Alex kilt searching – The Royal Mile Edinburgh
June 29 2012
Well the classic line of our second full day in Edinburgh was from teenage son .. ‘hmm you know how I am semi Asian do you reckon I could still wear a kilt?’ Spent a great day wandering the streets of Edinburgh. Oh I do love Edinburgh. It really is the most fantastic city. We wandered up and down the cobble stone Royal Mile and soaked in the sound of bagpipes. We visited the Real Mary King Close which was interesting for me the second time and fascinating for Alex the first time. Mary King Close is part of the old city that still exists beneath the newer (still damn old) buildings. Closes are just really tiny streets on a slope and Mary King Close is still pretty well intact, but of course now only inhabited by the ghosts. We heard the stories of Annie the little girl who is still said to haunt the Close and could almost still smell decay and death from the plague. Hearing about how the sewerage buckets were just thrown down the street and the rats, rats and more rats makes me damn pleased that I am here for a pleasant Scottish weekend in 2012.
We went to the Whisky Experience (a museum about Whisky making) that was all very civilised. Had whisky tasting and heard about the most uncivilised people on Earth (Australians) who mix good Scotch with coke – didn’t admit to being Aussies!
The castle was of course looming over Edinburgh in the ominous way that it does. Wandered some more and had some dinner and braced ourselves for the 10pm ghost tour of Edinburgh. I had been to Greyfriars Kirkyard a few times so we decided to do the aptly titled double dead tour – it took us underground into the old houses under the South bridge (again more plague) and was totally fascinating. Where we walked (down past the cowgate) it looked like they were just really tall old stone buildings. Once pointed out though you could tell it was originally a bridge. The bridge came from the South up to the Royal Mile really high above the ground. As the city grew under the bridge was filled in with the most shocking tenements – walking through them you just can’t imagine what it was like to live in them. The water and 300 year old sewerage was still running down the walls and the rooms with rings in the walls where the animals were tied up gave one a really strong sense of ‘thank god I was born in this time’. It was pretty spooky, especially when all of the lights (torches) were turned out. Off to Greyfriars Kirkyard to hear the gruesome story of McKenzie – even Alex screamed when someone jumped out at us as we stood in the old tomb! It was a very spooky walk home to the much more glamorous new town (still Georgian so I love the title ‘new’).
Sleeping under the stars 