Edinburgh Part 2

5th Sep
Another waist expanding breakfast to start the day. I'm just loving the Scottish raspberries in season at the moment! Ginormous and full of flavour.

Dolly the sheep - Credit:J

Given my foot was still sore, Jeremy went off on his own to the National Museum of Scotland. He said it was impressive, with the story of the Scottish people done particularly well - a few lessons for Te Papa. There was also an emphasis on Scottish inventions, everything from the TV to Dolly the sheep, and with three Formula 1 cars, J was happy. The building itself is fairly impressive, especially the Great Hall, and has been subject to a £20 million renovation.

Meanwhile, I washed some socks. This was a consequence of believing the weather forecast before I left NZ. I was expecting it to be 12 to 18 degrees, but it has been 20 and now forecast to remain so for a few days, so I haven't packed the right clothes. Must go shopping for thin socks and t shirts tomorrow!

Later in the morning, I hobbled round the corner from the B&B to a small museum: a Georgian House built in 1796, renovated to reflect it as it was then. There have only ever been 6 owners, the last of which being the National Trust. This was also an excellent exhibit, with an informative and interesting video following the day in the life of the house's inhabitants, such as the 11 year old scullery maid working 16 hours a day 7 days per week for £8 per year.

State of the Art Rotisserie c1800 - credit: S

I particularly liked the "state of the art" kitchen with its open range, whose rotisserie is turned by a fan operated by the heat rising up the chimney. There was impressive amount of copperware on display, representing an equally impressive amount of work for the scullery maid, polishing them with nothing but lemon juice and sand. There was also a sugar loaf: a cone of compressed sugar that gave rise to pointy geographical features being called Sugar Loaf Mountain etc (think New Plymouth - I always wondered as a kid why its distinctive rock was called the Sugar Loaf).

The Water of Leith - Credit:J

After a rest stop at the B&B, we took our landlady's advice and walked down the hill to Dean Village on the banks of a small river called the Water of Leith for a riverbank stroll. We stopped at a rather eccentric cafe for afternoon tea, where the owner repeatedly informed us everything they use is compostable. Nice scones though. By this stage we were close to the Modern Art Gallery, so wandered in for a look. There was a small collection of Bridget Riley paintings - she of the eye popping black and white geometric Op Art from the 1960s. I particulate liked "Burn". There was a surrealist exhibition on but didn't really have the time for it, so made do with a surreal ice cream instead. This proved to be an exercise in the influence of colour on taste. The lemon sorbet was blue, the strawberry was green and the mint was red. Mine only tasted of strawberry if I closed my eyes!

After another rest to give my foot a break, we rendezvoused with our Eat Walk Edinburgh tour party - a German couple and a Canadian woman plus our guide. This was a 3 hour walking tour taking in parts of the Old and New Towns, stopping off to taste various goodies en route.

Stop 1: Hotel du Vin (ex lunatic asylum) for smoked salmon with capers, onion and a wedge of semi-soft boiled egg. The best smoked salmon I've had!

Demijohns - credit: J

Stop 2: Demijohns to taste and takeaway from their selection of liqueurs, vodkas etc. stored in large demijohn jars. Pick your poison and your preferred bottle shape/size and it's bottled for you.

Stop 3: the Scotch Malt Whisky Society rooms in an old Georgian terrace house with amazing views and spiral staircase with dome above. Tatties,neeps and haggis to accompany our whisky. They bottle their own from single casks purchased from all of Scotland's distilleries. Because the whisky doesn't then necessarily represent the distillery brand (most blend casks), the whisky is given a unique name  and labelled with a number identifying the distillery and cask. We had "Carefree Entertainment", 54.40 from Speyside. You can buy matching bottles of water from the same source that the distillery uses, complete with eye dropper for diluting the cask strength Whisky one drop at a time until you reach your optimum preference.

Scottish cheeses - credit: S

Stop 4: Calistoga restaurant for a selection of Scottish cheeses, and a glass of Scottish craft beer (or in my case non-Scottish red wine)

Stop 5: Ghillie Due (in a converted church) for posh cranachan which is a traditional dessert made with whipped cream, raspberries, honey, whisky and toasted oats. The posh version was served in a chocolate cup with shortbread on top.

