Edinburgh – A Traveling Fool

September 20, 2020

Best of Scotland in a Day

Arrived at King’s Cross Train Station to catch my train to Edinburgh. This time the First Class ticket was more than double the Standard (as opposed to the only $20 US difference that it was for my train trip the prior year). So I had a Standard Round Trip ticket. This meant that, instead of checking my large bag and having a small table to myself in the car, I needed to find someplace to stow my large bag fairly close to where I was sitting and share a four seat table with strangers. Back when Mom and I used to fly into Gatwick Airport in London, we took the train to Victoria Station with a Standard Round Trip ticket. But that was a 40 minute ride. London to Edinburgh was four hours.

The seats were assigned in advance and I managed to have a table to myself all the way to York (halfway). But then I gained a couple who sat across from me, did not speak English, and smooched and snuggled the entire two hours from York to Edinburgh. Good thing I had a good book.

Since the Balmoral was charging its usual high prices this time, I tried the Apex Waterloo Place. This Georgian hotel wasn’t far from the Balmoral (or the train station or the grocery store) and was right across the street from where most of the day trips picked up and dropped off. A convenient location. They also had fridges in the rooms, so I picked up a few things from the grocers.

Once I was settled in the room (which was at the back of the hotel, one floor down from the entrance floor – still about three floors up from the street on that side of the hotel), I walked around in the area before it was time for the Champagne Tea reservation I had booked online when I was still in Minneapolis.

Calton Hill was an interesting place, full of monuments and giving great views of the city. The steps up the hill were right next to the hotel. The monuments included The National Monument of Scotland, which was dedicated to the Scottish soldiers and sailors who died during the Napoleonic Wars. It looked like an unfinished Greek temple. Then there was the monument to Admiral Nelson, which looked like a giant inverted telescope. There was a Robert Burns Monument, a Political Martyrs Monument and a City Observatory.

The round, Grecian-looking monument shown in the photo I have included with this post is the Dugald Stewart Monument and is a memorial to the Scottish philosopher who was a professor at the University of Edinburgh. To the left of that monument in the photo, can be seen the Gothic-looking spire of the Waverly Monument (dedicated to Sir Walter Scott), the clock tower of the Balmoral Hotel, and Edinburgh Castle up on top of the hill near the center of the photo.

The next morning I crossed the street and picked up the small group day tour Best of Scotland in a Day. These were all places I had not been to before.

At the tour pickup place, I ran into two of the women who had been on the Heart of England & Wales tour with me. They had also taken the train up to Edinburgh after the other tour ended and were doing a different day trip than I was. It was one I had been on the previous year that I had really enjoyed. It was fun to actually run into someone I knew.

We started at Dunkeld with a visit to Dunkeld Cathedral. Begun in 1260, the Cathedral stood near the River Tay in a very scenic location. The original monastery on the site dated to the 6^th century AD. In 1689, the Battle of Dunkeld took place in the area around the cathedral between the Jacobite Highlanders who supported King James II & VII and those who supported William of Orange. William and his wife, Mary (daughter of James), had recently taken over the monarchy from James, when he was kicked off the throne, in what had been called “The Glorious Revolution”. William’s supporters prevailed.

Inside the cathedral were the banners that had been carried by the Jacobites. Also inside was the sarcophagus of Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, nicknamed the “Wolf of Badenoch”. That nickname intrigued me, so I learned some more about him after taking his photo.

He was the 3^rd surviving son of King Robert II of Scotland and lived from 1343 to 1405. He had a petulant relationship with his uncle King David II of Scotland before his father became king. He was also said to have had a defiant relationship with the church. He was best known for his destruction of Elgin and the cathedral there.

He was also Justiciar of Scotia for a while, but apparently not a good one. He ended up losing a fair amount of the territories he held going into the job. The nickname, Wolf of Badenoch, was given to him due to his notorious cruelty and aggressively greedy streak. Apparently not the type of person with whom you would want to try to be friends. His father’s reputation as king suffered due to the actions of his son (and the fact that he seemed to back his son rather than attempt to curb him). The Wolf of Badenoch’s effigy is one of the very few from the Middle Ages that has survived in Scotland.

The towns of Dunkeld and Birnam have been incorporated together. The area is quite forested although the only tree that dates back to the time of the setting of Shakespeare’s Scottish play that mentioned Birnam Wood (Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him) is a single, massive oak tree. The wooded area is still called Birnam Wood however.

Not too far away was Blair Castle, the seat of the head of Clan Murray, the Duke of Atholl. This was the Scottish Castle that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited back in 1844 when the Queen began a lifelong love of Scotland. They even used the real Blair Castle when they did an episode on the visit in the “Victoria” miniseries. Shortly after her visit, the Queen gave the Duke the permission to create his own private army, the Atholl Highlanders. They remain the only legal private army in Europe.

I had a running joke with my mom that I wanted to introduce her to the 11^th Duke (who was single) so he would fall in love with her and we could all live in the castle. Unfortunately, he died before I could put that plan into motion.

