A Traveling Fool

August 2, 2020

London: Banqueting House, Westminster Abbey & Temple Church

Banqueting House is the last remaining portion of Whitehall Palace. King Charles I stepped from one of the windows to a scaffold to be beheaded in 1649. His son, Charles II returned from exile and took up residence in 1660. Westminster Abbey is over 1,000 years old – the scene of every coronation since William the Conqueror, and the last resting place of over 3,300 people, including 17 monarchs. Temple Church was built by the Knights Templar in 1185 and is the burial place of several knights, including three of my ancestors.

Originally I was to go on a day tour to Stonehenge and Salisbury on this particular Thursday and just hang out in London to visit these locations the following day. But I received an email from the tour company the day before saying that the Stonehenge & Salisbury tour had been canceled. Did I want to go to Stonehenge, Avebury and Glastonbury on the Friday? I just switched plans for the two days (fortunately I didn’t have another tour booked for Friday and hadn’t booked ahead for the Abbey).

After breakfast, I sauntered down the Strand to Whitehall and Banqueting House. I was slightly ahead of schedule and so had to wait just outside the door until they opened. Designed by Inigo Jones and completed in 1622 at the behest of King James I/VI as an addition to Whitehall Palace, Banqueting House was part of another palace that Henry VIII took from Cardinal Wolsey (called York Place) and greatly enlarged.

The rest of Whitehall Palace burned down in 1698, by which time the king was the widowed William III, whose heart just wasn’t in having it rebuilt. His wife, Mary II, had been the granddaughter of Charles I (and daughter of James II/VII). Had she still been alive, it would have been rebuilt.

The ceiling of Banqueting House was commissioned by Charles I and painted by Peter Paul Rubens. The paintings were done in Rubens’ studio and installed in the specially designed frames on the ceiling in 1636.

Charles I was disappointed when Rubens went back to Antwerp when he was done and left Anthony van Dyck behind in his place to be the court painter. He wasn’t disappointed for long as van Dyck quickly proved his own talents. The artist was knighted by Charles and preceded him in death by eight years. He was buried at Westminster Abbey.

The glorious ceiling paintings, pretty much deifying his father, most likely would have been the last things Charles would have seen before stepping out of the window from that room to the scaffold. Actually, they used to say that he stepped from one of the windows from the room itself (the far right window in the photo I have included here). Now they say he stepped from a window that used to be above what is now the entrance to the building. Either way, it is said that he wore two shirts because it was cold and he didn’t want people to think he was shivering with fear.

Shortly after leaving Banqueting House, when heading south on Whitehall, the street becomes Parliament Street, which then empties into Parliament Square. Once in Parliament Square, facing east is a great view of the Palace of Westminster, aka Parliament. Several statues of mostly Prime Ministers stand around the square. But there are a couple of non-Prime Ministers there too. Looking west across the street, you will find Abraham Lincoln and, just before crossing the street to go to Saint Margaret’s Church, you can see Nelson Mandella.

Originally built in the 12^th century and rebuilt in the early 16^th century, St Margaret’s has been the site of several wedding over the centuries, including John Milton, Samuel Pepys, and Winston Churchill. This St Margaret is not the one from Scotland, but a 4^th century martyr from Antioch. There is also a St Margaret of York and a St Margaret of Cortona.

In the church is a window commemorating Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Sir Walter Raleigh, executed across the street in Old Palace Yard, is among those buried here. Another window shows him in happier times with Queen Elizabeth I and Edmund Spenser, the poet who wrote The Faerie Queen.

Next to St Margaret’s is the visitor’s entrance to Westminster Abbey. I had to stand in line for a bit, but it wasn’t really too bad. I have experienced longer lines before and since. I was buying my ticket there instead of in advance online. With the online advance ticket, there is a special “skip the line” entrance. To get the advance ticket, it is necessary to specify a particular time slot. I didn’t want to do that on this trip to stay a little more flexible. So I took my chances with the line.

Westminster Abbey is one of my favorite places. I visit pretty much every time I am in London. It is amazing and overwhelming at the same time. Some people have asked in the past why I go to see a place I have been to before. I’ve already seen it; why would I want to see it again?

One answer is that it might have been a very long time ago that I saw it and my memories are fuzzy (not the case with Westminster, but it had been 13 years since I saw it last). Another answer is that, with a place that I find fascinating, I can see things and experience things that I have never seen or experienced before. Then there is that fact that things change. How can an over 1,000 year old church change? You’d be surprised.

The coronation throne used to sit behind the Shrine of Edward the Confessor. It could be easily missed there unless one knew to look for it or had a guide point it out. By 2016, it was up in the front of the abbey in its own special room. The portrait of King Richard II (the fella I had seen David Tennant portray onstage in NYC at the beginning of this trip), was now just outside of where the throne sat. Richard is seated in that throne in the portrait, which used to be just inside of the entrance to the Royal Chapels. There, loads of people missed out on seeing him. The portrait is pretty cool. It was painted in 1390 at Richard’s request and therefore should be a pretty accurate portrayal.

Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside of the abbey, so I can’t include a photo that I took of the painting However, I have included an official photo of it from the abbey’s website. He was only ten years old when crowned King of England. His father had died a year earlier, so he succeeded his grandfather, Edward III in 1377. He was deposed in 1399 by Henry Bolingbrooke (King Henry IV) and subsequently murdered while in captivity. He was 33.

Another change was that Westminster Abbey now had audio guides. The audio guide had numbers on it that corresponded to numbers on a map. No more crowding around a guide or trying to squeeze past a crowd.

The special floor in front of the altar had been uncovered as well. Previously this floor had been covered over for centuries and only visible for coronation ceremonies and rare special viewings. It has a type of inlaid stone called Cosmati and was installed by Henry III in 1268.

Founded in 960 AD by King Edgar and Saint Dunstan, the official name of the abbey is the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster. It is a “Royal Peculiar”, which means it falls under the direct jurisdiction of the reigning monarch. Various monarchs have made their marks on Westminster Abbey, most notably King Henry III, whose building spree in 1245 made it largely what is seen today. King Henry VII built the Lady Chapel with the magnificent fan vaulted ceiling in 1503.

In 2016, the abbey was in the process of creating a whole new space for its museum in galleries up above the abbey’s nave that would be opened in 2018. That particular area of the abbey had not been open to the public for 700 years.

I spent a couple of hours at Westminster Abbey, exploring it more thoroughly than I had ever been able to do so before. The exception was the Shrine of Edward the Confessor. It was off limits. It used to be open to a few people at a time, but things change.

I discovered after I got back home that there were Verger tours open at specific times on specific days. A Verger (who is basically a church caretaker) takes a small group of people into places of the abbey where tourists cannot go on their own, including the Shrine of Edward the Confessor. I decided the next time I traveled to London, I would arrange for a Verger tour.

Another change was that they now had a restaurant within the abbey. It was in the former food stores of the monks in the 14^th century and is called the Cellarium Café. I had some Welsh Rarebit (a fancy cheese toast) with salad, and an apricot tart with ice cream.

My foot was bothering me (the same one which had a stress fracture back in 2014), so I took a taxi back to the hotel (there were several parked out in front of the abbey), gave my foot a massage and wrapped it in an ace bandage. Once wrapped, it felt much better.

I decided I didn’t need to stay in the room with my foot elevated, but I didn’t want to go too far. So I walked the relatively short distance from the hotel to Temple Church.

Built in 1185 by the Templar Knights, the original part of the church is round, with a later rectangular addition. I have mentioned in past posts that I have loads of ancestors who were knights. Two became Templar Knights in their later years. They were buried in the crypt of the church with effigies upstairs.

One died in 1219 at the age of 73. He was a knight all of his life and even led (and won) a major battle at the age of seventy. He had served five kings – Henry II, his sons, the “Young King” Henry, Richard I, John and John’s son, Henry III. He decided to become a Templar Knight on his deathbed and was invested into the order.

