Hooray for Holyrood!

Mum, Dad and I spent a couple of hours without Rod and the kids at Holyrood. They went off to the far more exciting Edinburgh Dungeon and Museum of Childhood instead. There was a good exhibition called "Conversation Pieces" at the Queen's Gallery and then we went in to Holyrood proper.
After seeing the personal quarters for poor old Mary Queen of Scots I can well understand why she met her death so stoically. I reckon she was glad to escape from her bedroom which would have to have been the smallest, darkest, dingiest room in the whole palace. And the portraits on the wall of her room all seemed to be terribly grim faced, gloomy gentlemen - enough to give the poor woman nightmares! We also got to visit the room where poor old Rizzio got done in - and I'm sure the floorboards still show the bloodstains! Like a lot of places we have visited, interior photos are not allowed so you will have to make do with outside views!

More photos here.

Geocaching in the Village of Dean.

We have spent the last couple of mornings a little closer to "home" and went out geocaching in the local area. There are a few caches quite close by and so far we have a hundred percent strike rate on them. Yesterday we tackled three caches situated along the Waters of  Leith Walkway - a glorious walking track that meanders along by the river. There is one just behind our apartment close to one of the weirs and another two in the other direction - one at the Dean Bridge and the other at a little classical "temple" called St Bernard's Well. It is an interesting way to check out some of the lesser known attractions of the area. This morning we did an epic multicache which led us through the spectacular Dean Village Cemetery. WOW - I have never seen memorials in this league before. Many of Edinburgh's "Great and Good" have ended up here and the memorials are fitting to their status in life. We found at least one Lord Provost and someone whose role in society was Deputy Commissioner of  Lunacy; as well as several "Writers to the Signet", whatever that is.

Photos to follow! And here they are.

A sterling castle at Stirling.

We enjoyed a couple of hours wandering around Stirling Castle after we visited Bannockburn. The castle commands wonderful views over the Forth Valley and beyond to the Trossachs. You certainly would have had  advance notice about unwelcome visitors and plenty of time to hide from either those peddling religion or encyclopedias!

There I was standing in a lovely garden space called the Bowling Green and thinking deep thoughts about life in days gone by when suddenly a voice calls down to me from the ramparts - " You do not frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottoms, sons of silly persons. I blow my nose at you, you so called Arthur King, you and all your silly English kaniggets!" *sigh* Monty Python and the Holy Grail has a lot to answer for!

Stirling Castle is in fact everything you would expect a castle to be - fabulous ramparts, lots of round towers and gatehouses with portcullises. Parts of it are undergoing huge refurbishment - about 12 million pounds worth - to recreate the interior of the palace as it would have been in the 16th century. It will be wonderful when it is finished.

There are more photos of Stirling Castle here.

Bannockburn - a Battle that changed Scotland.

The Bannockburn Centre just outside Stirling is well worth visiting. The displays are excellent and there is lots to keep the kids interested without it being too kitch for the adults. We all came away with a much better understanding of this important event in Scots history and its impact on the national character! And they sold really yummy icecream!

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to wear armour, then Bannockburn is the place to go. Gus and Theo's dreams of knighthood were all realized; they even got a brief lesson in sword fighting from the knowledgeable and entertaining staff members. There are more photos of Bannockburn here.

BTW, it is Gus under all those heavy layers!

In Search of the Holy Grail -or not!

For those of you who enjoy a good mystery story, Rosslyn Chapel at the village of Roslin is an extraordinary place. It was built about 600 years ago and the interior is covered (and I really mean covered) with intricate carvings. There are many different interpretations of what the carvings mean, ranging from a simple representation of bible stories and historical characters, through to mysterious masonic symbolism, and finally some purport that it shows the hiding place of the Holy Grail (you have read the Da Vinci Code, haven't you?)

