Last post from the UK

Heat wave continues in Edinburgh, and we've finished pounding the pavement.  We've enjoyed a fabulous, strenuous intro to the best of the UK.  I must give a shout-out to Art, my traveling bud extraordinaire, for his unfailing good-humor, stamina, adventurousness, and sense of direction. Couldn't have done it without him!

General style notes: the Scots are friendly, taller than the English, and often have incomprehensible accents. Every woman wears a woolly or thick scarf, which makes sense for the climate, but it doesn't have to match her outfit. A few men wore kilts but no one wears the touristy tartan stuff hawked on every block. Down coats and jackets appeared here, along with serious wool and tweed jackets, but in England the waxed field or quilted jacket was de rigueur. No one but me wore a mac!  Was it too early in the season?  No matter, my coat performed perfectly in all weather, as did my iPhone-friendly gloves.  

Today we set our own schedule and walked only 3 miles, first to the national art museum. Art lovers should put this one n their must-see list.  The main building is small for a museum, more like a big house, and it's packed with Old Masters including two sublime Raphaels, a Botticelli, and Vermeer's largest painting, of Jesus with Mary and Martha.  They had a special Titian exhibit too.  What a treasure! Outside we walked thru the Princes St gardens overflowing with tulips and flowering trees. 

  

Then we found two modern day treasures: Primark, a cheap but stylish dept. store,, I don't think we have anything similar, it's nicer than Target, and Jenners, the "Harrods of the North" which had an old style atrium and nice but pricier stuff.  

Art got something too - a little collection of whiskeys from the different distiling regions of Scotland. 

Then lunch of South African peri-peri chicken based on Lizzie's recommendation, 

and some scrumptious handmade gelato at Mary's Milk Bar. 

Mary, a friendly 30ish lady, had recipe books from the 1940s and 50s that she still uses set out on the tables. One published by the  Scottish Milk Board included, along with nice recipes involving milk and butter, a diet plan and daily exercises! It sternly noted that people were eating too much of the wrong foods, and advised "if you're hungry, have an apple and a glass of milk."  Plus ça change. We expect to drop about 3 pounds automatically once we get home and away from the carb-heavy food that surrounds us here. 

We have our group farewell dinner tonight.  Overall the group experience worked well and we will stay in contact with the 3 DC-area folks.  Some of these old coots have 2-3 tours already booked!  Inveterate and relentless - just like the Romans.

Thanks to all of you for following us! See you across the pond inshallah. 

Edinburgh day 1

Another tropical day in Edinburgh - sunny and 60 degrees. We saw so much today I'd be writing and posting pics all night, so I'll keep to the highlights. Started with a short guided bus tour hitting the top sights - the castle, Grassmarket neighborhood, then Univ. of,Edinburgh and its famous medical school, New Town with Charlotte and St.Andrews squares, Arthur's Seat (a hill right next to Holyrood Palace), the homes of Robert Louis Stevenson, etc.  Our guide said that New Town emerged in the Georgian age when the well-off decided that they couldn't stand the stench and stunted living conditions of old Edinburgh, and decamped to build big townhouses and the American style of wide streets in a grid. In Old Town, you give directions using pubs! One key pub is Deacon Brodie - he was the real life secret criminal who inspired "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".

After the tour we hiked up the extinct volcano crowned with Edinburgh Castle.  For 8,000 years a fort or castle has have existed on that cliff.  Now it houses the Scottish Crown Jewels, hidden from Cromwell and locked up for a century when Scotland and England united, and the royal apartments including where Mary Stuart, Queenof Scots was born. After tramping the castle we refueled with a delicious haggis-potato pie and apricot cake, and set off to the National Museum.  We cut thru the packs of kids on holiday to see the exhibits on the history of Scotland and the roof terrace with the best views of the central city.  We also rubbed the nose of the famous statue of  Greyfriars Bobby, the faithful terroir who guarded his master's grave.  In 1638 Presbyterians signed the National Covenant at Greyfriars Kirk in opposition to the Suarts who claimed divine right to mess with their church, and the rest is history.  For the next 50 years the government brutally suppressed them, until William of Orange (of William and Mary fame) took over.  But, the guide said, all most of the visitors care about is the dog!

In the afternoon we trooped to the eastern end of the Royal Mile to tour the fairly small Palace of Holyroodhouse, the queen's official residence in Scotland.  These Royal museums are expensive but they deliver with great audio guides, cool artifacts, and perfectly groomed rooms and gardens.  Holyrood is still used for official and family events, and there are actually 2 thrones in the big audience hall, but it's best known now for Mary QofS's  rooms where her husband murdered her secretary and started the troubles that led to Mary's abdication and  execution.  She had a terrible short life after she left sunny France for cold grey Scotland.

Then a quick pint in a pub on Rose St., dinner and a soak for my aching legs in the hotel hot tub. We walked over 4 miles today. Last day tomorrow for touring, and farewell group dinner, and total repackimg.  I'll add pictures tomorrow. Bon soir!

Looking up at the castle from Grassmarket St.  Now a lovely tourist area, Grassmarket was an execution site, including for the intrepid Covenanters.

George Heriot's school for orphans, inspiration for Hogwarts.

