We are in Edinburgh, an old and beautiful city. It is the capital of Scotland and it's second-most populous city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous city in the United Kingdom. The city has long been a center of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scottish law, literature, philosophy, the sciences, and engineering. It is the second-largest financial center in the United Kingdom. The number of great thinkers and writers from the area is astonishing.
Breakfast at the hotel, Courtyard by Marriott was disappointing for me. The quality of the food simply wasn't up to the standard we have seen at the other hotels we have stayed in. We did have air-conditioning though and it was relatively quiet. Like everything in life, there are trade-offs.
At 9:00 we boarded the bus with a local guide for a short ride and then did a walking tour. I won't bore you with a detailed account, but will present a few photos.
For my ham and science friends, we owe a lot to this man. James Clerk Maxwell, was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. His work was the first basis for all we enjoy in electronics in all its glory.
The Royal Society of Edinburgh, were the great minds came to meet.
After our walking tour, we traveled to Edinburgh Castle. It is a huge complex located on one of the highest hills in the city. Edinburgh is a hilly city, walking can be quite tiring and the weaving of roads up and down and sometimes under makes for a beautiful but stressful walk.
The castle is built on a hill which is an extinct volcano plug. This can be see here.
A panoramic view form near the castle top.
How about this for a wedding present!
These cannon balls were huge.
The Castle doesn't use the term dungeon very much, but talks about Prisoners of War. The below is an excerpt from their website .
Pirates and prisoners of war were once held in the vaults below Crown Square. In the 1700s and 1800s hundreds of prisoners of war were held in these dark, cramped spaces. Today, a recreation of the vaults as they would have looked around 1800 offers a glimpse into the grim way of life.
The first prisoners were French privateers caught in 1758, soon after the Seven Years’ War began. The youngest held was a five-year-old drummer boy captured at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
Prisoners of war came from France, America, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Denmark and Poland. Most were sailors, many of them Americans fighting in the War of Independence. An early depiction of the ‘Stars and Stripes’ flag is scratched into a door. Many tried to escape. In 1811, 49 prisoners escaped through a hole in the defenses that is still visible today. All but one made it safely down Castle Rock, but were recaptured.
Caribbean pirates were held in the vaults before they became a prison of war. In 1720, 21 members of Black Bart’s crew were captured off Argyll. They had come to Scotland to retire. Instead, most were hanged.
At least, it looks like they ate pretty well...
On our walking tour, we stopped at the National Museum of Scotland very briefly. After our tour of the Castle we walked the half mile back to the museum for an extended visit. The primary thing we were interested in was a special exhibit called "Anatomy". This was an excellent presentation of the history and development of anatomy from Leonardo de Vince to present time with the emphasis on Scottish history. One aspect covered in detail was the murders for body sale in the early 19th Century.
During the 19th century, there was a chronic shortage of cadavers for anatomy classes in Edinburgh. This gave rise to a new industry in the city: grave-robbing.
The best-known of the 'Resurrection Men' were William Burke and William Hare, who took the grisly practice one step further. The pair murdered at least 16 people during the period 1827-1828, selling the cadavers to Dr Robert Knox's anatomy school.
Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in the special exhibit.
This is probably the most famous exhibit in the museum.
After all the walking and the castle and museum visit, we had worked up an appetite. Someone had mentioned to Janet that we had to try Oinks for a meal. I checked Google Maps and it was only 0.3 miles from the museum. We found the restaurant and it was a madhouse. The line was in the street and many people were eating standing in the street. We decided to try and find something else.
We decided to try the Deacon's House Café. It had a small dining room and an outside courtyard. We chose the courtyard. The food was good but not outstanding. As we were leaving I noticed the plaque near the door. It turns out that part of the building is one of the oldest in Edinburgh, dating from 1420, thats before Columbus came to America.
On our walk back to the hotel down the "Royal Mile", we encountered this street performer. He gave a pretty good show. He juggled balls, lighted torches and here you can see juggling knives while standing on a pedestal in the center of the street. Those are spectators holding the ropes and the pedestal.
Tomorrow should be interesting, we are going to see the the Falkirk Wheel, a rotating boat lift in Tamfourhill, Falkirk, in central Scotland, connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It reconnects the two canals for the first time since the 1930s. It opened in 2002 as part of the Millennium Link project. The Falkirk Wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world.
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