Day 14 - Edinburgh

We woke to rain, but by the time we finished breakfast it was over. I told someone later that we brought the sun from Florida and she bowed down to me and asked if I could keep it here in Scotland. Apparently the sun is rare here, but we haven't seen any evidence of that. 

Darcy and Tom packed the car. I was sitting with Grandma in reception enjoying the wifi when this man and woman appeared to check out. The woman looked exactly like my friend Kelly, and I was wondering if it would be rude to take a picture when two teenage girls and a boy joined them. 

Lady - "Did you sleep well?" (Insert accent)

Girl - "I slept great. Best night yet. Did you sleep well?"

Lady - "I did." 

Man - "How did you like that nice wake up call we got this morning?"

Girl - "Oh! That was terrible. That noise was so loud and woke me right up. I jumped out of bed!!"

Immediately Darcy and Grandma look over at me and start snickering. 

Me - "Sorry about that."

Man - "It was you that did it?"

Me - "Apparently the hairdryer I was using set off the fire alarm."

Man - "You did that with a hairdryer? Woke us all up?"

Me - "Yep. Happy 4th of July!"

And with that we bid the Bonham Hotel and its guests good-bye and headed to the castle. Edinburgh castle sits high on a hill (Castle Rock) and does not have a car park. 

High on a hill, is an understatement. We went up on an incline past the University of Edinburgh and then up another incline past buildings and shops and then up an incline toward the castle. At the top we stopped, tilted on the incline, to wait for Tom and Grandma who had stopped at intervals. Note: Always walk with Grandma. 

The place was packed. Like Disney World packed. We had our castle pass so we bypassed the ticket counter and went on in the gate. Still packed.  We decided to each go our own way and we dispersed. I tried to avoid the areas where people were lined up. The castle and the hill it sat on where very much like Stirling Castle. The hill towered over the entire city and made for an easy defense against invaders between England and Scotland. It dates back to the Romans of the first century AD and was used until the 1920s as an army base. It has been restored and some of the rooms house some of the furniture from the inhabitants. It wasn't quite as informative as Stirling Castle. It had minimal historical informative signs and there were no actors in the rooms. It was very much a free for all and people were quite rude, walking in front of cameras, pushing past people at displays, and ignoring direction of routes. 

I went into the main buildings surrounding the square first. I walked through the Great Hall that was built for James VI in 1488 and was then used by parliament until 1639. It said it still was used today for some government functions, but I had a hard time believing that. On the eastern side of the square I went into the Royal Palace. Built in the 15th and 16th centuries, it was home to Mary Queen of Scots. She gave birth to the King, her son, James VI at the castle; in a tiny, and I mean TINY, alcove off of her bedchamber. It was impossible to know how tiny it was until you were in the room.  There was only one way in and out. It was one lane so to speak, and people seemed to panic when the crowd coming in made it difficult for them to get out. I got inside, turned around and announced, "What a terrible room to give birth." That got a few chuckles and seemed to calm a few people until it was our turn to exit. 

By far the number one attraction was the Scottish Crown Jewels, the oldest surviving Crown Jewels in Europe.  They were locked away in a chest and buried for fear the English would get their hands on them and discovered and reopened one hundred years later at the urging of Sir Walter Scott in 1818. That room, the Honours of Scotland, housed the crown, sword, and sceptre that were worn together first at the coronation of Mary, Queen of Scots, and during several Kings coronations, as well as some other jewels from different royalties. No photography allowed in there. They crown, sword, and sceptre were under glass, the crown atop a red velvet royal pillow like we see in films. It was still a vibrant red, the pearls still white, but the different gemstones surrounding the bottom half of the crown were not as sparkly. They looked like they needed a good brushing with some toothpaste. I could not get close enough to the woman guarding them to suggest that. 

Across the room hanging in a frame was a locket that belonged to Charles I (I think) that held a picture of his wife. The locket wasn't open, but a picture of it opened was in the display. Also in there was a huge necklace that one King (no photography meant I had to rely on my memory so yeah) had worn around his collar with a bejeweled pendant. It was all quite a splendid sight and well worth the line to get inside. 

The Castle Vaults lie beneath the Great Hall and are renovated to show how they were used as prisons during various wars in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was an interesting room with three of the original prison doors, now housed in glass, that showed the graffiti carved into the wood from prisoners of different nationalities. It smelled dank and musty. Another section in this area had a lot of historical war information, and I felt quite proud reading on this Fourth of July about the Americans winning their independence from Britain. I refrained from giving a loud cheer and instead cheered silently. 

The last place of interest was St. Margaret's Chapel built by Alexander I and David I in memory of their mother Queen Margaret. This is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh and it sits on the highest point of Castle Rock. It had some beautiful stained glass and was a lovely little chapel. 

After a pop into the whisky shop, I headed back toward the entrance. Tom had paid for a little over an hour and a half for parking and it was getting close. I met up with three out of the four. Madison was still a no show. Tom and Mary Anne decided to head off for the car while Darcy and I hung back to wait for Maddy. Once we gathered her we slid back down the many hills and inclines to the car where we found no one. No Tom. No Grandma. Apparently they had taken a wrong turn and were lost in the city. (More on that in tomorrow's blog) I got tired of waiting and needed to use the bathroom so I left the girls and hiked up to the Museum on the Mound directly across from our parked car. 

It was a free museum all about money. The design, the technology, trading, securities, and forgery of money. It was about the building of the first Bank of Scotland and was very interesting. It is new, opened in 2006 and was very well thought out and displayed. I felt bad for coming in to just use the facilities so I felt the need to wander around. I was glad I did. It was a great museum. I texted Maddy and suggested she join me. She and Darcy both did and we got to strike our own Alexander III penny.

We got word that Tom was back at the car and we joined him in what became Operation Rescue Grandma (tomorrow's blog entry). Once she was safely in the car we said good-bye to Scotland and heading south toward England.