Another died in 1226 at the age of 56. He came to the Templars a little later in life — in 1212 at the age of 42. He had been a busy guy – also in the service of Richard I, John and Henry III. He was a strong supporter of the Templars with gifts of lands in Yorkshire. So, as a generous member of the order, he was honored with burial at Temple Church.

Another ancestor died while on crusade in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1241 (at the age of 31). He was with Richard of Cornwall, who was King John’s second son and was involved with the refortification of Ascalon. A chunk of stone, found among the rubble in a former moat in Ascalon, had graffiti including this particular ancestor’s coat of arms. He is also buried in the Temple Church. He either doesn’t have an effigy, or his is one of the unidentified effigies, or his was destroyed when the church was bombed by the Germans during World War II. His body is down in the crypt somewhere.

Next time – Mystic locations of Stonehenge, Glastonbury, and Avebury

July 26, 2020

The Crawleys & the Churchills

The fictional Crawleys of Downton Abbey lived in Yorkshire. But the settings used for the series weren’t quite so far north. Highclere Castle (Downton Abbey), which is open at limited times to the public, is in Hampshire. Byfleet Manor (the Dower House) is in Surrey. Many of the other locations — Cogges Farm (Yew Tree Farm), Bampton (the village), and several other locations – are in Oxfordshire. I wasn’t able to book a tour to Highclere Castle for the time I would be in London, but I could get a tour to the Oxfordshire series locations plus Blenheim Palace (home of the Churchills).

This was another small group tour through a group called International Friends. There were three of us on the tour. We started with Cogges Farm, at one time a real farm, which stood in for Yew Tree Farm. Yew Tree Farm was where Edith arranged for her daughter, Marigold, to live. Later she admitted to her family who Marigold was and took her to Downton. We could see the interior of the house that was used as well as the exterior.

The farm is now a farm museum. The house was begun in the 13^th century and was enlarged in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. There are still chickens, pig, and goats. The baby goats were leaping and dancing until I pulled out my video camera. Then they stood still and posed. That made me laugh.

Bampton was used as the village for the Grantham Estate. The village has been settled since the Iron Age and Roman times. It is in the Doomesday Book, which William the Conqueror commissioned in 1086.

St Mary’s Church was used for St Michael and All Angels. All of the weddings, near weddings, and funerals were shot at that church. We could go inside there too. Parts of the church date back to the 10^th century. It has been added to and refurbished over the centuries, ending in the mid-19^th century.

The Old Rectory was Isobel Crawley’s house. It was just across the road from the church. Various other Bampton buildings were used for the Grantham Arms pub and the Dog & Duck pub. Another house in the village was Mr Mosley’s house (number 2 in the photo).

The Downton Fair was held in the village square and the Downton Cottage Hospital was located in the Public Library, which was originally a schoolhouse in the 1650s. A small gift shop was in the building when I visited. I bought a couple of Downton Abbey items for a couple of my friends who were big fans of the show.

When we left Bampton, we went to Shilton to see the 18^th century hump-backed bridge and the ford across the Shill Brook. The building there was the Old Forge, which was turned into the Red Lion Pub, where Mr Bates worked when he left the Abbey.

At Swinbrook, a real inn was used as the Swan Inn where Lady Sybil and Branson stayed when they tried to elope. They were persuaded to return to Downton while at the Inn.

We ended the Downton Abbey portion of the tour and made our way to Bladen. In the churchyard of St Martin’s Parish church are several members of the Churchill family. Although most of the actual Dukes and Duchesses were buried in the chapel at Blenheim Palace, other members of the family, including Winston Churchill and his wife, are at Bladen. We paid our respects and took a few photos before heading to nearby Woodstock for lunch.

After lunch we spent several hours at Blenheim Palace. Queen Anne granted the land and provided some of the funding for the palace as a reward to John Churchill, 1^st Duke of Marlborough, after his victory at the 1704 Battle of Blenheim.

Once again I had quite a bit of time to explore what I wanted to explore at Blenheim. I started with the exhibit on Winston Churchill, which included the room in which he was born. Winston’s father was a younger son of the 7^th Duke and so would not become a Duke himself. Lord Randolph Churchill was elected as the Conservative MP from Woodstock and made his mark as a statesman.

I then turned my focus to the State Rooms, of which there are many open to the public. Photography was allowed in them all. One of the most opulent, in my opinion, was the dining room (which they called the Saloon). I had seen photos of that room many years ago as a child, so I loved being able to see the actual room in person.

Among my many photos, is one of the room that contains the tapestry showing the 1^st Duke at the Battle of Blenheim. The library is another enormous room with vast portraits and paintings, a gigantic pipe organ, and a statue of Queen Anne with an inscription on its base from the 1^st Duchess, Sarah, about her friendship with the Queen.

When I left the State Rooms, I visited the chapel, where most of the Dukes and Duchesses were buried. The 1^st Duke naturally had a very fancy tomb. In conversation with one of the staff, I discovered that the private rooms of the current Duke and his family were going to be open to tour later that afternoon. I had the time, so I bought a ticket and then went to take a good look at the gardens until it was time to view the private rooms. It is only on very rare occasions that those rooms are open to the public.

The gardens were as amazing and opulent as the State Rooms had been. The design of the Water Terrace was an attempt to rival Versailles. I think they did it.

The private family quarters were fascinating to see. Most places, the only time you get to see the private quarters is when the family no longer lives there and the castle/ palace/ grand house is under the care of some sort of Trust. The Spencer-Churchill family is definitely in residence with the 12^th Duke in charge. Yes, the Spencer part is Princess Diana’s family.

We were only allowed in as a small group and not allowed to take photos at all. That was fine. It was just fun to see where the family actually lived. They had a wing. The rooms were much more normal in size and not as lavish as the State Rooms. It was still obviously the home of someone with great wealth. In some of the bedrooms, it struck me as odd to see an antique, grand four-posted bed with a canopy next to a large flat-screen television. Computers sat on ornate, antique desks. I was glad I had time to see it all.

Next time – Banqueting House, Westminster Abbey & Temple Church back in London

July 19, 2020

A Day at Windsor Castle & Hampton Court Palace – Part 2

Hampton Court Palace had audio guides and costumed interpreters. The audio guide was divided up by the different parts of the palace, so I could decide where I wanted to spend my time and how much time I wanted to spend there.

When I had been there before in 1991, as part of the cattle herd, the person leading the tour had spent limited time in the Henry VIII portions of the palace and most of his time in the William & Mary rooms in the part of the palace that had been redone by Sir Christopher Wren. I think he favored that period. We were shown the Tudor Kitchens almost as an afterthought. So this time I decided to concentrate most of my time on Henry VIII’s apartments.

The palace was originally built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1515. I was a large and lavish palace where the king stayed in the state rooms when he visited. In 1529, Wolsey failed to secure an annulment of the king’s marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. As a result, the Cardinal lost favor with Henry and gave his palace to him to try to regain favor. It didn’t quite work out that way and Wolsey died just two years later. But Henry had a magnificent palace that he set out to enlarge and turn into his primary residence.

Entering through the Tudor Great Gatehouse, I crossed the Base Court and entered a door in a corner to my far left. With my map and audio guide in hand, I entered the second gatehouse, called Anne Boleyn’s Gate. Her rooms above the gate were still being worked on when she was taken to the Tower of London and executed. I then entered the palace just inside of the Clock Court and climbed the stairs.

The first room I encountered was the Great Hall. Anne Boleyn and Henry’s entwined initials were carved on the wooden screen at the end of the hall and their coats of arms on the hammerbeam ceiling (Henry was going for a medieval feel). The original tapestries that hung in the hall when Henry lived there were hanging in the hall when I was there. They are known as the Abraham Tapestries, with scenes from the life of Abraham from the Bible.