Upon entering the castle, I took a couple photos of the entrance hall before being told that no photography was allowed except in the ballroom. Some of the shields and muskets in the entrance hall saw service at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

I put my camera away until we got to the ballroom. Those of you who may have seen Scotland episode of the “Victoria” miniseries definitely saw the ballroom. It was quite prominently featured as were the castle grounds.

The grounds and gardens of the castle were quite extensive. After lunch at the restaurant within the castle, I set off on a circular hike through the grounds and gardens. My first stop was at the ruins of St Bride’s Kirk. This contained the last resting place of John Graham of Claverhouse, who was nicknamed “Bonnie Dundee”.

“Bonnie Dundee” sounded like a much friendlier nickname than “Wolf of Badenoch”. It turned out that he earned his nickname at the time of his death. He was a leader of the 1689 Jacobite rising and died a hero at the Battle of Killiecrankie, which the Jacobites won just days before losing at the Battle of Dunkeld.

Bonnie Dundee was the commander of the Jacobites, who were in possession of Blair Castle at the time. If they had lost the battle, the castle would have been forfeit to the Crown of England. As it was, it was a pretty rousing victory. His breastplate and helmet were on display inside the castle.

After my hike through the gardens, I returned to the castle with a small amount of time left before we were to depart. So I took a seat on a shaded bench, listened to the sounds of the stream bubbling past and the bagpiper playing next to the castle.

Since Killiecrankie was not far from Blair Castle, that was our next visit for the day. Killiecrankie Gorge was quite a scenic place with the battlefield just beyond.

At Queen’s View, we got some really nice photos of what is considered to be one of the best views in Scotland. When Queen Victoria visited in 1866, she thought that it was named for her. It wasn’t. It was named for Isabella, the first wife of King Robert the Bruce, more than 500 years earlier. The lake is Loch Tummel.

Our last visit of the day involved a roughly 20 minute walk deep into the Caledonian Forest. At the end of the walk was a building. We entered and found a viewing platform for a magnificent waterfall called the Black Spout. It was quite dramatic.

Next time – the first day of the Scottish Castles Experience tour with eight castles in four days.

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

May 17, 2020May 24, 2020

Edinburgh: St Giles Cathedral & The Real Mary King’s Close

All of my previous times in Edinburgh had been as part of a tour. So I only had a day or two in Scotland’s capitol on those past trips. This time I was traveling entirely on my own and had seven days planned in Edinburgh and on day trips from Edinburgh.

I love Edinburgh. It is a unique city with some of the nicest people you’ll ever want to meet. Central Edinburgh consists of the Old Town and the New Town. The New Town is Georgian (1700s) with some Victorian as it expanded its boundaries. The Old Town is Medieval and perched on an extinct volcano. Edinburgh Castle is at the top with the main road (called the Royal Mile) running down the lava flow. Buildings, other roads, and bridges spanning the area between the Old Town and New Town fill in the rest.

I arrived in Edinburgh about a quarter to eight in the morning. After collecting my luggage and getting through customs, I took a taxi to the hotel. The airport is not far from Central Edinburgh, so it was only a £10 (about $12.80 USD) ride.

I usually don’t get too much into specific hotels on these posts unless the hotel and/or the deal I managed to get was special. This hotel was special in every way. It was the Balmoral – a five star Victorian Scottish Baronial on Princes Street in the New Town. Normally I wouldn’t even begin to be able to afford a room at the Balmoral. But, for some reason, when I did the hotel search, they had a room for only slightly more (about $10 per night USD) than I normally pay. Maybe it was the time of year, or the number of nights, or just a fluke. I figured that was possibly my one and only chance to ever stay in one of the premier hotels of Edinburgh, so I nabbed it.

The location was amazing too. A small shopping mall, which included a grocers, was next door along Princes Street. I only had to go over the North Bridge to get to the Royal Mile. Most of the day trips picked up and dropped off just across the street. And getting the train to London wouldn’t be too difficult since the Waverly Train Station was next door behind the shopping mall.

When my taxi pulled up, the driver got my luggage out and handed the two bags to the kilted doorman who, in turn, swept me and my luggage up the stairs and into the hotel. There, he handed my luggage off to a bellman and me to the fella behind the desk, who was the assistant manager of the hotel. Then he gave me a small bow and headed back to his post.

The assistant manager checked me in, gave me all pertinent information (including that the breakfast buffet – which came with the room – would be open for another hour). He slipped the bellman the info as to where my room was and then escorted me to a special lift that would get me closer to where my room was than the main elevator. The Balmoral is known for its service and they were already giving me a demonstration of what staying there was all about.

Now, this is not a small hotel, however the assistant manager and the lady who seated me at breakfast every morning both remembered my name and referred to me as “Ms Lichty” each time they encountered me. The breakfast lady also remembered my preference in newspapers and where I liked to sit in the restaurant. I found that very impressive.