En route, we learned of Burke and Hare the serial killers in 1828 who made money out of selling their victims bodies for medical dissection and Half Hangit Maggie who didn't die when hanged. She got a reprieve and as a result the words 'until dead' were added to the judge's sentencing from then on. Then there was the explanation of why the statue of King George IV shows him flashing a fair bit of leg. For his visit in 1822 as a PR stunt/political statement they dressed him in a kilt. Unfortunately, the kilt was way too short - a mini-kilt - and he had to wear a pair of pink tights to cover his legs. As he was very short and very rotund, it must have been quite a sight, and one not reflected in the statue or official portraits.

Very conveniently, the Ghillie Due was very close to our B&B, so an easy stroll home to bed.

6th Sep
The promised glorious sunshine didn't eventuate today, just cloudy humidity (close as the locals call it) but still hot enough to warrant shopping for a t-shirt (duly done). The wasp sting discomfort moved from pain to itching but walking was unimpeded, which was a good thing, as today's plan included a lot of walking.

Surgeons Hall Museum - credit: VisitScotland.com

First stop was another small National Trust property, Gladstone's Land, a 17th century high-tenement building with the rooms furnished to represent different eras. Disappointing compared to yesterday's Georgian House, although reflecting on how large families managed to live in tiny single rooms in these buildings was salutary.
Jeremy was keen to visit the Surgeons' Hall museum at the Royal College of Surgeons, founded in 1505, with its collection of "natural curiosities" started in 1699. It covered surgery techniques and tools, but most of the exhibit consisted of endless anatomical and pathology specimens. Jar after jar of gruesome objects, diseased or deformed. Initially interesting, soon becoming tedious, with a few down right stomach churning! I can categorically state that melanoma does seriously weird things to your liver! You are no doubt relieved that there were no photos allowed. Burke and Hare featured here too - Burke was hung and his skeleton preserved for display, and a book cover made from his skin as a lesson to others.

Easy way to Arthur's Seat (the lump) - credit: S

We took advantage of the very nice Surgeons' Hall's 1505 cafe to plan our ascent to Arthur's Seat over a coffee. This is the summit of the 250m hill just to the east of the city in Holyrood Park. I say hill, but it's craggy outcrops and the rocky lump of Arthur's seat definitely show mountain-like aspirations.

The planning made sure we went up the easy way and down the hard way, unlike all the poor Chinese tourists slogging up the steep zigzag rocky staircase! The views from the top were suitably spectacular - 360 degrees of Edinburgh and its environs. It was a shame that the weather forecasts here are lamentably inaccurate as we thought we'd saved the walk for the best day with the clearest view, but instead rain marred the distance. We could just see the Firth of Forth rail bridge, one of Scotland's engineering wonders.

Jeremy's Seat - credit: S

Jeremy discovered that he needs to practice panoramas with his new camera as the view finder view didn't match the results - we have 360 degrees of the rocks of the summit and lots of tourists, with the city and sky a tiny pale stripe at the top. Shame, as it was so windy on the top, I was too busy staying upright and away from the edge (I hate heights!) that I didn't take much either.

Salisbury Crags - Credit:S

We descended down past the Salisbury Crags where we got a great view of the castle. The predominant church spire is on a church on the Royal Mile that is one of many we saw that have been converted to other purposes, everything from theatres and youth hostels to government offices. I'm used to seeing conversions of small converted chapels/churches in rural areas, but not such a high number of large significant church buildings. We also got an aerial view of the new Scottish Parliament building, which must be an acquired taste, and Holyrood Palace, nicely traditional. The whole walk took under 2 hours, and it was great to get some real exercise.

Castle from Salisbury Crags - credit: J

The wind on the summit was actually a lovely change from the stifling closeness of the city, which was just as bad on our return as we walked back along the Royal Mile. We found ourselves outside the Crannachan and Crowdie, one of the Eat Walk morning tour stops. It sells traditional Scottish food, so bought a loaf of Brannock for breakfast on Islay.

The Last Drop - credit: S

Then a drink was in order, so we headed for The Last Drop pub in Grassmarket. This is where public executions took place, a major source of entertainment - 20000 people turned out for Burke's hanging. Legend has it The Last Drop is where the hangee was allowed a last tipple before the big event.

After a well deserved rest at the B&B, we went to a nearby pub/bistro called Teuchters for a not so cheap meal. The smoked mackerel and salmon starter was nice, but the main of sea bass and samphire (a type of seaweed by tastes more like salty beans) was disappointing. Jeremy had a flight of whiskys from lowland distilleries, one of which was recommended on output tour, but he decided it was too caramel for his taste. I had a go at a rhubarb and ginger gin - yum.

So that was Edinburgh...