw a lovely court yard behind a church where the old parliament used to be , now to me this could become a nice area to sit away from the hussle and bustle of city life but hey its a car park. Two interesting stories was I remember from the tour was that two guys in the 19th century I think, got money by killing people and selling the bodies to the Medical school for dissection. Yet they got careless and got caught. As a punishment their bodies were made into every day items such as wallets and purses. One of these still exists in a musuem. It looked a bit spooky. Imagine that having a wallet that used to be part of someones face. Also there is a Heart of Midlothian stone in the middle of the city that represents the old tax office that stood there. Because of peoples disliking for taxes people walk past this stone and spit on it. It looks disgusting and I'd hate to see it in winter when everyone has a cold!!
We also saw what was probalby the most freakiest woman we have ever seen. She had tattoos on her face and piercings everywhere. Even more her hair was woven with lots of colours. Funniest thing was whilst Kayles was looking at hand bag stall she came over and bought a red hand bag. Now some women might put their purse in their handbag but not this woman, she got the stall holder to tie it in her hair! How random!
After the walking tour we decided to head back towards the bus stop as it began to rain. Now as we are camping causes a cooking problem. As the rain got heavier we decided to get a takeaway, which I know is cheating a little but sometimes these things need to be done!!
Just one more thing the owner of our campsite is probably the most eccentric woman we have ever met. Kayles I think is quite scared of this.

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Photos

Scottish Parliament Building
If Carlsberg designed buildings it probably wouldn't look like this!

Random Lady
Does my bum look big with this hair?

Pipe Players
Can you play Smack My Bitch up by the Prodigy?