Of Henry’s six wives, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr are most associated with the palace. The Great Watching Chamber, which was where courtiers would wait to see Henry, was built to honor Jane Seymour. She was the only one of Henry’s wives to produce a male heir and died just two weeks later of complications having to do with the birth. Her heart and lungs were in a lead box behind the altar in the chapel at Hampton Court (no photography was allowed in that one room). The rest of her was buried with Henry at Windsor Castle.

Henry’s last wife, Catherine Parr, was married to him in a small room near the chapel. She survived Henry by roughly a year, dying from complications of childbirth after giving birth to a daughter by the man she married after Henry’s death.

It is Catherine Howard who is most associated with the palace because of a legend that she still haunts the place. Rumors of her having been a wild child (being only about 14 or 15 when Henry married her) reached the king when they had not been married terribly long (about a year maybe). He dismissed it at first. But then they found and tortured a few of the males reportedly involved and one confessed. He was beheaded as his reward.

Things were further complicated when it was discovered that Catherine had been carrying on an affair with Thomas Culpeper, one of Henry’s courtiers and a distance cousin of Catherine’s. Lady Rochford, who was Jane Boleyn, married to Anne Boleyn’s brother, was found to have been aiding in the affair.

Culpeper was beheaded. He and the other fella had their heads displayed on spikes on London Bridge. Lady Rochford told all upon fear of torture. She ended up being beheaded along with Catherine. They were buried together in the chapel at the Tower of London, next to Anne Boleyn (who was also Catherine’s cousin).

After she was captured and imprisoned at Hampton Court (before being sent to the Tower), Catherine broke free and ran screaming down the Long Gallery towards the Chapel, believing Henry was there and wanting to beg him for mercy. She was captured before she could reach the chapel. People sometimes see her and sometimes hear her in what has been nicknamed the Haunted Gallery. Many people experience a somewhat creepy feeling there.

The Great Watching Chamber is next to the Great Hall. After spending some time in there, I went into the Processional Gallery. I was alone and there were some benches, so I sat down to get caught up with the audio guide. I kept putting it on pause to take photos and had gotten behind.

As I was sitting there listening, I saw some interesting-looking shoes with some somewhat heavy legs wearing white stockings standing in them. “Have you seen Thomas Culpeper?” the voice belonging to the shoes, legs and stockings barked. I looked up and saw Henry VIII looking down at me. He had a couple other people with him. “No Sir,” I responded, but didn’t think to curtsy. He headed off with the other two in the direction of the Great Watching Chamber and Great Hall. This was how I discovered that they had costumed interpreters at Hampton Court Palace. Cool! This will be fun!

Shortly after he left, a woman in Tudor dress came and sat on the bench across from me. We were the only two people in gallery. I abandoned my audio guide, turning it off and putting it away. “Hello,” I said to her. I soon discovered that she was Lady Rochford (she had been Lady in Waiting to both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard). I asked her who was queen to see where we were in history at the moment. The queen was Catherine Howard. Oh goody! Truly interesting times.

While Lady Rochford and I were talking, a gentleman came along who revealed himself to be Thomas Culpeper. I let him know that the king was looking for him. He asked which way he went and headed off in the opposite direction. He soon returned and the three of us talked about court gossip and Catherine’s naivety (didn’t learn a thing from her cousin, Anne’s experience) for a while just inside of the Haunted Gallery.

I got a photo of the lady playing Lady Rochford while we were in the Processional Gallery and took one of the gent playing Thomas Culpeper as he retreated down the Haunted Gallery. I headed down the Haunted Gallery shortly afterwards, checking out the room where Henry had married Catherine Parr and the chapel on the way. Then I proceeded down the stairs and out into the Clock Court where I photographed the exterior of the Great Hall. My next focus was the Tudor Kitchens.

To get to the Tudor Kitchens, I needed to go through an undercroft where I discovered a tea shop. Perfect timing. I used their facilities and got some refreshment before heading outside again to follow the maze of alleys to the kitchens where 200 cooks and other servants labored to create 800 meals per day for Henry and his court. The photo with the guy in the long, red coat walking down the alley ahead of me includes a doorway (third from the left) where a ghost has also been spotted.

The kitchen itself is enormous plus there are several other rooms to store plates, utensils, and serving platters and bowls; storage for beer; for wine; several larders; a butchers; a bakery; offices. I explored it all.

At the gift shop, back near where we were to meet the tour coach, I bought Christmas ornaments of Henry and all six wives. I also got an ornament of Hampton Court Palace.

A couple extras:

Historian Lucy Worsley, who you may have seen in several shows on PBS (including a series on Henry and his wives), has her offices at Hampton Court.
Hampton Court Palace was where the meeting took place that led to the creation of the King James Bible.

Next time – I visit the Crawleys and the Churchills at some of the Downton Abbey filming locations and Blenheim Palace

July 12, 2020

A Day at Windsor Castle & Hampton Court Palace – Part 1

My first day trip out of London didn’t go too far out. In fact, Hampton Court is in a London suburb, so not even officially outside of London for that portion of the day.

Our tour guide was impeccably dressed, perfectly coiffed, and closely shaved except for the handlebar mustache which he frequently stroked (when he wasn’t checking on the perfection of his hair, which never moved one millimeter). He had a Hungarian accent (sounding somewhat like Bela Lugosi) and referred to us all as “my lovelies”.

He didn’t have much to do. At Windsor, once we parked the coach (a large one that could hold about 45 people; he was not driving) in the car park, he led us through the town and to the castle, gave us our tickets , told us when to be back on the coach and set us free for about two hours. At Hampton Court Palace, it was pretty much the same. The coach dropped us off; he told us what time to meet back there; and then we were on our own for about three hours. I guess his job was just to look handsome and perfect and make sure he didn’t lose anybody (he did do a head count when we were back on the coach before signaling the driver that we could leave).

I have to say that I was relieved that we weren’t going to be herded around from room to room in a crowd and have to strain to hear what was being said. Many years ago when Mom and I had been to Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace before, that had been the case. At Windsor, no photos are allowed inside, so being in the middle of a throng of people wasn’t as bad as at Hampton Court. There photos were allowed and masses of people could make taking decent ones difficult.

Before leaving for Windsor, we stopped in South Kensington by the Royal Albert Hall. This is a round concert hall that can seat over 5,000. It was opened in 1871 as part of a memorial to Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who had died about ten years earlier. The other part of the memorial is just across the street from the hall in Kensington Gardens and is called the Albert Memorial.

Around one of the sides of the Albert Memorial is a lovely building that was used as Mister Selfridge’s house in the TV series “Mister Selfridge”. The series was about the Selfridge & Company department store in London.

At Windsor, the Queen was in residence, so security was tight. The castle was originally built in the 11^th century by William the Conqueror and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe. Mom and I had been there in 1991 before the enormous fire of 1992. I was very interested in seeing how everything had been restored. Being a fan of dolls houses however, I stopped off to see Queen Mary’s Dollhouse first. Then I headed upstairs to the State Rooms.

Each room had a sign telling about the room. The ones which had been damaged by the fire also had photos of the damage so we could see how much work needed to be done to get the room back to what it had been before. They had staff in each room to answer any questions that people might have. The main thing was that I could take my time and really see what each room was about. My previous visit had all been a blur of glimpses of the rooms through the crowds.

One of the rooms that had been badly damaged in the fire was Saint George’s Hall, which is essentially the Great Hall. The room is enormous and the entire roof had collapsed. The discovery was made that the ceiling had been a false one and the room originally had a much higher and grander ceiling. The decision was made not to restore the hall entirely as it was, but to take it back to the medieval period when the original ceiling had been visible. Wow! The result was amazing!

