This morning we started at the Scottish National Museum, headed on to Edinburgh Castle, and then did a bit of strolling and shopping and eating before returning to our accommodation in the suburbs. It was a fun-filled, knowledge-packed day. Man, the Scottish Museum is epic: perhaps it doesn't have the same scale as the British Museum, but full of great pieces on technology, sailing, and the history of Scotland from prehistory to the present. We only spent a few hours here because we quickly became tired from all of the knowledge we were absorbing (well, I did at least; Mom was as usual still a powerhouse), but it's a place we would like to visit again for sure.
The main hall is beautifully designed
We saw the room on natural history, full of fossils and life-size models of different animals. There was a giant sloth that was several meters tall and had the largest Calcaneus I have ever seen (or ever expect to see), and some fascinating information on marsupials and other animals. I saw a flying squirrel the size of a serving platter and of course a fossilized T. Rex.
Those arms have to be vestigial, they are utterly useless
There were lots of interesting sections on technology and cultural history, and one wall full of different items with an interactive display.
Dad, this is your new Saturn V project.
After a snack at the cafe, we went on to Edinburgh Castle. We weren't sure how to get there from the museum but through an unusually lucky turn of events we walked in the right direction and found ourselves on the Royal Mile right before we decided to ask for directions. Then it was a simple matter of turning left and going to the end.
When we arrived, we took a short tour that told us about all of the different places to visit (there are several museums dedicated to various aspects of life in the Castle since it was constructed--most were about the military, unsurprisingly), as well as providing a bit of history and color to the castle. Afterwards, we toured the royal building which houses the Crown Jewels (we weren't allowed to take pictures but they were quite impressive, a nice big crown and a sceptre and a sword and scabbard, as well as the Stone of Destiny, a big rectangular rock upon which all of the kings of Scotland were crowned until the English stole it upwards of a thousand years ago--Queen Elizabeth II recently gave it back under the condition that when a king of England must be crowned it has to travel back to London for five days). Apparently when the Crown Jewels were rescued from the chest they had been stored in for safekeeping, a crystal wand was found with them. Nobody knows what its purpose is or why it was there.
After that we wandered around a bit, saw the giant cannon called Mons Meg (it fired big balls of granite twenty inches in diameter to a distance of a couple of miles back in the day when the castle was occasionally under siege) and the One O'Clock Gun (much less impressive, it was fired at one o'clock every afternoon to keep everyone's clocks synchronized for the shipping trade) and St Margaret's Chapel, which is the smallest one I have ever seen (although I'm not a church connoisseur); it apparently houses a maximum of 24 people and is frequently used for intimate weddings.
Mons Meg
The Great Hall had really neat ceiling work, not to mention an impressive collection of arms and armor and a knowledgeable staff member who told us all about how the Highlanders fought (one-handed sword in right hand, spiky shield and dagger held in left so the dagger stuck out from behind the shield a bit--truly formidable)
Looking back on the castle later that evening. It has never been taken by force, only by siege (the longest lasted three years)
We wandered a streets a bit, reaching the edge of New Town (a relative term, it's Georgian so about as old as anything gets in the US) and seeing some lovely old neighborhoods such as the Royal Circus before turning back, doing a bit of shopping (I broke down and bought a tartan scarf, suppposedly of the antique Clan Buchanan design), and taking the bus home. We caught a bit of the sunset, which was absolutely lovely, and then turned in for the night (if the sun is down it's probably at least ten thirty, these northern latitudes confuse a person).
Well, nothing too stellar but the first actual sunset in quite a while now, it's usually just cloudy
Then we had a light dinner (lunch was late) and toddled off to bed before tomorrow's big flight to Shannon. Erin go bragh, everyone!
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