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!