I had quite a chat with a staff member who was just inside when I walked in and my jaw dropped. She walked over to me as I was saying “wow!” out loud. So we talked about how we both like the hall so much better now, despite the fact that it was beautiful and impressive before the fire. She then asked if I knew who the monarchs were whose paintings were on the wall. I responded by starting to name them. We both laughed when I said, “then all the Georges.” The first painting in the line was of James I, so I hadn’t named them all from William the Conqueror – just the Stuarts.

Although I couldn’t take any photos and I usually use only photos I took myself in this blog, I have included here three photos of Saint George’s Hall that were taken by others to show what the hall looked like before the fire, with the fire damage, and after restoration.

When I got back outside, the Queen’s Band was playing. I managed to take video and a photo while listening. This was an added benefit of being there while the Queen was in residence.

St George’s Chapel also doesn’t allow photography inside. There was a black marble slab in the middle of the aisle, which you might have seen if you watched the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan. The slab says that, in a vault beneath it, are the remains of Jane Seymour (Henry VIII’s third wife, who died shortly after giving birth to his only son, Edward), Henry VIII, Charles I, and an infant of Queen Anne.

Poor Queen Anne had 18 children die. Just the one stillborn child was buried at Windsor. All of the others were buried at Westminster Abbey. Some were miscarriages, some still births, some died while still infants. Only one made it out of infancy as far as age eleven. Imagine.

I had lunch at the Victorian train station. They had several cafes and sandwich shops to choose from. Then I made my way back to the car park via a bridge from the railway station over the train tracks. Our tour guide was very happy to see all of his lovelies back to the coach on time and we set off for Hampton Court.

July 5, 2020

Train from Edinburgh to London & Boat Ride to Greenwich

The Virgin Trains East Coast train from Edinburgh’s Waverly Station to London’s Kings Cross Station was leaving at 10:00am. After having breakfast and checking out of the hotel, I asked the Doorman on duty about the best way to get from the hotel to the train station. Although it was next door, there was a shopping mall in between. Should I go through the mall? Should I go past the mall and around the corner? He started telling me the way to get there (neither of those two) and then decided he would just take me there himself.

He told the other Doorman on duty inside, took hold of my bags, and escorted me to just past the mall entrance next to the hotel to some steps to the roof of the mall. That was a surprise. When we got to the end of the mall roof near the station, there was an elevator. This took us down into the train station. My new friend (he was actually from Romania – a combination Romanian and Scottish accent is quite delightful) led us to the Departures board, found the train I would be riding, and then took me and my bags to another elevator.

That elevator took us to where the trains themselves were waiting. He continued to escort me all the way to the train. There he made sure I got my larger bag checked. I was traveling First Class (I had gotten a great deal there too). In Standard you keep your bags and try to find a place to put them, which may or may not be near you. Once the bag was checked, he turned me over to the First Class Conductor. Needless to say, I gave the Doorman a good tip.

I had booked a single seat that was at a table. I placed my coat in the rack above me, the small bag on the floor under the table, and settled in. The trip took four hours, stopping at various towns and cities along the way. Lunch was served, so I wasn’t hungry when I arrived at my destination.

Once in London, I checked into my hotel. It was a hotel I used to stay in with Mom on many trips. But it had recently undergone a total refurbishment, gained another star, and decided that their focus would be on the business traveler. I realized on this trip that it was no longer the hotel for me.

The next morning after I arrived, I walked down The Strand to take the boat from Westminster Pier to Greenwich. En route I took a photo of the Admiralty Arch with the UK flags lining The Mall beyond the arch. As I reached Westminster Pier, I took a photo of the statue of Boudica.

Boudica was queen of the Iceni tribe of Celtic Briton who led a revolt against the Romans in about 61 AD. Her husband, the king had died, leaving his kingdom split between his two daughters and the Roman Empire. His will was ignored. His daughters were raped. His widow publicly flogged.

Boudica raised an army and went after the Romans in three cities – Verulamium (now St Albans), Camulodunum (now Colchester), and Londinium (now London). It is said that roughly 70,000 to 80,000 Romans and British were killed. All three cities were burned. London was where the Ninth Legion met Boudica’s troops and lost. But, there were way more Romans and they ultimately defeated the Britons.

Once on the boat, I took a photo of the London Eye before going inside. It was starting to look like it was going to rain. All along the boat ride down the Thames to Greenwich, I took as many photos as I could on the side of the boat where I sat. Humorous commentary was given onboard as various landmarks on either side of the boat were pointed out. I planned to sit on the other side on the way back.

As we glided beneath the Tower Bridge, I shot several photos as that bridge is a favorite of mine. I have included a photo with the modern building The Shard framed between the towers of the bridge.

Beyond both the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge and on the same side of the Thames as the Tower of London was the Prospect of Whitby. This was the oldest pub on the river, dating to about 1520. The current building is not original as it had a fire and was rebuilt in the early 19^th century. The only part that is original is the stone floor.

A little further along, in the area known as Limehouse, is the Grapes, where Charles Dickens lived for a time in about 1820. The building dates from the 1720s. Another pub dating from 1583 was on the same site before it. The pub is currently owned by a trio of people including actor Ian McKellen. He lives a little further along the river near Canary Wharf.

When we reached Greenwich Pier, I immediately headed for the Royal Observatory. Mom and I had been to Greenwich on our first visit to London back in 1983, but had not made it up to the Observatory. We had spent most of our time there at the Queen’s House (built 1616-1635), which houses part of the National Maritime Museum.

The climb to the Observatory is a steep one and I knew it would take time. I often will explore whatever is the farthest or the most difficult to get to first when I am operating on my own agenda instead of someone else’s. There was a less steep, but longer walk that sort of wound around the hill. I decided to take that route up and the super steep route down.

The Royal Observatory was commissioned in 1675 by King Charles II and built by Sir Christopher Wren (the same guy who built St Paul’s Cathedral). The Royal Observatory is home to Greenwich Mean Time (from which all time around the world originates) and the Prime Meridian (zero meridian from which will all distances around the world are measured).

People like to get the cheesy photo with one foot on each side of the meridian line. I took an equally cheesy photo of my feet straddling the line – one in the eastern hemisphere and one in the western.

Once I had explored the building and the exhibits inside, took my feet photo, and spent as much time as I wanted up there, I headed back down, walking through the park that surrounds the space, and found a pub in which to have lunch. The Greenwich Tavern had the usual traditional pub fare, such as fish and chips, which was what I ordered, plus a half pint of cider.

Next came the Royal Naval College, created in the 19^th century in a building built in the 17^th century by Sir Christopher Wren as Greenwich Hospital, a home for retired sailors.

There are several connections between Greenwich and Admiral Horatio Nelson. He lied in state in the Painted Hall at what became the Royal Naval College before his funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral. Several items belonging to him, including the uniform he was wearing at the Battle of Trafalgar, are housed in the National Maritime Museum in the Queen’s House.

The Chapel in the Royal Naval College has, near the entrance, a memorial to Thomas Hardy, Captain of the HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar (not the novelist). He was also a close friend of Nelson’s, and was with him when he died on the Victory after being shot by a French Sharpshooter. Hardy was a Governor of Greenwich Hospital near the end of his career.

The Cutty Sark was built in Scotland in 1869 as a tea clipper to China. It was later involved in the wool trade to Australia. The whiskey was named after the ship, which went into dry dock at Greenwich in 1954. Mom and I had toured the ship back in 1983. It suffered a pretty nasty fire in 2007 and was restored in 2012.

The name Cutty Sark comes from the nickname of the witch who chased Tam O’Shanter in Robert Burn’s 1791 poem. The ship was an extremely fast one back in its day. The restoration allows for visitors to seen beneath the ship as well and inside and on deck. I love ships, especially old ones, and I enjoyed getting to explore this one a second time.

