I’m speaking of course of Princes’ Garden to Arthur’s Seat because that’s where I wandered the past two days. This post is longer than usual as it covers two days in a city I love.
Yesterday I realized on the train from Glasgow it was Thursday and with a little luck and a bit of faster walking than I like to do, I might just get to Parliament to observe First Ministers Question Time. So I hustled to my GH only to be shocked at the room. And not in a good way. More like in a “it’s so wee it’s funny” way. I had stayed there once before and the room had been basic in a convenient area only a little over a mile from Waverley and The Royal Mile with The Abby, a nice pub with very good Haggis, neeps & tatties and good craic and other shopping. But the room I got this time was even overpriced for the $50/£38 a night which was extremely cheap for Edinburgh. I can’t imagine it’s legal. Sure having a sofa is a plus.
But many travelers wouldn’t be able to access the surprisingly comfortable bed. Siting below ground level it offered a “garden view”.
Thankfully from the Sakuru to Parliament is all downhill so I made it with 5 minutes to spare.
I’m probably one of the few Americans or Scots for that matter who have been to FMQT twice. The first time I was uninformed and thought that since all players had notes on the subjects to be discussed that everybody knew what to expect in advance. This time I realized that what was actually going on was a group of leaders with obvious strong differences by party actually attempting to get the people’s business done. As Tip O’Neil, Speaker of the US house of Representative for years famously said” All Politics is local”. The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, had only be in the chair a few months the first time I witnessed this open to the public government in action and I could see she had grown in both knowledge and confidence.
I then decided it wouldn’t do any harm to try to get my card for Wanderingwith.me into the FM’s hands so I went to St Andrew’s, the Scottish government main office where /I was directed to the mailroom. My card was forwarded to her secretary so who know? I got a good view of the back of Waverley Train station on the way
And there was security blocking the gate to this building which from the outside looks abandoned. The exterior, like many in Edinburgh, is discolored due to hundreds of years of coal smoke which gave the city the appropriate nickname of Auld Reekie.
Leaving the mailroom I spotted this sign:
Then I remembered that since a flashlight is a torch, it hopefully translates to “Last one out turn off the lights”
Another angle for Arthur’s Seat & Salisbury Crag.
The admin office for the Scottish National Party is around the corner so I dropped in to learn more and I left with a few pins as gifts. I can only wear the green one as I fully agree with it and am not a SNP member.
Back on High St or The Royal Mile called so as it extends from the Castle on the top to the Royal residence Holyrood Palace by the parliament at the low end, I passed the iconic Tollhouse building with the well photographed clock.
Passing a statue of Robert Fergusson, a Scots poet in the late 1700’s
I then nipped into this wee garden gem off the Mile to rest and contemplate. Well, contemplate how much pain I was in with the worst fibromyalgia pain of the trip so far and then headed back to my wee, wee room after a quick stop at TESCO to restock my larder as the GH did not offer breakfast and I needed supplies that didn’t include rashes of bacon sausage etc. for a change.
If you get to Edinburgh the Scottish National Museum is one of the must sees. I posted about the inside last June but was frustrated that I couldn’t get to the roof terrace due to high winds. When I realized that I was around the corner form the museum and an unusually grand day, I shot to the top where there are some of the best all around inner city views. And the best, close-up view of Edinburgh Castle. It and Stirling are probably the two best castles in the UK
The Nelson Monument and Calton Hill
And Mary Queen of Scot’s is still in place. This is not her death mold since her head was relieved of her body
Black Watch is probably the most famous plaid.
I once saw a gardener mowing the grass on these steep hillsides with a self-propelled lawn mower tethered to a rope. The gardener simply walked along with the mower releasing more rope with each pass. This method seems easier since there was no gardener is sight.
The pipes were a bonus!
I had hoped that Edwin Landseer’s Rent Day was displayed like the website indicated at the National Gallery but it is in storage. Again I show more of the Gallery in last June’s post.
Landseer’s iconic The Monarch of the Glen occupies the space Rent Day usually hangs. The Monarch is going to London for a spell in October so maybe my favorite will return.
Princes Street Gardens used to be Nor Loch that the city used for a rubbish dump. By the 1820’s it was drained and turned into this beauty giving views of the castle and a cool place in the heat of the city for folks to relax.
This Celtic cross is a memorial to Dean Edward Ramsay of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and sits in a wee garden so isolated I spent an hour without any company with a bustling world just a few meters away.
The Garden from the National Gallery plaza. Scott Monument on the left and Waverley Rail station is in the background
Kids love bubbles. Adults with cameras do too.
A different angle of the Walter Scott Monument.
The newly-restored Ross Fountain
Wojtek (1942–1963 in English, sometimes spelled Voytek and so pronounced) was a Syrian brown bear purchased, as a young cub, at a railway station in Hamadam, Iran, by Polish II Corp soldiers who had been evacuated from the Soviet Union. In order to provide for his rations and transportation, he was eventually enlisted officially as a soldier with the rank of private, and was subsequently promoted to corporal.
He accompanied the bulk of the Polish Second Corps to Italy, serving with the 22nd Artillery Supply Company. During the Battle of Monte Cassino, in Italy in 1944, Wojtek helped move crates of ammunition and became a celebrity with visiting Allied generals and statesmen.
After the war, mustered out of the Polish Army, he was billeted and lived out the rest of his life at the Edinburgh Zoo.
Scottish-American War Memorial by was designed by R. Tait McKenzie, erected in 1927 honors Scot Americans who fount in WWI. It’s title is The Call
I would suggest the if you want to climb to the stop of Arthur’s Seat you do it in the morning. I did it after logging 7.3 miles. Not smart but I suddenly remembered the hard time the Belfast Border Agent had given me and feared that I might not get the chance to climb it again. This was my third time
Sitting like a king on Arthur’s Seat looking over Edinburgh and the Forth River I saw the rain coming. The climb down would not be fun. Rocks were very slippery.
Finished the day with dinner at the Abby after 9.3 miles. Last visit I ended with the Sting musical “The Last Ship” which I highly recommend to anyone.
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