Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 04:10:28 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: A lot more climbing and walking, but all good...
H'lo, (or something like that)
A few days before leaving home I had seen Samantha Brown's "Passport to
Europe" show on the Travel Channel about Edinburgh. Edinburgh isn't
like most other cities (European or worldwide) ... most of the old town
is a World Heritage Site, and outside it there are several hills from
which you can get beautiful views of the city -- if you're lucky enough
to have a clear day.
I've been extremely lucky. On Friday night I went up Arthur's Seat.
Saturday was another hill above which is the Edinburgh Castle. Today --
Sunday -- will be the third hill.
One of the things the travel channel show mentioned was that it's best
to do all your climbing in the beginning of the day when your feet are
fresh, then spend the rest of the day leisurely coming back down. I
think I agree with that. The Castle is about 300 steps straight up from
my motel (just my approximation, I didn't actually count them this time
like I usually do). No escalators like in Toledo. No trains like in
Rio. That was a good climb, and I actually managed to do it with "only"
3-4 breaks. Once on top, the views were fantastic -- across the Firth
of Forth to Fife (say that really quick) in the north, down the "Royal
Mile" and Calton Hill to the northeast, Holyrood Park and Arthur's Seat
to the southeast, New Town on the North, and the much newer and more
modern city to the West. That's the best part of Edinburgh Castle --
the views on a clear day!
As for the castle, its interesting from a historical standpoint. It's
one of the only castles in the world that has never been successfully
invaded. It was either surrendered to English kings or taken by
subversion. There were never too many large-scale battles here, so most
of the structures inside are still intact. Now it is used as a military
base of the Royal Scottish Regiment and home of the Scottish crown
jewels. I bought the audio tour which gave a lot of the historical
background, and went on their free guided tour too. There are cannons
there which have never been fired from the castle. Reason: When Queen
Victoria came here the first time, she noticed the lack of cannons and
remarked "how can a castle not have cannons?" So a bunch of cannons
were brought in from navy ships and placed here as "decoration" to make
the queen happy! Little tidbits like that are interesting to me -- they
didn't even need that many cannons here...
Anyway, I stuck around for quite a long time, going inside all the
buildings but also lingering at the edges for the views below... At
1:00 PM there is the daily firing of the "One O'Clock Gun". It was
originally used to signal the time to ships at port so they could set
their clocks correctly before going out into the open ocean. Today, it
used to wake up the students in their classes at Edinburgh University.
Just kidding.
Maybe not.
Its one of the few cannons that have actually been fired from the
castle, although this is more ceremonial than in battle. So why is it
fired at 1:00 PM and not at 12:00 PM? Why fire 12 shots when firing
only one shot is a lot cheaper?
After that I had lunch at the "Redcoat cafe" next to the cannon and
slowly started walking down...
First stop outside the castle was supposed to be "Camera Obscura" on
the Royal Mile (That's what my tourbook said I should do). Opposite
this was "The Scotch Whisky Experience". I saw that sign so I went
there first instead.
First time in my life that I actually liked whisky straight-up. Unlike
other similar tours they give you a drink before the tour starts, which
I thought was a little strange, but I didn't mind. The tourguide said
she wasn't allowed to join us in the drink. They gave the glass to take
home too. Then there was a small tour of a simulated distillary where
they explained how whisky is made. Frankly I was starting to fall
asleep by then.
After that I went through their giftshop (Sorry, I'm not bringing any
back home -- no drinks allowed in carry-on luggage!), and then walked
across the street to Camera Obscura, a fun place for kids of all
ages...
On the top of this museum is the camera obscura, something I had never
seen before -- a bunch of mirrors reflecting light (live scenery from
the city) onto a concave lens (white-top wooden table) in a room below.
Basically, "going inside a camera". The mirrors could be rotated at all
angles for 360-degree views of the city projected onto this tabletop...
that was nice. The rest of the 5 floors of the museum is full of
optical illusions of all kinds... some fun distorting mirrors, plasma
balls, holograms, dark rooms, and photographs of optical illusions.
There was one mosaic of Darth Vader from Star Wars -- made up of tiny
pictures of scenes from all six movies -- that was really well-made!!
Anyway after that was a leisurely stroll down the "Royal Mile" -- so
called because it's a 1-mile long street between Edinburgh Castle and
Holyroodhouse Palace (the official home of the queen whenever she's on
her royal visit). It's basically the Champs-Elysses of Edinburgh, full
of shops selling expensive things and restaurants that are catered
towards tourists. Along the way was the "High Kirk of St. Giles" (a
"High Kirk", not a "Cathedral"). I went inside but there wasn't much to
look at besides the stained glass windows.
A chocolate cake and 1 mile later I was at Holyroodhouse, near the spot
where I had taken the taxi back to the hotel the previous night. This
time I took the bus #36 to the train station then walked back to my
hotel thinking I'd take a short nap and head back out after dark.
That didn't work.
So today I'm taking it easy -- its noon now and I'm still at the
hotel... I think all I want to do today is go up Calton Hill and then
roam around the streets of New Town (circa 1700's). Possibly stop by at
the National Gallery but probably not! And also measure the time it
takes to walk from here to the Waverly station bus stop for the airport
bus tomorrow morning!
Slainte mhath, (exactly -- I googled that one)
-me.
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| May 23 | Contents | May 25 |