Blantyre Crescent

When Shelley was a babe in arms she lived here, on Blantyre Terrace, with her parents and sister while her dad spent a year at the University of Edinburgh.

The house seems to have been gentrified a bit since then. My sense is that very few students live here these days.

The Food is Great

When it comes to restaurant food, the UK gets a bad rap. My sense is that people don’t think about Edinburgh when they think about food, perhaps they should. Many Canadian restaurant owners could learn a thing or two from Edinburgh chefs.

Of course there is what you would expect when it comes to pub food, a bit too heavy for many but, with a good pint to wash it down, who is complaining. There is much more than that however. Edinburgh has every thing from Oink which offers Scottish Hog Roast Rolls to Indian, Italian, Middle Eastern to Scottish contemporary. With all the up and down walking, you can build a mighty appetite in this town

Last night Shelley had a great penne with cherry tomatoes, spinach, pine nuts and chevre. She insisted that I taste it so I could make it for her when we get home. Another evening I had pan seared scallops with chorizo and wild mushroom risotto. They were great.

Arthur's Seat

Although the castle does predominate the city landscape you are always aware of the Salisbury Craigs and Arthur's seat. They are the remains 350 million year old volcano. The castle site on an old vent of that same geological feature..

Yesterday we walked up Radical Road which starts up the side of the craigs beginning near the Scottish Parliament buildings. It was built up the side of the Salisbury Craigs by unemployed weavers as a job creation project 1n the 1820's.

It was a tough climb particularly at the start but what a view. We felt pretty good at our ability to walk up the steep trail until we were passed by a couple of locals who were running up.



It is all part of Holyrood Park established in the 1100's as a royal hunting ground.

What a Great City

We walked quite a bit at home before we left, trying to make sure we could handle anything this trip threw at us. We did it primarily because of Hadrian's Wall which starts in a couple of days. I don't think we ever could have imagined how much we'd walk here in Edinburgh.

This town is really made for walking and where we are staying, a few feet off the Royal Mile, is ideal. Everything it seems is within a reasonable stroll. Even so I feel like we have barely scratched the surface. There is so much here to see and do.

The town in divided into old and new, new meaning built between the end of the eighteenth century and the early 19th century. The old town, built along a ridge of volcanic rock along each side of the Royal Mile which stretches from the castle to Holyrood Palace, the Queen's residence here. (We can't visit it however since Prince Charles we are told is in residence although there is certainly no sign of him in the shops) The new town is laid out to the North of the old one, kind of, down the hill and across the railway tracks. It is all very geometric and Georgian and a lovely contrast to the winding cobblestone, different levels, steep stairs and narrow closes the old town offers..

The castle can be seen from almost everywhere. Even in a modern city it predominates, in the early years it must have been such an omnipresent reminder of the undercurrents of unrest which so often swirled around Scotland.

The Oxford Bar

I have been on the Rebus trail so in seemed fitting that we drop in at the Oxford Bar around 7:oo this evening.

It is smaller than I ever imagined. Fifteen or twenty people would absolutely fill the front room of the bar up. The back room is a bit bigger but there isn't much to it.

The place has a clubby feel to it. It is very much a local pub and those having a beer were local clientele. Everyone was quite nice though and they didn't seem to mind a stray Canadian dropping in for a pint.

No sign of Ian Rankin though.

The Elephant House Cafe

We had lunch today and the Elephant House Cafe. It is a lovely space with very high ceilings and huge south facing windows. It is full of University of Edinburgh students working away on projects. They seem very tolerant and don't seem to hurry anyone along.

The claim is the J. R. Rowling worked on her first drafts of her Harry Potter series in that same sun lit room with her daughter asleep in the chair beside her.

It is a great spot to chill out for a while and it has a great view of the castle. It is on the George IV Bridge which is quite something onto it's self. The street runs north/south and the east/west streets and is about five stories above the east/west streets. So what seems to be the ground floor in the photos is actually the fifth floor.

I think you have to see it to understand it.

The Witches Memorial

It took us quite some time to find the Witches Memorial. Every time we walked up or down the Royal Mile we looked for it to no avail. This afternoon Shelley spotted it on the side of a building up near the castle.

It was a fountain originally but now there are flowers planted in it. The memorial recognizes the fact that there were over 300 witches burned in Edinburgh. The last one in 1722.

If someone accused you of being a witch it was a bit of a no win situation. The accused were often bound with their thumbs tied to their ankles and the accused would be dunked in a pond. If you died the perpetrators were comforted by the fact that you were innocent and would go to heaven. If not, you were obviously a witch, so they burned you at the stake.

Practicing this this type of tough justice was finally abolished in 1736.