The breakfast was an enormous buffet. You could have anything you wanted from just some toast and butter to a full Scottish breakfast and everything in between. As anxious as I was to go exploring, it was raining and I was hungry, so I took my time with a modified version of the full Scottish. I don’t like blood pudding, but I do like haggis. Eggs, sausage, mushrooms, pork’n’beans, toast and jelly, orange juice and tea rounded out my meal.

By the time I was done and had grabbed my jacket, cap, camera and camera bag from my room, it was raining more lightly and I set off up and over the North Bridge. As I reached the Royal Mile, I also reached a souvenir shop. I knew there were several along the road and decided to walk a ways down the road to see what else there might be. I had a few people to get things for (especially golf items from St Andrews) and wanted to get some quality items without paying premium prices.

Down the road a ways I could get a good shot of St Giles Cathedral showing its very unique crown spire. The shops I chose to buy most of my gifts from were back down the road near that first shop I encountered upon reaching the Royal Mile. After buying what I needed and stashing most of it inside my camera bag, I headed back again towards St Giles. Before entering the cathedral, I decided to take a closer look at the Mercat Cross.

A Mercat Cross is essentially the Scottish version of a Market Cross. This was a central location in a city, town or village where people could find out the latest news, and where punishments, including executions, were often meted out. The current Mercat Cross in Edinburgh is a Victorian version of the original, located a short distance (a few feet) from where the original (14^th century) was located. The Mercat Cross is still a meeting point. Several of the walking tours that were offered in Edinburgh departed from the Mercat Cross.

From the Mercat Cross, I walked to the entrance to St Giles at the other end of the cathedral. There was somebody playing the bagpipes near there, so I sat down on a now dry bench by the entrance and listened before going inside.

The oldest part of St Giles Cathedral was originally built in the 12^th century and rebuilt in the 14^th century after it was burned by King Richard II of England during the First Scottish Wars of Independence. Inside it looked like several different churches were sort of knitted together with a few mismatches here and there. It was a fascinating church because of all of the different aspects to it.

There were memorials to such people as author Robert Louis Stevenson and Mary Queen of Scots’ half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray. As the High Kirk (church) of Edinburgh, the cathedral contains one of the original copies of the National Covenant, which was signed in 1638 and adopted by the Church of Scotland. A chapel for the Knights of the Thistle, which is a special Scottish knighthood with St Andrew as its patron saint, was added onto the cathedral in 1909.

The tombs of James Graham, Marquess of Montrose and Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll are on opposite sides of the church. It was Argyll who had Montrose executed during King Charles II’s exile. Charles had Argyll executed when he returned. He also had Montrose interred. Since Montrose had been hanged, drawn and quartered, he needed to collect all of his parts first. Argyll was merely beheaded.

While I was there, a prayer service was held. I sat down and participated. Most of the people in the cathedral at that time did the same.

Not far from Argyll’s tomb and the last thing I checked out before I left the building was a statue of John Knox. He was the minister at St Giles from 1559 to 1572, one of the leaders of the Scottish Reformation, and founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

After my long visit to St Giles, I went across the street to The Real Mary King’s Close. This was a series of closes (narrow streets, more like alleys) that were underneath the buildings of the Royal Exchange and City Chambers. The streets were bricked up during the plague in 1645 because of the overly large number of victims in that area (it is rumored that some of those victims were bricked up with the streets).

In the 18^th century, the streets and buildings were partially demolished and buried when the Royal Exchange was being built. The area was forgotten about until about 1970, when it was rediscovered. The area was opened to the public in 2003 for guided tours. The tour concentrated on the history of the area which included people who lived there, the professions of the people who lived there (as the remains of the buildings are toured), and the time of the plague. There was also discussion of the reported hauntings.

This leads me to an anecdote. Just after the photo of me looking happy and rather ghostly on the actual Mary King’s Close was taken, I walked slowly down to the bottom of the close at the request of the guide. I had been first to get my photo taken, so I was alone on that part of the darkened close. When I reached the bottom, there was a small amount of light. I turned around and looked back up at a group of people who were being photographed after me when one of the women screamed. She thought that I was a ghost. I thought it was quite funny. I do have a very pale complexion and very light blonde hair.

Since I had such a large breakfast, I hadn’t been too hungry until about 3pm at the end of the tour. The Real Mary King’s Close had a gift shop and café so I took a look at what they had on offer. I really like Cullen Skink, which is a creamy soup with haddock, turnips, potatoes, carrots and onions – usually blended until smooth. I got some of that and some Irn Bru, which is a Scottish soft drink that tastes somewhat like a cross between an orange soda and a cream soda.

As I left the close, a young man who had heard me speak to a couple who had been on the tour, asked where I was from. When I responded, “Minneapolis”, he told me about what a big fan of Prince he was. This ended up being just three days before Prince died.

Instead of returning to the hotel via the North Bridge, I swung down Cockburn Street to the Waverly Bridge. There I took a photo of the monument to Sir Walter Scott at the junction of Princes Street and the Waverly Bridge. It looks rather medieval, but it is Victorian. There is a statue of Scott seated inside.

Next time – a day trip to Alnwick Castle and the Scottish Borders