On the way back to Westminster Pier, the rain came down really hard, making it impossible for me to take any photos beyond shortly after leaving Greenwich. My last photo shared here is of the Mayflower Pub in Rotherhithe.

In July of 1620, the Mayflower sailed from Rotherhithe to pick up more passengers in Southhampton and Plymouth, England, before sailing to what became Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Mayflower Pub claims to be at the site in Rotherhithe from which the Mayflower sailed. Whether or not that is true is up to discussion.

Back at Westminster Pier, the rain had stopped. As I walked up Whitehall towards The Strand, I took a photo near Banqueting House. Right after that, I saw that a ceremony was taking place at Horseguards Parade and crossed over to that side of the street to take a look. A photo is included here.

My last shot before heading up The Strand to my hotel was of Trafalgar Square, with the statue of Admiral Nelson on top of Nelson’s Column. The statue in front of the column is of King Charles I. The building seen behind the column with a dome is the National Gallery.

Next time – a day at Windsor Castle & Hampton Court Palace

June 28, 2020

Much More of Hadrian’s Wall

A full day exploring various sections of the Roman wall built across Britain, near present day Scotland, in 122 AD to keep those wild tribes north of the wall north of the wall. As a descendant of more than one of those wild tribes, I have to say that I’m rather proud of them putting the “fear of God” into those Roman Legions. The Romans were used to just going all over Europe and the Middle East conquering everybody.

This was another Rabbie’s day trip, leaving from across the street. This time we had a much smaller group. Me and two young guys in their twenties who were from the Dominican Republic and were re-enactors of the Roman Ninth Legion (officially Legio IX Hispana). They had their banner with them and posed for photos at the wall, some of which I took for them. The Ninth Legion is the one that was stationed in York and supposedly marched up to Caledonia and disappeared. This was prior to the wall being built and has been considered to be one of the reasons why Hadrian ordered its building.

They didn’t speak much English so most of the conversation was between the Tour Guide and me. It seemed they understood more English than they could speak although the Tour Guide would write down the times they needed to be back to our chariot (the tour coach). They were always there on time.

After a bathroom break at Jedburgh, our next stop was Carter Bar – one of the border crossings between Scotland and England. It was also the site of the last battle between England and Scotland in the 1500s (Culloden technically wasn’t between England and Scotland, but between British Royal forces and Bonnie Prince Charlie and his forces).

Once we crossed the border, we drove along Dere Street, which was built by the Romans, to our first stop along the wall. This was Housesteads Fort again. But we were only stopping briefly. This was just to give us a taste. We were heading for Steel Rigg.

Along the way, between Housesteads and Steel Rigg, was Sycamore Gap. This is on a part of the wall which runs along the edge of a cliff and has some rather dramatic dips formed by retreating glaciers. In the middle of one of the sharpest dips is an enormous sycamore tree. The tree is a few hundred years old and was used in a pivotal scene near the beginning of the Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Steel Rigg got its name from the 17^th century farm that used to be there. It was a cool site with lots of dips and twists in the ground upon which it runs. The wall itself was low and grass covered on top, but it ran on for a ways. It briefly snowed while we were there. The ground got a “wee bit slippy” but we managed to stay on our feet while getting photos and heading back to the van.

Our next stop was Vindolanda. The name comes from a post that was excavated there and was the actual name of the Roman garrison, which predated Hadrian’s Wall and had a village just outside of it. The fort was built 85 AD (the wall 122 AD) and ended up just south of the wall.

Vindolanda has been an active archaeological site since the early 1800s. It has a very interesting museum containing clothing, shoes, pottery, tools, equipment, weapons, and even some skeletons of both dogs and horses. All of these artifacts would have been from between 85 AD and 370 AD. It was amazing to me how well things had been preserved.

The most important artifacts found there have been the Vindolanda Tablets which are handwritten wooden leaf tablets. These were the oldest surviving handwritten documents (in ink) in Britain at the time they were discovered. More recently older documents were found in London. They included letters, various lists (of supplies, for example), military orders, a request for “more beer” –- quite a variety.

I had lunch at a café next to the museum and then went exploring outside. Temples (one was a combined Roman/Celtic temple), bathhouses, barracks, officer’s quarters, storage buildings, domestic homes, and drainage ditches were among the excavations with more buildings being discovered all the time.

In addition, they had replicas of what the origin wooden portions of the wall would have looked like as well as the stone walls. People could enter the replicas and walk along at the height (16 feet) and width (six feet) that the real walls would have been when the Romans were manning them. I climbed up on both the wooden and stone replicas to see what they would have been like.

Originally called Banna (horn) by the Celts, Birdoswald (named for the farm it is on) has a Roman fort, a milecastle (a small fort), a turret, and one of the longest stretches of a pretty solid wall from six to eight feet in height. The site also has the remains of a Dark Ages Hall and a Medieval Tower House as well as the 16^th century farmhouse.

When the Romans arrived, the site was a forested bog. They needed to clear and drain it before they could build. It seems that the main Roman occupants of this fort were Dacians, from what eventually became present day Romania. They know this because of Dacian inscriptions found in the fort and on the wall.

After the Romans left, parts of the fort were still in use. This is also when the Dark Ages Hall was built. Remains from the Anglo-Saxon period have been found at Birdoswald as well as the Middle Ages. The main west gate of the fort was apparently still in use at that time. A small Medieval Tower house was built next to it. By the 16^th century, the west gate had collapsed and the current farmhouse was built. The tower of the farmhouse was added in the 18^th century.

Here was where we had the opportunity to walk on the actual wall. To do so would involve some climbing. This would have been much easier back when I was in my twenties. By 2016 I was a long way from my twenties, but I was determined to walk on the wall. Using my hands as well as my feet, I climbed to a height of about six feet (I judged the height by the distance over my 5’3” head the wall appeared to be at that point).

Once on top of the wall, I walked along it rather gingerly. It was only about three feet wide at this point, rather rough, and missing some stones here and there. Plus, my spring allergies had recently shown me a new symptom –- a slight dizziness. Said dizziness was more pronounced up there on top of the wall. So determined as I was to be up and walk along it, I was being careful not to fall off.

Imagine my feelings as I saw a child, about three feet in height, running along the top of the wall towards me. His parents were down on the ground and didn’t seem to be concerned about his safety any more than mine. They didn’t tell him to stop running or to be careful about me, although they were looking up and could see us both. I froze totally until he passed me. Then I continued on for a while, taking the photo of my foot on the wall that I use here in my blog, before going back down.

Back on terra firma, I took the photo showing some other people on top of the wall coming from the opposite direction. The wall was wider there. The photo of my foot doesn’t give much of an indication of how high up I was, but the photo of the longer course of the wall gives a pretty good idea of both the height and the roughness of the top of the wall. You can probably guess that I was pretty excited about having been able to get up there and walk along for a bit.

We were not too far from Carlisle and from the west coast of England. When our visit at Birdoswald was over, we continued along the wall until reaching Lanercost Priory. The priory was founded in roughly 1169 and used several stones from Hadrian’s Wall. King Edward I of England stayed a few times at the priory and was initially buried there until he was moved to Westminster Abbey.

From Lanercost, we pulled northwards to re-enter Scotland. Our last pit stop was in the town of Moffet. Just outside of town is an area called The Devil’s Beef Tub. This was where four mountains sit very close together to form a very deep and dark ravine. Cattle thieves once used this area to hide themselves and their stolen cattle. Later (in 1935) a Moffat doctor used this location to hide the bodies of his murder victims, including his own family. The road we were on had a sharp drop down into the ravine next to it which provided a pretty dramatic viewpoint.

Back in Edinburgh, I purchased some food at Sainsbury’s for dinner in my room. That night, BBC2 had a three hour “Shakespeare Live” telecast from Stratford-Upon-Avon which was being hosted by David Tennant and Catherine Tate. I settled in for the night with my dinner and thoroughly enjoyed the show. You can probably pick out Benedict Cumberbatch, Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, and Judy Dench in the cast photo.

