Day 8-Edinburgh

 Day 8-Edinburgh

Frommer's says Edinburgh is "Blessed with an outstanding array of scenery" and that certainly is true. 

Even though the weather was dreary with rain all day, you still can't help but appreciate its beauty and storied past.    

Scottish Storytelling Center

Our last day on tour started off with a visit to the Scottish Storytelling Center .  This stop featured storyteller Dougie Mackay entertaining us with some Scottish lore & even challenged us with a few riddles!   Dougie informed us that he recently started a podcast called Tales for Our Times.  I will be downloading a few episodes for the flight home.  The Storytelling Center is located in the John Knox House.  

"John Knox House dates back to 1470, which makes it and Moubray House attached, the oldest, original medieval building surviving on the Royal Mile."  

In case you haven't heard, King Charles III & his Queen are in Edinburgh and the town has gotten quite crowded.   With barriers in place, security check points ready to go and the media descending on the city, it has made things quite cramped at times.  For a full list of events that happen on July 5, the day we leave Scotland...take a look at this schedule.   We even got to see the arrival of the King's Royal Company of Archers! 


    

    

National Museum of Scotland/Specters of Scotland 

Between the raindrops today, we managed to see some of the National Museum of Scotland.  The museum features great exhibits on Scottish History! We poked our head into Greyfriars Kirk Graveyard/Kirkyard to see the headstone of Greyfriar Buddy, a dog as legend has it, that slept on his owner's grave each night until the dog passed away himself.  Little did we know that we would be returning that night on our Specters of Scotland ghost tour.  Take a look at the description of Specters of Scotland from our tour schedule:

 "A city that can inspire Robert Louis Stephenson—an Edinburgh native—to create the monstrous Mr. Hyde has to have a deep and dark past. On your ghost tour, experience the twisted, demented, and downright terrifying side of Edinburgh. See bricked over passages and caged crypts, then try to sleep wondering: who are they keeping out… or what are they keeping in? "

My group also managed to have an Italian lunch, get some gelato, stop by the Museum on the Mound, & make a trip to Lululemon.  Before the ghost tour, the group also all got together for one last dinner & this one featured traditional Bangers & Mash.  

During our return to Greyfriar's Kirkyard for the ghost tour, we were informed of a few tales from that burial ground.   The desecration of Sir George Mackenzie's, aka' "bloody Mackenzie's" mausoleum, a story of one wife who was buried alive & we were informed that the Tale of Greyfriar Bobby is actually fiction.  


    

    

     

    
    
    

    

    

Look for more pictures and stories in the coming weeks since our tour has ended! 


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