St Leonards

Shelley has been very tolerant with my need to find locations from Ian Rankin's Rebus novels. We were walking down from Arthur's Seat and just found ourselves just down the street from St. Leonard’s Police Headquarters.. Anyone who has read the Rebus novels knows the Inspector worked out of St. Leonard’s. At least for most of the books he did.

I had Shelley take my picture right outside the station's main door. I thought it might be fun to go in and ask for Inspector Rebus but, of course, we all know he is retired and I don't remember the Edinburgh police having that kind of sense of humour so we just moved on before they arrested us for loitering.

Scottish Parliament Tour

Shelley and I had a rare treat late Wednesday afternoon when Tricia Marwick a Member of the Scottish Parliament gave us a tour of the five amazing buildings which make up the Scottish Parliament. I met Tricia when she spoke to the Fair Vote Canada AGM about electoral reform in Scotland. She invited me to get in contact with her when we came to Edinburgh and we met late afternoon. She gave us a tour most of the public never get the opportunity to see.

The controversial structure was designed by Catalan architect Enric Miralles and officially opened in 2004, three years late and millions of pounds over budget. Still the subject of some controversy it is a stunningly magnificent, if eccentric structure. Although from the outside it consists of five separate buildings, one dating back to the 17th century, on the inside the transitions from one to the other are seamless.

The space is quite wonderful and we had a great tour guide in Tricia who knows the building inside out, quirks and all. We were quite taken with it.

This isn't really Shelley's First Visit

Shelley usually says this is her first visit to Edinburgh but, she actually lived here as a babe in arms.

Her father, Neil Banks, was a United Church minister and he studied at the University of Edinburgh, School of Divinity, New College and the family lived here for a year or so, The "New College" by the way was built in 1846.

We went in and talked to the warder and explained the reason for our visit. He let us in so we could wander around and take a good look at the facility.

Edinburgh is a Walking Around Kind of Town

Edinburgh is a town made for walking. Most things you might want to see are within a reasonable walking distance. That would make it easy if Edinburgh was flat. Believe me, it isn’t

We started our day with a walk along Cowgate then walked up the hill to the Royal Mile and along to Deacon Brodie’s Close where we had some good strong coffee and some toast. The restaurant is located in what they claim was where William Brodie, the deacon’s son lived, William was a respected councilor and cabinet maker who often plied his craft in peoples homes. The only problem was that he duplicated the keys of the houses he was working on and went back in the evening and helped himself to their belongings. He basically was a reno-man by day, burglar by night. He was caught and hung in 1788, ironically on a scaffold of his own design.

They claim that the image of Brodie and his two personas gave Robert Lewis Stevenson nightmares as a child and subsequently served as the inspiration for his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The Castle

We spent the rest of the morning walking around Edinburgh Castle. It is a pretty amazing place built right into the hill which is really a volcanic plug somehow never scraped away by the glaciers. It is so steeped in history that I hardly would know where to start. The evidence of first structure built here goes back to the 11th century. It is an predominant, imposing presence which can be seen all over the city. Unfortunately the entrance way is marred by huge bleachers set up so the tourists can watch the military tattoo. Not being a big fan of that kind of military pageantry, from my perspective it only serves to block the view of the castle from those walking up the street to visit.

The picture is of a cannon nicknamed Mons Meg. like many things here the reason for the name is obscured by time. It is not your "run of the mill" cannon however. It was built in 1445 and weighs almost 8 tons. It was designed to fire stone cannon balls weighing 400 lb two miles or more. No mean feat. It could only be fired half a dozen times a day or so because of the tremendous heat generated by the explosion.

It was last fired in 1681 on a ceremonial occasion. The barrel exploded apparently. No word of the fate of soldiers who were firing the gun at the time.

The castle still serves a military purpose and makes for a fascinating visit on a great many fronts. If you visit don't miss the dog cemetery, the prisoner of war exhibit or the Scottish Crown Jewels.

Fleshmarket Close

One of the things I look forward to in Edinburgh is digging up locations and situations which turn up in Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels.

Fans will remember his 2004 novel Fleshmarket Close in which two skeletons, one of a woman and another of an infant which turn up under a cellar floor during a restaurant renovation.

Well, this is Fleshmarket Close.

One hates to think of how they came up for the name for this narrow passageway.

Well We Made It

It was a long haul but, we are here.
We left Regina at 11:00 Monday morning and arrived in downtown Edinburgh at just about 11:00 Tuesday morning, local time.

It was pretty smooth going without a excessively long waits between flights.

Everything worked the way it was supposed to.

The new double decker Emerites Air Airbus A380 was at the gate in Toronto while we were there so we had a good closeup view. Very big!

We had a walk, ate lunch and now it is nappie time, at least for a short one.

The picture is looking across Edinburgh's Old Town with in the distance Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat behind it, taken from our roof top terrace.