Day 15. Edinburgh/ Pebbles – Sep 23rd, 2013
Today we visited Scotland’s capital Edinburgh. In Scottish Gaelic it is known as Dùn Èideann, from which stems the name of the city on the South Island on New Zealand. The last time I was in Dunedin, New Zealand was on Robbie Burns birthday, January 25th. Our coach driver suggested that there may have been a King Edin.
We departed the hotel in fog at 08:45 and for about half an hour there was little to see. Then the sun burned through and there was magnificent Kodak lighting. We were in fact to drive over the coal fields of Lothia, and there was a King Loth. While there is still lots of coal, the government has deemed it uneconomical to extract. This has caused a massive shift in the economy of this area.
Edinburgh, known affectionately as Old Reekie, is Scotland’s second biggest city. Like Rome, it is built on seven hills, the difference being that the hills here are old volcanic plugs.
There followed a parade of famous names who hail from Edinburgh, among them Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sean Connery, Robert Louis Stephenson, Sir Henry Rayburn, Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) and John Knox.
By the time we pulled into Charlotte Square with a statue of Prince Albert on horseback, the sun had departed.
We passed a statue of William Pitt the Younger, the one who introduced a temporary Income Tax.
By1867 the old town was too small so they started building seven new towns. The first one had innovative names for the principal streets such as Princes, George and Queen.
The style is Geogian. A basement level for the servants and then three storeys for the household. The totally symmetrical buildings were faced with cut sandstone. The doors were a bit wider than usual so that the owners could be carried through in sedan chairs. We paused outside Alex Salmon’s office at number VI on the square, with a policeman standing guard.
We drove past the home of Dr Simpson. He performed chloroform experiments on his guests after dinner to determine the correct dosage according to body mass. He called chloroform his magic vapours.
Then there was the Balmoral Hotel where J.K. Rowlings holed up to write the last part of the last volume of Harry Potter.
We were off to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia. There had been a royal yacht since 1660. Britannia was built by the John Brown Shipyard on the Clyde in Glasgow in 1952.
The yacht was used by the Royal Family, but also for trade missions and other duties. For example, one thousand were evacuated from Aden. In war, the ship could be set up as a hospital ship to handle 200 surgical cases.
It was a honeymoon ship for Princess Margaret, Princess Anne, Prince Charles, and Prince Andrew. All those marriages ended in divorce.
By 1997 the Admiralty had to face the fact that it could no longer afford Britannia. Other royal yachts had been scuttled at sea, but Queen Elizabeth vetoed that idea. Bids were solicited and Edinburgh won over Glasgow. The ship was put into the Britannia Trust and moored in the harbour of Leith.
By 10:40 we were on board doing self-guided tours using a push-the-button narration handset.
It was the third time I had been on Britannia.
The ship visit was over by noon and we continued our guided tour of the city. We drove past Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the Queen in Scotland.
Overlooking Holyrood is a park that sits on the volcanic plug. It is kept in a natural state and affords good views of the city from its top. We could see way out into the estuary of the Forth, where there is a perfect volcanic cone marking its entrance.
James Hutton, the father of modern geology determined that the volcanoes were millions of years old.
We saw the rather modern Scottish Parliament building that cost 431 million pounds. The design is controversial.
Greyfriars Bobby pub celebrates the famous dog named Bobby who spent years pining at his master’s grave.
By 13:05 we were at the top of the Royal Mile, that connects Holyrood Palace to the Castle. We were released for lunch and shopping duties until 15:15 hrs.
I walked uphill to the entrance to the castle to take a couple of photos. There was a huge construction crane taking down the bleachers from the tattoo.
The red lion crest on the castle gate read, “Nemo Me Impune Lacessit”, which I translate as “Nobody Strikes Me With Impunity”.
Back down on the Golden Mile a kilted bagpiper wanted one pound to have a photo taken. I passed. Instead, I got rid of my last Scottish bank note buying a fridge magnet that featured a kilted piper.
Note to self: Do NOT bother to bring sun block to Northern England or Scotland.
We were back at the hotel by 16:10 and I started packing.
At 18:30 we gathered in the bar for farewell drinks. At 19:00 we were piped down into the banquet room and were entertained during dinner by a fiddler and guitar player. After dinner the more adventurous tried some dancing.
The Travels of David Ironsides 