Far too few kilts, I'm afraid...

Edinburgh was just incredible! Being there reminded me of a CBC broadcast of psychological phenomena that I heard once. According to some psychologists in Europe, there's documentation of actual physical effects on people who view incredible works of art (say, in the Louvre or the architecture of Milan) in the flesh rather than just study them in books: euphoria, racing heart, sense of enlightenment about one's place in the universe and for some, this can also lead to shortness of breath, disorientation and fainting...thankfully I only had the good symptoms and not the negative.

As an homage to my dad, we made careful plans to visit Edinburgh University, travel the same lane ways (a lane way between these massive built-up stone buildings is called a "close" and I know why!) and streets as he did between 1953-54 when he was there as a divinity student. We even went to the church where John Knox preached (for those non-protestants on my reading list this was the guy who among others led the reformation of the church away from the hierarchy of the Catholic church and rigidity of its liturgy). I may have my story wrong, but I believe Dad either practiced his preaching in St. Giles Kirk or actually was a guest preacher here. But I digress: lets start at the beginning.

The day started with a car trip to the train station and a train trip to Edinburgh's downtown station. The weather was chilly but bright and crisp, so we took ourselves by foot along the gardens in the downtown core to the University area. Everything in Edinburgh is built on hills, so this was a bit of a workout for us. Interestingly, the many bridges over low areas in this town were (and still are) used as building supports, so this was the first city to have 15+ storey buildings even as early as the 1600's...must have been a spectacular sight! Here's a picture of the family standing in front of the building where Dad studied. Then we made our way to the writer's museum to warm up.

This remnant of a 17th-century house had lots of portraits, relics, and manuscripts relating to Scotland's greatest men of letters: Robert Burns (1759-96), Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), and Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94). It had items from the life of Stevenson (including his fishing rod and riding boots), as well as a gallery of black-and-white photographs taken when he lived in the South Pacific. The main floor features Scott with personal artifacts and original manuscripts. Another set of rooms gives details of Burns's life including his death notice in a copy of London's Herald on July 27, 1796 along with his writing desk, rare manuscripts, portraits, and other items. Just as Frommers' said it would be, it was pleasantly uncrowded and one of the few free things we found in the city this day.

The kids were patient to a point, but we knew our limit, so quickly headed up to Edinburgh castle to see the cityscape and investigate the prices of this still working castle built in 1140 and home to the Queen when she visits Scotland. Check out www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk for a grand website of interesting features. When we discovered the price for the six of us, though, we realized we'd either have to sell some real estate before another visit or auction off a child: for the four adults it was going to be 54 pounds and another 6 for each child. So you don't have to take out your calculator, this came to a whopping 132 Canadian dollars for a 90 minute visit. You'll forgive me for not investigating my heritage to this intimate level, I hope. One disadvantage of NOT visiting was the fact that we'd not be checking out the nobby knees of kilted clansmen walking the halls of the castle...at least the other views were free, and quite spectacular...we were able to see St. Giles from up on the cliff and headed down towards that way after a few snaps of the city and the castle's exterior. First we mortgaged the house for lunch and enjoyed mediocre service...serves us right for eating at a tourist-trap type burger restaurant. Is this island ever expensive! How do people survive here?

After fortification, we made our way down the Royal Mile to the site of St. Giles Kirk, built in the early 1100's. I swore as a kid I'd never drag my children around Europe's churches and cemeteries, and that's exactly what we did for the rest of the day. But first we had to spit on the heart of the city...not sure why, but here's a picture of my men doing just this. It is in the square just outside the chapel.

One of my boys in particular is like a bull in a china shop (not naming any names) so when we got inside the church, M and I kept our big bag of "shush" handy. When admonishing him for about the 10th time, we drew the attention of a guide in the church. This man was quite friendly and after giving us a bit of an earful for shushing our kids by saying, "You know, touring this place is for them--make it memorable--do you have a minute for a story?" He then went on to tell us the story behind the name of the place, the coles' notes on the history of the reformation of the church and a tour of the main floor of the building, that has had a place of worship of some kind or another standing for more than 800 years. He gave us some laughs, a few remarkable anecdotes and a few pictures, and the boys still remember Mr. Hauganot when we ask them about visiting grandpa's church.

We then tried to visit a haunted house, since we had built this event up all day for the boys. Unfortunately, the tours were all booked until much after our last train, so instead we stomped around one of the older cemeteries of the city. We wanted to show the boys some ghosts, so thought this would be the next best thing. We visited Greyfriar's Bobby...a statute honouring a dog that stayed by the grave site of his owner faithfully for 14 years. When the dog himself died, the people of Edinburgh erected a gravestone beside his owner and this statue outside the kirkyard pictured here. I admit, I got a little lightheaded thinking that both my close and ancient ancestors stomped the same grounds I did that day...it makes me feel very insignificant to realize I'm only one very small piece of a huge space-time puzzle that makes up this world!

This was about our limit, so made our way to the train station for the return trip home, via the Edinburgh student store to buy Matthew a sweatshirt and a textile shop to get me a cabled cardigan. The boys trinkets would have to wait for anther trip.

Thanks to Viki and Rob's eventful tour-guiding, we slept well that night, and made our plans for the return trip home to Brussels...just enough time to shower, do some laundry and be off again -- this time to Hamburg. Ah, but you'll have to wait for that story for another day! Don't forget to check out M's blog, in case he's faster at this typing thing than I am!