Day 2-Edinburgh

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630am: Knocked Up
730am: Breakfast
830am: Day Begins

Let me start off by explaining "knocked up". In Scotland, maybe elsewhere as well, getting "knocked up" in the morning means someone knocks on your room door to wake you up, like a wake up call. You can imagine gasps from us as we were told the evening before we would be getting knocked yup at 630am. I just thought the tour had EVERYTHING planned out for us!!! 😊

We woke up to a beautiful sunshiny day in Edinburgh. We showered and readied ourselves for the dat. Breakfast was delicious and much needed. After breakfast, we gathered in the front desk area to meet with Rob, who laid out plans for the day. First off, a tour of the city with a local guide.

Edinburgh is a relatively small city, divided down the middle by Princes Street, with the "Old Town" on one side (17th century and older) and the "New Town" on the other (18th century and newer). They both look the same; the only differences are the size of the streets and the dates on the buildings. Buildings in Edinburgh follow strict guidelines: sandstone is the norm. The older buildings have turned darker over the years, thanks to soot from the thousands of chimneys. In Old Town, for every room in every building, there is a chimney. Another interesting fact is Scotland LOVES memorials. There were statues at every turn, in memorial to many historic figures: John Knox, Walter Scott, war memorials, even one for the most famous dog in Scotland, who spent years visiting his dead masters' grave at night.

Driving around, we were taken past the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queens official Scottish residence. Kinda homely looking hahahahaha! Its located on the end of the famous "Royal Mile". We drove past the oldest tenement (residence) in Edinburgh, surprisingly white in color. The Walter Scot memorial can be seen from most anywhere in the town, its huge medival column towering over the city. The new Scottish Parliament building was an eyesore.. new age architecture... yuck! Arthurs Seat, a mountain on the edge of the Royal Mile, looked quite impressive... thanks be to the gods we didnt climb the bugger. But what kept catching our eye was the huge castle, high above the city on a cliff that looked like it would give way at any moment... Edinburgh Castle.

The castle is gi-normous, made up of many buildings, some dating back to the 1000's. The history behind the castle is so lengthy, I am not even going to start writing about it... google it! Everyone from Bonny Prince Charlie to James the first has played a role in the castle. The main points of interest for us is that the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny are on display here, Saint Margarets Chapel, the oldest surviving building in Scotland, is there. Two huge statues of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce guard the first of 7 gates to the castle. One detail we sadly found out about after we left is there is a piece of turf taken from Nova Scotia and replanted on the castle grounds, with a plaque commemorating it. It was brought over so that a law about "swearing in lords on local soil" could be easily accomplished in Scotland, saving on the time and money to travel to Nova Scotia! Makes sense eh!

After touring the castle, we were given the opportunity to visit Rosslyn Chapel. For anyone who has read "The Da Vinci Code", you know what I am talking about. The chapel was famous before Dan Brown added more myths and mystery to its name... of course, now people flock to it because of Dan Brown, which the guides will explain, is really a bunch of nonsense. But thanks to the influx of people, the church can now undergo much needed restoration and repairs that are quite costly. No longer a problem.

Rosslyn Chapel is located in a small community 7 miles outside Edinburgh called Rosslin. You'd never guess it was there.. you might drive past it without even knowing. Rosslin is also famous for being Dolly the Cloned Sheep's home... RIP Dolly.

Now, I will admit that I am weird and can be over dramatic at times... this is one of those occasions. Stepping onto the grounds of the Chapel, and seeing the Chapel for the first time, I got a huge lump in my throat. Even with the scaffolding on the outside, the Chapel was still beautiful. The grounds are small and well manicured. The Chapel is even smaller. I wish we could've taken pictures on the inside. I walked in and I just gasped... every square inch of the interior was nothing but masonry. Carvings in the walls, on the ceilings, on the columns, everywhere. It was nothing like I had ever seen before and the first person to pop into my head was my nanny. I knew she would appreciate the beauty and I was suddnely so lonely for her. So, in the corner, there was a book that you could request a prayer to be read out in the church... I requested a prayer for Nanny. They take the book and read out the prayers once a week, so Nanny, I hope you got those prayers.

