2023 Scotland Day 10: Real Mary King's Close, National Gallery, and Holyroodhouse Palace

Up early for our “9AM” booking at Real Mary King’s Close, a quick 3-4 minute walk from our hotel (LOVE this location)! We went downstairs to the Inn’s restaurant to get them to order up a taxi to take us to EDI airport tomorrow for our 7A flight to LHR. I figured we’d want a 5A pickup, but the desk clerk, clearly trying to ensure there was zero risk of any delay that they might be blamed for, strongly pushed for 4A pickup. Although this was too early…we did it, because we’re us.

Ruminated on how much tomorrow morning will suck while we had our “toast”. I say that because when they finally brought it – after about 15 minutes in a restaurant where we’re the only folks – it is some kind of strange brown bread, alongside a croissant. Turns out that white bread is ANOTHER delivery they haven’t received, so they gave us the toast and croissant on the house. Both very kind and very strange. Wondering if the issues are in any way related to supply chain/Brexit issues?

Anyway, walked the 3 minute walk to our “9AM” booking, arriving “10 minutes” early at 840A because, well, we’re us. Doors closed. Closed. Closed. At 905 I look at our tickets, which are for the 930A tour. Still the first tour of the day, but somehow I’ve mis-remembered the time because, well, I’m me. Anyway, we finally report at 920A for our 930A tour and are soon formed into our group by a tour person in a small room where we see a short health and safety video. As the video ends, our costumed tour guide bursts through the door, introducing himself as "Stephen Boyd", a real historical person who lived on Mary King’s Close in the 1600s, and we’re off.

The tour is surprisingly good, informative, and entertaining. There’s a bit of multimedia stuff midway, where our tour guide is interrupted by three characters projected on the wall who interact with each other. There’s very little sensationalizing of things and they stick to the facts. Their telling of the Mary Queen of Scots/Lord Darnley/Murder of Mary’s secretary hints – probably pretty accurately – at potential homosexual relationship between Darnley and the secretary. We succumb to gift shop attractions and purchase our photo (in a fridge magnet format) along with a woolen scarf (me) and earrings (E).  

There were no photos allowed on the tour itself, so I had to content myself with pictures of some of the foods on sale in the gift shop:

From here, we hike back to up Edinburgh Castle with the intent of touring the outside parts of the castle without a ticket, having determined that a ticket for today can only be bought for times after 130P, which we deem too late to do us any good if we keep to our plan to use our pre-purchased Holyrood tickets, too. However, upon arrival at the Castle it turns out that we can’t go through the Castle gates w/o a ticket, so the entire site is off-limits to us. I thought that only entry into the Castle building itself required a ticket, but no matter.

The Highland Tollboth Kirk (Church), now renamed The Hub.  We could hear church bells from our hotel room on the hour - I THINK they came from here, although perhaps they came from St Giles?

There were two people showing off small owls on the street on the way back to Edinburgh Castle.  I frankly have no idea why they were there.

Although we didn't have tickets to get in, I got close enough to avoid any of the construction cranes spoiling the shot of the castle.

A closeup of the entrance to Edinburgh Castle.  That's Robert the Bruce to the left and William Wallace to the right.

Instead, we hike down the steep hill to the National Gallery, where the main exhibit on the 3rd floor is of Old Master type stuff across approximately 18 rooms (most are double rooms, however, so there’s really about 9-11 rooms). We play the “you have to pick one which will be placed in our living room” game which makes the experience MUCH more entertaining for both of us. As usual, our tastes align for the most part. Though we don’t often both pick the same painting as our first choice, I don’t think there’s a single room where my #1 wasn’t E’s #2 and vice versa.

A view of the Princes Street area as we begin our walk to the National Gallery.  The Scott Monument towers to the left and the Balmoral Hotel's clock to the right.

