Enjoying Enchanted Edinburgh

Walking through old Edinburgh is amazing. I don't quite understand how a city can be so multi-layered, and I mean that literally! 

One of our adventures this visit was a tour of Mary King's Close. Mary King was a citizen who lived in Edinburgh during the middle ages, and one of the old closes (close = an alleyway that was closed at night to keep out the riff raff) was named after her. This close, like many others, were build right on top of when they came into disrepair. For the tour, you descended two flights of stairs - BELOW THE ROYAL MILE - and tour these now-underground and completely enclosed streets, shops, and homes. Some of the rooms still had wallpaper on the walls, one room still smelled (rather strongly) of cow more than 400 years after it was last used to shelter cows at night! In these catacombs many died from the plague and various other maladies due to the cramped quarters and terrible hygienic conditions. In fact, the tour guide explained that everyone used to throw their waste out the windows, which flowed down the streets and into the Firth of Fourth. If you were thrown into the F of F during the middle ages, it would have taken you 15 minutes to sink through the refuse before you hit actual water - this was a method of execution back then. Yuck!!  

Royal mile, above the site of Mary King's Close

On to a much more sweet-smelling story! We toured the Scotch Whiskey Museum near the top of the Royal Mile and learned how Scotch whiskey is made. We enjoyed a guided tasting, much like a wine tasting class, while in a room with the largest and oldest collection of Scotch in one location. 

Dad enjoying his wee dram o' Scotch

Scotch Whiskey Collection

We purchased the upgraded tickets so after the tour and tasting class, we were able enjoy a small dram (way smaller than portions in America) of Scotch from each of the four main whiskey-making regions: highlands, lowlands, Speyside, and Islay. Mom and I liked the highlands option best, while Dad and Bill enjoyed Speyside and the Islay variatals.

We tried like crazy to find a pub for dinner with a table for four that was hosting a live traditional Scottish band. Alas, all such places were standing-room only (if that!) by the time we started looking. The next time they visit, we'll have to make live, traditional music priority #1 in Edinburgh :-)

And the next morning we had to go back to the train station for our return home. I look forward to planning our next trip to this beautiful city!!

One of many steep staircases in Edinburgh

Goodbye, Edinburgh! 

Braving Braveheart Territory... FREEEEEEEDOM!!!!!!!!!

When in Edinburgh, you must must must visit the castle! It was the backdrop for the Tattoo Bill and I attended in August (as it is every year) and is rich in history and beauty. It sits high atop one of the highest hills in Edinburgh and is quite picturesque from down below. 

Have fun storming the castle!

And when you are up on the castle, looking over the walls, the views are even more dramatic. Below you can see Mom, Bill, and Dad standing at one of the castle walls. From this photo, it doesn't look that majestic, right?

But these are the views you can take in from the castle wall: the whole of Edinburgh and the Firth of Fourth (North Sea bay that juts into Edinburgh) beyond. It was predicted to rain like crazy all day the one full day we had in Edinburgh, but as you can see, the sky was clear for most of the morning. By late afternoon we did have to pull up our hoodies to protect us from the rain, but it never really got too wet while we were there. In fact, my parents were blessed with perfect weather almost their entire visit!

Edinburgh and the Firth of Fourth

Not a bad view from way up here!

The castle hasn't been used for military defense in a long time, but there is still plenty of evidence that this castle was once a great stronghold and defender of Scotland. 

Cannon's view of Edinburgh

Even the centuries-old little cemetery for soldiers' dogs was quite pretty. Mom wanted to make sure I got a picture of this for my sister, an avid dog-lover who will love the fact that the Scottish soldiers loved their dogs this much. Here you go, Toni!

Soldiers' dog cemetery

We visited the Scottish crown jewels, which includes the "Stone of Scone," the rock that every Scottish King has been seated upon when crowned King for over a thousand years. When England and Scotland were united under James I, the United Kingdom adopted the stone into their coronation ceremony; every King and Queen since has sat on the stone for the Scottish part of the ceremony. This topic is a touchy one for many in Scotland, as they are still fighting (now through politics and voting) for their independence from England.

Off my historic and not-so-historic soap box - sorry! No photos were allowed inside the area that housed the Scottish crown jewels, but we were able to take photographs inside the Great hall. Just right of the fireplace (out of frame in the picture below) there was a small-ish hole (maybe 2' X 2') up near the ceiling, criss-crossed over with bars. Apparently there was a little room up there where the king could sit and watch all of the courts goings-ons without being seen. Sneeky, sneeky! I took a photo of the hole, but it came out fairly blurry, so just use your imagination!

