Holyrood is right across the road from the Scottish Parliament, and that is one weird-looking government building. This side is funky enough, but the other side is covered in bamboo (from the cover of which a pigeon crapped on John, poor baby).
Our main reason for being down that way, though, was to go to the Our Dynamic Earth museum, which we didn’t get photos of because it was raining when we got there. It was really cool, and I would highly recommend it to anyone with kids or without. The beginning was a little cheesy, with a trip through time to show how the earth was formed and different geological processes, like volcanic eruptions and glaciation, but the exhibits you go through at your own pace were very interesting. There were lots of hands-on exhibits and video clips, so Hannah wasn’t overly bored. My favorite was a clip that showed how mammals differentiated into different species (albeit in a very, VERY simplified way). A group of rat-like mammals split up into smaller groups. One group climbed a tree and tried, one at a time, to reach some fruit at the end of a branch; the first two fell to a gruesome, splatty death, but the third sprouted wings and became a bat. The second group tried to catch some fish, but the first rat drowned (glug!), the second developed into something a little bigger and seal-like, but drowned anyway, and the third developed into a dolphin and happily snagged the fish. The third group went to some grasslands. The first rat ate some grass, barfed, and croaked; the second developed into a bigger animal, ate some grass, barfed, and croaked; the third developed into a horse and munched away at the grass. I found it highly entertaining, but then again, rats that go splat!, gurgle!, and barf! are funny, right?
If you go across a road on the east side of Holyrood and Our Dynamic Earth, you are at the Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat. This is how it looks as you drive into Edinburgh from the south:
The Crags are on the left, and Arthur’s Seat on the right. From Holyrood, you see the top of Arthur’s Seat over the Crags, so we didn’t realize at first that it wasn’t one formation. We headed up the west side of the Crags, along with quite a few other visitors. Hannah wanted to climb right over the top, and even John, the intrepid explorer, was starting to get nervous on that account. Here she is taking a break about 10 feet above the path we were on:
Here she’s planning to have a picnic lunch:
Before we made it around to the south side of the Crags, we got a glimpse of the Firth of Forth (the mouth of the river Forth) in the distance:
When we got to the east side of the Crags, we were still a grueling climb away from the top of Arthur’s Seat, a climb we decided to pass on.
After that we headed back up the Royal Mile, with a quick stop in the tiny Museum of Edinburgh.
I believe a large part of the center of Edinburgh is Georgian. Here’s a pretty example from the corner of Cockburn and the Royal Mile (whatever it is called at that point):
The Royal Mile stretches between Holyrood on the east end and the Castle on the west end, so we managed to walk the entire stretch of it on day 4. We spent about an hour-and-a-half looking around the castle; we saw the Scottish crown jewels and the Stone of Destiny, and some other interesting exhibits about Scotland’s royal history. I really have to recommend the audio tour if you have a kid with you; it kept Hannah from getting too bored while I read the same info at each display.
I really liked this plaque; those golden unicorns seem to be thinking, “Hey! What you lookin’ at?!”
Afterwards we went a ways back down the Royal Mile looking for entertainment and food.
After chowing down some Indian food (John thought it would be our last chance before we got to the Highlands, but every other restaurant in Inverness was a curry take-away *g*), we wandered among the Fringe Festival street shows. We saw one act of a couple in chicken suits, and another contortionist, this one better than the last: he stuffed himself through a squash racket, a tennis racket, and a toilet seat, all at the same time. Here he’s getting ready to juggle some knives while balancing on a pole.
At some point we went into St. Gile’s, but maybe it was on day 3. It’s a gorgeous church, and I kind of wish we had had more time to look around there.
As we walked around Edinburgh (and my pedometer said we had walked 6.85 miles in two days), I noticed that there weren’t really any pigeons, but seagulls everywhere. You could see them swooping overhead and hear them calling. Edinburgh is right on the east coast, so that shouldn’t be surprising, but it made Edinburgh stand out for me.
Also, if you are planning on going there, take a warm jacket. I had my winter coat with the lining zipped out of it, and I wished on a couple of occasions that I had brought the lining, too. “August” does not necessarily equal “warm” in Northern Europe, although we tend to forget that.
And now on to the highlight of the day, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo on the grounds of the castle. Several different military bands performed. We heard lots of bagpipes and drums from the Scottish regiments, but there were performers from all over the place:
The Taipei First Girls’ Senior High School Honour Guard and Drum Corps was an all-girl marching band, with flags and rifles.
Middlesex County Volunteer Fifes and Drums was an American group from Massachusetts who wore uniforms like from the American Revolution, complete with tri-cornered hat and powdered wigs.
The band of the Moscow Military Conservatoire had the crowd eating out of their hands. Scots are known for their humor, and that was true of everyone we met, but these Russians took the cake.
The Mounted Band of the Blues and Royals played from horseback. I don’t think I could manage to play clarinet and steer a horse; marching and playing was hard enough!
There was a big group of Highland dancers from Scotland, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia, and a team of mini-BMX stunt riders from about 10-16 years old.
My favorite was the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force Steel Orchestra, a military steel drum band. I know that military bands play at special occasions, but I thought that certain instruments (like bagpipes and trumpets and drums) were formerly used in battle for announcing charges and such. It’s hard to imagine attacking the enemy to the sound of steel drums. I guess you could lull them into limbo-ing and then give them the chop when they least expect it...
Our photos all came out blurry, but here is the finale, only semi-blurry:
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