Edinburgh - Arthur's Seat and Calton Hill

The Base of Arthur's Seat with Edinburgh in the Background

Arthur's Seat

View of Edinburgh

Gorse Bush

At the Top of Arthur's Seat

At Calton Hill

The Firth of Forth from Arthur's Seat

 I had some anxiety about renting an apartment privately in Edinburgh, but it couldn't have turned out better.  We are located just at the base of the Royal Mile right by Holyrood Palace.  Last night was the first night we all slept through the night and had a little sleep in.  Edinburgh is much smaller and a lot less hectic than London - and a lot easier to cross the streets without fear of being struck by a car/bus or bike.  Was able to do some laundry which was an adventure. The washer is in the kitchen and the first load took about 2 hours to complete.  I found the "super quick" setting and have cut the time in half.  Drying is another story.  We figure it's more like a dehumidifier than a drier as it does not vent.  It seems to suck the water out and drain it and as a result takes a lot of time to dry.  Good thing there are lots of railings to hang things from in the apartment.  Finally got going around 11 and headed to Holyrood Park which took us by the Palace and the Paparazzi which was stationed outside the gates all day waiting for the Royals to depart all day.  We caught a glimpse of Beatrice and Euginie leaving in their Jaguar chaperoned by 2 cars of guards or something.  The 251 metre climb up Arthur's seat (an extinct volcano) was worth the effort.  We saw many native plants, some church ruins and at the top was treated to a spectacular view of Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth (in the background above).  I nearly had a heart attack, not from the hike, but from watching my children leaping around like mountain goats on the slipery slopes and steep paths.  The best part was sitting in the heather near the summit with bagpipe music drifting up from below - can't get more Scotish than that!  The journey down was much quicker, stopped for ice cream at the bottom, a quick check at the Palace to see who was coming and going (the Paparazzi was still there) and back to the Apartment for lunch and a rest.  Calton Hill and it's monuments was next - much to Cael's disappointment.  In his words - why do we have to go up another god forsaken hill?  Edinburgh is built on seven hills and we did 2 today - tomorrow is Castle Hill.  Calton hill has a number of monuments which Cael and Aidan loved (to climb on that is).  Aidan had about had it.  He has been a trooper keeping up with us all since the start and just wanted to go back to the apartment and get in his pj's, so that is what we did.  Lasagne is smelling good in the oven and I am being called for supper. 

Train to Edinburgh and Surprise! The Royal Wedding at our door step.

It was another early start today, up at 6 and breakfast at 6:30 in order to make it to King's Cross Station by 8am.  Everyone was up and not too grumpy and thanks to Dave hauling 2 suitcases down the street and through the underground we made it in good time.  For all you Harry Potter fans you will know the significance of King's Cross.  This is the station used in the movies to catch the Hogwarts Express from platform 9 3/4.  And so with a little time to spare, off we went in search of the infamous platform.  It was a little tricky as the station is being renovated, but after a few wrong turns and finally asking directions we learned that the movie was filmed on Platform 5 - which just happened to be the one our train was leaving from.  I am sure due to great demand, the station has moved platform 9 3/4 outside the station.  They have set up a brick wall complete with luggage trolley for photo ops.  It just happened there was a young male soccer team hanging around who noticed us taking photos at platform 9 3/4 and started pointing at Cael & Aidan and nodding and laughing saying with a thick eastern european accent "It's Ron Weasley!"  The train ride itself was great - very smooth and fast, travelling at 120 miles per hour.  We were surprised by how much farm land there was - wheat, canola, flax, potatoe, corn.  Much of which was ready for harvest.  As we neared Scotland the landscape became much more rolling with forests of evergreens appearing.  We had spectacular views of the North Sea and many small, beautiful towns - all of which had enormous old churches.  We arrived at Waverly Station right on time and getting off the train we realized we had no idea where to go to find our apartment and so Grannie and I set off in search of the tourist information offices.  The signage in London was so good that you rarely had to wonder which way to go, not so here.  After asking about 3 or 4 people, we finally found it and got all the info we needed to make our way.  Before making the trek we all paid our 30 pence to pee and we set out down the cobblestone streets in search of Abbeyhill Crescent.  We had heard the day previous that there were some road closures due to a Royal Wedding (daughter of Princess Anne/grandaughter of the queen) and as such there were police everywhere and we seemed to be hauling our suitcases upstream.  It only took about 20 minutes to walk to our apartment where there was a huge crowd down the block and bagpipes playing.  We decided to investigate and what we found was that we are a block away from Holyrood Palace and people were out to catch a glimpse of the Royals.  Once again luck would be on our side and we got to see the Queen, Charles & Camilla, Kate, Wills and Harry and of course the bride and groom pass by on their way back to Holyrood Palace.  Strange to think we are sleeping a block away from the Queen and her family tonight.  We thought about crashing the wedding but were a little deterred by the thousands of police lining the streets and perched on the tops of the buildings!  Instead, we walked 10 minutes to the nearest Tesko for groceries and came back to make a great dinner fit for a king! :)

Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Picadilly Circus and Phantom of the Opera

Our Very Own Bobby

The Queen's Welcoming Fence

The Queen's Garden

Leaving Buckingham Palace by the Back Door

Bobbies at Buckingham Palace

Canada Gates at Buckingham Palace

Wow!  What a day!!  After lining up again - the tour of Buckingham Palace did not disappoint.  Theheadset guided tour was really interesting - mixed feelings on the whole Royalty thing - such opulance and really for what, yet they do seem to have their place in the world and it just wouldn't be the same without them.  We toured 12 state rooms and saw replicas of some of their Faberge collection and got to see Kate's Wedding Gown, shoes, earings, bouquet and wedding cake and some of the meaning behind the decorations, etc.  Most of which revolved around traditional meanings of flowers, which I found quite interesting and thoughtful.  We learned that the Queen finds a use for all the gifts given to her on her travels; 2 touched close to home - one was an inuit soapstone carving which is displayed in one of the staterooms and the other was a horse given to her by the RCMP which lived in her stables and for many years she rode at her birthday celebration.  The tour finishes in their private garden where a small cafe had been set up and the boys quickly decided that it would only be right that we should have lunch in the garden of Buckingham Palace - and so we did :)  From there we split up, Keeghan, Dave and Cael went to Westminster Abbey and Grannie, Poppa, Aidan and I came back to the hotel for some packing and R & R so we would be in good shape for the play.  I haven't heard too much about the Abbey yet as we headed out to the play as soon as they got back - one thing that made an impression on Keeghan was a semi-precious stone tile floor in the upper alter which was over 600 years old.  We hopped back on the tube and went to Picadilly Circus which was fun to see.  Many people dressed up for the theatre and others just milling about in a bit of a Friday night party atmosphere.  We had a great dinner at the Spaghetti House and headed to the play.  Dave and I saw Phantom here 20 years ago and it was just as fabulous.  It has been playing here for 25 years and still sells out most nights.   Needless to say we all LOVED it.  The audience around us got a kick out of Aidan who couldn't help but blurt out "I knew it was him" when the Phantom was revealed!  Back to the tube and a quick journey home on the very hot Bakerloo line and when we arrive back at Paddington Station we were serenaded by a group of young men who managed to wobble up the escalator and through the exit, which was good for a laugh.  Another great day - we will be sad to leave London in the morning.

Vintage Red Bus Tour, Changing of the Guard and the London Eye

The Dorchester, Ferrari's and Bugatti

Tour Bus

Tower Bridge Opening for us

Changing of the Guard

Buckingham Palace

In the London Eye

The London Eye

The London Eye

What a day.  I tried blogging last night and literally fell asleep typing :)  We were up bright and early to be ready for pick up at 7:15am.  The shuttle that took us to the vintage bus gave us a little tour along the way.  The boys were thrilled to go by the Dorcester Hotel - weird hey - okay, it wasn't the hotel it was the Bugatti parked out front beside the 2 ferrari's.  There have been some pretty sweet rides amongst the many red buses and black taxi's!  Keeghan had his heart set on riding a VINTAGE bus and so we tracked a tour down and he got his wish.  It was an open top bus as well so we got great views of the city.  Allen was our tour guide and was very knowledgeable and funny - he looked very propper in his tweed coat and tie.  So much of our travelling is done by the Underground here (which is awesome) but it was great to see what London was like above ground.  Lots of buses, taxis, people and old stone buildings - in a nutshell :)  We drove past Trafalger Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Parliament Buildings, including #10 Downing Street (which you can't drive past anymore like we did 20 years ago - security stops you at the entrance to the street), Tower Bridge - which we were lucky enough to see open to allow a sail ship to go through, apparently it only opens about 100 times per year anymore.  Dave was visiting with a fellow who lived in London for 16 years and he had never seen the bridge open before.  We went around Buckingham Palace and St. James Palace and got a backdoor view of the Changing of the Guards.  We were close enough to touch them and had a few mad dashes to catch both the old and the new Guards - thanks to "Handsome Allen"  as he referred to himself for getting us there.  Part of the tour included a short cruise on the River Thames.  The boys were thrilled to have some Harry Potter spots pointed out to them, like the building they used as Gringott's, the foot bridge and the boy's school that Daniel Radcliffe went to.  After the tour we were taken to the London Eye.  The line up looked daunting, but moved really quickly and within about 45 minutes we were on.  It was a great ride and afforded amazing views of London as we were once again lucky to have clear skies.  From there we walked over Westminster Bridge and tried to catch Westminster Abbey, but we were 2 minutes too late for the last tour.  This was really fine by most of us as our feet were pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel.  Boys being boys though, they still had lots of energy and wanted to go back to Hyde Park.  So after an advil and 2 minutes with my feet up, we were off.  Keeghan wanted to try out the Barclay's bikes which they have lined up at the park and you swipe your card and rent it for 60 minutes for 1 pound.  Cael was disappointed as you had to be 14 to rent them.  So Dave and Keeghan headed off to tour the park by bike and Cael, Aidan and Poppa and I started out to find the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.  Our first stroke of bad luck was discovering part way around the lake that we had gone the long way.  Hyde Park is REALLY big - I know, I've now walked most of it.  Not all bad though as Poppa treated us to ice cream part way around.  By the time we got to our destination Keeghan and Dave had already toured the park by bike and had walked to short way around and beat us there.  Oh well, the exercise didn't hurt and the fountain was for wading in and was really cold so I was able to numb my feet before the return journey - and yes, we went the short way!  Needless to say we slept well that night.

