Day 8 Scottish Tour

Day 8

This morning, after a sumptuous breakfast at the MacDonald Holyrood Hotel, we were introduced to our new tour guide. We said goodbye to Paddy and Peter and climbed on board the bus for our tour of the city of Edinburgh. We drove around as our new tour guide gave us information about the places of interest but he didn't measure up to the standards set by our previous guide.

A statue of the Duke of Wellington taken from inside the tour bus.

The last photo taken from inside our original tour bus as we drove along Princes Street. You can see the castle top left and Scott monument (Scottish author Sir Walter Scott) directly in front.

Maggie Dickson's pub. Maggie Dickson was convicted of killing her newborn baby, was hanged but survived the hanging. Her story is remembered in the name of this pub.

The back of Edinburgh castle taken from inside the tour bus.

The approach to Edinburgh castle. The scaffolding on the left is in preparation for "The Edinburgh Military Tattoo" that takes place in August. It gets about a million visitors every year.

Above the entry gate you can see the "Lion Rampart Shield." This is the shield of the Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland. 

A soldier of the Royal Scots regiment, the oldest regiment in the British army.

These are "The Lang Stairs," the original link between the middle and upper wards of the castle.

A view of Edinburgh from the castle.

Castle soldiers on parade.

This is the building inside the castle that contains the crown jewels of Scotland.

The altar in St Mary's chapel, the oldest building in Edinburgh.

Mons Meg. A huge six ton medieval siege gun made in Belgium and  last fired in 1681.

Edinburgh in the rain looking down over the ramparts of Edinburgh castle.

Looking down onto the soldiers' dog cemetery dating back to 1840, at Edinburgh castle.

Outside "The Scottish National War Memorial" in Edinburgh castle. I did go in, and I did find the name of my Uncle Andrew who died in World War II, written in one of the books that recorded the war dead.

We were lucky enough to catch a parade just as we were leaving because it was starting to rain quite hard.

After visiting the castle we were free for the rest of the day and I stopped for lunch on the "Royal Mile" with some Canadian friends from the tour group.



Below is a photo of another Canadian friend from the tour group. While we were visiting Edinburgh castle I mentioned to her that I wanted to step inside the war memorial building to look for my uncle's name in the books that record the names of the dead. My Canadian friend was helping me with the search and by chance she came across one book that listed the names of Canadian soldiers who were killed in World War II. To our surprise her father's name was recorded in this particular book, something that she had never known. That's what you call a moment in time that was meant to be. If she hadn't been helping me look for my uncle's name she would never have known that her father's name was also recorded in the book at Edinburgh castle. It was synchronicity.

For the rest of the day we split up and I continued down the Royal Mile to have a look at "The Museum of Childhood" and "The Museum of Edinburgh." 

Outside the "Museum of Edinburgh.

Inside the "Museum of Edinburgh."

Display of ceramic  "Wartime Personalities."

An old Edinburgh sedan chair.

That evening some of us dined out since dinner was not provided for the last two days of our visit. The food in Scotland has changed for the better I think. Every restaurant provided a wide selection and the food was generally excellent.