Notorious international jewel thief scoping the joint

View of the Firth from the castle

Castle from the museum

Greyfriars Bobby 

University of Edinburgh med school. Our thanks to the illustrious grads who invented, inter alia, chloroform and the hypodermic syringe. 

St Giles tower with the Firth behind it

Church where Zara Phillips, aka QEII's granddaughters, got married. 

Quad of Holyrood; perfect for royal receptions

Romantic ruins of Holyrood Abbey

Entrance of Holyrood 

Royal magpie

Arthur's Seat from Holyrood gardens.  

Hadrian's Wall, Lanercost Priory, Gretna Greeen, Edinburgh

We had a beautiful day going from England to Scotland, with more sun than clouds. Of course you can't avoid the Romans wherever you go - leaving the Lake District we visited a good stretch of Hadrian's Wall, built to keep out the painted Picts from Scotland. The name Scotland actually comes from the invading Scotti tribe of - Ireland!  These folks just cannot get along.  Our Scottish bus driver supports Scottish independence, but the country couldn't  survive without the money flowing in from England. Unless the EU took them on as another charity case - fat chance. 

Beyond the wall we stopped at the beautiful 12th century Lanercost Priory. Our unedited photos don't do it justice but it was a lovely church with a romantic ruined tower. It owns an altarpiece designed by William Morris that they keep locked up except for special occasions. They also had a nice tea and gift shop to browse. 

Then to Scotland - first stop Gretna Green, the Las Vegas of Britain since the 1700s because eloping couples could marry there without parental or church consent. It actually was a cute place with a museum detailing various scandalous elopements and showing the anvils struck by the "blacksmith priests" to conclude a ceremony.  Couples still come for a quickie wedding. 

Then to a town called Moffat where a great little farmers market supplied us with local smoked pheasant and Stilton for our dinner tonight.  We also met candy makers who've won a contract to the US chain World Market for their "tablet", a kind of fudge. They assured me that they would expand their local factory to meet demand, not start making tablet in industrial vats in Haiti or Baltimore. I forgot to mention earlier that pheasants show up all over the countryside, they're no endangered species.  We had a great lunch at the Annandale Hotel that visits from our tour company has rescued from ruin, so the whole town appreciates us. And all the wool shops were there with big bargains, better than Edinburgh. 

Edinburgh is more like London or NYC, a big lively town with tall stone buildings. We actually can sea the Firth of Forth from our hotel window, which means we have great location and weather. We found the statue of the patron saint of capitalism, Adam Smith, saw the dozens of quickie kilt and fake tartan shops lining the Royal Mile between the castle and Holyrood Palace, the church where Zara Phillips got married (Princess Anne's daughter), and had a terrific Palm Sunday treat. The choir at St. Giles, mother church of Presbyterianism and John Knox's gravesite, performed Faure's Requiem. The sun poured thru the Robbie Burns stain glass window and the glorious music flowed and reverberated thru the ancient arches. A sublime experience. 

Now two days to explore Edinburgh before coming home. I miss home but I'll be sorry to leave this adventure behind.  So many places to see, so little time and money!

Hadrian's Wall sheep 

At the Wall

Moffat - narrowest hotel in the UK

Our lunch spot

Las Vegas, Scotland style

Street piper in Edinburgh 

St. Giles

St. Adam Smith!

The Lake District

Today clouds and rain returned as we drove from Yorkshire into the often-rainy Lake District.  Couldn't photograph the landscapes well from the bus but it changed from high, wide treeless moors to narrow valleys with lakes and rivers between high craggy treeless hills.  I can't compare it to other scenery, it seemed to combine the hills of the desert Southwest with the water of New England or New York State.  Or a little bit like California around Santa Barbara. Anyway, the rain did not diminish its beauty. 

In Yorkshire we drove thru the spa town of Harrogate, the Bronte sisters' territory that inspired Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and then into the Lake District and the largest lake Windermere.  Close by was a house, donated by Beatrix Potter to the national trust and rented out to a family, where we had lunch!  I've put in a picture of the 3 cakes she gave us for dessert. Beatrix Potter apparently bought up a lot of unprofitable farms to donate to the Trust. Sheep raising couldn't continue here without hefty subsidies, our guide said there's no market for the wool walking around the fields - shearing costs more than the fleeces. 

After lunch we saw Wordsworth's home and gravesite in Grasmere, then finished up at our hotel near the highway and a walk to the grocery store to check out the local produce and enjoy some sunshine.  We ate dinner with one of the other couples who proved again how deceptive appearances can be. They'd seemed grumpy, but over dinner we discovered they were well-traveled Presbyterians who volunteer for Habitat and love BBC tv shows.  We had a good time dissecting Inspector Morse shows and I gave them a few new titles to check out. They had some good tips on other ways to travel sans group tours.  By now the group has started to fray somewhat from the hours of coach travel.  Tomorrow, off to Edinburgh via Hadrians Wall.

Boats on Windrrmere

Globalization 

Big swan!

Beatrix Potter house where we lunched

Cakes!

Door from 1608

2 foot chocolate bunny in Grasmere

Wordsworths church

Wordsworths Dove Cottage