Looking back up the hill from the vicinity of the National Gallery we can see Edinburgh Castle

Exiting the museum we quickly knew that we were NOT going to hike back up to the Royal Mile along the same path we had come down. Instead, we were going to walk a mile down (flat) Princes Street, knowing that the Royal Mile was also descending down and when we (eventually) cut back over to Holyrood Palace we’d still be walking a flat path. First, however, we checked Google Maps for a quick lunch spot and settled on the convenience (and known reasonable portion size) of a Pret a Manger for a couple of sandwiches.

Relaxing outside the National Gallery before making the walk to lunch

A panorama from the National Gallery.  The Scott Memorial and Princes Street is on e the left, the middle of the Royal Mile in in the area behind the green-domed Museum on the Mound, and Tollbooth Kirk is just behind the Gallery buildings in the foreground on the right.

The Scott Monument.  We were so focused on picking our way through the crowded bus stops that line Princes Street as we walked down to Waverley Station that we passed right by the monument without noticing it.  We were 30' beyond it when I happened to turn around and go "huh!"

A nice view of Edinburgh Castle from somewhere along Princes Street

Man at work

Hunger tided over, we made the walk over to Holyrood House where our pre-purchased tickets were quickly scanned and we were given headphones and a player that provided a nice little audio tour through about 25 places in and around the house. Several of the narrations were by various Royals commenting about their particular affinity for Holyrood as being a house that is more inviting and comfy than many of the places they might otherwise stay (and I can definitely agree that Holyrood, while still very large, didn’t have the overwhelming and cold proportions of a Chatsworth or some of the other ridiculously huge places we’ve seen before). Overall, a better experience than expected.

In the courtyard outside Holyroodhouse Palace

Just inside the gates of Holyroodhouse itself.  Once we got inside the buildings we weren't allowed to take pictures.

At this point we'd taken the guided interior tour (and enjoyed the interiors very much) and now we're heading over to see the ruins of Holyrood Abbey, built immediately abutting the house.  That's house wall on the right side of the photo.

Abbey ruins.  You can just see scaffolding in the upper left of the photo.  About 1/2 of the nave was blocked off by construction, blunting the impact of the ruins while we were there.  Of course, having already seen working cathedrals at York and Durham and prodigious ruins at Fountains Abbey we were unlikely to be impressed by these ruins anyway.

The audio self-guided tour next took us along a path through the gardens surrounding Holyroodhouse

I don't recall if there was a description of this section, but I assume these were the remains of walls from the monastic days

From behind the house there was a really nice view of Holyrood Park and Arthur's Seat.

Zooming in, we could see hikers who'd make the trek to the vista point at the top of Arthur's Seat.

As we were prepping to leave Holyroodhouse Palace to head back to the hotel I grabbed a one more shot of the front side of the place.

A bit of closeup detail of the carvings at the front entry...

...as well as some details of the fountain.  I was going to get more closeups but after taking this shot my phone's battery was completely exhausted and shut down!

We (slowly) hiked back up to the hotel, arriving around 3P, feeling tired out by our walking over the last several days. So we grabbed a couple of hours of rest and relaxation in our room (where I am writing this now) before heading out to Howies Restaurant for our early (and final) dinner of vacation. But before that happened we enjoyed another busker outside our window. Last afternoon we had a piper playing diagonally across from us, but today it was a proto-Jimi Hendrix with his electric guitar. Like last night’s piper he’s got a beautiful afternoon to play with.

And that brings me to the weather – or the weather forecast, more to the point. Pre-trip we’d been paying a lot of attention to the weather reports, and quickly discovered that they were close to useless. When waking up each day we’d check the local weather report and, for the most part, they were almost completely useless. At 8AM today, Edinburgh report said that we’d have rain until noon and then it would clear up. Well, although there was a mist from 840-900A while we were waiting outside Mary King’s Close, there was NEVER a real rain…and by 900A all moisture seemed to disappear. So the bottom line is that UK weather reports are NOT to be trusted. You have to dress in layers and ASSUME the weather will suck, but even when bad weather was forecast we generally didn’t experience it (thankfully). All things considered, we’ve had extremely good weather for touring – not very cold, and what “rain” we’ve had has mostly been a mild damp and never anything that we’d honestly call “rain” (other than a couple of mornings where, during our driving, we had real rain).

