The Royal Mile, Act I Scene I

We had quite the second day in Edinburgh! It started out with a cooked breakfast (Not that I'm juxtaposing that with a raw breakfast, see link). The rashers (bacon) were good but tough, almost like hot jerky. But I love jerky so no complaints from me. Sausage was tasty. They had haggis, believe it or not -- I didn't know it was a breakfast food, but the Scots are nothing if not inventive. No, I didn't try the haggis, but I will at some point. While Lovecraft himself would be proud of the kind of knowledge-brings-terror nature of knowing what it's made of, I'm assured that it's actually rather good. The fact that I've seen a number of people eating it is encouraging. Anyway, the quality was typical dining hall, but it was edible enough that we should be able to get our fill each morning. The pancakes were particularly terrible. The highlight was certainly watching the plethora or foreigners dining around us poke what food they were brave enough to take, and converse in hushed, frightened tones, almost certainly questioning each other as to the exact nature of the cornucopia before them. Becky pointed out one pair of women sat down behind me with nothing but a tray full of fresh fruit -- I think they probably had the cleverest solution.

After breakfast we headed to the guest info center to print out our voucher in order to get our British Heritage Passes, money-saving passes good at hundreds of historic and cultural sites all over the UK. I was on a timer, having paid for 15m on a computer hooked up to the printer, and was mostly just futzing around waiting for the timer to expire (I'll be damned if I'LL lose internet time I've paid for!). Becky reminded me that we read somewhere about potential VAT refunds for tourists, so I started researching that with the Almighty Google. Nearly every link was for companies specializing in getting refunds for large businesses attending conferences and such, and that combined with the fact that just about every country in the world apparently has a VAT made Googling real information difficult. But with 30 seconds to spare, I finally stumbled upon a site that seemed to have good information. What ensued was a frantic race to email myself the link before the time expired. I'm proud to say that while Becky was over my shoulder casting doubts as to my chances, I managed to fire off the email to myself exactly as the timer hit zero. I just checked and yeah, it went through. So if you weren't sure if I was awesome, now you know.

Addendum: The site was actually pretty useless, but I'm still giving myself credit for the email.

We grabbed a cab to Princes Street to pick up the passes, then started our adventure. We strolled up the street past the Sir Walter Scott monument and surrounding park, snapping a few pictures that Becky will doubtless add shortly. We passed the National Gallery of Scotland without going in (We figured we'll go to all the sites we get free with our Heritage Passes first, then go to places we have to pay for if we need things to do later in the week), and headed up the hill to the Castle!

Sights on the way to Edinburgh Castle included:

William Wallace telling a boy "the force is with you" - then commenting that he must be a Jacobite!

The start of the Royal Mile, where a pipers' parade was going on.

The set up for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Dave took at least 10 pictures of the lighting and sound systems - I'll spare you.

Picture of the Scot Monument through an archer's slit at the castle.

Panorama shot of the city from the castle

What can I say? Most of you know I've been obsessed with this schlock since childhood, and can imagine my excitement at the opportunity to finally explore a genuine castle. It doesn't hurt that Edinburgh Castle is one of the best preserved (Sort of... most of the construction is new-ish, 15th century on) and most historically significant European castles -- it's a World Heritage Site after all. I'm rather verbose ("No," you say aloud, "really?"), so if I was to actually detail everything we did in the castle, it would take me all night. Suffice to say we had an amazing time. The guidebook recommends budgeting an hour for the castle, and we were there for three or so. Highlights included:

Witnessing the firing of the 1 o'clock gun (We got video I'll post later)

One o'clock gun.

This man lives for his job - there is even a life-size cut out of him downstairs!

Touring the National War Museum of Scotland (I'll be going back to the castle at some point while Becky's at the conference so I can peruse the museum more closely)

Becky is not thrilled to pose with weapons but tries (kinda) ... in all fairness the one with the rifle is supposed to be a mean face but I cut in front of a 2-year old and was feeling bad.

Dave, however, has no problems getting into character ... or something.

Touring the new regimental museum for the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Now a Challenger II tank regiment)

Becky found herself a piper!

The Scottish National War Memorial (The museum guide in here was my favorite, we saw him call out no fewer than three people for trying to take pictures inside the building, loudly and much to the chagrin of the offenders. Photos are prohibited out of respect for the sanctity of the memorial)

Becky was particularly fond of the Dog Cemetery, in which the mascots of Scottish regiments have been buried for quite some time

The Royal Honours (crown, scepter, and sword) were neat but somewhat anticlimactic, and we also enjoyed the Prisoner of War and Military Prison exhibits. Of course the views from the castle were spectacular, being the best in Edinburgh.

Just a few samples:

Murrayfield - it's in Dave's future!

Pictures for Becky's Boys back home ... look, I was at a castle.
And stuck my head in a cannon.
Now go write about it - and maybe Stef will have you post your sentences?? ;-)

Scene II to come after I change my laptop battery and go get the laundry out of the dryer...