Edinburgh Part Two

After the Castle, we began strolling down the Royal Mile, but decided to detour to the Hard Rock Cafe as they are one of Jacob's very favorite restaurants.  It was good to get out of the cold (about 4 degrees Celsius, which is around 37 or so Fahrenheit) and give the kids a taste of America.  They need that now & then to help managing all the strange and challenging amounts of different they experience.  They loved every bit of it, especially the digital display of all the musical treasures in the Hard Rock collection.  I suppose Z didn't love every bit- when I told him to eat his oranges he informed me "I don't actually prefer oranges."

We headed back to the royal mile (which is a mile long street of shops and restaurants that leads from the Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyrood-the official residence of the Royal Family).  We picked up a few souvenirs and poked around a bit before happening upon a street performer juggling fire pins.  When we arrived, he was getting ready to do the grand finale- balancing on a board while juggling the fire pins.  He included 3 members of the audience to hand him the pins one by one.  It was fun and even in those few moments, a great show.   

A little bit further down the road we found an accordion player playing a medley of Lady Gaga's hits (Bad Romance & Poker Face).  We also heard several different bag pipers- one playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and the other more traditional bag pipe music.

We happened upon the Museum of Childhood, so decided to pop in and check it out.  It was a delightful little museum of toys from the ages.  It was also warm, so a double win for the kids.  After a short visit, we headed back towards our flat.  We took our time, enjoying the amazing architecture and stopped in the Disney Store (making big points with the kids again).  Around the block from our hotel was a Tesco that would pass as an American supermarket - it was huge!  For the first time since being in the UK, the five of us could walk in the grocery store without creating a massive bottleneck.  We picked up the traditional Rousu Sunday Feast-frozen pizza- and headed back to our home away from home away from home for an early evening in to rest up for one last day in Edinburgh.

Our final day in Edinburgh started a little off kilter.  We began by attempting to find Adam Smith's grave (author of The Wealth of Nations, a formative economic book).  We saw many, many old graves, but not Adam Smith's (it is possible we saw it, but could not read it through the age and abundant moss on many graves).  

He's on the list, but nowhere to be found!

Next, we attempted to visit the Museum of Edinburgh, but most of it was under construction.  However, we did discover the story of Greyfriar Bobby, which the kids found delightful.  Greyfriar Bobby was a dog that belonged to a police officer.  When his master died the legend says that Greyfriar Bobby kept vigil over his grave for 14 years.  The locals began taking care of the puppy- leaving food for him & taking him in on cold nights.  A law was passed requiring all dogs to have tags or be put down, but the people of the neighborhood protested on Bobby's behalf and the mayor gave him his own collar and tags.  As he aged, a family who owned a pub took him in and cared for him.  After Bobby died, a wealthy woman of the area paid for a statue of Bobby to be put on the neighborhood.  A Disney movie was made about Bobby in 1961

We ended up having lunch at the pub originally owned by the family who took Bobby in and cared for him in his old age.  It was a lovely pub with great service and yummy fish and chips and burgers (we attempted to have more Scottish meal, but they were out of Sausage and tatties).

After lunch, we visited the enormous Museum of Scotland.  There was far more there than we could ever begin to take in with three tired kiddos, but we tried.  We saw Mary, Queen of Scot's tomb and many of King James VI (or James II in England as he was the king who united the two countries peacefully when he became king of England after Elizabeth I died and left no heirs) relics.  I hadn't realized the day before as we heard about this King James that he was the King James in the King James Bible translation.  Learning so much.

The kids enjoyed the science and technology part of the museum that was full of gadgets and interactive displays.  We used physical effort to power light bulbs, a radio, a fan and a tv, tried our hand at being energy minister for a make believe country and played with robots.  Lots of fun!

After we had our museum quota for the day, we headed back to the Royal Mile, to do as little more shopping and people watching.  We stopped in St Giles Cathedral, which charged £2 for the privilege of taking photos (hence no photos there).  It was lovely and completely unlike cathedrals in the US in that there were many monuments and statuary for deceased members of the church all over the cathedral.  We haven't visited Westminster Abbey or any of the other big London churches, so it was our first experience with that kind of opulence in a church.  The joke in the UK is that all their museums are free, but they charge to visit the churches.  Too true- there are collection buckets at every corner inside St Giles.

Aside from a quick stop at McDonalds on the way to the train, that was pretty much our trip to Edinburgh.  It was a fast trip, but a good one.  After being used to London prices, it felt quite inexpensive.  Every time we were walking on the streets, I was just amazed at the beauty of the city- the architecture is incredible.  Once again, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for this opportunity.  We are so blessed.