We had a 545P at Howies, which is (I think) a semi-institution here. If it is, we wonder why? This was a flat out bad meal. They seemed to be focused on turning over the tables as rapidly as possible rather than serving good food. Things were not helped by the fact that our waiter failed/forgot to enter E’s pre-dinner salad order, only explaining that after he picked up my soup (Cullen skink, which was reasonably good) and her salad silverware, and then he also got my meat temp wrong. I ordered medium-rare but he put medium. As a result, my steak was overcooked and poorly seasoned. I’d decided at the last second to order it with a peppercorn sauce which turned out to be a brown gravy. Fortunately it was served on the side, but I was using it to try to provide some moisture to the steak. We tried their sticky toffee pudding for dessert and the difference between the version we had in York vs Howies was night and day. Howies’ was glutenous, slightly burnt (which could, perhaps, be simply a style that is considered in the realm of normal) and a disappointment. Too bad it was our last meal here, because it really wasn’t a good food note to end on.

On the walk back to the hotel the street just outside our side window was closed off by police and we could see lots of blue flashing lights at the other end of the block from an apparent traffic accident. Didn’t directly impact us but hopefully not as serious as it seemed. Once in the room we turned on DAVE TV, which has been our nightly staple on this trip (and to some extent our 2013 trip with the boys) and enjoyed the various shows, most notably “Would I Lie to You?” and, of course, QI.

Sadly, packing had to commence, since we were getting up at 3A the next morning in order to get ready for our 4A taxi to the airport and the trip home.

Read More

2023 England and Edinburgh Day 9: The Royal Mile Sights and Shopping

Up at 8A and breakfast around the corner at City Cafe when they opened at 9A. City Diner-esque in décor and menu. Meh. But did get us back onto the Royal Mile quickly where we hoofed up to the Castle Esplanade (in light misting rain) to begin our travels. At the Esplanade there were a couple of giant cranes at work dismantling huge temporary grandstands left over from the prior month's Edinburgh Festival. These would have been used for folks to view the nightly military tattoo. For use, however, they do little other than spoil of views, unfortunately.

The Castle Esplanade, complete with an eyesore of a construction crane impeding our view of the castle.

We ended up buying a cheap umbrella immediately, mostly with intent to shield the script we were using for our walk down the Royal Mile.  The script was the mash-up I'd created of the Rick Steves narration and the local "Close Encounters" narration.  Of course, after 10 minutes of use the rain – which the 8A weather report said would continue until noon – stopped entirely for the rest of the day.  Anyway, made our way down the RM, which stops at Camera Obscura and St Giles Cathedral before lunch (at Café Edinburgh) for too much food around 1230P.  

The Camera Obscura museum is a bit pricey, but they do have a lot of interesting stuff across the six floors, including (of course), the actual camera obscura that allows viewing of Edinburgh via their rooftop mirror.  Lots of interesting exhibits of optical illusions.

Aaaargh!!!

The upper half of the Royal Mile is packed with kitsch.  There's tartan shops and whiski bars and souvenir shops and, of course, busking bagpipers.  As Rick Steves points out, so much of what is on display on the Royal Mile isn't really about Edinburgh itself, but about Scottish culture, imported into Edinburgh to be put on display for the benefit of tourists.

The statue of David Hume, with his shiny foot.  Legend says that rubbing his foot brings good luck.  It seemed to bring mostly tourists there to take picture of themselves rubbing the foot.

St Giles Cathedral, where John Knox preached and where English Catholicism morphed into Scottish Presbyterianism during the Reformation.  We entered about 12 minutes before the noon service, so hustled through without benefit of any decent information to guide our lap around the church. 

