Rain Today, Home Tomorrow

The day started sunny and we branched out from touring museums and castles and visited Edinburgh Royal Botanical Gardens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Botanic_Garden_Edinburgh
The gardens are a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity & conservation.  It was founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants.  We decided to take the guided tour and as it happened our tour guide was a retired physician.  She was also a keen birder adding to our experience.  The tour was one hour and she took us through many parts of the garden that we may not have seen had we been on our own.

We finished the tour just in time for lunch.  The gardens have a cafeteria with many options, including soup.  Today's special - tomato.  At least the rain didn't start until after we had finished the garden tour.

We decided to go back to the National Museum of Scotland and view a few more of the exhibits we missed yesterday.  Here is the skeleton of giant deer from 12,3000 years ago found on the Isle of Man

and a statue that guarded an ancient Nubian Temple, 100 - 50 BC

This is our last day of our getaway and we wanted to do an online check-in for our flights.  Our hotel was not able to accommodate us and directed us to the public library which is very close to the hotel.  We now have library cards to use the Scottish Public Library system and can access the information online anywhere in the world.

The words above the door of the library read Let There Be Light. 

Ed and I have had a wonderful time on our Gaelic Getaway and we are bringing home many fond memories. 

Been there, Dun(lop) that.

We are on the second last  day of our getaway and there are still many things to do while in Edinburgh. 
Our first stop of the day was at the National Museum of Scotland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Scotland

The museum is made up of two buildings with 16 galleries and over 8,000 objects.  We only gave ourselves two hours to spend in the museum and decided to go at our own pace and meet for lunch at noon.  We agreed to stay in the newer part of the building which has 6 levels featuring Scotland's story from it geological beginnings up to present day.  I made it to the second level, Scotland Transformed - The Industrial Revolution, Ed never made it past the first Level, Beginnings & Early People. 

We ate lunch in the Museum Brasserie.  We both had a sandwich and soup of the day, carrot & coriander.  The national soup of Scotland must be carrot & coriander.  It seems every time I order soup the choice is carrot & coriander.  I am now a connoisseur of carrot & coriander soup.

After a nourishing lunch it was back down the Royal Mile and across the North Bridge to the New Town section of Edinburgh.  We were going to Carlton Hill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calton_Hill

|At the base of Carlton Hill is the headquaters of the Scottish Government, based at St Andrew's House. On top of the hill are several monuments including the National Monument, modeled upon the Parthenon in Athens,

the City Observatory, the Robert Burns Monument, the Political Monument and the Nelson Monument.  Like the Scott Monument if you pay 4 pounds, you can climb to the top.

Ed paid his money and climbed the 170 steps to the top.  Can you find me waiting on a the bench?  The price of the climb was well worth the views of the city.

From Carlton Hill it was back across the North Bridge and on to Holyrood Palace. Again, seeing the Palace was not to be.  The Palace was closed today in preparation for a Royal visit.

 Charles & Camilla will be arriving to visit Edinburgh tomorrow. 

Never mind, we crossed the street and went into the newly constructed building which houses the Scottish Parliament.  We had to go through a security checkpoint similar to the airport.  And just like the airport I beeped going through - my seemingly harmless shoes have metal in the soles.

It was now 3pm, time for a chai tea break at Starbucks.  At this point we decided to go our separate ways and meet at the hotel. I planned to finish my souvenir shopping.
Ed choose to visit the Amber Exhibit at the National Museum,
Greyfriar's Bobby, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_Bobby

and George Heriot's school, which inspired J K Rowling as she wrote the Harry Potter stories.

Ed and I went to The Elephant House for dinner.  http://www.elephanthouse.biz/index.html

This is the cafe where J K sat and wrote her first novel.

I wasn't that hungry and thought that I might just order a soup.  Soup of the day? you guessed it, carrot & coriander.  I had mixed green salad with chicken.
We strolled through the Grassmarket area on our way home.
http://www.the-grassmarket.com/history.html

Ed chanced to look to the right and saw the entry to Dunlop's Court.  Our day was dun.

Walking the Royal Mile and More

After a day of walking and touring churches, art galleries, castles and shops, nothing is nicer than to return to our room and relax.  I get into the bathtub for a nice soak and this is the view I see from the tub.

We started the day by attending Mass at St Mary's RC Cathedral.  The first Mass at St Mary's was held in August, 1814. 

As it is our usual custom, we stopped at Saint Starbucks for a coffee and chat about how to spend the rest of our day.  First on Ed's list, climb the Scott Monument.

While Ed climbed to see the view from the top, I walked across the street to shop.

