 |
| Bagpipe Store |
 |
| Edinburgh Castle |
 |
| The 1:00 Gun |
 |
| William Wallace |
 |
| The Bottom of the Royal Mile |
Today we struck off in different directions for the morning. Dave, the boys & I started up the Royal Mile and Grannie & Poppa went to Scotland's People in search of the McLennan roots. One of the boys' hopes was to learn about the bagpipes and we discovered a bagpipe store just a few blocks up the mile. They were very friendly and helpful there. They told us how everyone starts on a Chanter which is just the part that you blow into and has nine holes, but only one octave, from there you graduate to a practice pipe which has a bag and allows you to learn how to control the air. After that you move up a true set of pipes which he said you actually have time to take a wee nip of whiskey in between breaths. They also played an Irish Flute for us. As we had just started out for the day we opted to return the next day to make our purchases. We met Grannie and Poppa at Princes Street Mall for lunch and found that they were not able to get any more information than they had already, which was good and bad. Good in that Poppa has done such a good job of research that there's no more information to be found, bad because there's nothing more to go on, unless we can learn something more in Kintail and Balmacara where the trail ends. From there we climbed the rest of the mile (which is actually 1 1/2 miles between Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle and is all uphill). Just outside the gates we met William Wallace and the boys got to have their photo taken (A drama school teacher who tries to bring history to life and raising money for kids with leukemia in the process). The Castle and the history of the Scottish people is fascinating. They have been very tenacious in seeking their independance from England. The cobblestone road is a mixture of 17th and 18th century construction and the Castle was built over hundreds of years with evidence of inhabitants from the bronze age. The oldest structure is St. Margarets Chapel which dates back to around 1130. If only the walls could speak. In general the castle is dark and damp and I can only imagine what it would have been like in winter. We were there for the one o'clock gun and learned that in true Scots fashion one o'clock was chosen over the traditional noon sounding to save amunition - using one round instead of 12 rounds. After a week in the UK we had our first bit of rain today, but nothing to stop us. After a long day on our feet we were glad the way back down the Royal mile was downhill. We wished we had more time on the Royal Mile, if you look past the cheesy souvenir shops, the buildings and Wynds off the main road are fascinating filled stories and history and beautiful (but dirty) architecture. One thing that I have found very interesting is that it's not the wars and fighting for the crown that has caused the most death, but disease - plague's, influenza and cholera due to living and hygeine conditions. Yay, for Public Health :)
No comments:
Post a Comment