Edinburgh, 5.29.08
It's Thursday, and time to visit Edinburgh. Maria's been looking forward to this day for over three years, ever since some woman she met on a ghost walk in York told her that the Edinburgh one was better. Maria actually believed her.
Well anyway, up we get nice and early on Thursday morning and decide to take a cab to Inverkeithing station 3 miles away to get the train to Edinburgh. I'm still shaking my head at this bad decision that cost me about 20 dollars before the day had even started. The bus would have cost less than half of that.
One fifteen-minute train-ride later, we arrive in Edinburgh's Waverley Station and our day can begin. We got the Edinburgh Tours bus (open-top with live commentary) and soon we were enjoying being driven through the hustle and bustle of one of Europe's most beautiful cities. The weather was dry, and my camera couldn't keep up with the amazing amount of sights that the city has to offer. Princes Street, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, The Queen's Gallery, the Parliament building ... if you have a second, please have a look at Edinburgh Photos.
We got off the bus and continued our tour on foot. Maria wanted to go into the Castle, but after we had walked all the way up there we found a very long line of people in front of the Ticket Office with the same idea. We reluctantly decided not to go inside, which ultimately proved to be the right decision, as we would have spent at least 3 hours in there and not had time to see anything else.
Instead we went to Camera Obscura just outside the Castle entrance and thoroughly enjoyed looking at the fantastic photos and exhibits. Strolling further down the Royal Mile, the sun came out in full force, so we peeled off all our layers of clothes and enjoyed the heat. A sandwich here, a pain au chocolat and latte there, a nice souvenir somewhere else ...
We walked down to the Queen's Gallery again, turned right to head towards Hollyrood Park and Arthur's retreat, then hopped on the passing tour bus again to return to halfway up the Royal Mile to where Maria had booked us on a tour of Edinburgh's underground vaults.
All of a sudden the peace was shattered by the booming voice of our guide, the young Scotsman Kelly, who welcomed us to the “world of the paranormal underground vaults”. Our group, around nine of us, then followed Kelly to an unobtrusive black door in an old house. After dramatic warnings as to how we should conduct ourselves while together in the darkness, he led us down stone steps into what had once been home to the poor, the destitute, the criminal, the sexually deviant and later a bunch of workmen who had installed lights and power outlets and left strategically placed piles of rocks and shelves for Kelly and his colleagues to spin us the yarns of how “The Watcher”, “The Cobbler” and little boy “Jack” roamed these vaults in search of potential victims, unsuspecting customers and playful believers.
Kelly encouraged us to use flash photographs in the dark rooms, in the hope we would later see “orbs” on our photos. He gave out Geiger counter-like handhelds to the group so they could walk round the rooms checking for paranormal activity. And all the time he read from his file, stories about people who had witnessed the presence of these spirits. After about 50 minutes he led us all back to the surface and the inevitable gift shop, where his colleagues were waiting to exploit the converted even more. Maria’s opinion: “What a load of codswallop”. I think she’s cured now, for a while at least.
We walked to the station and took the train back to Dunfermline, ate in the hotel’s pub and reflected on a good day’s sightseeing – well, except for the ghost tour, that is..A final beer later with our gracious hosts, Gerry McMullan and his lovely wife Jeanette, and we were ready to take the train the next day down to the nation’s capital.
Well anyway, up we get nice and early on Thursday morning and decide to take a cab to Inverkeithing station 3 miles away to get the train to Edinburgh. I'm still shaking my head at this bad decision that cost me about 20 dollars before the day had even started. The bus would have cost less than half of that.
One fifteen-minute train-ride later, we arrive in Edinburgh's Waverley Station and our day can begin. We got the Edinburgh Tours bus (open-top with live commentary) and soon we were enjoying being driven through the hustle and bustle of one of Europe's most beautiful cities. The weather was dry, and my camera couldn't keep up with the amazing amount of sights that the city has to offer. Princes Street, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, The Queen's Gallery, the Parliament building ... if you have a second, please have a look at Edinburgh Photos.
