30th November Edinburgh to New York

This morning I woke up in Edinburgh and tonight I go to sleep in New York. I can't quite believe that I am FINALLY in America!
I woke up this morning and had my last bacon, eggs and black pudding breakfast cooked by my Aunty Marti...about 9:30am I thought it might be a good idea to actually pack! We left for the airport at 10:30. Check-in was smooth as the airport was not busy...bag only weighed 19.9kg :) ...then we went and had a coffee. Then it was time to say good-bye...which is always sad because usually we don't know when we will see each other again...but not this time, this time we know we will be seeing each other in April when Aunty Marti & Uncle Rick come to Australia! I have had a wonderful time staying with them and I can't wait till they come for their visit!!!
It was a good flight from Edinburgh to London. At London I had a 4 hour wait till my flight to New York, so I had a wander through the shops...didn't buy anything! Then I went to one of the restaurants and had a ham & cheese panini and a coffee. Andrew's suggestion of filling in time in the prayer room was a good one...but I read my book instead!!! Then my Gate number came up on the screen and it said I needed to go to the transit train to get to my gate...was not expecting that, but it was simple. Because most of my flights have been British Airways, my flights have left from Terminal 5...a relatively new terminal built for the Olympics. The flight to New York was not full but the seats next to me were occupied. I watched 'Prometheus'...2 hours of my life that I won't be getting back, 'The Five Year Engagemet'...which was OK and lastly 'The Odd Life of Timothy Green'...which was also OK. It took a bit of time getting through customs because they scan your fingertips and take a photo of your eyes. I had no touble finding the Ground Transportation desk which organised my hotel transfer. Arrived at the Holiday Inn Express and I'm staying on the 26th floor. I didn't sleep on the plane so I'm now VERY tired as my body clock is telling me that it is 5:28am! So I am off to sleep now...and looking forward to what tomorrow might bring :)

Holyrood Palace

Today we went to Holyrood Palace which is the Queen's official residence in Scotland. It is located at the opposite end of the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle. Holyrood Abbey was founded by David I, King of Scots in 1128. The name comes from a legendary vision of the cross witnessed by David I, or from a relic of the 'True Cross' known as the Holy Rood, and which had belonged to Queen Margaret, David's mother. We stood inside the ruins of this Abbey today. The chapel at Edinburgh Castle which I saw yesterday was built in Margaret's honour by David I. 

Between 1501 and 1505 James IV constructed a new palace adjacent to the abbey. The palace was built around a quadrangle, situated west of the abbey cloister. It contained a chapel, gallery, royal apartments and a great hall. Successive kings and queens have made the Palace of Holyroodhouse the premier royal residence in Scotland, although it has also had a turbulent past.

Mary Queen of Scots lived here between 1561 and until her forced abdication in 1567. She married both of her Scottish husbands in the palace: Lord Darnley in 1565 in the chapel and James Hepburn the 4th Earl of Bothwell in 1567 in the great hall. It was in her own apartments that she witnessed the murder of David Rizzio, her private secretary on 9th March 1566. Mary, Rizzio and some of her ladies were having supper in her apartments when Darnley and some others entered the Queen's apartment via the private stair from Darnley's bedroom downstairs. They burst in on the Queen and Rizzio was dragged through the bedchamber into the outer chamber while Mary was held at gunpoint. Rizzio was then stabbed 56 times! In February 1567 Darnley house was destroyed by an explosion and he was found murdered in the garden. Thirteen weeks after Darnley's death, Mary married Bothwell.

James VI (Mary's son) took up residence at Holyrood in 1579 at the age of 13 years. When James became King of England in 1603 and moved to London, the palace was no longer the seat of a permanent royal court. Since then the palace has had periods of renovation and periods where parts of the palce were torn down, for example by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers when parts of the palace were destroyed or used as barracks.

Today, the Palace is the setting for State ceremonies and official entertaining. During the Queen's Holyrood week (end of June to beginning of July) she carries out a wide range of official engagements in Scotland. Some of these duties include Investitures where people recieve awards and she also hosts a garden party. Her grandaughter Zara Phillips held her wedding reception here in 2011 and after we finished at the palce we walked past Canongate Kirk, the Church where the wedding took place.

Tonight is my last night in Scotland and I am very sad to leave!!! Since it was my last night we went to the Melville Inn and had a beautiful dinner. I have had a wonderful time staying with my Aunty and Uncle and they have really looked after me...I can't wait till they come to Australia in April! Tomorrow I say farewell to Scotland and the US part of my adventure begins...Tomorrow night I will be in New York!

