well, and a few rides...
Today we embarked on a journey to Edinburgh to visit the castle and walk the royal mile to the palace & parliment buildings. So, we started with a subway ride in Glasgow to the Queen Street Train Station where we caught a train to Waverly Station in Edinburgh. And of course, all journeys require taking the "Waverly Steps" to get there--well, at least according to one of my new favorite Scottish folk bands: Idlewild. (this is the name of one of their songs). So, from the steps we journeyed past Deacon Brodie's Pub, St. Giles Cathedral, the High Court, the "Hub" (used to be a church), and various woolen mill and other tourist shops to eventually arrive at the castle mount--not to be confused with the temple mount.
We spent a fair amount of time today in the castle and had great views out over the city--my favorite being a look to the north to the firth of forth, the kingdom of fife, and the north sea--a wee bit to the east. In the castle, we saw the crown jewels of Scotland, the war memorial, prison of war rooms, cannons, the great room, st. margaret's chapel, a dog cemetary, and even a wee demonstration on knight's weaponry and kits (kit = british for uniform). After this, we had a look through the 'souvenir shop'--where I actually sent a quick mobile text message to my bro--who graciously phoned back! I cannot believe that modern technology allowed me to chat with him from the Edinburgh Castle--while he waiting to go to work at a train depot in Montana! Talk about a small world!
After our visit at the castle, we ventured to a coffee shop called "The Elephant House"--a very 'artsy & intellecutal" sort of atmosphere---where J.K. Rowling is said to have written some of the Harry Potter books. We met a colleague of mine there for coffee. His name is Graham.
By the time we finished coffee, we only had 2 hours of sunlight left to get to the palace--and do any other shopping along the way. so...hurry, hurry, hurry & scurry, scurry, scurry---we went.
Stay tuned for more...tomorrow we visit Dundee.
Jamie
1 comment:
Hi Jamie, I've been catching up on your adventures, did not realize your Mother was visiting, hope she enjoys the sights of Scotland. I remember visiting Edinburgh Castle back in 1988(wow, nearly 20 years ago) and don't imagine much has changed. Loved the cobble stone roads though, the fountain below the castle was also something I remembered as being unique. My father's father was born in Scotland and worked in the shipyards at Glasgow. All is well here in the states, been having more of winter than we like but its finally warming up and melting the dreaded white stuff :o) We miss you and think of you often, you are always in our prayers. God Bless.
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