Total Pageviews

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Last Stop, Edinburgh, Scotland


Our last adventure in the UK was a train ride to Scotland.
We arrived early enough to view allot of the sights on our first day. The
weather was spectacular. The second day it rained all day so we took a tour bus
for the rest of the sights. It seemed like everyone had an umbrella that day.
Looking down from our window in the Old Waverly it looked like someone spilled
a package of M&M’s.


 























`The Dome’ an absolutely brilliant restaurant.  The site of THE DOME was originally the
site of the old Physicians hall (1775); the story is unfortunately for the
College of Physicians the original estimate of £2,725 rose to £4,800 by
completion, leaving the College approximately £1,000 in debt. Unsurprisingly
after a short time the College looked for a purchaser and eventually THE
COMMERCIAL BANK OF SCOTLAND made an offer for the site and premise for £20,000
in 1843 - some seventy years later. In 1993 The Royal Bank of Scotland decided
that the building was no longer viable and transferred all business to the St.
Andrew Square office and 14 George Street was put up for sale. A local company
called Caledonian Heritable Ltd bought the building and converted the bank to
how you see it today. I felt like royalty eating there.











Our best experience of all in Scotland was
Edinburgh Castle. It is situated on Castle Rock formed after a volcano erupted
over 340 million years ago. Castle Rock had been a military base and royal
residence for centuries. However, the edifice that is known as Edinburgh Castle
was built during the 12th century by David I, son of Saint Margaret of
Scotland.
The tensions between the English and Scottish monarchies nearly always centered
on Edinburgh Castle. He who held the castle held rule over the city of
Edinburgh and, therefore, over all of Scotland. Consequently, the castle was
almost constantly under siege. The tensions
are still present their today among the people. I talked to a local Scot about
the riots in London and he responded in a negative view point towards the
British. Can’t repeat it if you know what I mean.







The 2011 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, when I first read that I asked Steve, “Are a bunch
of guys going to be parading around showing off their tattoos?” I learned  it is a festival which occurs every year which entail performers from four continents, including participants from as far
afield as South Korea, who  provide an abundance of matchless entertainment. Who knew?

 





 Our photo’s  of the Castle cover St. Margaret’s chapel; Crown Square, the principle courtyard,the Scottish National War Museum, and a prisoner of war facility in the
Castle itself.  Among the other things to see at the castle are its eerie vaults and the museum filled with real photos of war time hospital MASH units. You can still see the little room in the Royal
apartments where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to her son James who would
eventually become James VI of Scotland and James I of England. Last but not least are the Scottish crown jewels and the stone of Destiny.






























































 
Before we caught our train back to Leeds we ran into a young man playing the bag pipes. As you can see by the photo’s it looks like his head will explode blowing into that thing. My recommendation is play the
piano before your eyes pop out of your head.
 



We are back home now in the USA and are thrilled to the bone. We cherished every moment and experience. We would do it again in a heartbeat.


 Bye you all, hope you enjoyed the blog, it’s my first so have mercy. LOL


Cece Shull