Whatever the reason for their existance, the carvings are none the less amazing. And what is really amazing is that they are still there for us to see. They were somehow saved from the ravages of Oliver Cromwell, only to be attacked by mother nature herself in the form of profuse algal growth on the wet stone. (The roof has been leaking for about 400 years!) The Victorians tried to save the chapel by painting the interior with grey paint, which although done with the best of intentions has made the job more difficult for 21st Century conservaters. Currently there is a huge restoration job being done.

We also took a five minute stroll down the hill from the Chapel to explore the ruins of Rosslyn Castle (Oliver Cromwell did visit this one) and then we went for a longer walk in Rosslyn Glen. The woods were beautiful - very quiet and peppered with odd stone ruins - as unlike the Australian bush as anything could be. The Rowan trees are particularly wonderful at this time of years. They have huge clusters of the brightest, shiniest red berries that I have ever seen.

You can find more photos of Rosslyn here.

Edinburgh Castle

Yesterday we bought jump on, jump off bus tickets on one of the several tours that go round the city of Edinburgh. After we had our bearings a little we decided that we would walk up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle. The Royal Mile is very touristy but quite good fun, with plenty of interesting people to watch and some amusing street theatre. And of course there is the reward of the castle at the end. We had organized British Heritage passes before we left home, so while the masses had to queue at the gate, we just strolled right on in as if we owned the joint! We couldn't have asked for better weather as you can see from the photos. The view from the castle was amazing and it is easy to see why it was such a defensible location in times of trouble.

There is lots to see at Edinburgh Castle and some of the displays are excellent. I particularly enjoyed the section devoted to the Crown Jewels of Scotland as the story of how they were hidden away and then were rediscovered was quite fascinating. We also enjoyed a 20 minute presentation from a Scots "Cavalier" who told us the story of King Charles I and his relationship with Scotland. As far as Kings go, he was not much chop - and maybe that's why he ended up with the chop! Much to our surprise the Cavalier's name turned out to be..... Alastair.

Dean Village - an oasis of calm.

I suppose I had better tell you a little bit about the part of Edinburgh in which we are staying. The Village of Dean by the Waters of Leith sounds like it should be a little hamlet miles out in the country but it is actually only 5 minutes walk to the top end of Princes St, one of Edinburgh's mail thoroughfares. (Although to be perfectly honest, there is not much thoroughfaring being done as many of Edinburgh's streets are being dug up at the moment to install a tram system.) The Village was once home to the Guild of Baxters, and the mills on the Waters of Leith provided Edinburgh with all the ground meal required for bread making. Today, many of the buildings in the area have inscriptions and carvings on them representing the role that the Guild played in the local community. One of the old mills is right across the street from us and has also been turned into apartments; the mill wheels however, are long gone.

There is a lovely footpath that goes along beside the water and we are planning to explore it this afternoon. The streets in Dean Village are very quiet as tere is hardly any through traffic. I am sitting on a wide window ledge in our bedroom on the third floor and have just watched two policemen ride up Dean Path on horses. Their hooves made a wonderful sound on the cobbled street.

The apartment we are in is in an old school. Our apartment is at one end of the building and is arranged around a winding staircase. It is very comfortable, but being on 4 levels means a lot of upping and downing during the day. Yesterday evening as we were enjoying happy hour in the kitchen, we looked out the window to see a group of about 20 people all standing and looking up at us - well, the house really! It looked like one of those walking tours that take place in historic areas. We felt very famous, just by association!

Dubai - Biggest, Tallest, Hottest!

We arrived in Dubai about 5ish in the morning and stepped into a world of superlatives. The airport itself is huge and at that hour of the morning was virtually empty. From there we stepped out into what was certainly the hottest morning that I have experienced in my life - the temperature was a mild 35 degrees celcius, rising through the day to about 41. We were told that things were cooling off though, as it had been 45 degrees the week before! Our hotel apartment was very nice - not too flash but clean, comfortable and very cool. After a bit of a rest and a freshen up we were collected for our afternoon tour. Being the last week of Ramadan, we were instructed by our tour guide that we must not eat or drink in public to show respect for those Muslims who were fasting during the daylight hours. However, we were able to do so if we pulled the little curtains on the minibus so as to be hidden from view. Gus and Theo were exempt from this rule, being 10 and under.

