August 25 - Day 7

Room is facing a main street, but that didn’t stop sleep! It’s a bright sunny day in the low 70’s. Down for breakfast buffet in the hotel.  Sausages (not like American), haggis (spicy recipe and good), eggs, pork and beans (very British), grilled tomato and sautéed mushrooms and hash browns, pancakes, yogurt, fruit, all kinds of breads and jams, cereals, juices, slices of salami and cheese.  What we have is very good! On the bus to tour Edinburgh.  Pass through New Town (1800) with Georgian architecture and streets laid out by grid. We pass Princes Street with the tall Walter Scott monument and a smaller version of the London Eye (Ferris wheel).  There are 9 festivals going on in Edinburgh throughout August.  Kiosks of art, hand craft and entertainment are on most corners and pedestrian ways. The city is about 500k normally, during festival is at least 1.2 million given any day.  We arrive on the Royal mile (Old Town) on the upper end at Edinburgh Castle.  The lower end is the Palace of Holyrood House (Holy Cross) and the Parliament. It’s a cobbled street getting into the Castle lined with small shops and cafés.  The entrance to the castle is staged with huge bleachers for the Tattoo that we will see tonight.  We stop for a group pic in front of the castle.  The first try for smiles is 1,2,3 WHISKY!  The second pic is 1,2,3 and the tour guide lifts his kilt!  (only the top layer, no exposure.  LOL) No problems with smiles now.  We have visited the Castle on many occasions and can’t remember a day this clear.  We see well into the Firth of Forth to north and to the borders in the south with a panoramic view of the city.  We spend more time outside than in because we want the views and not repeat earlier sights.  But we must visit Margaret Chapel, the highest point of the ‘rock’ (the castle stands on old volcanic plug) and can see the top of the rock coming up through the walkway.  The Chapel is tiny but very beautiful.  We stop at the banquet hall and see the beautiful hand carved oak walls and ceiling beams, the stained glass and armaments.  They have two ancient displays of flags.  The one is being preserved forever so we are some of the last to see it displayed.  On to the jewel house, to give a nod to the crown, sword and scepter and large jeweled pieces.  Mostly we want to pay homage to the Stone of Scone (Scottish).  All GB royalty and earlier Scottish royalty have been crowned when sitting over the stone.  It has been in Westminster Abbey for years but now returned to Scotland where we get to see it again.  On the bus, we pass by the many buildings that make up the University of Edinburgh, very fine reputation over all but well known for their medical school.  (early school notorious for buying exhumed corpses from hawkers for autopsy practice.) Walk back to the hotel and then bus our way to Roslyn Chapel about 5 miles outside the City in the town of Roslyn.  There were and are lands owned by the St Clair family as old Barany; part of the lands and the chapel are still owned by them today.  The chapel was built as a Catholic place of worship in the 1400’s as the Baran’s attempt to serve God in an obvious way and then fast track to heaven.  It is a medieval sandstone structure filled with ornate carvings religious.  This chapel was used to film some of the scenes in the Da Vinci Code.  Unfortunately, the restoration methods applied cement slurry onto the stone which makes it all gray. Originally it would have been red and gold sandstone.  This chapel saw the demise of the Catholics and rise of Protestantism and Oliver Cromwell’s push.  The grounds are beautiful and serene with hill and valley views over the stone walls.  Have a nosh, never far from tea and biscuit!

Back to the hotel for some ‘free’ time.  Take a hike up to the Royal Mile once again.  Visit the woolen mill shops and navigate the crowds.  There are performers and craft tents set up everywhere.  We pass by a sand sculpture that looks like the Petrusa family dog, Brodhe. We stop at some churches, one is active with history of the covenanters, another is St Giles, the national church of Scotland and Tron, now used for music venue.  Stop at the Royal Mile Pub for hand pulled cask pints.  Still not quite got the hoppy IPA thing going.  Have an Orkney Stout, hard to beat Southern Tier.  Walk back to hotel via Cowgate and Grassmarket.  Pat remembers visiting Grassmarket that sits far below the Castle more than 20 years ago.  Back then it was a sleepy, dusty area with small odd shops.  Today it is young and very hip with art and new businesses.  We are near Greyfriars Church, famous for Greyfriars Bobby.  Multiple venues for plays and improve comedy up and down the street.  We stop to look over the White Hart Stag Pub, very old and ornate.  Then stop at another historic pub called the Beehive, low ceilings, flocked Victorian wallpaper and wood turned chairs and tables.  We find our way into the back beer-garden.  Very nice open area with a large tree growing through the decking, can look up and see the Castle above us.  Back to the hotel to catch the bus for the pre-Tattoo dinner.  We go with the tour to the International League House found on Princes Street.  A very historic and conserved  building. We’re led to the second floor dining room and the windows open into a full view of the Castle above us.  We have Ham Hough, lamb/mint, carrots and parsnips, new potatoes, ended with cheese cake and Pavlova (meringue, fruit and cream).  On to the Tattoo, a Scottish tradition of honoring their heritage and the military.  We sit in bleachers in the esplanade leading to the Castle as a backdrop.  There are thousands of views from all over the world.  For 2 ½ hours we watch military bands from around the world, and bagpipe and royal bands, Scottish dancers, violinists from the Orkney’s, Indian Bollywood display, and a Chinese troop acting out a story that includes 4 dancing dragons.  The whole time a variety of themed light displays are shown using the whole castle as a screen/backdrop.  The evening ends with fireworks and the lone piper high on the castle rampart playing the final song.  Walk back to the hotel, dark and drizzling.  The rain held off until we were leaving the Tattoo.  In Scotland a wee distance is at least a mile!

Nighty Night