Great Hall, Edinburgh Castle

As always at tourist destinations there are roaming costumed folks, picture ready. I made mom and dad take a photo - It looks like Dad's about to shoot that poor guy's brains out!! 

FREEEEEEDOMMMMM!!!!

On the opposite side of the castle, another charming view of Edinburgh. Have I mentioned that I love Edinburgh? What a beautiful city! 

Views of Edinburgh from Castle wall

Sister Kay and Abbot Roger

Fountains Abbey

Mom, Dad, and I spent one morning touring Fountains Abbey, an abbey I blogged about a few months back. Click here > Fountains Abbey < to read the previous post about the abbey.

It was a beautiful day, and we spent a few hours walking around and exploring the remains of the once-prosperous Abbey and medieval retreat center. 

Mom in the remains of one of the abbey's building

Mom noticed the seating in the main nave of the abbey's cathedral and decided she and dad had to have a little fun. Without further ado, I give you Sister Kay and Abbot Roger. Do they look pious or mischievous?  

Sister Kay and Abbot Roger

In its heyday, the abbey had the best creature comforts money could buy, including a row of lavatories. And by lavatories, I mean a row of stone seats at the edge of a building with holes in the seat bottoms so your waste would dump right into the river that ran under the building. The river was also their source of water; thankfully they collected their water upstream! 

Fountains Abbey's river

No, there's no stained glass in the windows, but the pretty puffy clouds were not so bad to look at through the windows and up the main bell tower. 

Abbey window

Abbey bell tower

I took my "real" camera (and not just my iPhone) to Fountains Abbey and Harewood House (see previous post). Below are the two best photos taken at Harewood House with my nice camera with the wide angle lens.  

I forgot to mention in the previous Harewood House blog that we saw "Lady Harewood" (I don't know if she's officially a Lady, Dame, or any particular title) get dropped off by chauffeur as we were entering her house for the tour. She looked like a rather posh older lady, but it has to be weird coming home and having visitors gawk at you. Don't you think it would be weird? 

Harewood House & its formal gardens

Harewood House's formal gardens and deer park in the distance

Mum & Dad in the Yorkshire Dales

I had a list of things that Mom (AKA Mum) and Dad told me they wanted to do and places they wanted to visit whilst (oooh, fancy British word usage alert!) they were here. As you can tell, we kept them quite busy! 

We did have some down time in between visiting hither and yon - one afternoon we went to the famous Betty's  Tea House for afternoon tea. Betty's is luckily very close to my house, and 99% of the time has a line of people waiting outside and the line can stretch down the street. Low and behold the day I took my parents to Betty's, there was no line! Dad had a manly meal of smoked salmon rosti (salmon on a yummy potato pancake), and Mom and I had all the dainty girly things. 

Afternoon tea at Betty's 

Another day we took the train into York. We visited the York Minster and toured the Bedern Glazier's Studio where stained glass conservationists are repairing a lot of the medieval stained glass windows of the Minster. For hundreds of years, when the windows would break, glaziers could only add more lead to hold the broken glass together. Over time, there was more lead than stained glass, which left many of the windows unrecognizable. The conservationists are removing the "newer" lead strips and fusing the medieval stained glass using new glass bonding techniques. They are documenting everything and are etching undetectable (to the lay person) information into the stained glass so that future generations will know what was done, when, and why. Below are a few of the completely restored window tablets which were on display. 

A restored stained glass panel from the York Minster 

An interesting detail we learned on our tour is that the conservationists working on the windows, although gloved, are susceptible to lead poisoning. The male conservationists must get their blood tested every six months while the women must ever three months. Yikes! 

A restored stained glass panel from the York Minster

Mom really, really wanted to see the Shambles in York ever since reading about the medieval street in the Rick Steves' travel book. The Shambles in one of the oldest streets in York with buildings on either side that are as old as the street. The Shambles is very quaint and the buildings lean into the street and towards each other (or slant a little to the left/right). The one thing Rick Steves didn't mention is that the street is very, very short. When we turned the corner to view the Shambles, Mom asked "Is that it?" I laughed out loud as I knew she would be a bit disappointed. We walked down the Shambles, took a photo or two, and three minutes later we were on our way.

Walking the Shambles

And yet another day in Yorkshire was spent visiting one of our local manor houses. We toured the handful of formal rooms as well as the downstairs area where the servants worked and lived. As is true with most of these types of properties, no photography is allowed inside the home. But I think the back yard was much more picturesque, anyway!

