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(Lori) Sept 23-24 We parted Windermere on a brisk but sunny morning, with David the guest house owner guiding us out into the traffic from his alley parking. It's a bit like a trust fall - you believe the person will catch you (guide you) yet there is that small sliver of doubt! We made it as a small line of cars stopped for us. We pulled into Keswick on the way out of the Lakes District - a pretty town, again on a lake. We ambled along the lakeside for a while & admired the autumn beauty upon the hills, then made off for Scotland. Interestingly, as we breezed into Scotland travelling via the main motorway, there was no fanfare, no border crossings, no major signage - just one sign, like any other road sign, declaring "Welcome to Scotland." I did notice that the stone walls that everywhere line the roads in England were not evident in Scotland - makes driving the lesser roadways a little less tense. We petroled up at a service centre just over the line then made our way into Biggar for tea. We knew we had truly arrived in Scotland as we were greeted with "Scotland the Brave" played by a hidden bagpiper while we climbed out of the car!! I don't know how they arrange those things for us J We arrived in Edinburgh at dinner time, met Tom the guest house owner who got us settled in the top floor room of his Georgian style (from the outside) home on a quiet little street off a main road and walked out for a look about the area. We found a nice little bistro not too far, and enjoyed a very tasty meal of locally grown produce, goat cheese & meat (for susi, that is!)
On our full Edinburgh day, we set off to the tour Edinburgh Castle. As we gazed up at its commanding position on the c rags above the Grassmarket, I thought "now that's a castle!" We hiked up the bazillion stairs to the entrance - but it was worth it. The view from the entrance way alone was magnificent. The Castle is in great condition & parts of it still function as a military base. One thing I noticed is that for a castle there was a lack of grandeur & ornateness that we had seen in England. The structure was great, but there was definitely a more simpler decorative style. I spent quite a bit of time in the War Memorial building - a tribute to Scots who had died in battle in WW1 & WW2. There are many books of copies of the roll of honour - every service person's name is listed. I read through each book of WW1 regiments, searching for any 'Buchans' or 'MacBriars' & wondered how many of them may be distant relatives. It's quite sobering to scan through the lists - the way these nationals are honoured was so very respectful.
We parted ways for the afternoon as we wanted to accomplish different things. I spent several hours walking the old town area; two highlights from the excursion: St Giles Cathedral & Lady Strain's House, home to the Writers' museum. The Cathedral was so incredibly beautiful - the beam construction on the domed ceilings alone was spectacular. A pianist was giving a concert - she was situated in the middle of the Cathedral - her music filled the aisles & gave a wonderful feel for the acoustic beauty of the place. Also saw Robert Louis Stevenson's memorial stone (it's very large) and a stained glass window dedicated to Robbie Burns. The Writer's Museum houses some of Stevenson's journals, letters and other memorabilia, the most significant being photos of his times in Samoa. I then took a jaunt down "the Mound" to a lower part that is currently under road construction (aside: Tom, our Edinburgh host, explained 'it's been like that for nearly 3 years, a colossal waste of money to build a tram we don't need...') There is a very pretty parkway that runs along a major street called The Princes, so on my way to a Georgian National Trust preserved home, I ambled through the flowers, greenery & many tribute statues. This parkway is huge, more like Stanley park in size though not shape.
The literary pub tour that we had sooooo been looking forward to was cancelled that evening; to console ourselves we stopped at a very nice Italian restaurant for a very delectable desert & coffee.
Before leaving Edinburgh on the 25th, we popped into the National Museum of Scotland. I cannot say enough about the exhibits at this place. It was so interestingly laid out, with a whole wing devoted to Scottish history through time, another whole block devoted to things collected to represent 'the world' and then a whole bunch of randomly placed displays of innovations or inventions developed by Scottish scientists, doctors, artists, etc. We extended our time there to 3 hours, and that wasn't even close to being enough time to look at even half of what's there!
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