We got off the bus and continued our tour on foot. Maria wanted to go into the Castle, but after we had walked all the way up there we found a very long line of people in front of the Ticket Office with the same idea. We reluctantly decided not to go inside, which ultimately proved to be the right decision, as we would have spent at least 3 hours in there and not had time to see anything else.
Instead we went to Camera Obscura just outside the Castle entrance and thoroughly enjoyed looking at the fantastic photos and exhibits. Strolling further down the Royal Mile, the sun came out in full force, so we peeled off all our layers of clothes and enjoyed the heat. A sandwich here, a pain au chocolat and latte there, a nice souvenir somewhere else ...
We walked down to the Queen's Gallery again, turned right to head towards Hollyrood Park and Arthur's retreat, then hopped on the passing tour bus again to return to halfway up the Royal Mile to where Maria had booked us on a tour of Edinburgh's underground vaults.
All of a sudden the peace was shattered by the booming voice of our guide, the young Scotsman Kelly, who welcomed us to the “world of the paranormal underground vaults”. Our group, around nine of us, then followed Kelly to an unobtrusive black door in an old house. After dramatic warnings as to how we should conduct ourselves while together in the darkness, he led us down stone steps into what had once been home to the poor, the destitute, the criminal, the sexually deviant and later a bunch of workmen who had installed lights and power outlets and left strategically placed piles of rocks and shelves for Kelly and his colleagues to spin us the yarns of how “The Watcher”, “The Cobbler” and little boy “Jack” roamed these vaults in search of potential victims, unsuspecting customers and playful believers.
Kelly encouraged us to use flash photographs in the dark rooms, in the hope we would later see “orbs” on our photos. He gave out Geiger counter-like handhelds to the group so they could walk round the rooms checking for paranormal activity. And all the time he read from his file, stories about people who had witnessed the presence of these spirits. After about 50 minutes he led us all back to the surface and the inevitable gift shop, where his colleagues were waiting to exploit the converted even more. Maria’s opinion: “What a load of codswallop”. I think she’s cured now, for a while at least.
We walked to the station and took the train back to Dunfermline, ate in the hotel’s pub and reflected on a good day’s sightseeing – well, except for the ghost tour, that is..A final beer later with our gracious hosts, Gerry McMullan and his lovely wife Jeanette, and we were ready to take the train the next day down to the nation’s capital.
Comment
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Comment by Gerry McMullan on June 9, 2008 at 12:47pm -
Coming from Scotland I was delighted to host Cliff and Maria when they were on vacation here in Scotland. Following Cliff's Blog on his time in the UK, believe me Dunfermline is a great place to visit. While everyone is trying to queue for the castle and walk amognst thousands of tourists, Dunfermline is 30 minutes away, it's the ancient capital of Scotland, burial place of King Robert The Bruce, hidding place for William Wallace and the birthplace of Andrew Carnegie.
It's the home of great music people, Barbara Dickson, and groups like the Skids, Big Country and more importantly Rock Giants, Nazareth.
I found out yesterday that Nazareth are playing Florida in November and for heavy Rocks fans these guys are the business. They are on their World Tour and this year it's their 40th Anniversary.
Sorry to go on about my home city but you guys have to get here.
As Sarasota is a Sister City of Sarasota we have so much in common.
I'm dleighted to be part of Sarasota local and I hope people will connect. Anything you need to know about Dunfermline, or the Kingdom of Fife, let me know. Forgot to mention that St Andrews in Fife is also the home of WorldGolf.
Sorry to bore you guys. My last piece of information which you may or may not know. In American Golfing History two Scots are reguarded as being the first to bring golf to the USA. Lockhart and Reid, yes you have guessed it they cam from Dunfermline.
I hope to be in Sarasota in October so keep some sunshine for me.
Best
Gerry
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Comment by Leanne McIntire on June 6, 2008 at 2:40pm - The pain au chocolat on the Royal Mile is the best I have ever had. Every tour book says you have to try it and they are right for a change. The castle tour would have been better than the ghost tour, at least I enjoyed walking around the castle. And Princess Street was the BEST shopping!
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