28th November Edinburgh Castle

Today we caught the bus back into town and went to Edinburgh Castle. The Castle was built in a strategic position which commands views over many kilometres. A fortification of some kind stood here for about 3000 years. The craggy rock that it is built on (an extinct volcano) provides a dramatic natural defence which is almost impregnable. From the Argyle Battery we had views across Prnces Street and the New Town. It was a beautiful clear day...with a crisp chill in the air (but I have a puffy coat)...and we had great views of the Firth of Forth. 

The first place we went to look at was St Margaret's Chapel which was built in 1130 and is the oldest building in Edinburgh. Margaret was born around 1045 into the Royal family of England. After the Norman invasion of 1066 she fled to the court of Malcolm III of Scotland where they soon fell in love and were married. In 1093 Malcolm and his eldest son Edward were killed in an ambush. Margaret on hearing the news took to her bed in Edinburgh castle and died of a broken heart...how sad! Her youngest son King David I built the chapel and in 1250 Margaret was canonised as St Margaret of Scotland for her many acts of piety and charity in her adopted country. The chapel is very small and it had some lovely stained glass windows, one of which was St Ninian...my Grandad's name. Because my Uncle Rick was in the Royal Scots Guards he and aunty Marti could have got married in this chapel...they didn't though because it is so small. 

Just outside the chapel is Mons Meg, one of the worlds's oldest cannons. It is one of two giant siege guns given to James II of Scotland in 1457. It was built at Mons in Belgium and weighs 6000kg and fired 150kg stone cannonballs!

Then we went to look in the Scottish National War Memorial which is a memorial for the Scots who died in both World Wars and later campaigns. It is on the site of St Mary's church which was built in medeival times. It was converted to a munitions house in 1540 and later demolished in 1755 to make way for a new barracks, which is the shell of the building today. Inside the building are vivid stained-glass windows and bronze friezes which show scenes from the war.

By this time it was ten to one and almost time for the one o'clock gun. The One o'clock gun has been fired almost everyday since 1861 when it was a time signal for the ships in the Firth of Forth and the port of Leith. The gun was originally a 64-pounder cannon mounted on the Half-Moon Battery. It is now a 105mm field gun, fired manually by the District Gunner from the Mills Mount Battery. Although I was ready for it I still jumped out of my skin when it went off! I did manage to capture the puff of smoke on camera though which I was happy about.

We then went back to see the Great Hall which was commissioned by James IV and completed in 1511. The greatest state occasion held here was a banquet in honour of Charles I, the night before his coronation as King of Scots in June 1633. Oliver Cromwell turned the Great Hall into a barracks in 1650 because he was determined to wipe out any trace of royalty. It was restored in the 1880's during the reign of Queen Victoria. There are amazing displays of armour in the Great Hall and some very large swords that I can only imagine would be very heavy to weild! 

Then it was off to see a wonderful display of the Crown Jewels of Scotland. These precious symbols of the ancient kingdom are displayed in the Crown Room of the castle's Royal Palace. Before you see the crown, septre and sword you get to see models and displays which show the history of the line of Kings and Queens of Scotland. The sceptre was presented to James IV in 1494, they think by Pope Alexander VI and the Sword in 1508 by Pope Julius II. The crown was made in Edinburgh in 1540 when the gold from the old crown was melted down and more Scottish gold and precious gemstones were added. The crown was worn for the first time by James V at the coronation of his second queen, Marie de Guise. The crown, sceptre and sword were first used together at the coronation of Mary Queen of Scots in Stirling Castle on 9 September 1543...she was 9 months old at the time and cried throughout the ceremony. The honours have been buried three times to protect them, twice in the 1650's to hide them from Oliver Cromwell and then during the Second World War in case of a Nazi invasion. 

We then saw the part of the Royal Palace where Scotland's kings and queens lived although it was not very comfortable and the royal family actually preferred Holyrood Abbey at the other end of the Royal Mile. Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to her only child, James, in June 1566 here. He was born in a cramped closet next to Mary's bedchamber. James later became King James VI of Scotland and King James I of England in 1603. We then went to the shop...and I found a Mary Queen of Scots Christmas decoration...and a thistle...and a highland dancer!

Next we went to see the Prisoner of War exhibit and it was excellent. Over the centuries Edinburgh Castle was used to hold state prisoners but in medieval times it did also hold common criminals who were thrown into dungeons beneath the castle. These criminals included enemy soldiers, sailors, pirates, traitors and women accused of witchcraft. During the 16th century Public executions - hanging, beheading, burning- of many of these people were carried out on Castle Hill. We also saw where foreign prisoners of war were kept at the Castle during the Seven Years War (1756-63), the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) and the American War of Independence (1775-83). Some of these prisoners were very creative and the exhibition displayed some of their work which included a scale model of a warship, forged banknotes and some amazing jewel boxes made of woven straw. We also saw some very old wooden doors where many prisoners had carved their names and pictures...something like the carvings in the Tower of London. We then went and got coffee, tea and cake in one of the Cafes.

Revitalised, we then went and looked through the National War Museum which explores more than 400 years of Scottish military history. There is a great displays of weapons and regalia as well as many personal possessions and letters sent home by Scottish soldiers serving overseas. I was able to learn a little more about The Royal Scots too...my Uncles regiment...the oldest Infantry Regiment of the Line which was formed in 1633 when Sir John Hepburn under a Royal Warrant given by King Charles I raised a body of men in Scotland for service in France. 

Time seemed to fly by today and before we knew it it was getting dark, so we headed for the bus and home. Tonight I also managed to get some Christmas cards written! Another great day in beautiful Edinburgh!

27th November Edinburgh:Mary King's Close

Today we caught the number 29 bus from Newtongrange into Edinburgh because we had booked the 'Gold Experience' at Mary King's Close. Edinburgh is built on a spine of rock and down the backbone of the Old Town, from the Castle to Holyrood, runs the slope of the Royal Mile. The Old Town of Edinburgh consisted originally of the Royal Mile and the small streets and courtyards that led off it to the north and south. Generically these are called "closes" or "wynds", Scottish words for alleyways and most sloped steeply down from the Royal Mile. Closes were named after the most prominent citizen or most commonly found business to be on the close. Documents show that Mary King was a prominent businesswoman in the 1630's. At that time she was a widow and a mother of four, who traded in fabrics and sewed for a living. It was unusual for a close to be named after a woman at that time, which indicates Mary's standing in the town. Mary King's Close was partially demolished and buried under the Royal Exchange and because it had been closed to the public, tales of ghosts and murders and myths of plague victims being walled up and left to die emerged. New research and archaeological evidence has revealed that the close actually consisted of a number of closes which were originally narrow streets with tenement houses on either side, stretching up 14 stories high. Our 'Gold Experience' took us on an underground tour of the historic Real Mary King's Close where we learnt about the inhabitants of the close throughout its history, including the residents who got the plague and died. We also visited the room where the ghost of 'Annie' is supposed to reside. Years ago when a Japanese psychic visited the close she apparently felt sadness as she entered one of the rooms and wanted to leave. As she left she felt a tug at her leg and she said it was the ghost of a child called Annie who had been left there and she had lost her doll. The psychic went upstairs and bought Annie a doll, returned to the room and left it there, and then immediately felt happiness. Ever since then people have been bringing toys to leave for Annie or have donated money which is then donated to the Sick Kids Friends Foundation. After the underground tour we had a hot chocolate before heading off with the next guide who took us up the Royal Mile and we learnt more about the history of the Old Town. We got to walk down a number of 'closes' that exist today and she pointed out some of the interesting happenings...and executions...that happened on the Royal Mile which today are marked by gold bricks on the road. It was a great tour and I noticed so much more about the Royal Mile after the tour...a must do while you're in Edinburgh. We caught the bus home...which seemed to take a while tonight...and I had a 'Haggis Supper' for dinner...might as well get it while I can!!!!

26th November Newtongrange

This morning Raymond rang and asked if we could pick up Emily from school, so we decided to go to the Scottish Mining Museum as it was close to home...a hop, skip and a jump actually. When we arrived they were about to start a guided tour so we decided to do that first and visit the exhibits later. The Scottish Mining Museum is located at the Lady Victoria Colliery in Newtongrange...but I like to refer to it as my Grandad's mine because it was here that he was the safety officer for about 20 years until he retired. He had started mining though when he was 14 years old at the Douglas Colliery in Riggside and at one stage while there he was the youngest safety officer in all of Scotland! The Lady Victoria Colliery was opened in 1895 as Scotland's first super-pit and it ceased operation in 1981. It is now the home of the National Mining Museum of Scotland where they have tried to preserve the Tippler Floor, Picking Tables, Elevator Shed and brick-vaulted Undercroft for generations of people who have no live connection or understanding of mineworking. The museum captures the developments in mining over generations and they have the most powerful steam winding engine in Scotland and the most extensive preserved suite of Lancashire Boilers in the UK. The museum exhibits contain lots of information and photographs that include underground scenes, surface images, miners at work and play, gala days and village scenes. It was not an easy life down in those mines...I certainly would not have liked it...but generations of my family did it. I love visiting here because this is my families story...this is my history! While we were there Raymond rang to say he could pick up Emily from school, so we decided to meet them at Frankie and Benny's for dinner. Frankie and Benny's is a chain of Italian-American restaurants here in the UK. They serve things like pizza, pasta, burgers etc...something like Outback Steakhouse or Hogs Breath combined with a Panarotti's I guess. The food was good and it was nice to catch up with Raymond, Maxine and Emily before I head off on Friday...time is flying!!!