Edinburgh

It was sprinkling steadily when we arrived in Edinburgh around 11 am. We stowed our bags at the train station and headed up to the castle where Rick Steves starts his tour of the Royal Mile. This is a fairly touristy road (lots of kitschy shops, guides, guys in kilts playing bagpipes) that is also rich in Scottish history. We shared Jo's phone as Steves led us downhill from the castle to the parliament building, about one mile, as well as through time.




A spot where witches were subjected to trial by water is marked with a (now non-working) drinking fountain.



Part of the sometimes goofiness of the Royal Mile are these two fun-house mirrors, which Jo couldn't resist.


This section of Edinburgh is noteworthy for its tall tenement buildings like this one. Glass was expensive at the time these were built--see the wooden shutters.




The Writer's Museum honoring Scotland's three big names: Robert Burns, Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson.


The man depicted here was sort of a split personality, a sometime good guy who was also a sometime thief. The sign shows him as good on one side, bad on the other. He is supposedly the source for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.





David Hume


A brass plate in the sidewalk marks the spot of the last public execution in Edinburgh.


All along the Royal Mile are wellheads, like the one below, which supplied drinking water at a time when buildings lacked plumbing.



Heart of Midlothian, spot of a jail and executions.


St. Giles Cathedral


John Knox, inside St. Giles



Adam Smith.


Water for horses.






Gate to the Palace of Holyrood House




The tour of the Royal Mile was a useful orientation to the center of Edinburgh if today a little on the soggy side. We were reminded of our first day in Dublin when we took a long self-guided tour there in the rain and chill.

We look forward to getting to a few of the sights tomorrow as well as Evensong at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral.

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