Wilfred's Great Scottish Adventure: Part I

Hello!  It’s me, Wilfred, still in the UK with my two dads -- and guess what?   Grandma is here!    

This is me in front of the Lord Mayor's Mansion House in London

Grandma has never been to the UK and, since she had a special birthday this year (75!), Dad and Poppy thought a trip to the UK would be the perfect birthday present for her.  And so did GRANDMA! Grandma is only here for two weeks, so while I am still on Easter holiday from Ravenstone, we decided to head up to Scotland this week so she could be in London next week for the WEDDING! 

Grandma has always wanted to go to Scotland.  Her dad, my grandpa-grandpa McDonald, was Scottish through and through... even if his family left for Canada nearly two hundred years ago.

 

My grandma's dad.  Does he look like me?

We took the Piccadilly line to Kings Cross to catch an East Coast Train north - destination, Edinburgh Waverley Station!  

King's Cross Station in London

All the way up, me and Grandma looked out the window.  On our way through Nottinghamshire, Dad pointed out the village of Gamston, where my great grandma Storey was born.   From the train, you could see the church where she was baptized and the churchyard where her mother was buried.

Gamston in Nottinghamshire where Great Grandma Storey was born

The train stopped in York to take on passengers and I pointed out the old wall I climbed with Poppy and Dad - and the TRAIN MUSEUM.  We kept heading north -- past olden villages where Grandma saw fields of yellow and green and LOTS of sheep with baby lambs -- across the Yorkshire moors and up to what is called the borders.  

Grandma was amazed by the yellow fields

Little lambs and woolly sheep on the Border Country

As we got to Scotland, it started to turn really misty.  You could barely see the scenery, but every now and then you could see the North Sea and Firth of Forth (Firth is the old Scottish language for inlet).  I wondered if we would ever get there, but eventually we pulled into the station.  We were in Edinburgh!

Me in Waverley Station, Edinburgh

Me and Dad in Edinburgh

We found our way out of Waverley and since we weren't exactly sure which way to go, we climbed into a taxi to get to our B&B -- Kew House.  

In the taxi... not too sure of the way...

We made it to our B&B!

 Once we had dropped off our stuff, we decided to walk back to the center of town.   Since we only had a couple of hours left in the day, we caught a vintage hop on, hop off Mac Tour bus.   Grandma and Dad and Poppy sat up top to could get “the lay of the land”.    I sat downstairs with the conductor lady so I could help her open the doors and let people on.  Her name was Shona and she was really nice.

Our Mac Tour guide, Shona and me.

Me and Dad and Grandma and the Vintage Mac Tours bus

After, we walked up to the New Town, which is still pretty old and looks a bit like Bath.  It was built in the Georgian times.  The Edinburghers must have liked King George because they named so much stuff after him that he asked them to name something for somebody else.  So they named the big square in New Town, Charlotte Square - for his wife, the queen.

Charlotte Square in the New Town

We had dinner there in a Scottish pub.  Dad said I could have haggis. I had a burger.

The next day, we started our exploring in the Olde Town at Edinburgh Castle.   It was a bright, sunny day and a lot of people were at the castle. 



Me and Poppy and Grandma at the Castle






Me with a castle guard



Poppy waited in line for tickets...it took a little while...

 

So Grandma and I looked at the view.  It was amazing...

You could see the train station!



Grandma was in Scotland -- she couldn't even believe it!

By the time we got inside, it was time to fire the noon day gun, which the Scots fire at 1 p.m. instead of 12 a.m. so they can save money on ammunition… which Dad thought sounded very Scottish.  I got an ice cream and a front row seat.

At exactly one o'clock...

...they fire these guns...

Once.

They even let me smell the empty shell...it smelled like rotten eggs...

There was neat stuff to see at the castle -- like Mons Meg, a huge old cannon that could shoot giant cannon balls nearly two miles!



Dad asked me if I wanted to be a human cannon ball.  Uh, no.

St. Margaret's Chapel

We looked in little chapel that was for a good queen from a thousand years ago, who is now a saint.

With Grandma inside St. Margaret's Chapel...I am not always a saint

And we even got to go in to see the apartments of the long ago Scottish kings.

Long ago king's apartments

Castle guards...doing...not sure what...

After a good look around, it was time to head down the hill.  The old high street of Edinburgh is called the Royal Mile, because it is a mile down the hill from Edinburgh Castle to what used to be an old abbey, but is now a palace where the Queen still stays when she visits Edinburgh, called Hollyrood.

Time to leave Edinburgh Castle

The Royal Mile is full of old, old buildings.  Some are over five hundred years old and this is where a lot of Scotland history happened.  It is also full of tourist shops that sell kilts.  We went into one where they made kilts and I watched the weaving machines.

I watched weaving machines weave tartan for kilts.

See the tartan?  Everybody sells it on the Royal Mile.


Me on the Royal Mile

John Knox probably never lived in John Knox House but it is old anyway.

The Merkat Cross where Bonnie Prince Charlie was crowned

At the bottom of the Royal Mile is Holyrood Palace, the palace where the Queen stays when she is in Edinburgh.  The new Scottish House of Parliament is right there, too.  It is very modern.


At the bottom of the hill is Hollyrood Palace



Me at the new Scottish Parliament.  Very modern.

The best thing about Grandma is she knows when
it is okay to be silly.

The next day was Good Friday.  The morning was cold and VERY misty.  They say that Edinburgh gets a lot of mists that come down the Firth of Forth from the sea that make everything feel cold and damp. 

After we checked out of our B&B, we only had a couple of hours before we had to catch our train for Inverness.  Grandma and Dad were going to go explore an art museum – but it was closed for Good Friday, so they just went shopping.

Meanwhile, Poppy and I climbed the Walter Scott monument.  Walter Scott was a famous Scottish writer and his monument is one of the most famous landmarks in all Edinburgh.  Even though it looks like an ordinary statue, you can actually climb up steps inside of it that get narrower and narrow until you get to the tippy-top – over 200 steps up.  The view would have been amazing… except for the mist...

The higher you go, the tighter the fit!

But the view was worth it... I guess...

Since our trip was in three parts, I will blog it that way.   Be sure to check back soon for the next instalment of the great Scottish adventure, Part II  -- “Grandma in the Highlands!”

Bye for now.  Wilfie