The Royal Mile, Act I Scene II

While we hadn't quite run out of things to do or see in the castle, it was getting rather late if we wanted to complete the Royal Mile, so we lit off down the Mile at about 3:00pm. We passed all the preparations for the Military Tattoo, (as you saw in the last post) then ducked into the Tartan Weaving Mill and Heritage Center or some such ridiculous name. The name might have been silly but the experience was rather fun. There was an inordinate amount of woolen goods, much (But not nearly all) of it tartan, as well as all sorts of kitschy tourist traps, like "take your picture in wild west highland garb" rooms and such. The upside is that it's all free, as the goal is to lure tourists into the center in order to sell them outrageously priced merchandise.

The Mill StoreWeaving Royal Stewart Tartan

The basement looms

Bolts of tartan fabrics

Next we popped into the Tolbooth Church, formerly the meeting place for the Scottish Kirk, now The Hub, the center of the Edinburgh arts scene and The Festival, which the Tattoo is a part of and which, as I understand it, is the biggest arts festival in the world. It was busy, as people were buying tickets for the festival, and while the outside is still a beautiful church, the inside is pretty much a gigantic box office, so we left very quickly.The Hub - formerly known as Tolbooth Church

A well-named shop on the Royal Mile

The Scottish Free Church (across from The Hub)

On to Gladstone's Land, a preserved historic home. Different rooms are frozen in different times, most of them 16th century, but there are a couple of 18th century rooms as well. A "Land" was basically an apartment building, and this one was set to be destroyed in the 1930s before rescue by the Historic Scotland trust. They restored it and turned it into a living museum of sorts. The tour was brief but enjoyable, and all of the tour guides (They were posted in each room) were quite charming. St. Giles Cathedral was next, another quick visit, and we walked by the outside of the Old Scottish Parliament but didn't go in as it was closed.

St. Gile's Cathedral

Entryway to St. Gile's Cathedral

And at this point the camera died ... we'll probably shoot some pics when we're down that way later in the week so you might want to check back if you are hungry for more! :)

We found a shop with some cheap rugby jerseys and sweatshirts that we'll probably return to for some souvenir shopping, and checked out the John Knox house (He reformed the Scottish church and is largely responsible for the fire-and-brimstone style of "evangelism" that survives to this day) and Scottish Storytelling Center but didn't go in as it wasn't included with our Heritage Passes. Canongate church came next, and while it was much less lavishly appointed than St. Giles, I think Becky will agree that it was the more enjoyable church. It's not nearly as old, dating only from the late 17th century, and has a homey New England church feel to it - and an attractive powder blue paint job inside, amusingly enough. We quickly walked the graveyard surrounding it, and if I had known then that Adam Smith is buried there, I would have looked for his grave. I'll have to go back and find it later.

We kept strolling, and found a cute little shop run by the most perfectly proper Scottish woman on earth. We were drawn in by a postcard outside that I knew instantly I must get for my mom, and when we went in to pay she asked us where we were from and chit chatted briefly. After the purchase she told us they were one of the last Scottish-owned shops on the Royal Mile, and that the shop was named after her grandmother, who had opened it originally. Her tone was a mixture of pride and mourning, and it lent our visit to the shop a tragic but not unenjoyable air.

We finished the walk down the Mile past the new Scottish Parliament building. While I'm proud of the nationalists for getting themselves a new parliament building, I have to say that it looks completely ridiculous. Holyrood Palace was closed by the time we got there, so it will have to wait for another day. We headed back up the Mile to the World's End Pub, which turned out to be quite an adventure.

We were flanked by ridiculous couples. To my right was an older Scottish couple, probably in their late fifties. And they were quite Scottish. Both ordered haggis with neeps and tatties for dinner. Becky ordered an Old Speckled Hen and I ordered a Greene King's IPA, both Real Ales. The Old Speckled Hen was good, though I had had it in the states before. Upon hearing us discussing it, the man next to use asked if we knew why it was called that. We told him we hadn't, and he regaled us with a story about how the brewer owned an old MG, and that they were quite prone to rusting. He was fond of the car anyway, and thus named the beer after what his car looked like - an old speckled hen. His wife then informed us that their other beer was Hen's Teeth, which we should know were quite rare. Later they asked us if we liked rock music, and suggested we go catch the Runrig concert tonight. It's sold out, but he assured us that we could hear it from outside the castle on the royal mile. He left us with the reminder that at about 9:30 if we looked we'd see a bunch of people jumping up and down in the middle of the crowd, he'd be there!

To our left was an older American couple. The man ordered a mini haggis appetizer and could hardly bring himself to eat any of it, then got in an argument with his wife about what the neeps were (mashed turnips). Then he got confused because he wanted fish and chips and all they had on the menu was fried haddock and chips. Quite amusing.

Oh, and by the way, my Greene King's IPA was the weakest and least hoppy and, honestly, worst IPA I've ever had. I'm beginning to wonder what the British have done with their hops, because they don't seem to be making their way into the beer! These guys INVENTED the IPA for crying out loud! I enjoyed my beef and beer pie though, and I think Becky liked her haddock fishcakes (Not to be confused with the haddock fish and chips our poor American friend was so confused by). Both of us liked their chips. Those are fries to you nerds.

On a side note, we wondered when we walked to our table how they could possibly cook their entire menu in the tiny, tiny kitchen (About the size of our apartment kitchen) that we passed. The answer: microwaves, which we learned thanks to the clear view of the kitchen we had from the table. And that including the haggis. So just for your information, if you ever see branded haggis in a restaurant (MacSween's - we thought it was odd that it said that on the menu... but have since noticed it more and more), you probably want to pick a different pub to try it in.

That just about does it. We headed home afterwards and took some well-earned showers, then headed here to the bar/lounge on campus to update the blog and do all our internet housekeeping!

Hope everyone back in the States is doing well. Tomorrow we're off to St. Andrews by train and bus to catch the Highland Games there, assuming we can figure out how to get there without a car.