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Princes Street is just a short bus ride
from the Scout Hall. As we got off the bus we could see Edinburgh
Castle across Princes Street Gardens, high upon its volcanic cliff.
From this direction, there's no wonder it was considered impossible to
storm.
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Our tour guide took the group into the
Castle, then up past the ancient St. Margaret's chapel to the War
Memorial and the Honours of Scotland - the Scottish Crown Jewels and
the Stone of Scone.
We went through the War Memorial (look for the sculptures of the
animals who served in the Great War, put there at the insistence of
the 8th Duchess of Atholl) and the Great Hall, then down into the
dungeons for the new exhibition there on Prisoners of War in the
Castle.
Left: Matt and the view over the Dog's Cemetery,
with the Firth of Forth in the background |
The Castle Commander's house |
View from the Great Hall window |
After lunch, the group
toured the Camera Obscura - the top floor is the Camera itself, a
marvel of Victorian high-tech, with a periscope projecting a live view
of Edinburgh on a bowl in the middle of the darkened room. After the
show, you can walk down through the rest of the building, with many
different examples of optical illusions, holograms, etc. |
The group at the Camera Obscura Show |
Matt using a spherical mirror to shake hands with a real image of his
own hand. Kind of a spooky picture, actually. |
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The Castle and Camera Obscura are at the
upper end of the Royal Mile (left), which stretches down along
the volcanic ridge of the Old Town to Holyrood Palace at the lower
end. Most of the western part of the Mile is taken up by one gift shop
or restaurant after another. "Thistle Do Nicely" (below) is
one of my favorite shop names.
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"Our Dynamic
Earth" is a science museum near Holyrood Palace on the end of the
Mile. As we went in, we were stopped for a picture with some of the
organizers of the Edinburgh Cow exhibit - the city was full of oddly
decorated cows, including a skeletal one which glows at night and
"BraveMoo" complete with blue-painted face and broadsword
outside St. Giles. |
The group, with cow, outside the Dyamic Earth |
On a hot day, Joe likes the glacier, made by condensing and freezing the moisture
from the air (mostly visitor's breath) |
The wall of the new Scottish Parliament,
near Holyrood Palace. Its rather unusual architecture has aroused
strong opinions among the Scots - each of the oddly shaped protrusions
from the wall at right is a study for a Scottish Member of
Parliament. |
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At left is the statue of Greyfriars
Bobby, the Skye terrier who spent 14 years next to his owner's grave
in Greyfriars Kirkyard. It's the most visited statue in Edinburgh,
apparently. At least, we visited it (and the grave, too). |
Men in Kilts: Matt, Nick, John, Taylor
and Matt in their newly acquired kilts.
We packed up Monday night, and on Tuesday morning the coach arrived
to take us to Blair Atholl. |
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