Edinburgh

We decided we couldn't possibly head home without having completed our tour of the UK. Which meant we really NEEDED to see the Scottish capital of Edinburgh. Of course we also NEEDED to eat this month, and the two ideas were in some kind of dynamic tension after two appallingly quiet months at work for me. But after a cracker week to finish the last month on a good note, and a cracker week to start the next, we decided the winds of fortune must be changing... it's always good to catch that wind and use it to the best advantage and for us that generally means for the best adventure. Heading to Edinburgh for the weekend on a weekend that promised some of the worst weather of the year was a suitable enough challenge... so we started making plans.

Very quickly we began to question our intrepidness as establishment after establishment turned away our enquiries for available accomodation. Evidently half of France had also decided to come to Edinburgh for the weekend to watch their All Black beating countrymen take on the Scots in the first week of the Six Nations Competition... Eventually, after about 20 denials from B&B's and hundreds of No Availabilities at hotels (save the couple who had rooms available... for 200 quid a night!) we stumbled upon a lovely woman who ran a farmstay about 20 miles south of Edinburgh. Anyone reading the weather reports would think this a foolish option... but I have supreme confidence in our uncanny ability to always get weather that suits us, so thought i'd take the gamble and book us in for the night and an evening meal.

So we ambled our way northwards on Friday night. Turns out 3pm is not the best of times to head off in the car with a three hour journey ahead, as Abbey is want to get a bit vocal between 5 and 6pm if she doesn't get her bath and feed on time. Two harrowed parents arrived in Newcastle at our good friend Paul's place at the YMT (http://www.ymt.org/) base just outside of Consett just in time for dinner... Chinese food was good, Abbey was quiet, Paul is enjoying his time in Newcastle, and we settled in for a semi-comfortable night.

The semi- prefix only works thanks to Abbey's inability to sleep in one place, and her somewhat oversized feet. At least they feel oversized when they knife you in the back in the middle of your attempts at slumbar!! The astute among you may counter that you only get out the gene's you put in, but if that is the case then i'm sure it must also be genetic for women to sleep diagonally across the middle of the bed! If that's not an 'x' linked characteristic then it's certainly one that's come down the maternal line in this family. I've grown astute (artful even) in my ability to sleep on the very edge of the bed. As an interesting aside (and insight into this Monastra family's life) Mez is the only one who has complained of sleepless nights on the occasions when Abbey has been in our bed - I generally sleep as normal. One (ok, I'll own this, the 'one' is Ryan) assumes that the reason for Mez's interrupted sleep is because she feels cramped because she's used to having 2/3rds of the bed to herself and all of a sudden there's another person there. Hahahaha I say. That'll learn ya' for having 'bed hogger' genes and giving them to your daughter!

So getting back to the original purpose of the blog... (Glances at the title for inspiration) Saturday morning found me chipper and refreshed as usual (complete lie) and Mez a little jaded ('bout right). Abbey of course was her usual smiley self and had taken a particular affinity for the boyish good looks of one Paul who happily scooped her up and took her outside to experience some snow. Excellent. The A68 was the road of choice. Flying directly in the face of conventional wisdom in taking the high road after reasonably heavy snowfall. Needless to say it was a bit slower than we might have liked. But absolutely beautiful as the pics testify, Snow like Mez, for one (abbey for two) had never seen, completely covering everything. The 'B' road on the left is a great example of what I should have been nervous about when trying to get to our B&B later in the day. But as I've heard said before: things have a habit of working out... (Actually that idea comes from an interesting book called 'The Celestine Prophecy').

Discovered that sheep don't have a plan B for what to do when the grass is covered in white stuff, so still hang out with their heads on the ground... Maybe their neck muscles are only strong enough to hold their heads up momentarily to look in the general direction of the nearest startling sound??

We arrived in the home of one of the more famous fringe festivals and of course the Military Tattoo. I came to Edinburgh with a couple of questions... Why is the Military Tattoo called a tattoo? I was somewhat surprised to find that the word ‘tattoo’ comes from the closing-time cry in the inns in the Low Countries during the 17th and 18th centuries - ‘Doe den tap toe’ (‘Turn off the taps’). That question led me to wonder about the origins of the word 'Tattoo' as it is commonly known (ie the permanent body art type) which is interesting... but you'll have to follow the link to wikipaedia for the result. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo Back to the purpose of what I was attempting to write before my mind sidetracked me! My Second question was: Why are there so many war memorials in Scotland? The answer would seem obvious... because they fought many wars. But I got the impression it was more than that from the war museum we wandered through in the castle. Even that it is inherent in the Scottish mindset that they are a warring nation, that fighting for a noble cause is what they do. (as opposed to simple bloodlust). Indeed I had a wee moment of clarity in the war memorial on top of the Castle, when looking through all of the many battles the Scots have fought, and I came upon Gallipoli as just one of hundreds. In NZ we have a day off work to remember the ANZAC soldiers who met their end at Gallipoli. The Scots would never work if they took a day to remember every battle that their people have fought in at great cost... Kinda put things in perspective for me a little.