The Tower of London

Queen's Guard at the Crown Jewels

Yeoman

AKA Beefeater

Aidan Lending a Hand

Cool Door

A good nights sleep, a filling breakfast at the hotel and some planning and we were off to the Tower of London.  We are once again (Dave & I were here 20 years ago) amazed at how in such a large, busy, unknown city one can get around so easily with public transportation.  We finally got to hear more of the wonderful british accents we expected.  The Londoners we met on the tube and around were very friendly and eager to share what they knew - which also amazed me as there are so many tourists here that you would think they would see us as a nuisance.  Emerging from the underground we were struck by the juxtaposition of the skyline - the old brickwork of the Tower against the very modern new glass buildings - one we thought resembled an egg and believe the other was named the Gherkin and resembled a pickle???  At the Tower we were greated by a Yeoman Warden aka Beefeater (apparently no one knows for sure why they are called that, but may be because in history they were given the Royals scraps to eat and so had beef which at that time in London was a delicacy).  The Beefeaters have been employed for hundreds of years at the Tower- we learned that present day Beefeaters have to serve about 20 years of military service before they can apply for the position and that they live at the Tower.  So much gruesome history here - the boys were enthralled and as a result we stayed until closing;  Keeghan and Poppa reading everything and Cael taking pictures of every weapon and suit of armour.  Aidan was a trooper being very patient with it all and was happy at the end of the day with his purchase of a Royal Guardsman teddy bear.  Dave, Keeghan & Cael tried to get to the HMS Belfast, but missed the last tour so a stroll over the Tower Bridge with great views of the Thames was a great end to the day.
2 days in London and no rain Yay!

London Town

Our Door

Paddington Station

We're here!!  Had a very smooth flight that had been delayed by almost an hour.  Some of us slept pretty well on the flight, like Aidan who could sprawl out over Dave and I.  Keeghan says that's his spot on the way home, but somehow I don't think that will work for him.  Poor Cael didn't fair so well with landing again so we'll have to track down some gravol for the next flight.  Our hotel was very easy to find near Paddington Station and we went for dinner and a walk through Hyde Park to Speakers Corner.  I knew that there was a very large Muslim population in London but was really surprised by just how many women were covered in full Burka (sp?).  In the playground I was the only mother not covered in black.  Cael is loving the hustle and bustle, so many taxi's and double decker buses and people.  Keeghan was a little surprised by how old the hotel was.  We are so used to North American standards, that this is quite a change.  The hallways are very narrow with steep stairs and finding our room was a bit of an adventure.  We took the elevator to the second floor, wound through the hallways and then had to go down half a flight of stairs and the lone door on the landing is our room - felt a bit like a rabbit warren:)  Aidan was just happy to find a playground and play.  Can't wait to see what adventures we'll have today :)

The Background

Just a little background as to what led us on this journey... 

Poppa has wanted to go to Scotland for a very long time as all his roots can be traced back to somewhere near Kyle of Lochalsh in the Scottish Highlands, but was always postponing the trip to stick around and help others.  Dave and I decided enough was enough and that it would be an amazing experience for us and the boys to travel with Grannie and Poppa to Scotland and investigate their Scottish Herritage and said "That's it, you're going and we're coming with you!"  (We also have English & Irish Roots through the Smythe's, Payne's and Yo's).  We've been asked many times if we are going to visit relatives and I love Poppa's answer  Only if we dig them up!  

Ardell

(Don't tell but I am personally going in search of a Scottish Highlander named Jamie ;)

The Night Before

Cael Leaving the House

Aidan Following Cael

Ready to Roll

Token shot to show Mom's Along Too.

Yay!!! We did it!!  Suitcases packed, documents ready, house cleaned and ready for our house/dog/cat sitter.  Hope we can get some sleep!!  We are off tomorrow for our BIG ADVENTURE in England, Scotland and Ireland!!!!