{"id":2573,"date":"2021-09-10T14:52:30","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T14:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/?p=2573"},"modified":"2021-09-10T15:14:51","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T15:14:51","slug":"ah-edinburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/10\/ah-edinburgh\/","title":{"rendered":"Ah! Edinburgh!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We hadn’t intended to go to Edinburgh. Well, we did, and then that got cancelled several months ago, so we figured we would get to Edinburgh another time. Due to several events, we found ourselves wanting to leave York a week early and what better place to spend that week than Edinburgh! We even were able to get a hotel right in the old town. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival was going on too, although in much reduced form, with outdoor acts mostly. This made it very fun for us as we were able to see all kinds of performers – although I have to admit to a fair amount of concern as people were crowding together. We did our best to stay to the edges of the crowd. We were even able to hear a lot of the acts from our hotel room \ud83d\ude01which made it a bit easier to work in the afternoon and evenings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As is our usual, we did a walking tour early in the week. We find it can really make a difference in our enjoyment of a locale. And then, just to be different, we did a night tour with a paranormal professional! She was full of interesting stories – no, we did not see any ghosts. Both tours are ones I would recommend. And The Bow Bar on Victoria Street is a definite recommend! We wanted to figure out if we liked Scotch Whisky – we knew we liked Irish single malt Whiskey (yes, the different spellings are intentional) – but we associated scotch with smokiness. Like licking a campfire. Shudder. The two people who were working at the bar (and taking COVID restrictions very seriously – thank you!) really listened to us and led us to find that we love highland and speyside whiskys without any smoke. Much gratitude to them, although our wallets are perhaps less pleased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Victoria Street – the Bow Bar is about midway down on the left. Edinburgh is built in layers, and it can make things very interesting. The buildings on the right are not super tall – the upper buildings are built upon the hill with the entrances facing the other way. Maps can be very misleading because you don’t always know what level things are on!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We didn’t leave the city center on this trip, there just wasn’t time. We did try to walk every street in that area though! And what fascinating streets they were. Every few feet there were walkways – called closes – between buildings that led to other buildings and some of them looked like they hadn’t been touched in a few hundred years. These medieval cities fascinate me. Even new town, down below old town, with its Victorian roots was beautifully done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking up at old town<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Scots take their literature very seriously, and Sir Walter Scott is considered the best of the best. Perhaps his most widely known work is Ivanhoe. Scott was one of the first authors to write about Scottish history and he is much loved for having recorded these stories. Many authors have statues, some are even quite large. And then there is the memorial to Scott:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Note that the building across the street is seven floors tall. The memorial dwarfs it!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We toured Edinburgh Castle and the palace of Holyroodhouse. The Royal Regiment of Scotland is based at the castle, but otherwise it is not used for many official occasions. There has been a castle on the site since the 12th century and was used as a royal residence until 1633. One funny bit about the castle: when Queen Victoria came for a visit to Edinburgh she declared that it didn’t look like a proper castle! She had a new gatehouse built that she felt looked more medieval than the medieval one did. Sigh. But she loved Scotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The castle sits atop an extinct volcano. The volcano’s side gave way (a super long time ago) during an eruption creating a nice slope. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Edinburgh Castle with Victoria’s gate at the front<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Within the castle walls the other buildings are built upon the rocks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The palace of Holyroodhouse is still an active royal residence, but somehow it feels homey. That’s weird, right? But it does. The state rooms are available for touring – plus, and this was huge for the history nerd, the bedroom of Mary, Queen of Scots. The rooms (they are up a cramped spiral staircase) were little used after she left, so are the same as they would have been in the 16th century. The furniture is not the same, but has been selected to look as authentic as possible. It was definitely one of those emotional places for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Palace of Holyroodhouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The ceiling of Mary’s bedroom with the ceiling that she would have looked at<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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From Holyroodhouse you have a splendid view of Arthur’s Seat. We had every intention of hiking to the top but time got away from us. Next time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Amongst all of the history packed into Edinburgh is one slightly more modern tidbit: around 1995 a poor, single mother worked on writing a book that had been in her head for a few years. She often worked in a coffee shop in Edinburgh called the Elephant House…the rest is history!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the places where Harry Potter came to life – or written life<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And now, for some assorted views of Edinburgh…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An extraordinarily clever use of an old phone booth – an espresso stand!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A clever performer at the Fringe Festival – this guy lip synced to Elvis songs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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At a construction site I came across this clever play on the caution sign. It made me laugh!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Yep. Nope, did not try it. I did try haggis though. It can be okay.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The view from our hotel window. Did not get tired of looking at it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This is a mystery building. No one appears to use it but it is heavily guarded. Hmmm…maybe James Bond is a real person?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Night view down in the Grassmarket area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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St Giles Cathedral. It’s not really a cathedral though…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We went to the Scotch Whisky Experience. Inside was one man’s whiskey collection. Mostly unopened bottles. There’s about 3,000 bottles with the oldest dating from the 1800s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Will we return to Edinburgh? Absolutely. Hopefully in another couple of years we will again buy tickets to the Edinburgh Tattoo (it was cancelled for the second year in a row), rent the Husband a kilt and cross our fingers for nice weather that night!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We hadn’t intended to go to Edinburgh. Well, we did, and then that got cancelled several months ago, so we figured we would get to Edinburgh another time. Due to several events, we found ourselves wanting to leave York a week early and what better place to spend that week than Edinburgh! We even were … <\/p>\n

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