Highlights of the tour were the amazing buildings - Dubai is a city under construction, with cranes and scaffolding wherever you look. It must be an architects' paradise though, with the brief being that if you can imagine it, build it! We also really liked the old fort and museum, which although small, had really interesting and informative displays. The spice and gold souks were a bit disappointing though - really just a way for getting tourists to part with their money, although we were highly amused (briefly!) by the hawkers offering "watches, very good fakes, madam!"

Dinner was another highlight. We saw a sign in our hotel advertising a buffet for 69 dirham per person (half price for children), which is about $23 AU per person. We did have to walk a couple of blocks to another branch of the Golden Sands Hotel chain but boy, was it worth it! The food was fabulous and as it was early, we were almost the only people in there. Everyone ate 'til they were completely satiated and then one of the waiters amused the boys with magic tricks! We did find that we were treated very well during our stay and people seemed especially kind to the children. All in all, Dubai was well worth a stop over but I am glad that it was only 24 hours.

One sleep to go!

The excitement level is mounting! Periodically, somebody will catch someone else's eye, do a little happy dance and utter those words - "One sleep to go!" And that's just the grown ups! I think everything is organised. I am trying to work on the theory that so long as I have our tickets, passports and access to money then nothing is insurmountable. I have spoken with the elders today and we have arranged to meet in the Arrivals Hall at Dubai. We have organised a private transfer to the hotel rather than a taxi, being as there are 6 of us. We used the Viator website for this and to book an afternoon tour of Dubai that will take us to the souks, on the "creek" and to the fort and museum. It was simply a matter of paying by credit card and then printing off vouchers. We shall see.....

Look out, Fat Contoller!

We have finally managed to sort out the best way to organise our train tickets from York to London. I wasn't too worried about it to start with, but once we started looking at the different websites it all got a bit confusing....and at one stage I thought the tickets would cost us upward of 150 pounds each! Yikes!

The good news is that prepaying for tickets does make them a lot cheaper than if you buy on the day. The other bit of good news is that we don't have to have tickets posted, carrier pigeoned or sent by super-sonic fighter jet to get them here on time! We get a natty little code number that we put into a machine at York Station along with the credit card used to pay for our tickets and, hey presto, our tickets will magically appear! That's the theory anyway.....

The site we used was Raileasy , and it really was quite....easy! Oh, and by the way, the tickets were really only about 35 pounds each!

Where are the packing fairies?

What a dilemma! Lovely Emirates have increased their baggage allowance from 20kg to 30kg, but that still doesn't get around the issue of fitting 4 adults, 2 kids AND all the associated baggage into the hire car once we get to Scotland. So....travelling light is still the aim!

Rod and I have rolled out the trusty backpacks from our last trip away. I really would hate to have to actually "back pack" it anywhere these days, but they are a bit more squashy than suitcases and so may be easier to stuff into a people mover.

I have started first on Gus and Theo's cases. Mind you, I have had to physically peel Theo's thermals from his body as he has become so attached to them! They will get a surprise when they open their bags at the other end, as I have put one of my trusty black knee high boots into each of them! Couldn't think how else to get them OS and they are truly the most comfy, stylish footwear I own. Bonus is, I can wear thick, stripy, woolly socks underneath and no-one will ever know (except you, of course!)

5th Arrondissement, Paris

Ahhhh - Paris! Last night we finalized payments for our Paris Apartment. The internet has been wonderful for organizing this trip, especially things like international currency transactions which seem to have so much paper work attached to them. We did the first couple through a local bank branch but soon discovered that it is much easier just to do it yourself from home! Of course, you still need lots of information - bank addresses, IBAN numbers, swift and sort codes, benificiary names and addresses - but once all that is collected the whole process is remarkably pain free.

Our apartment is situated in the 5th Arrondissememnt - the Quatier Latin - close to Rue Mouffetard with its fabulous street market and the Jardin de Luxembourg. It looks a very "friendly" apartment, filled with light and books! Just my kind of place!