Edinburgh

May 28 Day 21

We went to Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. About 10 years ago, Scotland was given the right to have its own parliament, so they built their own parliament building in Edinburgh, and have some self-government, although London still calls the final shots. Edinburgh is an interesting city, built around its castle which is built on a high rocky promontory. About a mile away is the Palace of Holyrood House and between is a straight road connecting the two called the Royal Mile. It has building dating back at least 300 years or more, most of them 5-6 stories tall - skyscrapers in those days. We visited the castle, which is different from your typical castle with towers, turrets, walls with walkways. THis is more of a series of buildings built on the rock and surrounded by several layers of walls and gates in no appearant order. Kings have lived on this rock since before the Norman conquest of England, and it has gone through varies building and remodeling phases. THe greatest attraction, other than the commanding view of the city, is the Scottish Crown Jewels, which were worn by many of the Scottish and British Kings.Edinburgh Castle sitting on the rocky butte

The front of the castle

Mons Meg - a huge cannon with huge cannon balls

The one o'clock gun - it goes off every day at 1 PM so they save a lot of shells rather than firing it at 12 PM. This was just before it went off

We walked the Royal Mile on our way to the Palace of Holyrood House. The Royal Mile nowadays has a lot of tourist shops. There is no shortage of Scottish souvenirs there. We had fun looking at the shops and even buying a few things. When we got to the other end, we discovered that the Palace was closed. I noted on the sign at the ticket office that it was closed due to the visit of the Duke of Rothesay. I jokingly mentioned to Marilyn that we couldn't go into the palace because some Duke had to come and stay at the palace. The lady at the ticket counter heard our conversation, patiently smiled and explained that the Duke of Rothesay is the Scottish title given to Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. Oops, I guess if Charles wants to come to this palace, which is one of the royal residences, and have a little privacy, I'll grant him that.

The Royal Mile
The Palace at Holyrood House - can you see Prince Charles? I couldn't either

We're really enjoying hearing the Scottish people speak. Their manner of speaking is much easier to pick up than the typical English speech. They like to roll their r's, use different words like "wee" or "lass", and they use "no" instead of "not". Some have a thicker accent than others, but to be sure, they all speak it to some extent. I find myself wanting to speak like that when I'm here, but I break into my American accent because I know the locals like hearing it.