I started my day by meeting the Lovell family for church. They go to Mayfield Salisbury which is a Presbyterian Church just up the street from our flat. It was the family service so didn’t include all of the traditional Palm Sunday hymns, but I was glad to get to see where they go and where Seth has done some preaching. They had a friend from home who happened to be in town who met us there, and she grew up in Chapel Hill. We had fun making some connections of people we both knew. There’s that small world again...
After church I went back to the flat to change my shoes and to pick up Ken and Pauline. Brittany had gone with their friend for a bit, so Ken and Pauline and I met Seth and the kids at their flat. We had the perfect amount of time to play a game of Exploding Kittens (card game) with Kylie. Once Brittany got home, Seth, Ken, Pauline, and I headed to catch the bus for a trip to the Royal Mile.
Bagpiper on the Royal Mile...
We started with lunch at Deacon’s House Scottish Cafe. I had an “egg mayonnaise” sandwich and butternut squash soup. Delish!
As we continued to walk up the Mile, we passed “The Hub,” which is the highest point in Edinburgh.
First stop after lunch was Edinburgh Castle.
View from the top of Edinburgh Castle! In 1793, a Loch was drained and was later turned into Princes Street Gardens, which is what you see in the bottom half of this picture.
It’s pretty fun when you can fly to another country and visit some of your closest friends... because they just so happen to live there. :)
After the castle, we briefly went to the Scotch Whisky Experience... mostly for a clean restroom, but also to see a bottle of whisky that costs £25,000!
From there we went to the Tartan Weaving Mill. I was on the hunt for the Watt Tartan, as my paternal grandmother was a Watt. When I asked about it, it was confirmed that there was such a thing... but the man looked it up in the Tartan registry and said, “You’re going to have a hell of a time finding that!” He said I could probably find someone to make it for me, but it would cost £750-£1000 for them to just set it up, and then I’d need to buy the fabric, probably with an 8 yard minimum. He asked me if there was a related clan. I said yes - Watt is an offshoot of Buchanan - and that’s everywhere! I purchased a scarf with the Buchanan tartan and we went on our way.
Once we were done shopping there, we walked down the Mile to St. Giles Cathedral.
We walked to parking space #23 behind the Cathedral and saw the approximate burial spot of John Knox.
One of the recommendations of my church history professor was of course St. Giles, since it is the original site of the Scottish resistance to the imposition of the English prayer book. Fascinating story about this stool below, which we talked about in class!
Good background on John Knox...
And of course I needed my picture with him!
Love love love this window. I want to read up on it!
We continued meandering down the Mile, and I was sporting my Buchanan Tartan now.
We weaved in and out of some stores and walked all the way to the bottom where we saw the somewhat controversial (due to its modern style) Scottish parliament building and the Queen’s Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Scottish Parliament...
Queen’s Palace
Then we headed to Conan Doyle, a pub recommended by my professor. Seth hadn’t been there before, so it was fun for him to go somewhere new!
View of the Scott Monument on the way
We watched The Master’s at the Conan Doyle and almost got to the end. (The end needed to be watched via phone at our dinner restaurant!) Then we headed to meet Brittany and the kids for a traditional Sunday Roast at The Ox.
Sticky toffee pudding for dessert for the first time, a traditional Scottish dessert.
These kids haven’t gotten enough blog face time, and they seem to like selfies, so here they are... sure is fun to spend time with them and get to know them better!
Another banner day! Tomorrow we head to the east coast of Scotland for a day trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment