Day 3- Edinburgh- 11 May 2009

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Click on the pictures to enlarge. To go in chronological order, click to the right on Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and so on.

More of Edinburgh. I love this town. Everyone is super nice.

We toured Edinburgh Castle. It was amazing.

Fired everyday, except Sundays, at One O'Clock, the First gun was fired in 1861 to provide an audible time signal for ships in the Port of Leith. Why One O'Clock and not Noon? They had to fire it off eleven less times a day.

Here are some pictures from Saint Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh Castle.




A cannon aims at Sir Walter Scott's Memorial.

Leaving Edinburgh Castle. A statue of Robert the Bruce is on the left and one of William Wallace on the right.





This is the birth place of Alexander Graham Bell. You know, the guy that invented the telephone.

We toured the Georgian House but, once again, photography was not allowed. Doh!!! Everyone in our group finished touring the house and only Dani and I were left. We decided to see Edinburgh for ourselves and got a hot dog from a hot dog stand that was amazing. My stomach is growling as we speak. After our hot dog we went to the Sir Walter Scott's Memorial.

We had to climb it, of course.
That's me with old Edinburgh in the background.
Views from the top




Dr. Woods, Cindy, and Alexander. Obviously, it was chilly.

Later that night, we took the Auld Reekie Ghost Tour of the Haunted Underground of Edinburgh. Here is our guide, whatsername. It was very entertaining. After the tour, more walking in Edinburgh.


The World's End Pub

"The World's End" sounds the sort of whimsical name a national pub chain might have come up with. The truth is very different. At the Battle of Flodden, near Coldstream, in 1513 King James IV and most of the Scottish nobility of the day were killed by the English (see our Historical Timeline). Scotland lay defenceless and the citizens of Edinburgh rapidly built a stone wall around the city to protect it, the Flodden Wall.

Parts of the wall can still be seen, and its course ran along the west side of St Mary's Street underneath where the World's End is now built (the pub reuses the foundations of the wall). The main gate on this side of the city was on High Street here, and its outline is marked in the street by brass coloured cobbles.

The wall proved pretty useless when Henry VIII's forces invaded in 1544, but it did very clearly mark the outer limit of what was considered to be Edinburgh at the time. This, then, was the point at which the world ended and Edinburgh began. Hence "The World's End".

Everyone in Scotland drinks, I think. Do you know how they say goodbye on the phone over here? They say Cheers!!! After a few more drinks, it's time for bed.