EDINBURGH AND MEN IN KILTS

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

When we approached Edinburgh on our tour around the UK we wondered how many men we would see with a kilt instead of trousers.



The first one we saw was for tourists on a border which should "separate" Scotland from England. Of course as a real Scot he asked for money to take a picture.

When the bus stopped our guide did a walk with us through Edinburgh city center and to the castle.
It was really very beautiful, but we didn't see one man in a kilt ! Ilona  had dreamed of Scots all looking like Sean Connery and we were rather disappointed. They all looked more or less  normal  like men everywhere !



The walk through Edinburgh had shown us a little of the town, but we wanted to see more. What is the best to do when you want to visit a city you don't know ? It's taking a sightseeing bus !

And that's what we did.



We had a nice overview of Edinburgh, lots of explanations, which unfortunately I have already forgotten and should look it up again the day I write about Edinburgh.




The only thing I really do remember because I had never heard of this,  was Edinburgh's Greyfriars Kirk graveyard. There had been a lot of "Bodysnatchers" in the 19th century, who stole the bodies for the medical and private anatomical schools. Apparently it was a very lucrative business. To protect their dead relatives, a family member used to sit on the grave for at least 3 weeks or the graves where protected by iron bars. It was a rather eerie place and the guard didn't wear a kilt either !




What we saw "en masse" were kilts to buy. But I can't imagine Mr. G. wearing a kilt on Waterloo's market when he goes shopping. Instead of buying a kilt, I bought a scarf from a real Highland sheep !




Of course we saw a few men in kilts, but it was their working clothes for the tourists. The guy with the shield suddenly jumped on them and most of the people laughed, but not all !



Before we returned to the hotel, we had a baked potato  and pitied the guy who talked for hours about our sins and what to do to follow Jesus. Of course nobody listened. He must have lost his voice at the end of the day.



and then finally, near the station we saw a real Scot, just coming out of his office ! Not quiet Sean Connery, but still ....

FREE DAY IN EDINBURGH

After our first visit in Edinburgh together with our guide we decided to go today on our own to Edinburgh because it was a "free day".



But first at 2.30 am the firealarm went on and howled through the hotel. Ilona first thought it was her mobile, and I thought it was something behind my bed, finally we looked out of our room and saw a few heads peeking out of their rooms too. As we didn't hear anybody of the stuff, I put my jeans on reluctantly and a coat and went downstairs with the others. Ilona was quiet in panic, but I thought it's not serious, I saw no firemen and nobody from the hotel staff on our floor. We were 6 to go out on a side street and then saw all the others standing in front of the hotel, freezing ! One had even taken her bed cover and wrapped around her and looked like a snowball.

Of course I had to take pictures and found the whole event rather funny, because it really didn't seem very serious to me. But rules are rules. We then were told that we could go back into our rooms which we did. After these emotions we all went to bed again.

This was the second fire alarm we had since we started our trip ! Now I wait for the third. There is a proverb saying "never two without three".

After breakfast we started our free day by taking a sightseeing bus at the station. It took us to the "new" part of Edinburgh which we hadn't seen yesterday.  The weather was wonderful, the sun was shining and we could sit on the deck of the bus.



We listened to the explanations and looked around and tried to see as much as we could.





We passed by the botanical garden, which looked beautiful



and got out of the bus to see the "Britannia" the yacht which took Queen Elizabeth II and her family around the world. Now she is permanently moored as an exhibition ship here in Edinburgh. The entrance to the yacht is via the Ocean Terminal. We didn't go on board, we had no time for that. But at least we had seen the beautiful ship from outside.

We hopped on the next bus which took us around another side of Edinburgh and then brought us back where we had started from. I think it's the best way to see the maximum of a city if you don't have a lot of time.



Then we walked along the main shopping street, where saw some interesting fancy people, a guy who talked about Jesus and our sins all alone for hours, but nobody listened to the poor man. A bagpipe player,  a woman who had her face covered with piercings so that you couldn't see her skin anymore and a fire  juggler !

We had lunch in a nice pub and Ilona ate "Fish & Chips" for the first time in her life and found it delicious.



We did some window shopping, Ilona bought 3 Scottish scarfs, and then we sat again in the sunshine and had a nice ice cream ! We were so happy that we had such a good weather for once we were in Edinburgh !

We returned to our hotel and rested, tomorrow we will see "Nessie" at Loch Ness ! If you don't hear from me anymore either Internet is not working or Nessie ate me !

UK ROUNDTRIP YORK - JEDBURGH - EDINBURGH

York,  way to Hadrians wall

The morning started with a nice breakfast and then we left the hotel at 7.15 direction Edinbourgh in Scotland. It was quiet cool and very windy which made the temperature even more unpleasant.


Hadrians wall

Our first stop was the Hadrians wall, very impressive when your think that this wall is over 2000 years old and was built by the Romans. The landscape was of outstanding beauty ! This patchwork of different greens and yellows was just amazing.

After having taken enough pictures of the wall, we returned to the bus just in time to avoid a shower. In fact we were quiet lucky, the sun came out when we were outside and it started to rain when we got back into the bus !



Next stop was the Scottish "Border" with a guy in a kilt playing backpipes and against some money allowed to take a picture of him. I didn't like at all the fact that there was a "border", after all I was in the United Kingdom ! Apparently there was Scottish money too, but I haven't seen any.



We then made a stop at Jedburgh for lunch, there was not much to see besides the Abbey, but I found a nice red beret which I bought because the scarf I was wearing was not warm enough, it was as cold as in winter ! I also bought a thicker scarf. We left Jedburgh for Edinburgh and arrived there at 2 pm.



Our guide took us for a walk through the city and explained some historical buildings.



We went up to Edinburgh castle from where we had a very nice view over the city.



We saw the Pub where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter, because it was cold and she had no money to pay the heating for her flat. Today she probably could pay the heating costs of whole Edinburgh.



To finish our  tour we went to the graveyard which was quiet special as people were living in these houses and had a nice view on the old gravestones. There were many creepy stories about this graveyard.

After such a long day we had our supper in the hotel and I am just able to write this post and will then fall into my bed half dead ! Tomorrow is a day off and we will make a tour through Edinbourgh of our own. So we can rest a bit and go later to visit the town.