Scotland and Scones

The great UK tour days 6, 7, 8, and 9: Edinburgh.

Days 6 and 9 don’t really count because they were travel days (train from Oxford Edinburgh and plane from Edinburgh to home, respectively).

We emerged from the Edinburgh Waverley train station to discover we had been transported to a Gothic fairytale city with dark spires and buildings perched on rocky cliffs. The sweet bellowing notes of a bagpipe playing the Imperial March floated across a park to us. Thus began our days in Scotland.

The next morning started with scones and coffee followed by trudging to the top of Arthur’s Seat for a panoramic view of the city and surrounding countryside and coastline. Arthur’s Seat is a dormant volcano next to the Queen’s palace in Edinburgh! Next stop was the Hollyrood Palace where we stumbled upon an arrival ceremony for some royalty (not the Queen, but they seemed important). There was a marching band and a bagpipe band all dressed in kilts that took turns playing regal-sounding music. This was followed by meandering along the Royal Mile to the Edinburgh Castle, which is at the top of the other dormant volcano in the city.

Edinburgh Castle, Hollyrood Palace, St Giles Cathedral, and Arthur’s Seat.

We learned some interesting facts about Scotland:
The national animal is the chained unicorn. It is chained so they can harness it’s powers.
At one point the kilt and bagpipe went out of fashion, but fortunately they were reintroduced by Sir Walter Scott.
The Bank of Scotland issues different bank notes than the Bank of England. They are interchangeable in Scotland. Not sure about England.

Hendrik amongst the Gorse flowers as he descends from Arthur’s Seat to Edinburgh, Nancy and Hendrik strolling through the Meadows, Hendrik tasting a flight of Scotch at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, playing board games with David and Danielle.