Interesting also, as I had been wondering about the historicity of the United Kingdom, and what the Scots could give to the English Crown, and what the English would give to the Scots... My learning is most simple, but has appeased my minds questions for the moment. What was necessary back in the middle ages for a country to be economically successful, was stability (and I suppose african slaves, but we wont go there eh?) So both Scotland and England benefitted hugely when they eventually joined forces in 1707 (I think) and allowed English Government to extend through into Scotland, the Scots added manpower, and loads of it to the English (actually British) army... interesting in as much as this was much the same agreement that the British Crown later gave to the Maori people: Governance and peace in exchange for land. Exceedingly clever if you look at it from the British perspective. Not so if you consider it from the Maori's... White people land on your shore, kill your people with their guns. White people 'steal' your land. Then white people strike a deal to rule your people in exchange for you selling them land you dont want (that hasn't already been stolen). Win win for the British crown in reality. But I guess if not that then i'd have french as my first language. And then they might also have tested a few nuclear bombs on us too. In addition to beating us in Rugby. Twice. I guess the Brit's aren't too bad! (At least they let us beat them at rugby).

Getting back to the point... I hadn't realised, But the Scots actually had a Royalist thing going on too - (not withstanding a few minor discrepancies between highlanders and lowlanders). Anyway Mez and Paul both got a little carried away with the whole William Wallace thing and found swords and a random chap in a costume to pose with which was a bit of fun. Though he only had three lines from the movie (braveheart) which he kept repeating over and over again... Got a little tiresome for us, can't imagine what it would have been like for him. Interesting though, he was just collecting money for Leukemia research, so decided posing for photo's with tourists was a good way of getting them to empty their pockets of spare change. Good call. Worked with us!

We only really had time to see the Castle on Saturday (after stopping for a bit for lunch in a skanky foodcourt) - it was literally freezing (snowing even) while we were up there wandering about for the afternoon, so we tended to duck outside for short spells and have a bit of a look around then go inside another one of the buildings. There was a few things that tickled my fancy here. First this Diamond encrusted, solid Gold hilted sword that was presented to Sir David Baird after some victory in battle. Interestingly, the sword was commissioned and gifted by the soldiers that served under him which was in part because they didn't feel he was given due credit for his role in the win. Impressive gift! One of the things that has always struck me as odd is all the ceremonial dress that is associated with the military. I mean camoflage gears I can understand, but flashey bits and white gloves and all that jazz just doesn't seem appropriate attire for fighting. Again there is historical reasons. Evidently, back in the days when you had to actually get close enough to the enemy to see them face to face to fight with them, there was an element of showmanship with the dress, I guess in the same way that some butterflies have gigantic eyes painted on their wings to trick predators into thinking they're bigger than they are, old school armies would dress in flash gears to masquerade as being the richest - therefore the most likely to have more resources with which to win any battle. Evidently this led (in a lot of cases) to battles being won without any bloodshed. The dude with the cheaper clothes would just surrender and not bother. Amazing!

The Oldest building in the Castle complex is an old chapel Built by King David I and dedicated to (his mother) St Margaret which dates back to the 12th century. Pretty cool too. I like the really old stone chapels we've seen over here, probably moreso than a lot of the huge and ornate churches that this country is so famous for. Beautiful stained glass. Usually I'm not such a huge fan of stained glass. Too busy, given that it's usually done in huge pieces that tell whole stories. Very clever, but I just don't have the temperament to sit and stare at it. Yet these small simple pieces I was quite captivated with, staring for quite a while and just wondering about the lives of those depicted and what kind of times the wee chapel had seen in it's 800ish years of existence.

Quite funny to see a semi-circle of cannons which all faced the Scott Monument. (the picture of Mez and I with the monument in the background that is above is the Scott Monument from ground level. Huge great thing! Not sure if those who set up the displays at the castle were trying to make a political statement or not. Sir Walter Scott was a novelist and poet, his most famous work (well the only one I had heard of!) being Rob Roy. Most likely most famous because some Hollywood producer made it into a movie (off the back of the success of Braveheart!)

The Gigantic cannon you see me and Abbey standing beside is called Mons Meg. It was used in loads of (famous?) battles all over the country, against the English. It weighs 6000kg and took a team of over 100 men an entire day to transport it a mere 3-5 miles! However once positioned it was fairly effective, firing solid shot cannonballs 150kg in weight for about 2 miles in distance (unless it hit something else first) and using 50kg of gunpowder for each shot (not exactly the most carbon friendly piece of artillery!) Pretty cool I thought. In fact, perhaps strangely, I thought it was one of the coolest things at the castle! It was last fired in 1681 when its massive gunbarrel burst!

I hadn't realised, but the Scots actually had crown jewels, which we also got to see up at the Castle. When they hooked up with the English, in 1707 they were hidden in a chest somewhere and not rediscovered for another 111 years. But they're now displayed for all to see and are most impressive. The kinda cool looking building with the clockface on it and the octagonal turret is where the Jewels are housed, similar to the tower of london, you go through a bit of a maze to get to them, and the traffic is entirely one way. I guess it lessens the possibility of them being a target for theives. Though we managed to find a quick route down (the staff elevator) after hauling the pram up all of the stairs to get there!!! We also had a bit of a wander through a prison exhibition up there which was a bit dull, as was the exhibition of daily life for the prisoners. But then, after a few hours, I think we were getting a bit castled out, so we headed on our way, down the royal mile, back to the car, and off to our farm stay.

