Our first stop was just a few steps from our hotel door: Saint Giles' Cathedral. It's the "home church" for the Church of Scotland and for Presbyterians worldwide. John Knox was its most famous pastor, during the Scottish Reformation. I visited the church on my own later in the day, so interior pictures appear at the end of today's blog entry.
One thing struck me about the bench in front of the statue: How many organizations in the US are celebrating their 350th (in 2011, their 400th) anniversaries?
From outside the building there's just a hint of the color in the stained glass windows.
Here's a really odd thing: John Knox is buried under this brass marker in space no. 23 in the parking lot just outside the church! Why he's not in a proper cemetery I can't imagine.
Colorful fiberglass statues of animals were scattered around the city. Most of them seem to for raising awareness of endangered species. This one is for sale -- the sign says "to brighten up your life, and your home, garden or office."
As in most British cities, the road signs are not on poles at the street corners but are affixed to the corners of the buildings.
At first it seemed humorous to have a plaque dated 1990 on a building in a city many centuries old, but it seems that the building owners expect people to still be looking at the plaque in 2190 and beyond. We don't seem to take such a long view in the US.
The Royal Mile is lined with stops catering to tourists. A special memorial tartan for Diana, Princess of Wales, anyone?
A "close" is a cul-de-sac, a road or passageway with no outlet. Many of them lead into delightful residential courtyards, nothing like the streets outside.
When you reach the world's end, grab your beer and hang on.
The World's End is in fact a pub, built partly on the ancient walls that surrounded the medieval city.
Strange, I thought the Scots already spoke English. Perhaps it's the accent.
I've no idea of the significance of this figure, halfway up the side of a building.
A plaque to commemorate a master plumber. I'm informed that in the 18th and 19th centuries, a plumber might have done what we call plumbing (water pipes), but was more likely to do lead roofs, which are common even today on old church buildings. At any rate, this master plumber was wealthy enough to found a hospital.
Just imagine a chicken-fried Mars Bar.
No comment required -- it's Scotland.
This site is called Golfer's Land, so named because the owner won it by partnering with the Duke of York (later King James VII) against two English noblemen in a round of golf. The owner then adopted a coat of arms featuring a golf club and the motto "Far and Sure".
The new Scottish Parliament building. No one could tell us what the blow-drier-shaped motifs represent, but they are all over the building in various sizes and colors.
Across the street from the parliament building is the Queen's own art gallery.
Fancy gilt work on the main door to the gallery.
Holyrood Palace, the Queen's residence when she's in Edinburgh.
From Holyrood, we walked up (and up, and up). We've only gone about halfway up to our final height when this picture was taken.
Jacob's Ladder is a steep set of stairs leading down to where we were.
We've climbed enough to see Waverley Station now, which is deep in the valley containing the Princes Street Gardens. The tracks run in tunnels under the gardens.
A tower up at the top of the hill we've (mostly) climbed. We decided that Edinburgh's second name should be Verticalville.
In a cemetery at the top, we found this memorial to Scottish soldiers killed in the US Civil War, with a big statue of Abraham Lincoln. It's apparently the first (or even the only) memorial for an American President outside the US.
Further on, we passed the Sir Walter Scott memorial.
Cindy and Edmund near the Scott Memorial.
We walked past the memorial and across the Princes Street Gardens, passing the colorful elephants. Like the lion we saw earlier, these were to support awareness of endangered species.
We continued up a very steep hill. Photos don't really convey how steep the climb was.
We arrived in the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle. We didn't go in (it would take hours to see properly). The castle is on a huge volcanic outcropping of rock. From a previous visit, I remember that the castle guides are fond of telling visitors that the Edinburgh Castle was never taken by force of arms. What they don't say unless they are pressed about it is that the castle surrendered three times.
The esplanade held grandstands for spectators of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which is performed each year as part of the late summer Edinburgh Festival. Follow the link above to the Wikipedia article on the Tattoo for an interesting explanation of why it's called a "tattoo". The grandstands were being dismantled and put away until next year.
This is the Edinburgh coffee house where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book.
Just a block or so from the Elephant House is this pub dedicated to Greyfriars Bobby.
Our next stop was the National Museum of Scotland. Hebe, our guide, explained where things were and how much time we had.
We didn't have time to see it all, so I concentrated mostly on the Scottish history part of the museum. At the entrance to that section was this quotation from the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. I wonder what the Queen thought as she toured the exhibition. Holyrood palace is not far from the museum.
I was fascinated by these chessmen, made in Scandinavia in the 12th century. They were found on the isle of Lewis, so they're known as the Lewis Chessmen. 78 chess pieces were found, and the collection is partly here in Edinburgh and partly in the British Museum.
Ireland isn't the only country to consider the harp a national instrument; here's a very early Scottish one.
There was much Celtic decoration, very similar to what we saw in Ireland, carved into stonework.
This is a carving of Saint Andrew, Scotland's patron saint. His X-shaped cross is on the Scottish flag; such a cross is known in heraldry as a Saltire. The flag of the United Kingdom, known to most of us as the Union Jack, combines the Cross of Saint Andrew (Scotland), the Cross of Saint Patrick (Ireland), and the Cross of Saint George (England).
This elaborate chest had an amazingly complex locking mechanism built into the top.
This censer was listed as part of the "Holyrood silver" with no further explanation. It's presumably part of the palace's collection.
There were some large exhibits as well, including this steam locomotive.
After the museum, and lots more vertical hiking, lunch at The Mitre, a very nice pub. The third photo shows what beer is on offer. The top line doesn't say "Cash Ale Bange" as you might suspect, but instead says "Cask Ale Range" -- what's on tap.
And what's on tap was very good indeed.
In the afternoon we were free to explore on our own. Walking back to the hotel I passed this juggler entertaining folks on the street. He was pretty popular with the crowd.
I spent a bit of time looking through Saint Giles' Cathederal.
The box pews with the doors on the ends were typical of the 18th and 19th century, and can be seen in American churches of the period. The point of the doors is to keep out the drafts in winter.
I've seen lecterns in the shape of an eagle in historic Presbyterian churches in the US, but I don't know the eagle's significance.
The elaborately-carved pulpit.
The church has lots of stained glass. It's known for its windows that contain brown glass, mostly in the figures' clothing. Brown isn't a color that's much seen in stained glass. Some of the brown glass can be seen in the second and fourth photos below.
Medieval cathedrals were apparently much more colorful than the ones we see today. Most ancient churches in Great Britain (and their modern copies in the US) are just stone gray. In olden days, though, much of the stonework was painted in bright colors like the fan vaulting seen here.
Saint Giles Cathedral at night.
Where our walking tour took us today. The spikes to the north and south are due to a glitch in the GPS log; we didn't get that far from the center of Edinburgh.
Where today's photos were taken.
A long day today, with lots of walking. Tomorrow we tour the Scottish Highlands.
Thanks so much for doing this, Rick! Great to see the sights again. - Lisa
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely indited written content, Really enjoyed reading through.
ReplyDelete