Castles in the sky.
Well not in the sky, but more up a big hill.
In Edinburgh, saying with the best friend of someone I met in the hostel in Prague (because we all know I paid attention to those stranger danger classes). Caught the night bus up two nights ago & spent most of yesterday marveling at the old buildings, cursing the weather and being underground. Did two tours, one of Mary King's Close (as suggested by my uncle) and a ghost tour of some of the old vaults (which was less spooky and more scientific).
Mary King's Close was a small street running off High Street (the Royal Mile) which was covered by the Council Chambers. They literally built right over the street, the result being that many of the old buildings are still there, just underground. So someone has made them safe, did a bit of restoration, wacked in a few wax statues and put some very knowledgeable tour guides in period clothing. It's actually a really interesting insight into the life of the lower and middle classes during the 1600's. Also really interesting to see how land use has changed and how they went about building over a part of town without filling it in.
There are literally dozens of ghost/horror/spook related tours that you can take here. The one I chose went through the old vaults, which were built under the South bridge. It covered different accounts and reports of various spirits in the area, as opposed to traditional style ghost stories. The vaults were inhabited by the poorest of the poor and so have more than their fair share of unhappy spirits, but not all of them. The work done by psychologists and scientists in the vaults were really interesting as well as the different accounts from the tour guides and tourists. Would like to point out we didn't see any ghosts.
Spent yesterday evening hanging out and listening to Canadian/Scottish Punk, which is actually pretty good.
Today I tackled Edinburgh Castle which is a fantastic structure in the Old part of town. Has the Scottish Crown Jewels, a bunch of military stuff, the POW jail (lock up them American pirates!) and has some of the most elegant period artwork as well as some of the most lovely views of the area.
Also got Perthed today. I ran into one of the receptionists from UWA student services in a cafe who's on a months holiday.
Back to London tomorrow morning at some ungodly hour, but this time I'll be able to look out the train window at country side. Still alive, lungs are shot though, playing wait and see.
In Edinburgh, saying with the best friend of someone I met in the hostel in Prague (because we all know I paid attention to those stranger danger classes). Caught the night bus up two nights ago & spent most of yesterday marveling at the old buildings, cursing the weather and being underground. Did two tours, one of Mary King's Close (as suggested by my uncle) and a ghost tour of some of the old vaults (which was less spooky and more scientific).
Mary King's Close was a small street running off High Street (the Royal Mile) which was covered by the Council Chambers. They literally built right over the street, the result being that many of the old buildings are still there, just underground. So someone has made them safe, did a bit of restoration, wacked in a few wax statues and put some very knowledgeable tour guides in period clothing. It's actually a really interesting insight into the life of the lower and middle classes during the 1600's. Also really interesting to see how land use has changed and how they went about building over a part of town without filling it in.
There are literally dozens of ghost/horror/spook related tours that you can take here. The one I chose went through the old vaults, which were built under the South bridge. It covered different accounts and reports of various spirits in the area, as opposed to traditional style ghost stories. The vaults were inhabited by the poorest of the poor and so have more than their fair share of unhappy spirits, but not all of them. The work done by psychologists and scientists in the vaults were really interesting as well as the different accounts from the tour guides and tourists. Would like to point out we didn't see any ghosts.
Spent yesterday evening hanging out and listening to Canadian/Scottish Punk, which is actually pretty good.
Today I tackled Edinburgh Castle which is a fantastic structure in the Old part of town. Has the Scottish Crown Jewels, a bunch of military stuff, the POW jail (lock up them American pirates!) and has some of the most elegant period artwork as well as some of the most lovely views of the area.
Also got Perthed today. I ran into one of the receptionists from UWA student services in a cafe who's on a months holiday.
Back to London tomorrow morning at some ungodly hour, but this time I'll be able to look out the train window at country side. Still alive, lungs are shot though, playing wait and see.
posted by moonbug @ Friday, October 15, 2004
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