Touring Edinburgh

Little did we know that there are at least 10 Charity shops on one street in Edinburgh! 

That’s Norm looking for things. Next our “free” city tour. We met on the Royal Mile for what I thought I had booked, a one hour tour. We walked along Bruntsfield Meadows to join the tour

Sunny day 

Note the red umbrella and the Tron Kirk (church). We learned alot about history of Scotland and Edinburgh.
Alasdair of guide explained that the tour was actually 2-3 hours. 

This is St. Giles Cathedral which dates back to 1124 but with fire it was rebuilt in 1385. 

We walked through later and heard the organ playing

A nice peaceful place to sit after walking (slowly) for 3 hours.

The city tour continued through a close (narrow street) heading to George Heroit’s School. 

This school is now one of Edinburgh’s most renowned independent schools. It was established in 1628 by George Heriot for poor children.  Today it costs 2,000£ a month to attend. And rumour has it that this building was possibly the beginnings of Hogwarts school. JK Rowling would often sit in the Elephant House coffee shop and look out the window to the school and the Edinburgh castle. 

The window JK Rowling would look out at the castle.

Here we are having lunch.

Love the sign on the way in

Next Greyfriars Bobby, the dog that stayed by his master’s grave for the rest of the dog’s life, 14 years. 

A statue of Bobby sits on the Edinburgh’s Candlemaker Row and George IV Bridge. Rubbing the nose is for good luck although some local people are worrying that doing this is destroying it. Our leader Alasdair says no. 

Artistic photo of Norm waving when we walked along George IV Bridge. Can you see us? 

Alasdair told us of the three famous writers of Edinburgh, Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Walter Scott. And this is for Scott!

It is massive, 200 feet 6 inches high. It is right beside the Princes Street Gardens which we learned used to be the Nor Loch. It was here that all of Edinburgh’s waste products were dumped. The smell was so bad that the city decided to drain the loch and the New Town was built. It was considered a masterpiece of city planning. 

Here is some of the Princes Gardens 

And as we headed home on the bus we could see the Edinburgh Castle.

Tomorrow Arthur’s Seat....