The history of the chapel goes way back to a family called the St Clair family. He was the duke or earl of Orkeney (it escapes me now) and wanted a place to rest his bones when he died.. apparently it was beneath high society to be buried in a grave yard back in the day.. you built a church or chapel and had you and your family buried in the crypt. Well, after the old earl died, his sons did nothing in the way of keeping the chapel in order and it fell into disarray, finally being closed up. It was ordered to be reopened and restored by Queen Victoria in the mid 1800's. What is so unique about the chapel and its carvings deals mainly with time lines. For example, there are carvings of a plant called trillium, which is found only in central North America. Now the chapel was finished 50 years BEFORE Columbus found the new world, so how did the masons know of this plant?? Also, there are carvings all over the chapel of the "green man", a pagan symbol of growth and life. Another neat story is there are musical notes carved into one of the arches. Myth says that if you played the notes in full, something wonderful would happen in the church... a musician and his son tested this theory a couple of years ago and nothing happened, go figure. But it goes to show just how many myths and legends the chapel has... now it has a few more thanks to Dan Brown! I really suggest reading up on the chapel to find out more... it is really interesting. It should also be noted the parish is called St Matthews, the same named parish I was baptized in!

After taking in all that Rosslyn had to offer, we headed back to the hotel for some free time before dinner that evening. Kenneth and I took to the streets, finding our way to George Street, a street that is lined with pubs and shopping (sound familiar?). It was suggested by Rob to check out a small pub called Dirty Dicks... it is here I fell in love with Tennants beer. WOW, WHAT A BEER! We strolled down Princes Street and headed into the gardens. There is a huge space smack dab in the middle of Edinburgh called the Princes Street Gardens. It goes on for miles... groundskeeper Willie lives in a cottage on the grounds. I asked him about "putting the noozle on the hoose" but I dont think he got it! I kidd, I kidd. We did find, however, a Mr Whippy. To my friends Crystal and Rick, it is here I thought of you. As I am ordering, Kenneth yells out in his best Andy voice "I want a whippy". I almost peed my pants. So guys, we sat and ate a whippy in the gardens in your memory. Ta!

We went back to the hotel and freshened up. That evening, we were going to the historic Prestonfield Hotel for the Taste of Scotland Scottish Show, 38 years running. The show itself was ok.. I wasnt blown away by it. It had some good parts, other parts were something out of Vegas. The meal was excellent... then they brought out the haggis.........

Ok folks, I have a thing about food. I am a texture person.. if the texture is off, I dont eat it. Taste is not particularly important. I started to panic when the Ode to Haggis was read out... then the smell hit the crowd. Its not a waft one normally smells... or wants to smell. At this point, I was refusing to try it, almost gagging. Kenneth was determined to to get me to try it, and it almost came to fist-a-cuffs between us. Kenneth was served his haggis with the neeps and tatties... without knowing what I was doing, I took a forkful and shoved it into my mouth. I was pleasantly surprised... its not that bad. Very spicy and you burp it up a fortnight after, but it wasnt bad at all. I actually ate most of my plate! So haggis, try it!

After dinner, we were whisked back to the hotel in a flood of rain. By this time, it was roughly 10pm... but neither of us were sleepy (I think it was the haggis), so Kenneth and I plunked ourselves in the pub at the hotel. Rob, our tour director, came by and had a drink or two with us. We chatted about everything and nothing... he really seemed to know too much about Scotland. When we found out he was from the Isle of Skye, Kennetjh began asking questions. Rob told us it was the highlight of the trip, in his opinion. After a few drams, we went to bed. Tomorrow, we would be heading out of Edinburgh, along the east coast, finally ending at Newtonmore. Day 2, not so shabby as well.

Things we learned on Day 2:

1. Neeps are mashed turnips; rumbledethumps are mashed potatoes and cabbage.

2. You get corrected when you call a single malt whisky "Scotch". Scotch is incorrect... Scotch is actually what the people of Scotch as a whole are named. So dont call it Scotch!

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Photos

The Groundskeeper Cottage
Princes Street Gardens

Comments

[davo1966]

edinburgh walking tour
there is a free walking tour that leaves starbucks coffee shop next to the old tron church @ about 1100am lasts for about 3hrs its by sandimans (sounds like that not sure of the spelling) they run tours all over europe. i enjoyed reading your blog. davo1966