The Garden of Edin(burgh)

Looking up to Edinburgh Castle

Scotland! Shortbread, tartan, bagpipes, Ivanhoe – it’s all true! We arrived about 8:30 pm and were immediately greeted by the skirl of the pipes and the dramatically dark and forbidding outline of Edinburgh castle high on its craggy, volcanic perch. The beautiful capital of Scotland has been a tourist magnet since Sir Walter Scott rebranded it. The walk from the train station to our hotel took us along some of its steep, twisting streets.

Saturday dawned sunny and fairly warm making excellent weather for walking. As we climbed the road leading up to the Castle, our intended starting point for the day, we encountered a band in full Scottish regalia, from the kilts to the tall bear skin hats. Further up the road were several military vehicles, soldiers in fatigues standing at attention, and a group of soldiers in dress uniform drilling with rifles. We asked a saxophone player what was going on and were informed that June 27^th is Armed Services Day and that we had found the starting point of the parade. After a few moments the drums and bagpipes began and the assembly marched off leaving us to climb the steps up to the castle.

Pooh makes a friend

I am sure that the entry to Edinburgh Castle and the view from there down the Royal Mile is usually quite a sight to see. However, at the moment, it is not. There is a temporary stadium of some sort erected in front of the castle which mars the atmosphere horribly. I do not know what event this set up portends, but personally I was having visions of Yanni Live at the Acropolis.

The castle is clearly the number one thing to see when one arrives in Edinburgh as evidenced by the thick coat of people covering it. The rock on which the castle sits has been inhabited since the Iron Age and there has been a castle there since the 12^th century. The present structure dates from the late 1500s on with the exception of St. Margaret’s Chapel which is from the 12^th century. The views it offers, at least on the kind of sunny day we had, are stunning. The viewpoints provide helpful illustrations identifying the landmarks visible from each. Mary Queen of Scots lived there at times and we saw her apartments which appear to have been the victim of some rather iffy restoration work. The rooms are not furnished or decorated - save for some paintings on the wall so you are standing in a bare room that Mary occupied.

FREEEEEDOOOOM!!!!

A more impressive site are the Crown Jewels of Scotland, officially known as the Honours of Scotland. These predate the Crown Jewels we saw in the Tower of London by over 100 years. They consist of a crown, scepter, and sword of state. They survived the rule of Cromwell by being smuggled and hidden around the country. They were used at the coronation of Charles II but remained in Scotland where they sat in on sessions of the Parliament representing the Monarch. In 1707 the Acts of Union dissolved the Scottish Parliament and the Crown Jewels were locked away in a chest in Edinburgh Castle and forgotten for over 100 years. In 1818, a group including Sir Walter Scott went on an explore of Edinburgh Castle and recovered the Jewels. They have been on public display since.

Displayed alongside the crown jewels is a curious object called the Stone of Scone, or the Stone of Destiny. The stone was used in the coronations of Scottish kings since times no forgotten. In 1296 Edward I of England captured the stone and had it placed under the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. There it stayed until 1950 when it was stolen from Westminster by 4 Scottish nationalist students who drove it to Scotland, breaking it in the process. (How 4 people could walk out of Westminster wrestling with the weight of a 335 pound rock that is almost 2 feet long and not get stopped is beyond me.) The thieves handed the bits of stone to a politician who had it repaired. Then it was left on the altar of an abbey of the Church of Scotland like a baby on a doorstep and finally the London police were notified. It was taken back to Westminster in 1951 and last used in the coronation of Elizabeth II. In 1996, the stone was formally handed back to Scotland and put on display with crown jewels. Presumably they will truck the thing down to London the next time they have a coronation.

Before leaving the castle grounds, we stopped in their shop which sold many wonderful things like Harris Tweed magnets shaped like deer and 100 different tartan patterned ties. The greatest find here however is a confection called “Tablet”. (That is its real name. A guy on our dig who is from Edinburgh told us.) Imagine a pill that you could take that would make you diabetic. That’s tablet. It is made of sugar and condensed milk, oh, and butter. It makes your teeth hurt. Sitting here typing about it days later is making my fillings ache. Zada tried to eat the whole thing at once.

Having seen all we could of the castle, we headed out onto the Royal Mile. This is the name given to the mile long road running from Edinburgh Castle down to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Scottish Parliament building. It is essentially a mile of shopping and restaurants, and I don’t mean to sound like that is a bad thing. Every shop seems to sell sweaters, scarves, kilts, and Walker’s Shortbread Cookies. We were not 10 yards from the exit to Edinburgh Castle’s temporary stadium when the siren song of commerce called us in to a 4 story palace of woolen treasures, many of which had a tartan pattern. Purchases were made. Sadly, one of them was not the “full kilt package” on offer EVERYWHERE for 99£.

St. Giles Cathedral

Carrying on, we discovered a street musician about every 200 yards and most of these were bagpipers in full kilted glory. They were not, however, all playing “Amazing Grace” or “Scotland the Brave”. Many were branching out into contemporary music. My favorite was the guy covering AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”. We passed St Giles Cathedral with its dark spire. We explored some of the side “streets” called closes. These are not streets in the conventional sense in that most of them are actually staircases connecting the Royal Mile with roads further down the hill. Many of them lead into nice patio areas with cafes and are a welcome respite from the relentless chatter of people on the main road.

St. Giles interior

After a time, we made it down to Holyroodhouse. This is where the Queen spends part of the year. She was in residence, so we weren’t able to go in – strangely, we couldn’t get into Buckingham Palace either. She was in residence there when we were in London. Do you think she is following us? This palace, dating from the 12^th century, is at the opposite end of the Royal Mile, and across the street from the Scottish Parliament building. Scotland’s parliament meets in this extremely modern looking construction. It just does not have the classical grandeur of the US Capitol or the German Reichstag or the Houses of Parliament. It sort of looks like a student union building on a large college campus, like New Zealand’s Beehive.

Queen Elizabeth's little place in Edinburgh

From Holyrood, it is all up hill. We refreshed ourselves with lunch at a pleasant café serving falafel humus wraps and lentil soup with chips (that’s English for French fries). Finally, after a bit more window shopping as well as actual shopping, we made it to St. Giles Cathedral. It has what is known as a crown steeple so called because it looks like a crown atop the central tower of the church. There has been a church on the site for at least 900 years, but the current building dates from the late 14^th century. Extensive restoration work in the 19^th century is evident particularly in the windows. The brickwork in the ceiling vaults above the chancel are spectacular. Most of the stained glass is from the 19^th century as older windows were removed during the Reformation.

We completed our day with a snack at the Deacon’s House Café. It is located down one of the aforementioned closes in a cozy room with murals on the walls depicting scenes from the life of Deacon Brodie (a respectable cabinet maker by day/ burgler with a gambling addiction and multiple secret families by night – he was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde"). Their shortbread cookies must be made from angel tears and unicorn magic because they were beyond amazing. They also had a caramel chocolate wonderfulness on shortbread that is certainly what they eat for dessert in heaven.

Scottish unicorn

We are back in Edinburgh next weekend after our trip to Skara Brae. It will be another too quick visit, but we are thrilled to have another dose of bagpipers and divine desserts!