- 1. 8/25 Arriving in Edinburgh
- 2. 8/26 Edinburgh
- 3. 8/27 Scotland – West Highland Lochs & Castles
- 4. 8/28 Edinburgh Castle
- 5. 8/29 North England – Holy Island, Bamburgh & Alnwick Castle
- 6. 8/30 Edinburgh – Palace of Holyroodhouse
- 7. 8/31 Scotland – Loch Ness, Glencoe & Highlands
- 8. 9/1 Edinburgh – National Museum of Scotland
- 9. 9/2-9/7 Family Visit in Dawlish
- 10. 9/8 London
- 11. 9/9 The Tower of London
- 12. 9/10 London – Westminster Abbey
- 13. 9/11 London – Buckingham Palace
- 14. 9/12 London Museums
Today’s feature was Edinburgh Castle. We had a glimpse of the castle from Princes Street Gardens. What’s worth mentioning was the world’s first (1903) floral clock at a corner of the gardens. It takes 30,000 plants and is planted twice a year, once in summer and once in winter.
We climbed up the steep slope of the castle hill to Edinburgh Castle. Since it was the main attraction of the city, it was very crowded. Edinburgh Castle was full of Scottish history, which was a history of constant wars. It had several military related museums and was still armed with several groups of canons. Its Royal Palace, despite its simple appearance, was the birth place of the first united king of England and Scotland. Edinburgh Castle is a working castle and currently used as a military base and government office.
We climbed down the castle hill and saw Edinburgh Castle in sunset.
Since we haven’t had proper meals for two days, we decided to try out a French restaurant named Maison Bleue (meaning Blue House). It had a nice ambience, but its food was more of a French-Cajun-Scottish fusion rather than purely French. We both ordered a 3-course meal. I really liked my appetizer scallops, except for the little pieces of black pudding in it, and Stephen’s calamari were interesting. For the main course, although Stephen enjoyed his deer meat, my fish and seafood gumbo didn’t taste very fresh. Our Crème Brûlée desert had a very nice creamy flavor, unfortunately I found it too sweet. Overall, it wasn’t as satisfying as I had expected.
Complicated Rain’s notes….
As you can see from the photos, we got both sun and rain that day, mixed together almost at random.
Floral Clock: These are now pretty common in England, but this was the first. Evidently it was almost an accident; they were trying to make some pattern, and people said, but it looks more like a clock! And so some brilliant Scot (there have been many brilliant Scottish engineers) said, hm, we could make that work….
Mons Meg: Those stone spheres in the foreground? It used to fire those, with a range of 2 miles or more. A feat of engineering and a terrifying weapon, in its day.
Original ceiling: That’s the ceiling of the room where James VI (of Scotland) and I (of England) was born. It’s complicated (the history, not the ceiling).
Maison Bleue: I think Les Nuages must have had pretty high expectations! To me, the calamari were the weak point, and as she said, even they were pretty interesting (and I mean that in a good way). Of course, I’m known to tolerate sweet better than she…. It was a nice environment, too.
I just realized, after visiting the Tower of London, that I forgot to mention in this post that the Crown Jewels of Scotland are in Edinburgh Castle and you get to touch the replica.