Statue of John Knox

Post lunch we did the lower half of the RM, stopping at Museum of Edinburgh and Museum of Childhood (free entry, and definitely priced right.  Not awful, but wouldn’t have been worth any kind of entry fee, either).  We also did all our Scotland shopping here, buying socks for the kids (at Soctopis), our traditional travel Christmas ornament at Ye Olde Christmas Shop, a shirt for me and scarves for E and a friend from a random gift shop.  We also stopped at a fudge shop and bought a (giant) slice of Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt fudge for later.

The lower half of the Royal Mile is definitely different than the upper half.  The upper half is much more vibrant and welcoming, even if much of it is touristy.  The lower half is much less dense in attractions and has much tattier shops.  It looks to me like the lower half also has a lot more residential stuff (apartments).  For the most part, most of the lower half seems like stuff you simply will pass by on your way to Holyroodhouse.

This view on the Royal Mile, looking down Cranston Street, reveals portions of the the cemetery on Calton Hill.  The Obelisque (on the left) called Martyrs Monument remembers 18th century Scottish Patriots exiled for their politics by London's dangerous ruffians like those who founded Australia.  The big turreted building in the center was the jail master’s house.  Today, the main reason to go up Calton Hill is for the fine views.  

During our exploration of the lower half of the Royal Mile we came across this Close.  Clearly, this was a highlight for me.

The new parliament building

Interesting note: down at the end near the parliament building was a street sign saying something like “Can you spot our undercover officers?”  It was for the police and also said something along the lines of “a security action could start at any time”.  I guess it was supposed to make us feel safe, but both of us had the same “holy shit – what happens around this place that this kind of thing is needed?” moment

Got back to the hotel around 345P, tired and with sore feet and backs.  As I type this up, sounds of a piper are wafting up from the street – now sunny and blue sky outside, of course.  We’re heading for dinner at La Locanda on Cockburn Street for a 630P reservation.  Also made reservation for tomorrow night’s dinner at Howie’s (on Victoria Street).  They only had openings at 545P and 730P, and since dinner is blocked for 2 hours of service (i.e. could be slow) we decided to take 545P and end our night earlier, given that we have to catch a cab early (i.e. around 5A) the next day.

Dinner was at La Locanda, a small (10 tables?) Italian restaurant on Cockburn (“Coburn”) street about 3 minutes away from The Inn.  Delicious!  I had a spicy mussel soup starter with the BEST mussels I’ve ever had, while E had a salad.  For the main, I had lasagna and she had pappardelle in a meat ragu.  Again, both excellent.  We were too stuffed to have dessert – plus, of course, we had a giant slice of fudge back in our room.  So we stepped out of the restaurant around 745P where the weather was a very pleasant balmy temp and walked back to the hotel. 

Looking towards the west (Castle) end of the Royal Mile around 830P

Read More

2023 England and Edinburgh Day 8: Alnwick Castle and Finishing the Drive to Edinburgh

The Cookie Jar's Bistro was the site for our quiet breakfast room, where we both enjoyed a continental breakfast (as we still didn't have much appetite for a hot breakfast) Corn flakes and toast for me, fruit, yogurt, and toast for E. Nice char on the toast – well done, English!

Alnwick Castle surprisingly wonderful. Arrived as gates were opening at 10A (making the long 100 ft? walk from our hotel). Quick detour to wrong area – the kids section devoted to living Harry Potter-ish adventures, since Alnwick featured in HP 1 and 2 – then finally found the inner bailey where we met the 1030A history tour. Very interesting! Landscape by Capability Brown incredible to see (and to think about the “making of” too). Post-tour we took in several other parts of the castle, including the public rooms of the Percy family home, the wall walk, and a couple of the towers. Had lunch there, where they had both a generic café as well as a fryery.

Statue of Harry Hotspur, who was (probably) born at Alwnick Castle. An heir of the powerful Percy family, he supported the usurper Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV) before rebelling and ultimately being killed by Henry V.

A view of Alwnick Castle from the Outer Bailey.  In the original design, the mound that the castle sits on would have been more obvious, for it would have been surrounded by a deep and steep dry moat filled with (among other things) stakes and other obstacles.

Walls around the Outer Bailey.  The Abbot's Tower, nestled in the corner, is now the Museum of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.

