October 5 2016

Today we started our exploration of Edinburgh with a morning guided tour of the area. Our tour guide, Hugh Salvesen, met us at the hotel all properly dressed in kilt, even though his ancestry is Norwegian. So off we went on a walking tour of a city designed for mountain goats!
His introduction to Edinburgh started with when Scotland was down at the Equator, eons ago when dinosaurs wandered in its tropical jungles. Giving rise to the immense amounts of coal in the region and how that impacted on the development of Scotland and England during the industrial revolution. It also explains the dark look to the stone most of the buildings are made of. An oily form of sandstone which exudes a dark oily substance that cannot be cleaned away. He then talked about the ice ages and how they carved a lot of the topography but could not greatly change some of the really hard, volcanic rock, leaving behind the huge inclined pedestal upon which Edinburgh Castle and the Old Town stand.
Bringing the history a bit further towards the present he told us of the political struggles of kings and queens and clans of the highlands. While this sounds quite dry as I describe it here, Hugh did it with great humor and kept us greatly entertained as well.
As we walked and walked I came to realize what a truly beautiful city Edinburgh is. There are great photographs everywhere just waiting to be taken. One of his favorite things was to point out what he called "another useless British tradition", like the occasional announcement by the town crier in the city center when some momentous occasion occurred, or the marking of 1:00 PM with the dropping of a huge bell on the Nelson Monument which is perfectly coordinated with the firing of a cannon at Edinburgh Castle. The tour ended on Carlton Hill from which we got an excellent overall view of the city.

Willy from Hunters Coach picked us up at Waterloo Place to transport us to the Royal Yacht Britannia, which is docked right next to a shopping mall, where we had lunch first before boarding and touring the yacht. On the audio tour we learned a lot of interesting facts about the vessel and the Royalty that used her. For a State visit five tons of royal luggage would be brought aboard.  The ship's Captain was often an Admiral, who might change uniforms 12 times a day, depending on his duties that day.The ship's laundry was keep busy full time cleaning all those uniforms. There was a two bed hospital with an operation room and the yacht was designed to be converted to a hospital ship if required in times of emergency. But most impressive were the opulent quarters and facilities for the use of the Royal Family.

After the tour we returned to Old Town Chambers to relax and freshen up before our big Scottish Night Out at Prestonfield. Preston claimed it was named in his honor. Well, ... really?! We arrived a bit early so went to the mansion before retiring to the "stables" where the "Taste of Scotland Show" was to be held. Now that mansion is one I would really like to visit again. Private Victorian style rooms with bar and dinner service.

Moving to the stables we were first serenaded with bagpipes. The show centered around traditional song and dance and pretty soon the company had half the audience up and dancing too. And of course, who could forget the ceremony of the Haggis?! We were all given the opportunity to taste this traditional dish! A lot was made about it in a negative sense but I found it pretty tasty!