Edinburgh: Day Three

"But we've wandered many a weary foot..."

Day Three: our shortest, yet most productive, day. We managed to get a decent night's sleep and rolled out of bed a little after 8:00AM. Down to Cucina for another Full Scottish (Melody has had the Wee Scottish both days, equally delicious, but less bloaty), then off to the bus tour. Though Edinburgh is a compact city, the miles add up, and after two days afoot in the city, the bus was a welcome relief. The plan was to ride the bus for the first half of the tour, then hop off at the Royal Mile and take the tour of Mary King's Close. The bus tour began at North Bridge and wound its way through the New Town. Through St. Andrews Square, past the statues of William Pitt, George IV, the homes of John Buchan and Robert Louis Stevenson, and the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland (who ran for office on promises of lower taxes and Scots independence...) and then on into the old town. On the High Street section of the Royal Mile, we hopped off to take the walking tour of Mary King's Close. We found the first part of the bus tour informative and quite funny, the tour guide, Jack, did a wonderful job. Mary Kings' Close is one of a warren of alleys that housed tenements which were built over (the tops of the buildings were used as foundations for more modern buildings) and then forgotten for centuries. A costumed guide led us through a series of houses, cow sheds and storage rooms, all of which had been virtually buried in 1753. The tour gave a comprehensive, if sometimes squalid, view of life in Edinburgh between the 17th and 19th centuries. The accommodations ranged from the homes of wealthy merchants to the hovels of the most impoverished. Of course, there were ghost stories and I'll admit (before Mel rats me out) that I had a moment of fright (Melody interjects: Oh, how he jumped! It was especially gratifying as I knew our tour guide was targeting me and I did not succumb to his cheap theatrics! Woo!). Our costumed tour guide seemed genuinely interested in his work and provided some great facts and anecdotes. As with the information given by our bus tour guide, a lot of the interesting stories he told were tied to really interesting architectural facts, for example, the thickness of the walls in the buried closes are sometimes ten feet thick, not all that dissimilar from the middle wall of a Georgian row house.

After the Mary King's Close tour, we hopped back on the tour bus for the second half of the tour. This half had a different tour guide and, frankly, all we learned was that Edinburgh had pubs in it; a fact we'd already well established the previous two nights. Arriving back at North Bridge at the end of the tour, we decided we were done-in for the day. After the walking of the first two days, our dogs were barking and we decided to head back to the hotel for an afternoon of rest. We stocked up on supplies at a small grocer's and back to the room at around 3:00PM. All in all, a very productive day. Though we didn't spend as much time wandering the city as we had on the previous days, we managed to see more in terms of attractions. I think we were both feeling bad about cutting the day short, but just as we neared the hotel, the sky opened up and we were drenched in rain. We chose to see this as divine confirmation that we should spend the rest of the day in the room. One further accomplishment: the grocer's we stopped at sold Brew Dog beer! Brew Dog is an up and coming brewery, from Fraserburgh, Scotland, who are building a reputation for brewing complex and tasty beers. Sadly, these beers aren't available in Oklahoma. Happily, I'm on vacation in Scotland! Serendipity! So, along with our bread and cheese, we picked up a four pack of Brew Dog's Punk IPA (described as a "post-modern Pale Ale"). I found it aggressively hopped and thoroughly delicious. Everything I'd hoped it'd be.

So, though we spent very little time exploring today, I feel we made it a great success.

Impressions of the day: New Town Edinburgh has some really interesting and often overlooked historical sites, and a massive used bookfair that we hope to get back to on foot tomorrow. We certainly hadn't hoped to see any ghosts, and so were relieved this was borne out, but Melody wonders if we are maybe blocking our psychic energies to possibilities. It is in fact boring to be on a pub tour if you don't actually go in the pub. The people are amazing, and while we did manage to avoid our Starbucks today (Score! It can be done!), it meant we missed our favorite barrista. The amazing architecture, the beautiful natural landscape, the excellent literature, the tasty food and drink, and the intriguing history truly are not the most important treasures of Edinburgh, rather it is the people that make this town not just a place of beauty and significance, but the kind of town you would like to call home. It may be pulling ahead of Florence as the number one city for a couple of ex-pats to raise a family. Coming on the morrow: another jaunt on the bus, a hike up to Arthur's Seat, an afternoon in the castle and a ghost tour in the evening. Will Mel be the one to jump this time? Probably.

More communications to follow....