Blogs from Midlothian, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 3

I leave the Highlands after passing Kilchurn Castle in my previous blog at . This fourth and final blog of my ancestral visitations to castles in Scotland covers my visits to the Lothians. 31 Aug 2022 Wednesday. My next stop of the day is Doune Castle which was originally constructed on the site of a Roman fort in the 1200's, but restored to its current structure by Sir Robert Stewart, 3rd Duke of Albany (17th ggf), the younger son of King Robert II of Scotland (18th ggf). His ascendancy continued when his elder brother, Sir John Stewart, Earl of Carrick (17th ggf), gained the throne as Robert III (the name change was to avoid connection with the earlier English appointed King John Balliol). However, King Robert III "The Lame" suffered a debilitating injury from a horse ... read more

During my two weeks in Edinburgh I visited four art museums: The National Portrait Gallery, The Gallery of Modern Art, The Scottish National Gallery and The Royal Scottish Academy. I also took in St Cecilia’s Hall: Concert Room & Music Museum with its wonderful collection of old pianos, harpsichords, etc. When I visited the The Royal Botanic Garden the greenhouses were under renovation but it was still worthwhile.... read more

Today was our last official day of our Ireland/Scotland tour with Cosmos Tours. After our tradition breakfast buffet, we got on the tour bus and set our for Edinburgh Old Town and New Town. (Our hotel was out of the city center). We had a local tour guide, Kenneth, join our group for an in-depth tour of the city of Edinburgh. Our regular guide, Will, made arrangements for our tour of Edinburgh Castle, where we would meet him at a later time. As we drove around the city I didn’t know which way to look first. There are so many churches, schools, monuments, building, etc. I just took pictures….lots of pictures. Sadly, today was a rainy day so some of the pictures aren’t the best. Many of them won’t be identified because we didn’t know what ... read more

~Edinburgh is a beautiful city, but it doesn’t photograph well. Much of its atmosphere relies on the repetition and congruence of its architecture, which is difficult to capture in photos. ~ It’s an easy city to explore by foot since it’s fairly compact. We didn’t take the metro or light rail at all. Crossing most intersections is terrifying, though, since the double-decker buses barely fit on the road and yielding doesn’t seem to exist. At least most crosswalks tell which way to look for traffic. ~ The city center is very touristy, especially the Royal Mile, which is a repetition of whisky, Scotland, and cashmere shops. Because the annual Jazz Festival was going on, we had to stay outside the city center in Stockbridge, which allowed us to explore more local spots.... read more

We rearranged out Itinerary a little to allow a little extra sleep. We didn’t cut anything out, just reorganized. This allowed us to have breakfast at a leisurely pace then go up and get ready for the day. This made the first stop of the day lunch. It was back up the hill then down the other side to Victoria Street. This was Sunday, which in the UK is Sunday Roast Day, we have a Sunday Roast lunch scheduled for Glasgow, so today was just some traditional Scottish food, well at least for me. I have not built up to Haggis yet, but it is coming. Because it was Sunday, the restaurants were very busy and all running the Sunday Roast Specials. We had a 12:30 reservation at Howies. When we got there were just a ... read more