Last post from Scotland

I promise - it's the last for a while... (With facts from our excellent guide.)
The cows, now also in Edinburgh!



The thistle, as you may know, is Scotland's national flower. But did you know it's the Norwegians' fault? This happened a long time ago, and the Scots and vikings were at war. (Well, the vikings were at war with everybody, so why discriminate the Scots?) The Scots had made camp and had gone to sleep, ready for battle the next day. But those sleezy vikings ... they planned to attack at night! Such ungentlemanly behaviour!! The Scots were in luck, though, for two reasons: 1) The vikings didn't wear proper shoes, and 2) The Scottish camp was surrounded by thistles.


You do the maths...



This, though it may look like one, is no window. In the 1690's William III issued a Window Tax, and so people started bricklaying the former window openings - but were made to keep them look like windows for architectural purposes. Many places these have survived!



Leaving Edinburgh - heading north! If you've found your spectacles by now, you may see the Firth of Forth waaaaay over there...



The railway bridge. Quite a few workmen were trapped in one (or more?) "leg" of the bridge during construction. Due to structural defects, perhaps, and possibly the fact that water was so polluted, the workmen would only drink whisky and beer... There was no way of bringing them back to the surface, and in the end, the queen ordered that there be poured poison down the "legs" so the men could die peacefully, rather than starve to death. (Apparently there was enough to drink.) Think of that the next time you pass the bridge - there be bones underneath...


Stirling Castle. Which you may know from Braveheart. (Apparently, there is some historical correctness in the film...)

Up there - and beyond! - that's where The Highlands begin...

Ewan McGregor's home town Crieff. Or the main street, at least.

- And thus ends my Scottish tale!

Being artsy in Edinburgh II

I was in Edinburgh with my job (easy to forget, as I had plenty of time to roam around on my own!) and one night we were all 'cordially invited to Scottish Evening'. Which was basically a room crammed with people from every corner of the world - including England (they were mockingly insulted all evening)... It all started off with a bagpiper and then a few Scottish songs from the band. The food was nothing to write home about, and so I didn't. After the meal, and after the concert, though, we were finally given haggis to taste. The waiters looked mischievously at eachother while serving, but frankly, that was the best part of the whole evening.

See? I liked it :)
What I didn't like... This probably very nice and charming lady unfortunately didn't join the crew that night to be nice and charming, but to sing... I'm sure she'd been told she had a beautiful voice, and to match it, she changed dresses for every song!

Not that it helped. I was severely disturbed and had to stoop to playing backgammon on my mobile with a colleague to calm my nerves (and hers)... You can hear for yourselves!

Being artsy in Edinburgh I

These lovely buildings caught my eye, and I walked down to see what they were.Turned out it was the National Gallery Complex, so I stepped inside and had a look around the National Collection. I obviously didn't do a good job at it, 'cause I can't tell you what I saw, but I remember that I enjoyed myself at the time...

Now, the next building - the Royal Scottish Academy Building - was interestingly clad, don't you think? And gallery open until midnight, Saturday night? We all went - it was packed!

Yup, you guessed it, Andy Warhol exhibition. Loved it!


Especially I loved the room full of helium-filled "pillows" (see below). It may look like an ordinary thing, but it was a weird feeling bouncing these pillows up - then watching them slooooowly descend. And repeat... I don't know how long I stood there - we all did, in fact - but it felt like the whole world became serene and calm and that everything was ok... Wonder if Warhol planned for that exact feeling?

The royal mile

Now, if you like, walk the royal mile with me from Edinburgh Castle. We'll just walk straight out of the gate...

Then have to turn left into the alley to look at this flowerclad house, of course - Ramsay garden - before we continue.

You lazy pig! Just lying around all day...

Poor thing, I guess he couldn't take it anymore... "Pinocchio's now a boy who wants to turn back into a toy..."

How can we resist puns like these! Off the royal mile to the right, a little further down...

There's that piper again, Tony something. We go way back...

Closing in on the Scottish Parliament - and walking past it ...

... now looking back up at it

Another alleyway! Must go and have a look :)
Pretty!And it's stopped raining - that's nice.. (spot the rainbow!)

Queen's gallery, outside the Holyrood Palace (where the queen stays when she's in Edinburgh.) (In the palace, that is, not in the gallery) (I suppose, at least that's what they say. I don't actually know for a fact where the Queen spends her nights.) (Or days, for that matter.)
The gates ...

... and the palace itself.

Look! It's the bagpipe shape of Dynamic Earth! Means we've made it down the mile and more. Great exercise and good fun!

And here we are, looking up at the Salisbury Crags. Thanks for keeping me company!

Incidentally, if you felt this post was a mile long, that was intentional...

Writers' museum courtyard

I didn't actually go into the Writers' museum, it was closing as I got there, but I tried to capture a little of the courtyard feeling. (In fact thinking of my dear bloglings as I did so...)

At the very end of this snippet you can spot this pub. Owned and run by Sean Connery's brother. Apparently he's the spitting image of his more famous sibling, but he wasn't around when I was there, so you'll have to go there yourselves to find proof!

Famous whisky

Perhaps "cheating" a little, this isn't actually from Edinburgh, but we started out in Edinburgh... And our busride took us within sight of the Highlands! Then turned right and set us off by the Famous Grouse distillery at Glenturret. (Where it turned out they're not actually making Famous Grouse at all, but Glenturret malt whisky, but you could have fooled me...)

(See? Rufus was there with me...)

Loved, loved, loved these little explanatory cartoons...

Note to self: Don't try whisky chocolate mousse and whisky ice cream unless you've started to like whisky. Urggh.. But it did look nice :)

Edinburgh castle II

The main gate The most spellbinding guide ever to be found! He also took time to enlist some small soldiers...


The castle seems to grow out of rock!

Edinburgh castle

1 - from Princes street, 2 - from Princes street garden, 3 - me and Mons Meg, 4 - the view towards Salisbury crags, 5 - up close

If you want to know more something about Edinburgh castle, look up this or this...