Next time – the train to London and a boat trip to Greenwich.

June 21, 2020

Dunfermline Abbey & Stirling Castle

Dunfermline Abbey was another of King David I of Scotland’s abbeys. But this one was personal as it was founded on behalf of his mother, Queen Margaret of Scotland, who was later canonized as a saint. Margaret was buried before the high altar until her canonization, after which a special shrine was built for her and her husband, King Malcolm III. If you are familiar with Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Malcolm was the son of King Duncan (who was murdered in the play by Macbeth). Both in the play and real life, Malcolm avenged his father’s death, taking back the crown.

During the Scottish Reformation, which replaced Catholicism with the Presbyterian religion in Scotland, Margaret’s shrine was destroyed with both her and Malcolm’s remains dispersed and eventually lost. What remained were a couple of stacked slabs upon which her tomb used to sit and upon which visitors often place flowers.

Both Duncan and David were also buried at Dunfermline, along with other Scottish royals of their family. King Robert the Bruce was buried there and can be found under the pulpit of the church that was built inside of the remains of part of the abbey. A beautiful stained glass window showing the wedding of Margaret and Malcolm was also found in the church.

Where Duncan and David’s remains are located, nobody seems certain; just that they were somewhere in the abbey. It seems that Robert the Bruce fared better because he had been buried in the quire of the abbey, which was the part that became the church.

On the whole, this abbey did better than many of David’s abbeys because it survived the Rough Wooing (too far north) and the Reformation zealots were mainly interested in destroying the shrine of a Catholic saint and not necessarily the entire abbey. Around the top of the church end of the abbey is the name “King Robert the Bruce”. That might have helped in saving it.

From Dunfermline, we drove to Bannockburn. This was the site of where Robert the Bruce (who had taken the Scottish crown in 1306) and his army of Scots (and some say Templar Knights, as he accepted many Templars into Scotland who fled persecution in 1307) soundly defeated the English armies of King Edward II in 1314. This was what made Scotland a free and separate country again until King James VI of Scotland also became James I of England in 1603.

A statue of Robert the Bruce on horseback stands above the battlefield as part of a memorial to that victory and to the Bruce himself. They say that the statue is a fairly accurate representation of what he looked like. If so, he was not a handsome guy.

Robert’s 4^th great grandfather was David I. Just a couple generations after David died, the direct royal line died out and the throne was up in the air with twelve claimants for it; all descendants of one or another prior king. Edward I of England was in the position to choose among them and picked John Balliol, mainly because he could use Balliol as a puppet. Long story short (don’t worry, I get to William Wallace shortly), the Bruce ended up as the main candidate and then won at Bannockburn. Stirling Castle could be seen from Bannockburn and that was where we went next.

I love Stirling Castle. This was my second trip to it and it had undergone a lot of improvements since I was there the first time with my mom. Right outside of the castle is another statue of Robert the Bruce, which is a little more idealized. I looked over the wall next to the statue down at Stirling Bridge.

This version of Stirling Bridge was built of stone to replace the wooden bridge that featured so prominently in William Wallace’s victory there. Wallace and his men waited up on Abbey Crag (where the Wallace Monument is today) while the English forces marched across the very narrow (could accommodate only two men on horse abreast) wooden bridge that was the only bridge across the River Forth at Stirling.

Once Wallace felt that enough men had crossed the bridge, the Scots swooped down upon them and pretty much annihilated them. Only one man made it back across the bridge. The English forces burned the bridge so the Scots couldn’t follow them and fled.

At the time of the Battle of Stirling a castle already existed on Castle Crag, although it was not as extensive as the present castle that dates mainly from 15^th and 16^th centuries. However, King Edward I of England’s forces occupied the castle until the Battle of Stirling Bridge when they were dislodged by Wallace and the Scottish forces. The castle then changed hands many times between 1296 (Battle of Stirling Bridge) and the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

The English once again took over the castle in 1336 and were dislodged by Robert Stewart, who became King Robert II of Scotland in 1342. Up until this time, the castle was mainly timber, mud and plaster. The Stewarts began to build in stone by 1380. But still, the majority of the present castle was constructed between 1490 and 1600 by Kings James IV, James V, and James VI (Mary Queen of Scots’ grandfather, father and son).

This was where Mary Queen of Scots was brought shortly after her birth and lived until she was sent to France at the age of five. Stirling Castle was also where her son was brought shortly after his birth and he continued to live there much of the time until he left for London in 1603. His eldest son, Henry, was born there.

As I said earlier, I love Stirling Castle. This is a castle as a castle should be. Now it is a tourist destination and is not used as a royal residence like Holyrood Palace or a military fortress like Edinburgh Castle. They restored both the palace within the castle and the Great Hall.

There was quite a bit of controversy when the Great Hall was painted externally in a bright gold. But that was what it looked like back when James V was king. It certainly stands out as you can see in an included photo of the Great Hall and the Royal Palace.

The interior of the Great Hall was in the process of being restored when Mom and I had visited before, but it was complete by my 2016 visit, including the restoration of the hammerbeam ceiling. They even served soup, sandwiches, and desserts at the far end of the hall with tables and chairs. I can truthfully say that I have dined in the Great Hall of Stirling Castle.

They also had some men dressed as they would have been back in the day. I love when places have costumed interpreters. Loads more tourist sites in both the US and the UK are doing that now. Gives another dimension to the visit.

The Royal Palace was dark and dingy and didn’t have many rooms open when Mom were there in 2005. Nine years later, nearly the whole palace was open and restored and quite amazing. It’s only been in recent years that interior restorations have added loads of colors to the white, grey or blackened stone walls. This is because these rooms originally had bright colors.

After the palace, I went around to the other buildings in the main courtyard – a chapel and the King’s Old Building (parts of which date back to James I). Then I headed for a garden on the other side of the chapel. From the garden, I took some stairs up the wall to do the wall walk.

From there I could clearly see the Wallace Monument, which is a Victorian tower up on Abbey Crag. It contains his claymore, which is a large, two-handed, double-edged sword. I have one that is close to four feet in length. His is said to be nearly six feet as he was nearly seven feet tall himself.

I stayed on the walls for as long as I could, taking them to the end near the castle kitchens. They are next to the North Gate, which is the oldest part of the castle that is still complete (not like the King’s Old Building or the kitchens which have bits and pieces of various building periods). The kitchens themselves are quite old.

I ended this visit there and headed back out to the car park to catch the small group tour bus back to Edinburgh. Since I arrived a little earlier in the evening than usual with these day trips, I decided to have dinner at the restaurant in the hotel that was called Hadrian’s at that time. I had rabbit with whipped potatoes and baby vegetables.

Next time – another trip to much more of Hadrian’s Wall with the opportunity to actually walk on part of it.

June 14, 2020

Around Edinburgh Part 2

On this visit to Edinburgh Castle, I went to the National War Museum of Scotland. The building was built about 1700 and was used for an ordinance storehouse and later as a hospital. The place was jam-packed with all sorts of items from throughout the centuries, such as uniforms, letters, claymores (a large, two-handed broadsword), chemical suits, etc. The exhibits were all behind glass and somewhat crowded together, so photos were difficult. But I did include one here containing a jumble of items.

On my way up to the main part of the castle from the museum, I saw some of the current Scottish army in their fatigues, carrying their dress uniforms complete with kilts. Once I got to the top, I went over to the wall that looked down over the New Town and shot a few photos of the view.

At the front of the photo included here, is the Scottish National Gallery (the main art museum in Edinburgh). Behind it to the right, the building with the kind of wavy roof is the Waverly Train Station. To the left of that building, with a mostly flat roof and some green turf, is the shopping center. It has the one level above ground and two more underground. Behind the shopping center, the Victorian building with the clock tower is the Balmoral Hotel. The clock on the clock tower is always about three minutes fast so people won’t miss their train.

