Vacation Day Ten-Have Fun Storming the Castle

Today was a fast and furious run through the Royal Mile, Edinburgh's main street and site of some of its historic attractions. At either end of the street are Edinburgh Castle, the grandest of Scotland's castles, and Holyroodhouse Palace, the Queen's official residence in Scotland. And all the stuff in between.

Fortunately it was the first absolutely clear day I can remember since I left Texas. Upper 50s, no wind, sunny and clear. It will be raining by the end of the day though.

First we have to deal with these separate hot and cold faucet taps. What the hell is going on there? About 3/4 of the places I've visited have separate hot and cold taps in the faucet. That might not be such a problem, but the hot tap is scalding hot to the point of burning your skin, while the cold is like a glacier lake that causes frostbite. Uh, hey Brits (and Irish). Its not 1940. You don't have to worry about the Jerries bombing your house anymore. We have this valve that will join the hot and cold streams. "Warm" is quite acceptable.

The United Nations has designated the Edinburgh Castle as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Not sure exactly what that means but it sounds impressive. Quebec City is a World Heritage Site too. I think it means its way freaking old. A castle has been on the site since the 1200s, but it keeps getting destroyed by fire or pillaging every couple of hundred years and rebuilt. The present one dates from the 1400s. Its located on the highest point in the city, the site of an ancient (now dormant, hopefully) volcano, giving it views of the entire city. It was the seat of Scottish kings, but now is a military and tourist site. A memorial to Scottish war dead is located in the main square across from the great hall and the old palace. Its a magnificent memorial with stone and stained glass, and lists the name of every Scottish soldier killed in action from World War I onward. The rest of the castle is in fantastic shape and has great exhibitions. They have the Scottish crown jewels, which had been hidden for about 150 years after Scotland and England became Great Britain. They're not as impressive as the British crown jewels at Buckingham Palace, but the Scots didn't have an India where they could steal a bunch of impressive jewels to put in a crown. There's also a Prisoner of War exhibit, which I didn't see because I was pressed for time. I did see the King's residence in the palace, which has been well restored.

Next I went to St. Giles Cathedral, the leading church in the Old Town. Its just down the road from Edinburgh Castle, and dates back to the 1200s. Its the "mother church of Presbyterianism." Its a magnificent place of worship, with amazing architecture. Be sure to check out the photos. Like many other British and Commonwealth churches and towns, St. Giles has an extensive memorial to fallen soldiers who were church members. As with other places, a high proportion of the honored dead were from World War I. Everywhere I've traveled in England, Ireland, Scotland, and New Zealand, you can easily and quickly find World War I memorials. That must have been a horrible war. Just an absolute grinder. No wonder the American generals refused to coordinate with the French and English once we entered the war. All they had proven capable of doing in three years was getting a lot of people killed. That war must have just decimated whole towns everywhere, who would have lost all their young men, no doubt in ill-advised charges into newly developed machine guns, whose deadly nature the Generals obstinately refused to acknowledge. They were using Napoleon's techniques, which they'd studied their entire career, not knowing they were obsolete at least forty years before that.

Most of the rest of the Royal Mile consists of touristy shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, and so forth. There's at least 12 places to buy a kilt., for example. At the other end lies the devolved Scottish Parliament, and Holyroodhouse Palace. I was running out of time, so it was the Palace. But on the way I stumbled across Dumbar's Close, which is just inside an alcove off the Royal Mile. Basically this is a four part Victorian garden, or what my mother would have called a "secret garden." Its a little oasis amid all the Royal Mile craziness. All I can tell you about the Parliament building is that it looks like they built some eight year old's crayon design, or tried to make it look like a macaroni cheese sculpture. Hey architects. Your cool building of today is going to look absolutely ridiculous in about 40 years. Best to stick with something timeless. The Parliament's right across the street from the Palace, which I'm sure was quite intentional. So the Palace it was. Its built on the site of a former abbey, and the ruins are still intact. The palace is huge, but not Buckingham large. Nor is it as uptight and formal. No "changing of the guard," for example. They kept stressing that its a "working palace," which I guess means that they have formal dinners with visiting dignitaries. Or hosting dances. Anyway, kings built the palace because Edinburgh Castle up the way was too cold and windy. Which it is. By Buckingham standards, its a little drab, sort of like it was built in the 1950s and hasn't been remodeled. The palace has really nice grounds, with lots of flowers and planterboxes. Plus, its located right next to Holyrood Park, where I ran yesterday. The palace has great views of the Crags. In the dining room, they displayed some menus for recent dinners. (Is it really a "working palace" when the work consists of showing up at your in-house restaurant all dressed up?). Mostly it was locally produced foods, such as salmon. The audio tour takes you through most of the major rooms, but not the family's living quarters. There's an option to see "The Queen's Gallery," containing selected portraits from the Royal Family's art collection, which I blew off given the time. I'll just view my own family's art collection when I go home.

Next-Stirling Castle