Many of the tower battlements have statues on them.  They are unusual in the fact that each statue is unique and performing an action that would have been appropriate for a castle inhabitant.

The entrance to the residence off the Inner Bailey.  We met our guide here for our tour of the exterior of the tower.  Following the tour we went inside, where no cameras could be used, to see where the Percy family lived (and still lives).

Around the top of the towers are both more statues and, under the battlements, coats of arms.  Essentially, those shields represented both Percy allies plus those they had defeated.  They were declaring to all comers the scope of their power by displaying these.  The shield between the two towers is the royal coat of arms, showing yet another powerful ally (when they weren't in rebellion, of course).

A picture from the river side of the castle.  The river was moved away from the castle around the 1780s by Capability Brown, but prior to that was much closer - perhaps near the foreground wall.  As such, it would have represented yet another formidable obstacle to anyone trying to capture the castle.  Although the castle changed hands several time in history, it was never taken by force.

The nine half-round towers were a later addition to the castle and increased its defensive capabilities because the rounded projections would have increased fields of fire for archers.

In the late 1700s the landscape architect Capability Brown completely changed the surroundings.  Dozens (hundreds?) of small patchwork farms would removed, the land leveled off (or hills created for landscaping purposes), the river moved, and every tree carefully planted with an eye to creating viewing lanes or blocking views.  Everything in this shot, back to the horizon, was part of Brown's work.

I believe this was a photo showing a later, Victorian-era addition, which included a library on the second floor.

A view of the main castle taken from the Wall Walk along the Inner Bailey.  The lower green area in the right foreground would have once been the home of the castle kitchens - the black streaks running up the walks are remnants of smoke from the kitchen fires.

A broader view of the Inner Bailey.  On this particular day we could have spoken to some of the construction/renovation experts at the popup tents.  In original use, this whole area would have been used as a field for military drill, plus it would have house a market and lots of bustling activities where the peasants would have taken part in castle life.

Decided that Alnwick Gardens would be lost on us, and the Bailiffgate Museum, immediately next door to the hotel (aka 40 feet from our car) didn’t hold any interest, so we got a headstart of our trip to Edinburgh. Debated whether we’d have enough gas to get there (we did). Journey took about 100 minutes, and we pulled into town during a light rain which had visibility at “early dusk” levels. Managed to not get flummoxed by Waze directions – which was good as driving to Waverley means driving on and around the Royal Mile and there was a LOT of road construction happening, including a detour around the street we were supposed to use. Had we missed one of the turns it would have meant a lot of extra work.

Finally got into New St Car Park/Rental Car Return and dropped car off w/o fuss. We apparently had 1/16th of a tank left – which was probably still good for another 30 miles or so. Rolled our suitcases up a couple of blocks and arrived at The Inn on the Mile. Room is nice, although not as luxurious as The Cookie Jar nor as warm as the Radisson York – but still nice.

When I booked the room I'd had a "treat yo-self" moment and purchased this bottle of Prosecco along with some chocolate cookies.  Both were waiting for us in our room when we arrived.

Our bedroom.  Those two windows looked out directly onto Lawnmarket AKA The Royal Mile.  As we were on the corner there was another window behind me looking out on South Bridge Road.

The bathroom.  Sadly, couldn't figure out how to get the towel warming rack to work!

The view immediately outside our window

We relaxed in the room before heading downstairs to their restaurant, which I’d booked the night before. We kinda snuck into the booking as most of the restaurant was booked for a group of tourists around about 7P – but we scheduled for 630P (and went down at 620P in case we wanted to duck out before tourists descended). I’d book here because a) I figured we might not want to tramp up/down the mile our first night and b) the Inn had a true Sunday Roast, and I wanted my Yorkshire Pudding. So I was crushed when they started off telling us all the things they were out of, which included the Yorkshire Pudding and all red wines by the glass. Sigh. So I ended up with a burger (boring) and Eileen with their Meat Pie of the Day (sans top crust, which they were also out of)!

Read More