EDINBURGH

We’ve had 3 nights and 2 full days in Edinburgh. It’s been a good place to let the body recover.

I can’t say enough about Scott House, the B&B we’ve stayed in. The rooms are luxurious, it’s a short walk to the Royal Mile, it’s surrounded by great restaurants and pubs, and Jemima is a great hostess. Edinburgh is a really comfortable city to be in.

The first day here we went to Edinburgh Castle. Everyone does. It’s in a prominent location overlooking the city. It’s been the subject of 26 sieges over 1100 years. It’s the most besieged place in Britain and one of the most attacked places in the world. It’s still being besieged. It’s far and away the most touristed place in Scotland, and it was chock-a-block on the cold, windy day we were there.  But worth the crowds. We were there for one of the great traditions of the castle, the one o’clock gun. Since 1861, every day at exactly 1:00, a cannon is fired from Mills Mount Battery. The purpose is to provide a common time signal to ships in Leith Harbor and in the Firth of Forth. Previous methods using visual communications were often lost in the fog. At the time the cannon was put in place, a map was developed to account for the time lag from Mills Mount to various locations within hearing distance to account for time lag due to the speed of sound.

The Royal Mile is the central thoroughfare of Edinburgh. It  really consists of 5 separate streets running linearly between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace. The stretch closest to the castle is pretty touristy, and where you can find “anything Scottish” multiple times over. One of the less touristy shops we stopped in, selling Scottish wool goods, described it this way: “There are 50 ‘Scotland’ shops in this immediate area. Forty-six of them are owned by two men in India. They have nothing that was actually made in Scotland, including the wool. The other four shops are independent, and we have only items that are not only designed in Scotland, but made here. “

We spent most of one day at the Museum of Scotland. It’s a huge place. As you might expect, it’s got a lot of relics from Scotland’s history. Even after time in the museum I wish I knew Scottish history better. The museum also has Dolly the sheep (stuffed), cloned at the University of Edinburgh twenty years ago.

Scotland loves their dogs about as much as the English, and they go everywhere with them. We saw the statue commemorating Greyfriars Bobby. As the story goes, Bobby was a Skye Terrier in 1850’s Edinburgh who guarded the grave of his master for 14 years until he himself passed away. His grave and his master’s are still commemorated by a statue, dog toys and flowers left in memory, and by a pub.

I also got to spend an hour or so in an old antique map and print shop. Lots of really great stuff. Made my day.

Food and drink have been a highlight of the Edinburgh stay. And pretty much at places within a block or so of Scott House. Our last meal there, last night was dinner at l’Escargot Bleu. It’s probably redundant to tell you it’s French. They have a pre theatre set meal that’s a great deal, in addition to being a memorable meal, including beef terrine, pigeon, asparagus soup with toasted almonds, mussels, mushrooms in garlic, Armagnac, Calvados, et al.

 Our table was in back, by the kitchen, and it was fascinating to watch the kitchen and front of the house at work. There was a little blowup once when the chef had a plate ready, rang the bell for the server, and the server didn’t show up quickly enough to suit him. The owner had to sooth some nerves.  We didn’t know until later that one well known reviewer has named l”Escargot Bleu as one of the top 5 restaurants in Scotland.  It’s going to be tough going back to pub food.

Off tomorrow to Stirling. Cheers.