Edinburgh - Georgie, Porgie, Puddin', and Pie

Sunday, June 10, 2012
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
At the end of the London post, you might have been wondering why we flew from London to Edinburgh rather than taking the train. Granted, the train would have been more interesting because we could have seen the countryside, including Nottingham of Robin Hood fame, but the fact was that I managed to find a flight cheaper than the train tickets. We figured why not fly and get there faster, especially since we only had two half days and one night there.

We landed at the Edinburgh Airport around 10:20 and caught an Airlink bus to town, which let us off very close to Frederick St., home of the 53 Frederick St. B&B. We didn't have much of a clue about what we were doing since we were meeting friends from Greenville there, and one of them had made all the arrangements, but we asked the bus driver to let us know when we were at the closest stop to Frederick St. As it turned out, the stop was only about half a block away, which was was good because the walk was all uphill, and it was cold! And I mean really cold. To us South Carolinians, it felt more like February than June. We had checked Weather.com so we knew it was going to be cold and had brought appropriate clothes, but still it was a shock to our systems, especially coming from the sunny Adriatic. 

At any rate, we easily found our place. From the outside, 53 Frederick St. doesn't look like much, but don't let that fool you. Inside, it is cozy and charming. It was especially so after the horrible Acacia Hostel in London. We were so delighted to have a clean bathroom that the first thing we did was take showers! And, apparently, I was so excited to get a real shower and to get out into Edinburgh that I didn't think to take any pictures of the room or lounge. Trust me, though; it was comfortable and well-done.   
















 


 
Our friends weren't due to arrive until a little later so after we had freshened up, we decided to go out and explore. The first thing we noticed was that Edinburgh is full of Gothic architecture. I absolutely love Gothic architecture so to me it was visual heaven!  



























 
The next thing we realized was that Edinburgh was not as spread out as we thought it would be. The city is divided into Old Town (built in the 12th century) and New Town (built from the 18th century to the present), and it is quite easy to walk from one to the other if you don't mind steep hills. However, by this time it was about 14:00, and we knew we could not see both in one afternoon so we decided to spend that day in New Town, mostly on Princes St. and George St., taking pictures and shopping. I was taking pictures, and Bill was shopping. (Kind of a role reversal, for sure.) He found one shop with tartan scarves and bought two and another shop with espadrilles, which he had been looking for for at least seven years but was not at all looking for in Edinburgh. We thought it was pretty ironic that the one place he didn't look for them, he found them. 

Bill most likely would have walked all afternoon, but I was recovering from knee surgery and was about done in at that point, so we decided to make our way back to Frederick Street. On our way, we passed the Hard Rock Cafe' and spontaneously and simultaneously decided we just had to stop and eat a late lunch/early dinner. I know you must be thinking, "Really? You were in Scotland and ate at the Hard Rock? Why not try something a little less generic?" But, see, Bill and I had been in Croatia since March, and we were dying for good old American cheeseburgers. There are hamburgers in Croatia, and they are good, but they are not the same! So, we indulged and enjoyed every minute of it. Of course, later we sort of regretted it since we both felt kind of queasy. Apparently our systems had, unbeknownst to us, adjusted to the lower fat meat in Croatia. No matter. We enjoyed them while we ate them. 

After eating, we went back to the B&B for a short rest. When we got there, we found that our friends, Pam, Janet, and Michael, had arrived, but since we had been out and were ready to rest, and they were just getting there and wanted to go explore, we said hello in passing and didn't see each other again until the next day. It was just as well that we didn't make plans with them for later because as it turned out, my "short rest" turned into hanging out in the room reading and watching the Euro Cup soccer matches between Spain/Italy and Ireland/Croatia on TV for the remainder of the night. Bill wanted to see the games, too, but wasn't in the mood to just hang out in the room all night so he went to the sports pub down the street. My plan was to watch the games and drift off to sleep as it got dark. However, at some point, I noticed that even though the second soccer match was almost over, it was still light. When I looked at the clock, I was amazed to see that it was almost 23:00! I had never been anywhere that it stayed light so late. I was so fascinated that I got out of bed to take a picture. I was kind of hoping it would stay light until midnight, but it was dark by 23:30. Still, I thought it was really cool. By the way, our B&B was in New Town, which you'd never know by looking at those buildings! 









 
 
Breakfast for the B&B is provided by Rick's, located right next door. The breakfast menu contained fairly typical breakfast choices, and we all had a variety of items, which have all gone out of my head due to Michael's and Bill's intrepid haggis-eating adventure. Michael ordered it, and Bill tasted it, and they both declared it good. This is something I will never know for myself because there is no enticement short of a million dollars that could get me to put it in my mouth. Since no one I know has a million dollars to just give away, I think I am safe in saying that I will never taste haggis.