In the main portion of the castle the rooms that the visitor passes through on their way to see the Scottish Crown Jewels (the “Honors of Scotland”) and the Stone of Scone had exhibits featuring Scottish history in them instead of being bare. The rest of the rooms were no longer bare either. They had been refurbished with paint and other decoration to look more like they would have back in their heyday. Some paintings were on the walls and some sticks of furniture added. The rooms are still quite small which makes photography a challenge, but a photo of the interior of one of the rooms has been included. The Great Hall had much more arms and armor in it.

One of the legends regarding Edinburgh Castle is that of the Lone Piper. It is said that, several hundred years ago when tunnels were found under the castle that seemed to lead to Holyrood Palace, a young male piper was sent into the tunnels beneath the castle to see where the tunnels went. He played his pipes as he marched along so that the people up above could hear him and know where he was.

At some point, however, around Tron Kirk (near the present day intersection with the North Bridge) the pipes were abruptly silenced and he was never seen again. Notice I didn’t say he was never heard from again. This is because there are times still when the sound of bagpipes can be heard from beneath the castle and the Royal Mile.

On the Esplanade in front of the castle, where the Edinburgh Military Tattoo takes place every year, if you search for it, you can find a memorial on one of the walls to the women who were burnt at the stake as witches there. It is near the end of the wall on the left of where you exit out of the Esplanade to the Royal Mile.

Leaving the castle grounds and heading down the Royal Mile, it wasn’t long before I reached Gladstone’s Land. This was a 17^th century (completed about 1620) tenement house that belonged to an upper middle class merchant who had his shops on the ground floor, lived above, and rented out parts of the house to others. In Scotland, a tenement is simply a building in which multiple people have rooms or flats (apartments). This building is six floors high.

Connecting the floors are turnpike stairs. These are narrow, stone, circular stairs that exist in loads of medieval and older Scottish residences. The steps are wider out near the walls and way more narrow in the inside near the stone pillar the steps are built around. A photo is included here.

Several rooms were open on the first two floors. The kitchen was quite interesting and included a wheeled, wooden contraption that kept a baby in a standing position while they walk around in it. The room with the painted ceiling was a great find. This was not a restored ceiling, but the original, and is very colorful. The room was decorated as a bedchamber. There were a couple of women with owls just outside where the shops would have been on the ground floor.

I rode around for the rest of the tour, passing the First Minister’s House in Charlotte Square as well as a Georgian House that can be toured. Mom and I toured it on a previous trip. The First Minister is the Scottish version of a Prime Minister. The house is just sitting there without any visible security.

There was also a house where the owner, an obstetrician named James Simpson, in 1847 would experiment with chloroform on his dinner guests. Some of his experiments went well; some did not.

His behavior was mild in comparison to Burke and Hare who, in 1828, supplied bodies for dissection at the medical schools by murdering 16 people. Hare turned state’s evidence against Burke and was set free. Burke was hanged and dissected. His skeleton remains at the Edinburgh Medical School.

When I returned to the hotel that evening, I saw on the BBC that Prince had died back home in Minneapolis. I was both shocked and saddened. Plus I felt bad that I was so far from home.

Next time – Dunfermline Abbey & Stirling Castle

June 7, 2020

Around Edinburgh Part 1

There are several Hop On Hop Off bus tours around Edinburgh offered online through Viator. I booked one of them that was going to the places I wanted to go (I actually think it was the same one I had done several years earlier with my mom). They all depart from the Waverly Bridge near the Scott Memorial. I planned to spend the day hopping on and off to explore different locations along the way, so I was at the starting location at 9:00am.

I was met by a woman who was checking our online receipts and giving us the appropriate tickets for the tour we had selected. When she saw my receipt, she suggested another tour that had a live commentator instead of a recording. There was no further exchange of money needed. She just printed out a new receipt for me, gave me the ticket and route map, and I was all set. I thought that was great. A live commentator is definitely better than a recording. Not only can you ask them questions, but they tend to add a certain amount of humor as well as extra information to their commentary.

The route was different from the other tour, but went to all of the same locations. I hopped on the bus and went upstairs to the open air seating. The first place I hopped off was near the Scottish Parliament building to visit Holyrood Palace. Although I tend to visit this palace (which is the Queen’s official residence when in Edinburgh) most times I am in Edinburgh, this time I didn’t have any time limits. I could take as long as I wanted.

I know that palace almost as well as I know my own house. There is a portion of it that dates back to Mary Queen of Scots — basically one tower with her suite of rooms, her husband’s rooms, and the turnpike staircase that linked them.

The rest of the State Rooms were created when Charles II refurbished the palace after Cromwell’s troops had burned down part of it and abused most of the rest of it. So, for most of Holyrood, you feel you are in the late 1600s and then step into the late 1500s when entering Mary’s rooms. The original palace had been built by David I of Scotland in the 1100s. But most of that was gone.

I have my certain favorite rooms. Mary’s rooms of course. Then the Throne Room with the portraits of the Stuart kings, the King’s Bedchamber with the huge red curtained bed, and the Gallery with what are supposed to be portraits of every Scottish king. I get a kick of the portraits because they mostly look alike and tend to have fairly prominent noses, like Charles II had. Should you visit and burst into laughter when you see the portraits, you can always blame it on me.

Because of Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, they had an exhibit of the Queen’s gowns and suits plus a tartan gown that had belonged to Queen Victoria. If I hadn’t already known that Victoria had been tiny, the gown might have been a surprise. She was super tiny at only 5’0”. She was also petite with a very small waist at the time she wore that gown, which was 1835 to 1837 (she became queen in 1837 at the age of eighteen).

In Mary Queen of Scots’ bedroom, there was a place where I could actually sit down. I sat for a while looking all around the room. It was pretty much empty at the time and I could really take it all in. I explored the side room that was used as a dining room for very intimate groups (it’s a tiny room). This was the room from which her secretary, David Rizzio, was dragged and then stabbed to death in front of a very pregnant Mary by her husband, Lord Darnley, and his pals.

After that, Mary fled to Edinburgh Castle to give birth to her son, James, who became James VI of Scotland and succeeded Elizabeth I as James I of England. James was taken to Stirling Castle after his birth to be raised Protestant (his mother was Catholic). This was just the start of Mary’s troubles.

Darnley ended up getting murdered a few months after James was born. Lord Bothwell kidnapped Mary and took her to Dunbar Castle. For some reason, Bothwell and Mary got married. Then Mary ended up being imprisoned at Loch Leven Castle, where she miscarried twins. She was then forced to abdicate the throne of Scotland in favor of her one-year-old son.

She escaped from Loch Leven, raised an army, was defeated, and taken to Carlisle Castle. She spent the rest of her life imprisoned in various locations, involved in various plots (both to regain her own throne and to take Elizabeth’s) until she finally stood trial for one of the plots to take the throne of England. She was found guilty and eventually executed. She was buried at Westminster Abbey by her son, James, (who had her moved from Peterborough Cathedral) on one side of the Henry VII Chapel while her cousin, Elizabeth I, is buried on the other side of that same chapel.

I find the whole Mary Queen of Scots story to be quite fascinating. But she didn’t seem to be the brightest bulb in the fixture. So many of her life choices were doomed to failure.

Since I had all of the time that I wanted to see what I wanted, after spending time in the palace and then in the ruins of the abbey next door (also built by David I), I took a garden path from the abbey through the grounds. I had never had the time to do that before.

It was a lovely walk in a beautiful garden which circled around to the rear of the abbey where the foundations of the rest of the abbey had been recently discovered. It was once about double its current size. I could also see the back side of the palace, which consisted of the private royal quarters. I could see the private stairs to the royal apartments. There was also a parade ground back there.

