FourFirths: May 2012

Four Firths Cross the Firth of Forth...

May 28, 2012

We checked the weather and it is supposed to be overcast and rainy in Edinburgh today, so we are heading up to St. Andrews in the kingdom of Fife. The great thing about this is that we get to cross the Firth of Forth. I overheard some Scotsman explaining it to someone and I thought he said that Firth meant “Rubbery Ashtray”… I looked at David and said “What???” I certainly don’t want a name that means rubbery ashtray… What the guy actually said was “River Estuary” Hahahahaha… I am still laughing J

We set off for St. Andrews and crossed the Firth of Forth on the Forth Road Bridge, isn’t it lovely???

More beautiful drive… we took the coastal route, but you wouldn’t know it from my pictures because I was too busy looking out the window…

When we arrived, we parked really close to the 18^th hole at St. Andrew’s…

We walked through town seeing the sites and had a good laugh at this one…

This is St. Salvator's Chapel (1450) part of St. Salvator's College which is part of St. Andrews university.

And St. Andrew's Castle (12th century) remains…

This is Castle Sands. The sea here was once called "Witches' Lake" because of all the women and men pushed off the cliff on suspicion of witchcraft.

Then we went to the remains of St. Andrew’s Cathedral… St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. I learned that the white X or cross on the Scottish Flag is to represent the cross that St. Andrew was crucified upon. He did not think himself worthy of being crucified in the same manner as Jesus, and thus chose this cross. The remains of the cathedral make it feel like the place was enormous.

After lunch, the weather was so lovely that we decided to spend the remainder of our time there at the beach. This is the same beach where Chariots of Fire was filmed. The water was surprisingly warm.

When we drove back to Edinburgh, it was fogged in, overcast and rainy… Again we feel that we have been so blessed with incredible weather when it is probably the only time I will ever get to visit these places. Another superb day.

~Mary

Exploring Edinburgh, Day 2...

May 27, 2012

Today was the day to see Edinburgh Castle. The great thing about staying at Carolyn’s is that everything is within walking distance. You can just walk up the Royal Mile to the Castle J Some of the view of the castle is blocked as they are setting up temporary stands for the Edinburgh Tattoo (an annual, famous display of military bands)…

We began with a short 20 minute tour that just gives you the basics so that you know where everything is. I enjoyed it because they told you what happened when the defenders of the castle ran out of boiling oil to throw down on attackers… they just boiled up their waste because it was piling up anyway if they had been under siege for any amount of time. This is our tour guide…

These cannons are ship cannons. The reason they are here is because when Queen Victoria came to visit, she didn’t like the look of empty battlements. So they brought in these cannons. They have never been fired from here though.

This was after the Scottish Crown Jewels (no photos allowed) and the coronation stone, called the Stone of Scone. No photos were allowed there for security reasons, although the stuff has been there since 1543. It's the Royal Palace, although the royals always stay down at Holyrood Palace.

Queen Margaret (died here in 1093) later became a saint, and this is St. Margaret’s chapel.

This is the outside of the Scottish National War Memorial.

The bagpipes are the official instrument of Scotland…

We loved the PieMaker so much that we went back… Notice the sign that says “Pies so fresh they will pinch your bum and call you darling” I just love that!!

Then we headed back to the National Museum of Scotland for several hours of free entertainment.

Jason got to practice driving a Formula 1 car…

Danika and Jason at a masquerade ball…

I was fortunate enough to weigh myself against animals… I was more than an aardvark and less than a chimpanzee… what does that say????

David and I actually tired out before the kids… we are not sure that has ever happened before. We ended up sitting down while they kept on going. It was all we could do to walk back to Carolyn’s flat.

I am seriously tired now…

~Mary

Exploring Edinburgh...

May 26, 2012

We had breakfast, checked out of the hotel and drove to Carolyn’s place. She made everything so fabulous and had put sticky notes all over things (such as a tin of cookies, telling us to make sure we ate them, "...yes, all of them"). She is just incredibly thoughtful J

Her place is so nice that I just had to take more pictures. It has vaulted ceilings making it feel enormous. Her bedroom has three windows... Here are the views from different directions…

And all three together…

After settling in, we walked through the Holyrood Park below the Crags to the bottom of the Royal Mile.

Then we walked the entire way up the Royal Mile through town. At the bottom of the Royal Mile, in this picture, is Holyrood Palace, which is where Kings and Queens stay when in Edinburgh, rather than up in the Castle, which is a mile a way (hence "The Royal Mile")

Along the way up the Royal Mile...

Up near the Castle, looking back down the Royal Mile to the Firth of Forth.

Then, being the Harry Potter fans that we are, we had to go to the Elephant House to see where J.K. Rowling had written her first book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (the name was changed to "Sorcerer's Stone" for the U.S. market).

I'm sure she sat over there somewhere...

Of course we went inside for a bite to eat…

This is the view out the back window of Edinburgh Castle…

Next we headed to the National Museum of Scotland, where we spent an hour exploring. This is the millennium clock. The flies legs move up and down to engage the catchment as the seconds click by.

Danika had a robot spell out her name…

It is a really large place and unfortunately it closed before we could see everything, so the kids say they want to return tomorrow. This is the main atrium…