Harewood house's back yard / formal garden

Harewood house's formal garden

In manor houses it was common to have a formal garden directly behind your house, and a much larger "deer park" behind the formal garden. The deer parks were (and are) still meticulously maintained, and this one is quite breathtaking. 

Harewood house deer park

Mum, Dad, the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace

Our adventures in London continue!

In front of the Tower of London

I talked Mom & Dad into visiting the Tower of London after we toured Westminster Abbey. Neither of them seemed to keen on visiting a tower, I mean, really, it's just a tower, right? Happily, they were both excited to see that it is far more than what the name suggested. It's a full-on castle with prisoner holding cells (complete with medieval prisoner graffiti), execution sites (Off with Anne Bolyn's head!) an armory and the crown jewels! 

Dad & the Tower Bridge

See, I really was with them! 

Soldiers in the famous "beefeater" getups are still dotted around London. This guy was out front of the crown jewel exhibit. No longer can you get right next to any of them, so you have to take photos from afar. Mom & Dad didn't want to do it, so I posed with the soldier. And then thanked him for his service as these guys are typically just back from deployment in not-so-great locations. 

Obligatory Beefeater photo 

After visiting the crown jewels (No photos, sorry. They were pretty sparkly - Dad told a guard that he thought the diamonds were really cubic zerconia - that didn't go over too well!) we made our way to the armory. We got a good look at lots of weapons and armor. What really stood out (Ha!) was Henry VIII's armor, specifically his cod piece. We three were giggling for quite some time - oh Henry, compensating much? 

Henry VIII's armor and junk

After a good night's sleep, we made our way for our 10:30 entry into Buckingham Palace. They only open Buckingham 10 weeks a year (while the Queen in on holiday in Balmoral, Scotland) and the general public can tour the state rooms. 

Buckingham Palace gate

We weren't allowed to take photographs inside, so you'll have to take my word for it - it was impressive! They also had a display of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation regalia (gowns, photos, etc.) as they are still celebrating her jubilee (60 years as the reigning monarch). 

Guards in front of Buckingham Palace

With the formal tour complete, the visitors can stop at the tea house in the back garden and enjoy the ambiance.

Having tea at Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace's back porch - must be nice!

A lovely stroll through the back garden leads you out of the palace grounds.

Can you spot the green heron?

Can you spot Buckingham Palace?

About two days after our visit to Buckingham Palace, a man was caught strolling the back garden after hours. Soldiers drew their guns and demanded he lay down and put his hands on his head. A few minutes later the soldiers were profusely apologizing as the man they apprehended was none other than Prince Andrew, the younger son of the Queen. Lesson of the story: don't go wandering unannounced in the Queen's back garden, even if she is your mom!!

Buckingham Palace's back garden

Mum, Dad, and a London Double-Decker Bus

On August 30th I met my Mom and Dad in London! I had to be very brave as I travelled by train to London, figure out the London Tube system and walk to our B&B all by myself - and I'm not terrific with directions. Thank GOD for the iPhone & GPS :-)  

After checking into my room at our B&B, the host told me my parents were down the street having lunch at a pub and for me to go meet them. As I was walking to the pub, I looked up and there, standing across the street was my Dad! What a great site in a city full of strangers!!!

Touring double-decker bus style

We spent the first full day of their vacation riding around town in one of the quintessential London double-decker hop-on hop-off tour busses. We hopped off near Westminster Abbey (sorry, no photos allowed inside) to explore. 

Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament & Big Ben

We braved the crowds at Westminster Abbey and Dad found the tombs of lots of famous scientists (Darwin, Galileo, Newton, etc.) for a proper scientist geek-out session. Mom & I enjoyed seeing the Kings, Queens, and writers' tombs (including Chaucer, Dickens, etc.) for a lady geek-out session.

Houses of Parliament

Clock Tower (Big Ben) and the London Eye

We hopped back on the tour bus and headed over to the Tower of London. Along the way we saw Saint Paul's Cathedral, drove over the London Bridge where we had a great view of the Tower Bridge before actually driving over the Tower Bridge. 

St. Paul's Cathedral

Tower Bridge as seen from London Bridge

Driving over the Tower Bridge

We hopped off at the Tower of London (pictures & story in the next post) and spent a quick hour and a half visiting the site before they closed for the night. 

Dad and the Tower Bridge

Whew! What a great start to a great vacation!