Unexpected Day in Edinburgh

 Saturday 20th July

Well here I am still in Edinburgh, bit shattered from the goings on - or not goings on at the Airport, but must make the effort to go out, my accomodation is okay but a step or two down from what I have been used to on this trip - poor moi! At least it’s in a good position I can walk into the central city, so went to check out the famous Royal Mile. On the way in I passed the university, it looks really nice, older buildings joined together by modern - oh what do you call those bits that join buildings up?



Before I got there I think I was walking along Northbridge, which had gaps between the buildings, looking don on either streets or grassed in areas. A Edinburgh local saw me looking down and took it upon himself to explain to me that because the ground had been quite uneven , they had built the road up - there is a south bridge as well. was happy to have it explained to me.This is behind the courts and where the advocates (what they call QCs) strut around during breaks


And later on there was a gap looking down a street.


Then I got to the Royal Mile, I arrived nearly at the top by the castle, but it’s crowded so decide to head down towards Holyrood Palace. Mostly souvenir shops and restaurants, pubs and historic buildings line the streets.



They love the unicorn here

Decided to have some brunch whilst wandering down this restaurant got my vote, but I think their humour was better than their food. How wrong can you go with smashed avocado and poached eggs on toast? 

In complete contrast were some municipal buildings, but they had lots of plaques with quotes which I enjoyed some of, some were hard to read as made from different materials



Down further I went as far as the Palace, but not inside

On the way back I called in to the Toll Booth Museum, mostly about Victorian day to day life.


Canongate Church, had som interesting graves there. Adam Smith - the father of Economis apparently, having not studied it I didn’t know, but very famous he is, already seen his statue.


Also writer Robert Ferguson, who died in Bedlam - which was a bit chilling, he was quite young, but admired by other Robert’s as you can see.


Started my climb back up, seeing it all from a different angle,There are buskers around, Scottish style but a nice touch for us tourists





It seems there is more than one stretched Hummer in the UK



And beautiful flowers, any thoughts I had of visiting the castle were quashed by the crowds of people, just too many for me, so mad a detour down to the National Art Gallery, saw a protest by those in fancy cars and those who didn’t.


many steps down to the Gallery but nice views around, towards the railway station , and parklands that people were taking advantage of this had to be one of the warmer days they had had for a while




Interesting exhibits the real Monarch of the Glen - and a cubist Edinburgh sorry for wonky photos


Headed back towards my guest house, bumped into one of the ladies who had been on my tour, which was pretty amazing and good to speak with someone I knew.Came across the museum as well so had a wee look inside, well worth visiting, had some ancient pieces then it had fashion, and machines 



An amazing lasagne and salad at an Italian restaurant on the way and then some packing and an early night getting ready for my 3.00 am taxi ride to the airport the next day. Eeek!

Down a side street. A good view of the castle




Comments

  1. Claire BJuly 23, 2024 at 7:49 PM

    So many huge amazing old buildings. Still making the most of every day Jayne. x

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nice Monday 8th Sept

Image
  Monday Bonjour! After a total of about twelve hours sleep I am feeling very refreshed and ready to explore, after a yummy breakfast, including a pain au chocolates and hot chocolate, When in France, it would be rude not to. My excursion for the day was a visit to the Musee Marc Chagall. A 3km walk from the hotel, so a little adventure in itself! The garden at the entrance with it’s little garden cafe. Such big paintings, a lot based on the Old Testament, but lovely colours  Including Mosaics and stained glass in the theatre, watched an interesting documentary on home creating the for seasons mosaics for Chicago, or should I say, designing and overseeing the work. Do like his drawings/designs though, a lot can be conveyed with very little. Really enjoyed the visit, walked down into the city centre, and back through some streets parallel to the sea. This is typical of most of the buildings in the older part of Nice , some very pretty iron work balconies, shutters and colours....
Read more

September 27-29

Image
  September 27-29 A quiet weekend and a Monday adventure. Saturday we went to Pensthorpe - A charitable Conservation Trust, Gardens.ponds, wildlife and bird life, plus sculptures Was nice to have a wander around a small portion of the total of 700 acres. Ronda volunteers here doing some gardening, so we got in for nix. This would have been my favourite sculpture that we saw, a few others were mosaic glass and perhaps a little bit bling in the garden space. Some wildflowers below in the millennium garden. I was keen to see the cranes and flamingos, got a photo of two out of the three species, unfortunately the one with the spikes crown was hiding behind vegetation. Then there were the flamingos, this is the time when you need a proper camera, but still a joy to see them. Apparently one of the original ones is over 50 years old, who knew they can live that long? We walked further around towards a more wooded area with some more subtle sculptures. Very beautiful grounds, but we were f...
Read more

Monday Nice to Cassis

Image
Tuesday 9th September Nice to Cassis First up a drive along the coast to Antibes. First sight was Fort Carre, constructed in 1550 under orders of Henry II of France, mostly to protect the citadel of Antibes  from them Italians, We went into the the old town, and up on the walls to wander around, some lovely views, east and west of the calm Mediterranean Sea and coast. There is a Picasso Museum there in the Chateau Grimaldi which was purchased by  the city, because he lived there for 6 months in 1946, but the two members of our group who waited in line were disappointed with what was on show. We made our way to the markets, the produce looks so stunning, I was yet to find an ATM machine though and cash was required. Followed by a wander through the streets onf the old town of Antibes. Napoleon came here after he escaped from Elba, but even they the city had previously supported him, this time they closed the doors to him, Obviously could see he was on a losing streak. Small tou...
Read more