First of all, it's pronounced Ed-in-bur-uh, not Ed-in-burg. Our first day in Edinburgh (our jet-lag day), we went to the National Museum of Scotland. The exhibits in the museum vary greatly, so we focused on Scottish history. We started at the very beginning, with the geology of Scotland. Did you know that Scotland used to be attached to the Americas? And it wasn't attached to England then. When continental drift happened, they smashed together, creating some quite spectacular hills (or small mountains, if you prefer), first when the ocean floor was squeezed between them, then when volcanic activity left giant piles of rock all over. The hills were later shaped by glaciers that covered Scotland. After the geological exhibit (from which I learned quite a lot), we learned about the prehistoric, and more recent, animals that once roamed the land. Scotland was, at one time, home to such animals as brown bears, giant wild boar, beavers, and arctic foxes. These are now all extinct in Scotland (don't worry, not everywhere). From that display, we proceeded to the early peoples exhibit. Scotland was home to a variety of cultures. Celts, Picts, Scots, Romans and Norse all inhabitated the land at one point or another. There's not much evidence, of prehistoric peoples in Scotland, probably because it was covered by glaciers for a long time, and therefore not very habitable. The exhibit displayed items from all the different cultures, from utensils to farming equiptment to armor. I was afraid to take pictures of the displays, due to their age. There were, however, sculptures by Andy Goldsworthy within the exhibit, which I did photograph.
This is for the Flahiffs.
The caption for this says it's the entire skeleton of a whale, compacted into this sculpture. I don't know...where are the ribs? Maybe it was a small whale.
Then we continued to the next level (with some confusion), and ended up in the middle of an exhibit on Christianity in Scotland. But by that time, my feet hurt and I was really tired, and I don't really remember much. There was a creepy mask that a priest wore when preaching to disguise his identity (Catholicism was forbidden at that time), and some very ornate baptismal fonts. But other than that, I'm not really sure.
Adjoining that was a small section on cultures in Scotland. That contained, among other things, a traditional harp (the name of which I can't remember how to spell), and the famous Lewis chesspieces. After that, we went upstairs to the next exhibit, which I don't really remember either. There was a display on the Jacobite uprisings (Jack-ob-ite, not Jake-o-bite), and replicas of some huge machines from the first Industrial Revolution.
Exhausted from our crazy thirty-six hours, we went back to our hotel and slept. I was much too tired to do a blog post.
The next day, we did Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile. The castle is quite a fortress.
I guess people liked building castles on big rocks.
The building behind those people up there is St. Margaret's Chapel, the oldest part of the castle. It was the only part to survive when Robert the Bruce's army razed the castle in 1314. The castle has changed hands many times during different wars, and has been destroyed a few times.
On display in the castle are Scotland's crown jewels. Quite different from the crown jewels of England, they consist of the crown, sword, and scepter, know collectively as the Honours. The Honours were made around the early 1500s. They were held by the ruling monarch until 1650, when Cromwell's forces captured the castle. To prevent their likely destruction, they were smuggled out of the castle under the skirts of two women. The sword had to be broken in two because it was so long, it could not be concealed. They were returned when Charles II took the throne. You can still see the crack where the sword was broken.
But their story does not end there. When the Scottish parliament was dissolved in 1707, the Honours were sealed in a trunk in the crown room. There they stayed, and were almost forgotten, until the trunk was opened at the request of Sir Walter Scott, notable lover of Scotland. But not all Scots admire him for this. "Wally" as one of the castle guides put it, was "just there when they opened it".
Also housed with the Honours is the Stone of Scone, also know as the Stone of Destiny. It has been the inaugural throne for a least a thousand years. Around 1280, it was taken by King Edward II to Westminster, and used for the coronation of the kings and queens of England. It stayed there until 1996, when it was returned to Scotland. It will be used in the coronation of the next king or queen of England, even if the people of Scotland vote yes this November.
In 1933, an old barrack was converted into the War Memorial. The main chamber is a monument to the fallen soldiers, with a beautiful sculpture all around the walls. The wings contain books with the names of all the dead from the Scottish military, from World War I to the present. Dad and I looked through some of them. There were a number of Atkinsons, especially in the books of Canadian troops serving in the Scottish military. As Dad said, "they weren't very good at keeping their heads down".
After finishing touring the castle (not exactly in that order), we began to walk the Royal Mile. What is the Royal Mile, you might ask? Well, officially it's the walk between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace. But now, it's about the most touristy place I've ever been. Every other store is selling tartan anything, flags, or even kilts. We skipped off early for a bit of lunch, then headed over to the New Town (we were in the Old Town). In our search for Waverly Station (complete wrong direction), we stumbled across an old cemetery. The oldest memorial I could find was from 1778. Pretty darn old.
Across from the cemetery (still in the wrong direction), was Carlton Park. We decided to take a detour. It proved to be a good decision. 
Here's me, trying hard to not be blown away.
It was a bit windy, but very nice. There was a great view of Arthur's Seat (another large volcanic rock), and the surrounding area. There was a monument to Admiral Nelson (seriously, how many does that guy need?). There was also a cairn that held a torch at the top (not burning now). It was lit in the early 1990s in support of freedom for Scotland. The torch was extinguished in 1999, when Scotland got its own parliament. The cairn contains stones from many different places, including one from Robert the Bruce's castle, and one from Auschwitz. Another bore this inscription.
If you can read this, well, maybe you read a lot of Scottish poetry.
That was about it for our time in Edinburgh. We did find Waverly Station. Early the next morning, we left from it. But that's another story.
If you're wondering about the title, a bus tour in Edinburgh bears the name " Horrible Histories-Edinburgh". I embellished.
Gorgeous picture from Carlton Park!
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