Edinburgh

Tuesday, 15 June

Gothenburg to Edinburgh

We were up a little before 5:30 am so we could be at Landvetter Airport before our 7:30 am check in. A 15 minute tram trip to Central Station and we just missed an airport bus but as they run every 20 minutes between 4.00 am and midnight we didn’t have long to wait. As well as the airport bus stop, Central Station has 20 bus bays for suburban buses as most routes pass through the station at some stage. The bus made stops at three pick up points during its 30 minute trip to the airport and the cost around half that of the Melbourne airport bus.

A quick check in at the airport and a two hour wait to take off, part of which we used to have breakfast as we had decided to eat after we arrived rather than having to get up earlier to eat.

The plane backed out from the terminal two minutes before schedule and we were at the Copenhagen terminal three minutes before listed arrival time after spending 28 minutes in the air. We then had a three hour wait before our flight to Edinburgh.

Again the flight left on time and the plane was even smaller than the last with only three seats in a row, one on one side and two on the other and we arrived at Edinburgh on time, because it was a small plane our luggage was on the carousal by the time we arrived and after collecting it we caught the bus into the city. Travelling into the city we felt very much at home, cars driving on the left, signs in English and the style of architecture that we have become familiar with over our 35 years of visiting the UK, though for me it is 58 years since my first visit.

Edinburgh streets are a nightmare at the moment because they are rebuilding the tram system and all the streets along the proposed routes are either closed off or only one way, I’ll need to study the map before I pick up a car on Friday. The new line will run from the airport through the city centre and down to the waterfront. When I was in Edinburgh in 1952 I rode on the old double decker trams and I think around that time the last tram ran and the rails were ripped out, fifty plus years on the City Fathers have realised that trams are the best form of transport for the city, isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing?

The only problem with all the construction is that the airport bus couldn’t access the bus station so we had an extra 500 m. to walk to the hostel. It is possibly the most expensive hostel we have stayed in but the facilities are good and we even have an en-suite. Bonus!

From the time we got up at Gothenburg to the time we arrived at the Edinburgh hostel it took eleven hours but only 2 ¼ hours actual flying time and as we put our watches back an hour when we arrived and we were up early this morning, an early night is called for as we will probably wake up on Gothenburg time.

Wednesday, 16 June

Edinburgh

As expected we woke early and walked to the tourist information office to pick up some maps and then continued along Princes Street past Scott’s Monument and the Floral Clock which is planted to commemorate 100 years of Guiding started by BP in 1910 and headed up by his wife. The gardens down below street level are a picture and the Castle up high provides that well known silhouette. We notice that the grandstands have been erected for the Tattoo in August; once again we are in Edinburgh at the wrong time.

We continued to the end of Princes St to a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, where we closed our two accounts at the Bath Branch we seldom use them now and this gave us some spending money for our time in the UK.

We then walked up to the Royal Mile as it is known, though it changes its name many times between the Castle and Holyrood House Palace. Our first stop was to St Giles Cathedral and a short noon service was underway which was followed by a recital of French organ music by a young Polish musician Michael Bryks who is studying at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh and has been awarded three scholarships to study at the Royal College of Music in London.

While we were in the cathedral we took the opportunity to visit the Knights of the Thistle Chapel and view Sir Robert Menzies Coat of Arms above one of the seats. This is the Scottish equivalent of the Knights of the Garter.

Leaving the Cathedral we walked to Greyfriars Church to view the statue of Greyfriar’s Bobby a small dog who guarded his master’s grave for many years until he died, we also saw the memorial to his dead master and to the Church Sexton who fed and looked after Bobby till his death.

Back to the Royal Mile to visit the exhibition, “What Lies Beneath the Royal Mile?” This is in Mary King’s Close which in the 17^th Century housed some 700 people in tiny apartments at street level and two or three floors above. Mary King had been left some money by her late husband so she purchased a small dwelling and set up a coffee shop. In the 1700s the Government built over the top of the Close and it was used for storage until recently when it was opened to the public for tours, the tour features life in the 1600s which includes episodes of the plague and life in general and some rooms are as they were nearly four hundred years ago.

Back on the Royal Mile we strolled to the bottom where Holyrood House Palace is situated, on the way Ann made another new friend stopping to “talk” to Robert Fergusson a 18^th century poet. At the bottom of the hill we passed the ultra modern Scottish Parliament building which is great contrast to all the other buildings in the street. Outside the Palace we noticed a refugee from the movie “Braveheart” at least we think that’s who he was.

From the Palace we walked along Calton Road past Calton Hill a prominent landmark in Edinburgh and back to the hostel.