Friday, July 25, 2008

It was great to sleep in this morning an extra half hour and to be able to keep the suitcases in the room and stay somewhere two nights.

First up on our tour was a trip into New town and Old town in Edinburgh. A local Scottish guide boarded our bus to point out the various sights in Edinburgh. He had a definite Scottish brogue and a pun-ish (a word?) sense of humor – who knows if that was him or the Scottish sense of humor.

We made our way slowly through the crowded traffic toward Edinburgh Castle, which was built on an extinct volcano above the city in the 12th century. We saw the Scottish crown jewels, toured a small chapel and the sword room. We learned about the conflict with Mary Queen of Scots and her son who was King of both England and Scotland. We also saw the Scottish war memorial for those who died in World War I & II. The view of the city from the castle was beautiful. I took a picture of a cannon and the cannon balls for Paul.

After Edinburgh Castle, we toured the city seeing the homes of Alexander Graham Bell – yes he’s from Scotland and the man who invented chloroform and the forceps used to deliver babies and some others I can’t remember. Our guide was a proud Scot and citizen of Edinburgh and wanted us to know the accomplishments of the Scottish people. While Scotland and England have been part of the United Kingdom since the 1700’s, you can detect the rivalry. Maybe it is similar to Purdue and IU J.

After touring Edinburgh, we toured the park on the volcano in the middle of the city. It is a very large park with great views of the city and the volcano.

Forst and Louise stayed in the city centre while Alan and Joyce took a tour of Rossyln Chapel, in the Pentland Hills outside of Edinburgh. Rossyln Chapel was built in the 15th century by William Sinclair. He built is at a catholic church, and has also been used as a burial ground for the Sinclair family. It is a small stone church and ornately carved. Many bible stories and truths are portrayed in the carvings. In order to preserve the chapel and the carved stone roof, they built a metal canopy over it to keep it dry. The scaffolding allows visitors to climb stairs to see the carvings on the outside up close. Rossyln Chapel was used in the filming of The DaVinci Code.

After about an hour on exploration along Princess Street in the centre on Edinburgh, Alan and Joyce went back to the hotel to rest before our evening of a traditional Scottish dinner and dance. The room was very crowded and hot. The meal was good. Getting something to drink was a little more of a challenge. Red and white wine was served and small pitchers of water with little ice, though Joyce was very grateful to have the little ice there was. As for soft drinks, the only diet drink was Coke and there was no iced tea. Often the experiences in a foreign country are small ones. After dinner we listened to traditional Scottish songs and dance including a bagpipe rendition of Amazing Grace. The dancers wore traditional Scottish dress including kilts. Toward the end of the evening they brought in the haggis on a bed of tartan cloth on a pair on antlers. Haggis is a traditional dish made of lamb organ meat, oatmeal and spices. We were all given a taste. Alan and Joyce though it was good, Forst thought it was too spicy. We videotaped some of the singing and dancing so we will share it when we get home.