Coming around to the other side of the palace provided a really great view of Arthur’s Seat. This is another extinct volcano. There are the remains of an Iron Age hill fort at the top and some miniature coffins containing wooden figures were found in a cave. Nobody is really sure where it got its name. Some association to King Arthur perhaps? There was a prince of Dalriada (prior to Scotland becoming Scotland) back in the 500s named Arthur.

As I was heading out of the palace grounds to have lunch at the palace café, I was offered some champagne and a cupcake by palace staff in honor of the Queen’s 90^th birthday. I had my dessert first and then some lunch.

Between the Palace and the place where I needed to catch the hop on hop off bus was a place called White Horse Close. This is a little group of buildings off of the Royal Mile through what looks like an alley. I found out a long time ago that things that look like alleys are often very old streets and have some great places hidden in them. White Horse Close dates to the 17^th century and used to be a little residential area behind the White Horse Inn. The lovely buildings in the Close were turned into housing for the working class in 1889 when the neighborhood was somewhat run down. Currently these buildings would cost a very pretty penny to live in.

I stayed on the tour bus for several stops until reaching Edinburgh Castle. A relatively new Radisson Blu hotel on the Royal Mile was built to resemble a row of medieval townhouses. I love that. It fits in with the existing architecture.

The National Museum of Scotland consists of a modern building and a Victorian building, combining a museum with collections of Scottish antiquities and another focusing on natural history and science. These museums are right by Greyfriars Bobby, the pub made famous by the little dog who stayed by his human’s grave for years after his owner’s death. The entrance to the cemetery is next to the pub. Mom and I visited both Bobby’s and his owner’s graves during a previous visit.

Next time – Around Edinburgh Part 2

May 31, 2020

Rosslyn Chapel, Melrose Abbey, and Part of Hadrian’s Wall

In addition to Rabbie’s, the other small group tour company out of Edinburgh that I really liked was the Heart of Scotland. They left from the same location as Rabbie’s and had a day trip to Rosslyn Chapel, Melrose Abbey and the portion of Hadrian’s Wall known as Housesteads Fort. So I hopped on the tour coach with about 10 other people this time and we headed for the village of Roslin.

I don’t know why the spelling of the chapel name is different from the spelling of the village name. The castle is also spelled like the village even though it belongs to the same family as the chapel. That family is named Sinclair or St Clare. St Clare was the original name of the Norman French family. They arrived in Scotland in the 11^th century, building a castle at Roslin in the early 14^th century. They got around, having spent quite a bit of time up in Caithness in northern Scotland and on Orkney – a group of islands north of mainland Scotland. I saw loads of Sinclair castles up in Caithness on a previous trip.

The castle at Roslin was heavily damaged during the Rough Wooing Wars between Scotland and England during the time of Henry VIII. The East Range of the castle was rebuilt in the 16^th century and has been steadily inhabited ever since. It only looks like a house from up above, but it is located on sheer cliffs above the River Esk and has three more levels under the two that can be readily seen. These lower levels were built directly into the rock upon which the castle sits.

My previous visit to Rosslyn Chapel was during a very heavy rainstorm. So the small group of us that went there on the city bus from Edinburgh didn’t go down the rather steep dirt trail from the chapel to the castle. It was pretty much a rushing stream of water instead of a path. I was really glad to be back at the chapel so I could see the castle.

Another reason I was happy to be back was that the chapel had been completely encased in scaffolding at the time of the 2009 visit. For the 2016 visit, the repairs had been made, the scaffolding was off, and the entire building could be seen. It was nearly as exquisite outside as inside. They don’t allow photos inside. They sell them in the gift shop. I had hoped that they would allow interior photography this time, but they didn’t.

What wasn’t the least bit disappointing was the talk given inside by a very knowledgeable guide with a great sense of humor. The building is not all that large, so a fairly central seat enables the listener to gaze around in awe and see everything the guide talks about. After they are done, there is plenty of time to walk around and take a closer look. You know where everything is after listening to the guide.

After closer looks at many items upstairs and down, I ended up near the guide and we had a very interesting conversation about the town, the castle, the chapel, and The DaVinci Code film. She had been there during the filming and had several anecdotes.

The tour set off for the town of Melrose closer to the border with England. We had a good amount of free time to have lunch and explore both the town and the abbey. I had lunch at a sandwich shop connected to a chocolate shop that made its own chocolate. Needless to say I bought some of their chocolate both for myself and for small gifts for various people back home. Scottish chocolate is quite good. It also goes well with Scotch Whiskey.

Between the sandwich shop and the abbey was Priorwood Garden. I had some time before the abbey was open to tourists, so I explored the garden. It was a very lovely, large garden and I wandered around it for a while.

Then I headed over to Melrose Abbey. The abbey had been founded in 1136 by King David I of Scotland. King Richard II of England had the abbey burned in the 14^th century. Then it was badly damaged by King Henry VIII of England during the Rough Wooing. But what remains is still very impressive and quite large.

Back when the movie Braveheart was made, it was full of historical inaccuracies. I could write an entire post on just that. But the one in particular that pertains to this trip is that William Wallace was never nicknamed ‘Braveheart’. That was Robert the Bruce, who became king of Scotland (he also didn’t betray Wallace; that was John de Menteith).

After death, Robert the Bruce was mostly buried at Dunfermline. But his heart was removed, placed in a silver casket, and taken on a crusade in Spain by his friend Sir James Douglas. Sir James and most of the rest of the contingency were killed. The silver casket was brought back to Scotland along with the Scots and the casket with the actual Braveheart’s heart was buried at Melrose Abbey. I took a photo of the heart’s location, which I have included here.

From Melrose, we headed down to the border and crossed into England on our way to the portion of Hadrian’s Wall called Housesteads Fort. This was a Roman fort along the wall and up a steep hill.

I have always enjoyed the idea of the wall. In 122 AD, the Romans, after managing to conquer much of England, headed north, encountered the Picts (Scotland as such didn’t exist yet; the people known as the Scots didn’t arrive in the area until a few hundred years later), decided that they just didn’t want to deal with them at all and built a wall to contain them instead. The official reason for the wall was to “separate the Romans from the barbarians.”

For the most part, the wall was about 10 feet wide and 16 to 20 feet in height. Despite hundreds of years of people taking stones from the wall to build their own walls or other buildings (such as Carlisle Castle), there is still a pretty substantial amount of wall standing. The various forts, milecastles (small forts placed every mile along the wall) and turrets were dismantled more than the wall itself.

Because the actual name of the fort isn’t known (there are several possibilities, one of which is Vercovicium), Housesteads Fort (built in 124 AD) was named after the farm on which it stood for several hundred years after the Romans left (about 409 AD). The fort has been the property of the National Trust since 1930, though sheep still graze on the land between the visitor’s center and the fort.

In addition to the Roman baths and the other usual Roman buildings that can be seen at such sites across Britain, this particular fort has the best preserved stone latrine found in any Roman excavations in Great Britain. Just outside the fort itself is a building called ‘the murder house’ as two skeletons were found beneath a newly laid floor when excavated.

Our guide mentioned the films The Centurion and The Eagle, which were both loosely based on the legend of the disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion into Caledonia (the name the Romans gave to the land north of the wall). However there isn’t any actual historical evidence that the Ninth was ever involved with anything having to do with Caledonia, so nobody is certain what really happened to them. They were, however, in Britain from about 43 AD until the record runs dry. They were involved with Boudica’s rebellion in 61 AD and were reportedly trounced by her forces at what is now Colchester.

On our way back to Edinburgh, we made a stop for photos at Jedburgh Abbey – another border abbey founded by King David I of Scotland. This one, though damaged during the Rough Wooing, made it through until the Scottish Reformation. As it is, there is a fair amount of it still standing and it is quite beautiful.

Next time –taking a Hop On Hop Off tour around Edinburgh.