Our Scotland and England Adventure: Day Thirteen (29 August)

We went to sleep last night, in a bit of shock that our time in Burghead had come to an end so quickly--so much more to see! So much more to do! This morning, Anne and Jim helped soften our reluctance to leave by reminding us that we were welcome back anytime--"What are you guys doing next week?" Bob asked on our way to the Inverness bus station. After saying our goodbyes, we got on the bus, barely settled in, and suddenly found ourselves very close to Edinburgh, with a great view of the impressive Forth Bridge:
We were able to check into our bed and breakfast right away, which was nice because then we didn't have to bother returning to check in later in the day. The B&B was nice, with simple decor, a good breakfast (which we'd have to wait until tomorrow to discover), and a friendly host.
Our room was a decent size, with a small fridge that held carafes of fresh milk and water, perfect for making coffee and tea in the room. In spite of these positives, I probably wouldn't stay there again--a bit too much street noise (much of it construction that was beyond the B&B's control, but it was still way too much, even for a heavy sleeper like me; apparently Edinburgh allows construction in residential areas until 3:00 A.M.--crazy, but true) and, how-shall-I-say, um, lax standards of housekeeping in the rooms themselves. Nothing terrible, but just a general sense that nothing's been cleaned well for a very, very, very long time. Edinburgh's a tough town for finding a reasonably priced sleep, especially at the tail end of festival season, and we booked very late, so we felt lucky we weren't staying in Glasgow and doing the hour commute to Edinburgh each day! Anyway, we were a bit unsure what we wanted to do first and headed out to wander. We ended up on Calton Hill, with its amazing views of Edinburgh and a distinctly ramshackle assortment of monuments. The oddest of them all is the National Monument, a war memorial begun in 1822, and intended as a Parthenon replica, but left unfinished when money ran out. As a result, some people call it "Edinburgh's shame":
There's also a monument for Scottish philosopher Dugald Stewart,

and a non-Trafalgar-Square Nelson's monument:
The most interesting monument of the lot is the cairn for a Scottish Parliament, seen in the foreground:
Some of the stones that comprise the cairn have histories of their own:
Rather than for the monuments themselves, we walked up the hill to see what was down below:

We got a good view of the controversial Scottish Parliament building (completed in 2004),
nestled at the base of the impressive Salisbury Crags (the dramatic slope) and Arthur's Seat (the rounded highest point on the hill, actually an extinct volcano). Edinburgh's natural setting is definitely spectacular.
Back down in the city, we passed by Queen Mary's Bath House, a 16th-century summer house in which it is very strangely unknown whether a bath ever existed:
We had a peek at Holyrood Palace, but decided not to go inside,
since I was much more curious to see the Scottish Parliament--everyone seems to have an opinion about the location, design, architect, and cost of the finished building, and I had to have a look for myself. Here's the main public entrance:
These shapes are meant to mimic curtains being drawn aside: The Scottish Parliament is at the base of Salisbury Crags, across from Holyrood Palace,
and is supposed to represent an organic growth that takes into account these natural and historical surroundings.
Natural motifs, including branches, leaves, and fields work toward this effect.

The building that contains the offices of the members of parliament has striking windows that are said to echo the shapes found in a famous Scottish painting, but I must admit that I can't really see the resemblance. Each member of parliament has her or his own window and in keeping with the architect's desire to emulate ideas of democracy, the visual reminder of the number of representatives is supposed to underscore the democratic nature of the building's goings-on. The interior of the building is all angles, shapes, and tilts,
and the Debating Chamber is a striking place
which attempts to transcend its Ikea-ness (I tried not to think about Swedish particleboard as I looked around the room, but something about the colour of the wood and the repetition of the pieces seemed like an unusual page in the Ikea catalogue)
with amazing views of the natural beauty outside.
Everywhere we looked, a multitude of lines and semi-obstructed spaces filled our vision.
The Main Hall felt more like a church crypt, with its low, rounded ceiling, but somehow it seemed to work, greeting visitors with an almost claustrophobic sense of space that really makes you aware of the vast open space of the Debating Chamber, where democracy comes to life.
The public lockers were pleasing, and injected a bit of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's font into the space.
Our verdict on the Parliament Building? I expected to like it more than I did, but still appreciate the daring effort. Is it enough? Is it too much? The debate continues . . . From the Parliament Building, we wandered up the Royal Mile, which leads from Holyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle, and is Edinburgh's oldest street and (predicatably) a well-worn tourist route, but one which manages to be full of enough sights to almost distract from the multitude of shops selling tartans, whiskey, Nessie souvenirs, and t-shirts.

When we walked into beautiful Canongate Kirk, completed in 1691, we were startled to see its robin's-egg blue interior,
complete with seating reserved for the important folk.
Several well cisterns dot the royal mile, a reminder of the effort required to bring water to residents of the Old Town.
In spite of the crowds, the Royal Mile is an evocative place with striking buildings
and a staggering number of tiny lanes (called "closes") running off the main street. These were historically the unlit streets of the poor, filled with human and animal waste, poor air circulation, and crowds galore. Now their quirky names are remnants of some of their later commercial purposes:

The City Chambers are on the Royal Mile, with a regal courtyard and a lavish lobby area (we weren't allowed further than the lobby, unfortunately).
Our next stop was at St Giles Cathedral; most of the exterior dates back to the 15th century, with much of the interior benefiting from a 19th-century restoration to bring the church back to its pre-Reformation state.
A principle site of the Reformation, John Knox's 29 June 1559 sermon at St Giles is said to have started the Reformation. The only place where photos were allowed inside was in the Thistle Chapel, a wonderful small space within the church itself:

We made it all the way to Edinburgh Castle, but by the time we got there, admission was closed for the day, so we just turned around and wandered some more.

Regular readers will know that I have a soft spot for dogs, and so I joined the throngs and took a photo of the Greyfriars Bobby statue, which you can see the pub just beyond milks for all it's worth: Bobby was a loyal Skye terrier--how loyal, you ask? Well the story goes that in 1858 his master died and was buried in an unmarked grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard. For fourteen years after his death, his dog Bobby kept watch over the grave, only leaving the spot to eat, and only ceasing his watch when he also died. That's how loyal! Tomorrow I would return to Greyfriars Kirk to get a better look at the church and graveyard, and whether you're interested in the Greyfriars Bobby story or not, the graveyard is well worth a look--one of the most beautiful views of Edinburgh I saw was from the graveyard. (Of course you'll have to wait until tomorrow's post for that!) After more walking (and Edinburgh is a hilly city, so it wasn't the easy walking that we usually do in London), we assembled the ingredients for a picnic dinner and sat in Princes Street Gardens to eat. Once the site of a loch, the greenspace is expansive and lovely:These chairs had been set up for an event in the gardens and I found myself strangely thinking of the blue pews we had seen earlier in the day--for some reason I couldn't get the image of an outdoor church out of my head!

This was the view we had while we picnicked: Edinburgh Castle in all its elevated glory: