The Royal Mile (Day #2)

Just a regular start to the morning- if your regular start is waking up, not quite remembering where you are, not knowing the source of an extremely loud blaring or the red lights flashing...Oh, it's the fire alarm! I wonder if it's for real?

No joke.

I opened my room door- didn't see a soul out there.

Tried calling the front desk- no answer.

Started to get dressed because I knew it was super cold out there. Then I realized that I needed my contacts in since I didn't pack my glasses. Something like 5 minutes later I was finally out my door ready to face the day should I have been kept out of my room for some time. As I walked by the man in a robe waiting for the elevator (yep, during a fire alarm) mumblings from other guests were pretty much the same as those floating in my head: How did I have time to get dressed and this guy is still in his robe? Shouldn't there be some kind of loud speaker announcement?If this is real why isn't there a fire truck?

Queue flashing lights, siren, and fire truck.

I still don't know the reason of the alarm; no one seemed to want to inform us guests but as we filed back into the hotel I was reminded that we were an hour behind Italy and that I have a major issue with time changes. Two plus hours of news, music videos, and ESPN later plus a 30 minute nap I started my day- with tea (hey, when in the UK) and cookies.

Our second start to the day took us up the hill to the Edinbugh Castle. There we froze in the drizzling fog and strong wind as we were lead around the various building atop the hill. Eager to get inside, despite a glimps of blue sky, we visited the gem room and the room where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James, the future King of both Scotland and England.

At 1 o'clock we naturally lined up with all the other guests to watch the 1 O'clock Gun be fired. The tradition dates back to 1861 when it was established to serve as a time signal to boats in the Firth of Forth (the water way). After the shot was fired, and our spot of tea consumed, we headed back over the dry ditch and walked along the Royal Mile. Destination? The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Distance? You guessed it, 1 mile away.



Once arriving to the Palace, we walked around the perimeter but all agreed we were castled out. So, in true Katie touring fashion, we walked towards the grass covered extinct volcano we had spied on from the hill the day prior. With the sun peaking out from behind the clouds we sat in the park area for a while and watched the most adorable dog splash in the fountain until we declared it time to walk back up to the castle and find ourselves a pint of beer.

Destination Ed-in-burrrr-aah

I mean why not? Nessie. Kilts. Bagpipes. Braveheart. That's pretty much how my brain processed Scotland whenever it came up in conversation. Well, used to. I now can add several other things like: rain, haggis, scotch, castles, clan wars, stone walls, highland cows, amazingly clean air. 

I left Rome on a hot muggy Friday morning and arrived in Edinburgh Scotland a few hours later to find low fog and drizzling rain. Even with my boots, jeans, and layers (the top one being a short sleeved sweater) I got crazy looks from bystanders. Sure it was a good 30 degree cooler than Italy, but this Monterey girl felt right at home as I found my way through the fog and rain to find my coworkers at the hotel. I found them no problem, and was promptly given shortbread cookies from their stash that had been refilled after the raid of the maid's cart. Fortified with sugar and tea we headed out to do exploring around New Town.

The first destination was The Georgian House located on Charlotte Square. New Town's start was in 1750 when Old Town started to get too crowded and many wanted to provide a better environment for the wealthy. The house looked like it belonged in one of PBS' historical movies- complete with the servants bell outside the kitchen door with each bell labeled with the location. As we toured the dinning room, bed rooms, drawing room, parlour the realization that I would have died growing up in this time period sunk it. I'm not sure if my parents would have been able to marry me off; have you seen my needle point skills?! Then again we found some rather fun clothes in the play room, but since we weren't exactly their target audience there was nothing that would fit...so we had to settle for bonnets.

Our next stop was a scenic walk through Rose Street where we spun the VitaminWater wheel and all walked away with "gold medals and bottles of their newest flavor. Hydration is important, especially when you're continuing your walking tour that will eventually land you at the Edinburgh's Disgrace, but more on that later because we have lots of other things to talk about- like all the fun things along Princes Street! 

For those of you that have traveled with me, you know I like to do the "oh! look at that thing up there...let's go find out what it is" method of traveling. Well, along Princes Street there were lots of pointy towers and interesting buildings so I was in heaven. Granted my travel companions may have not appreciated my method, but I let them help pick the order. It worked out- the perfect balance between wandering but still having a destination. As we walked along the park (so much green) both museums and monuments lined our walk. I was happy because we found the Old Calton Burial Grounds and on the gray day, the stones looked beautiful with the green grass growing up along side. Yep. I love old cemeteries almost as much as windows! Although it was in the cemetery that I realized things weren't that old here in Scotland. Guess that's because everything was destroyed? And let's face it...I'm living in an ancient civilization zone. Not much can beat the ruins I see on a daily basis...

But then we saw it!
What did you see Katie?
Thanks for asking.

On top of Calton Hill we saw several monuments. Apparently Edinburgh is known as the Athens of the North. I still don't fully understand this comparison, but as such apparently they needed their own parthenon. Well, a partially completed one. The National Monument of Scotland AKA Scotland's/Edinburgh's Disgrace was originally planned to commemorate the Scottish soldiers and sailors who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. That was the plan, until funding fell short and it was never finished. (Typical government project?!) Apparently proposals have been made to revamp the project on several historic events but again funding issues and lack of local enthusiasm have ended any plans.

The view from the hill was amazing providing a near 360 degree view of Edinburgh and the surrounding communities. The Royal Mile laid out beneath us and the ancient volcano (now seriously eroded after a glacier wiped out large portions of it) towered above just about everything. The water ways connected the surrounding pieces of land while reflecting the gray sky. It was absolutely stunning. Toss in a few little birds splashing around in rain puddles and make the air heavy with the scent of fresh fallen rain and well, I was ready to pack up my bags and relocate!