In the above photo you can see St Giles steeple in the background, Edinburgh Castle on the top right and the Scottish National Gallery in the foreground on the right.  We had lunch at the Scottish Cafe in the Gallery before viewing  the collection.  Among the many artists to be found were Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Sargent, Rodin, Vermeer, Degas, Van Dyck, Reubans, Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, Bottei

celli, Cezanne,  and Leonardo da Vinci. 

After touring the Gallery it was a quick stop at the hotel room and then on to Edinburgh Castle. 

 

 With Edinburgh Castle crossed off the list, it was time to find dinner.  Tonight it was Bella Italia - lasagna for Ed and I had baked salmon on baby spinach.  

After dinner, it was a walk down the end of the Royal Mile to Holyrood House, home to the Queen whenever she is in town.  

The Palace was closed for the day so it was back to our royal room at the Fraser Suites.

A Stirling Day

Good bye Glasgow, hello Stirling Castle.

Getting around Scotland could not be easier.
We checked out of the hotel and were at the train station in about 15 minutes.  There is a train leaving for Stirling every 30 minutes and our journey on the train was 26 minutes.
We didn't fancy carrying our suitcases on our tour through the castle and there was is no 'left luggage' lockers at the train station, but not a problem.  The bus station has that service and it is located next to the train station.
As one would expect, the castle is at the top of a hill overlooking the valley.   It is less than a mile from the station to the castle, but it is all up hill and the temperature today was an unseasonable 24C.  Fortunately, there was a breeze.

History is brought to life with a visit to Stirling Castle.  Tours run on the 1/2 hour and are lead by guides that are gifted storytellers.  Actors dressed period costume add to the realism of the experience.

The Court Jester

The Guardian to Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary of Guise, Mother to Mary, Queen of Scots

The Tourist, resting her tired feet

The Royals had sterling views from the Castle.

We have now arrived in Edinburgh for the final leg of our getaway.  We are staying at the Fraser Suites which is just off the Royal Mile a stones throw away from Edinburgh Castle.
We were thrilled when we saw the view from our hotel room's window.  Our room faces north toward the Firth of Forth and Scott Monument.  Definitely a view fit for a king and queen.

Domestic Harmony

Today's touring gave us a glimpse into what domestic life would have been like in Glasgow in the late 19th and early 20th century.  We started with a visit to the People's Palace and Winter Gardens located in Glasgow Green.

http://www.clydewaterfrontheritage.com/peoplespalaceandwintergardens.aspx
The museum didn't open until 11am so we strolled around the glass house and planned to return later in the afternoon.

From there we walked to St Andrew's Square to continue with Day 2 of our Hop On/Hop Off ticket.

Whilst waiting for the bus to arrive, I was leaning against a building, out of the sun, stretching with my arms up.  A lady turned the corner and upon seeing me jokingly asked if I was being held up.  This started us chatting and in the course of a few minutes we found out about her holiday plans for the weekend, where she worked (in the building I was leaning against), that her daughter was off on a school trip and the weather we are experiencing is definitely not typical.  We have found the people of Glasgow to be very friendly.  Yesterday we were looking at a map and a gal stopped to ask if we needed help finding anything.  I hope that we show visitors to Victoria the same courtesy.

Next stop on the tour was Tenement House Museum.
http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/Tenement-House/What-to-see/
The word ‘tenement’ comes from the Latin word tenementum, meaning a plot of land. Tenements provided affordable urban housing in Glasgow at a time of huge industrial expansion. The word doesn’t hold the same negative slum connotations here as it does in New York or London.

This flat belonged to Miss Agnes Toward and her mother Mrs Agnes Toward. Miss Toward worked as a stenographer at a shipping company until she retired in her 70's.  Her mother was a seamstress, working out of her home. 

By the standards of the day, they would be considered upper middle class.  They had an indoor toilet and laundry facilities located in a shed at the back of the tenement.  Other families less fortunate would have had to take their laundry to the public wash house.

We covered a lot of miles today, including "the Style Mile", Buchanan Street.

From there, we continued back to where we started this morning, the People's Palace to view another exhibit on the social history of Glasgow. 

It was only fitting that we spent the day viewing scenes from the domestic not the cultural side of Glasgow.  Today is our 33rd wedding anniversary.  For most of those 33 years I have prided myself on being a domestic engineer, housewife.  I am grateful for all of the modern conveniences and luxuries that I have had in the later half of the 20th century compared to what the woman of the house would have had to endure during first half of the century.  Who knows what new wonders will be in the 21st?
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