After breakfast, we split up. Neither Bill, Pam, nor I had ever been to Edinburgh so we decided to take a Hop On-Hop Off Bus tour to get an overview and a few pictures. This was not Janet and Michael's first visit so they said they'd rather go to a museum. I was glad I did what I did, but I must admit to thinking about how warm they were in that museum while my poor ears were turning into ice cubes on the top of the double decker bus. I know some people might not think much of doing touristy bus tours, but I have found when I am in a new place that it is a good way to get an orientation to the city and learn things I might not otherwise have known. For instance, on our tour through New Town, we saw the first curved street built in Edinburgh. The tour guide told us that when the street was being constructed, people would come just to stare at it, expecting all the buildings to collapse. We saw Robert Louis Stevenson's childhood home. We learned that from 1696-1851 homes were taxed according to how many windows they had. (And we think we have crazy taxes.) The residents called it the "light and air " tax, and to avoid paying, home owners bricked over some of their windows. Of course, they then noticed this made the street front of their buildings look strange, so to fix the problem, they painted windows where the bricked windows had once been. Even though that tax was repealed in 1851, the windows are still bricked over and painted today. Look closely at the picture, and you'll be able to tell which windows are real and which ones are painted.

























  
 
But the most humorous thing we heard was about the origin of the nursery rhyme "Georgie, Porgie, Puddin', and Pie, kissed the girls and made them cry. When the boys came out to play, Georgie Porgie ran away." According to the guide, it all started when King George IV visited Edinburgh in 1822. It had been more than 170 years since a reigning monarch had visited Edinburgh so the population was excited. In addition, the king announced that he planned to wear the Stuart tartan. Since tartans had been outlawed after the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, this truly marked it as an occasion to celebrate. However, when George IV showed up, the people were completely taken aback by his appearance. Not only was he improperly wearing the kilt way above his knees like a short skirt, he had chosen to complement it with pink stockings! If you have followed the link to the Stuart (now spelled Stewart) tartans, you will know just how badly pink leggings would clash, not to mention the oddity of wearing pink stockings in the first place. Add the fact that King George was 5'2" and weighed around 350 pounds, and you can just picture how ridiculous he looked. I imagine the Scots thought he was making fun of them. Maybe that's why they made up such an unkind rhyme. At any rate, according to the guide, the rhyme originated with the Caledonian ball. His appearance notwithstanding, King George thought of himself as quite the ladies' man and insisted on having all 200 of the women attendees line up to be kissed. But, contrary to what you might think, it wasn't his appearance that made them cry. Oh, no. It was his breath. Apparently in addition to his less-than-pleasing appearance, he also had horrible halitosis, so kissing him was the ultimate ordeal. Hence the first couplet. Then when the men, angry about being ignored, gathered to complain, they found that the king had left the ball. (I guess all that kissing had worn him out.) The men were left with nothing but their anger. Hence the second couplet. 
 
After the tour of New Town, the bus crossed into Old Town where we were treated to some local history most of which I do not remember because three very rude people who had "hopped on" right before we got there were talking the entire time the guide was explaining what was what. What I do remember, though, is that the New Town was built to alleviate the overcrowding of Old Town, and it is easy to see why. The streets are narrower and the buildings are more crowded together. One interesting fact was that due to the overcrowding, Old Town became the site of some of the first multi-story residences. Many of these were destroyed in a fire in 1824. Those were rebuilt, but others remain to this day.  
 
Dominating Old Town is Edinburgh Castle. Built on an extinct volcano, the castle has a long history. The actual castle was built by King David I somewhere around 1130, but the first mention of a building on the site was in approximately 600 when reference was made to "the fortress on the rock". We really wanted to tour the castle but did not have time since we had to meet Janet and Michael at 13:30 at Waverley Station to catch our train to Northumbria. We all, Bill, Pam, and I, decided that we will have to revisit Edinburgh when we have more time to spend. One and a half days were not enough by a long shot. We did get off the bus to take some pictures, though. And Pam and I bought wool hats! I did mention that it was cold. Well, it was so cold that when we saw the hats in a store, we celebrated and didn't even hesitate to buy them! My poor little frozen ears were really grateful.













   
 
I don't have a picture of us and our new hats, but here is one of Bill. You can see he looks like he needs a mug of hot chocolate. He didn't get one (but Pam and I did!) because he left us at that point to go back to the B&B to collect our luggage and bring it to the train station. After our hot chocolate, we got back on the bus for the final leg of the tour, which was on the same side of the river as Old Town but contained some very modern buildings. 

Passing under an arch that designates the end of the original parameters of Old Town, we came to the Scottish Parliament Building, one of the most interesting architectural designs for a government building that I've ever seen. It is actually a complex of buildings. I was not able to get pictures of all of the buildings, but I did capture three. As you can see, two of them are quite modern in design with one more traditional building between them. It probably won't surprise you to learn that they have created quite a bit of controversy!









  
Across from the complex is Arthur's Seat. Part of an extinct volcano, Arthur's Seat, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design", rises approximately 250 meters (822 feet) above Edinburgh. The tour guides assured us that it offers a panoramic view of the city and is relatively easy to climb - relatively being the operative word, I think.  

Sadly, that ended our tour. The bus made its way back to where it began, which was fortuitously was right across from Waverley Station. Pam and I walked across the street, met Bill, Janet, and Michael, collected our luggage (thanking Bill profusely), and began the next part of our journey to Northumbria. 

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