As I said earlier, things have a habit of working out, and our farm stay 20 miles to the south of Edinburgh was no exception. You saw the photo's above of what the B roads looked like, yet by the time we happened upon our B road that would take us a few miles along it to our beds for the evening, some rain had washed away most of the slippery stuff and barring a couple of patches here and there, the road was pretty driveable. Our host was a lovely old lady who had been doing the B & B for over 20 years. Nice place, albeit a bit dated, but lovely hostess and we were warmed not only by the dinner she cooked us, but also by the lovely open fire which Abbey stared at for ages.

Great sleep was had by all and in the morning we headed back to the central city, finished walking down the royal mile, and then headed past Holyrood palace and the Scottish parliament, towards the craggs. The Craggs (aptly named) also have King Arthur's seat atop them, but unfortunately the mountain buggy (as explained in an earlier blog i think) is not quite mountain enough. To be fair, it did well to make it up as far as it did! Great views though back towards the city, of course lovely fresh air, and a jogger or two to say hi to nearly every few minutes! The shot between the crags has the castle hill between the crags but closer to the right crag. The smaller pic actually shows the hill a bit better and the Firth of Forth behind it! (Yay! The Sea!) After a bit of clowning around on the top (as boys with cameras tend to do) Paul and I made a steep descent down the hillside on backsides, after taking the high route back down, while mez took the more buggy friendly option around the base of the Craggs (the track that you can see in the picture of the craggs with the city in the middle). Great fun!

The Scottish parliament is one of those buildings that probably gets loads of complaints made about it in Britain, but would be quite complimented upon in NZ. ie, Employs modern architectural styles, and interesting design features, as Mez is demonstrating outside it! Next was a quick squizz at the outside of Holyrood palace, the Queen's pad when she visits Scotland, and not a bad looking pad either I might add. Would have been slightly better accomodation than our farm stay. If only I had royal connections. In fact on the subject of royal connections, Just the other day, I was asking my mother (who is Australian) if we had any convict blood in our lineage and the answer is yes! Petty bread theives evidently. So don't go inviting me for bread and soup, I might not be able to overcome those genes and steal your bread! I realise that is not a royal connection, but somewhere in my head that made sense when I started writing it... Nevermind. In Britain you can actually still be sentenced to a one way ticket to Australia for some petty offences if you're not careful. Criminals beware. Actually I considered attempting some of the crimes to get a free trip over there... but somehow I suspect the judge would choose one of the other options for punishment.

Found a street for Abbey (love the unimpressed look on her face and the casual wave!), and even an Abbey Sanctuary, which was opportune cos she was in need of a nappy change! That done, we decided to wander back up The Royal Mile (so named because it is the mile between the Castle, which also sued to be a royal residence and the Holyrood Palace. Evidently Royals used to come down from the Castle and stay at other residences along the road in Medieval times, for fear of being targeted by invaders if staying in the Castle!!) Anyway we headed back up the Royal mile, pausing to admire castle-like buildings, cools shops selling stained glass and other Scottish crafty things as well as interesting Bovine creations, interesting water fountains (not currently spilling forth) and a genuine kilt clad piper. Not exactly pied, but he had a fair sized audience. Great sound the bagpipes, I have to say I thoroughly enjoy them on the odd occasions that I hear them. Wouldn't want a piper to move next door though mind you! We preserved a little clip for you too! complete with a random frolic from Mez and Paul! Great Stuff!

Then we headed off on our way and said goodbye to a beautiful city...

The trip back was fairly uneventful. Went back down the A1 which was exceedingly more boring to drive than the A68, but which did afford us the opportunity to visit Holy Island which is kinda cool. You drive out along this causeway which is underwater at high tide but above the waterline at low tide. We fortunately arrived with plenty of time to get over and back so went on a bit of a tiki tour over to the island just to get out and stretch legs and give Abbey some time out of her seat. Not out of the car though as it was bloody freezing! Good Fresh Sea Air! The castle is called Lindisfarne Castle and the Island Called Holy thanks to a couple of Monasteries on the Island, The first of which was built by St Aidan in 635 and which was later home to St Cuthbert who was evidently a pretty charismatic chap. There was also a whole load of the priests and brothers martyred by the Vikings which probably gives more reason to call the place holy. The only holy I noted was 'holy cow it's cold here!' (Ok so 'cow' is the reader friendly version) and hence we departed. I'm sure it'd be lovely in Summer. Onwards drove we, to Consett where we bade Paul farewell, heaven only knows when we'll next see him again, but I'm sure we will. And Abbey was quite taken with her new friend which was really cool. Then we were off for home, arriving at the reasonable hour of 8.30pm, and thoroughly sick of driving! Great Weekend though, and so glad we got the opportunity to see the Scottish capital. Bring on the next bit of travel!!!