Our first holiday in the UK - A little of Scotland

[mich64]

I have been spending the past week trying to organize my photos in my computer and have a few to share with you all. Hopefully I will be able to upload the rest.

Scott's View



Kelvingrove Museum









Christ of St John of the Cross by Salvador Dali



By Claude Monet







More tomorrow!
Cheers

[bixaorellana]

What absolutely wonderful photos, Mich! I'm eager to see more. What is the building with the fabulous wreaths and peacocks, please?

[mich64]

Is that not an amazing façade Bixa! I did not go into the building but I believe it is Princes Square, a shopping center.

The architecture was spectacular wherever you looked. I just hope tonight I can upload the photos from Edinburgh, Rosslyn Chapel, Stirling Castle and Melrose Abbey!

[htmb]

Beautiful, Mich! I'm looking forward to more!

[tod2]

I am going to enjoy this report so much! I can't wait for Rosslyn Chapel and want to see if you managed to dodge the "No Photography" ladies inside!! Hope you got to go up the outer 'scaffolding' to see the stonework in detail.

[bjd]

Are those spooky hanging heads part of an art exhibit?

Nice to see you had good weather. We went to Scotland for our honeymoon one September and it rained every single day for the 10 days we were there. But I see from your pictures that the scenery is really lovely.

[Deleted]

Great start, mich. I am sure you are going to dazzle us!

[mich64]

Thank you everyone! Having some difficulties with photo bucket so I will have to work on downloading this week but here are a few more!

Yes bjd, they were a part of the many exhibits. Quite a varied and impressive selection.

Tod, the kind lady who gave us the tour of Rosslyn Chapel was quite adamant about no photos so I did behave accordingly but did manage 2 photos through an open doorway, they did not turn out very well, but I tried!

Melrose Abbey









Well, I thought I was going to partake in one of the delicacies of Scotland but a picture will have to do. The famous, haggis.



I did have a wonderful short rib pie one evening, but these also looked delectable!






I will be back later with some more!

[mich64]

Let us see what photobucket will let me do today...

The Brittania. I know this is the typical tourist thing to do, but I enjoy looking back at how we functioned. I enjoyed it because it is like a living museum, yes too much opulence and not the every day persons life but I still found it interesting.



The view from the ship was beautiful.



We enjoyed lunch and were surprised that the prices were quite reasonable. Unfortunately, attractions here in Canada we have found some will charge double for the same food and drink that you would pay next door to it.



This is why we travel off season. The dining room was perhaps a third full, staff were not rushed and you did not feel you had to rush to allow others your table.



Her Majesty the Queen's bedroom. I found the size of the bed interesting until I walked down the corridor and seen that Prince Phillip has his own bed. I also took note of things like the cushion on her bench must have been a favorite spot as it still seems indented.



The dining room was pretty amazing.



For the children, they had a candy store down below where they still make fresh fudge for visitors.





Although it does make sense to have, I was surprised at the operating room and hospital room. On the recording it was said that for a period of time (I think during the Falkland conflict) that this ship would also come into use as an emergency hospital and residence for injured soldiers.





And the laundry room, definitely function.

[mich64]

oh, and some pretty things...

[Deleted]

The photos are the Brittania are fascinating since none of us could otherwise imagine how the interior would be. I am pleased that it is not over-the-top opulent as the yachts of Middle Eastern royalty are. Even so, when one is used to living in a palace with 300 or so rooms, the world must become so tiny when people like that are on a boat.

[htmb]

The Britannia has been retired from use by the Queen, correct?

[mossie]

Some very good photos Mich, pity Melrose Abbey was smothered in scaffolding, but you can't have everything.
Our Queen has very simple tastes compared with today's upper people (So called because they are so far up their own ) But don't forget she had a plain childhood and teenage compared to today's spoilt brats.
Brittannia was designed to be used as a hospital ship if necessary, and was so used in the Falklands war.

[mich64]

Yes htmb, if I remember correctly the ship was retired in 1995. It is now positioned in Lieth and you get access to it through a Mall called the Ocean Terminal.

Thank you Mossie! It was not surprising to see scaffolding as it seems most of these treasured buildings we have visited in Scotland and on recent holiday's in France seem to be in the same state of some repair/renovation. As you will see from our photos of Rosslyn Chapel, there was work going on there as well.

I too Keruoac was fascinated with the interior of the Brittania and I wish I could post some photos of the interior of Holyrood House but photography was not allowed, it was quite interesting as well. The Queen has said that the Brittania was one of her favorite places to be and she advised the designers to keep it modest.

[bixaorellana]

Looks like you all had great weather!

The meats & pies shout interesting & delicious. It does seem, when traveling, there's never enough time to both tour & enjoy all the special meals our imaginations plan for us.

What a thrill to tour & eat aboard the Britannia. It's gorgeous, in its sleek 50s modern way, with understated quality everywhere, and so beautifully maintained. I looked it up, & apparently the new queen & her spouse particularly enjoyed being surrounded by their own taste, as all their other residences had furnishings from the past.

Wonderful thread, Mich. I love the picture of the graveyard & Melrose Abbey.

[mich64]

Sorry, have been away for awhile. Some more photos of our holiday.

Rosslyn Chapel





My attempt on getting a photo of the interior, taken from the exterior.





There were carvings every where you looked and they all had stories/legends to them. Unfortunately you can only take photos outside but this one was similar to ones inside.



Holyrood House, the Royal residence in Edinburgh.







Arthur's Seat



The stone work continued to amaze me.



I accidently took one photo of the Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibit, before I knew photos were not allowed.

[htmb]

All very interesting photographs, Mich, but the last one is stunning!

[mich64]

and for Bixa!





We had some excellent meals!

The Brittania was a lovely way to spend an afternoon, understated elegance indeed. Very interesting to see the staff's living quarters, dining area and the bar/lounges, reminded me of the clubs on Air Force bases where my dad would take us for Christmas or winter carnivals.

[mich64]

Thank you htmb! My husband took it from the top of the Scott Monument. It is the one I am considering enlarging. Every trip I pick one and place in a frame that hangs above my tub.

[bixaorellana]

Oh you darling ~~ you know the way to my heart!

Mich, so very glad to see you back here & this group of photos are outstanding. What a treat to see place that I only know about from read, actually taken by someone I "know".

Holyrood House is rather forbidding. Isn't it one of the places where Mary, Queen of Scots was held?

I can see why you were so enthralled by the stone work. It's all beautiful and very varied. Love that Rosslyn Chapel has a rosy glow to some of the stones & its interior work looks so beautifully intricate.

What is that magnificent tower that you show, the one soaring above the trees? Is it the same one that you show just before the Da Vinci pics? So interesting to see those delicate, lofty arches made from relatively rough stones. I wonder if it was ever plastered inside, or otherwise ornamented.

And ditto what Htmb said!

[mich64]

Bixa the tower is a monument to honor the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. My husband climbed the 287 steps to the very top platform and from there he took the last of my photos. Yes, the two photos are of the same monument.

Holyrood is where they held Queen Mary, we did an audio tour and we were lead up stairs to the room where she stayed, quite interesting.

[mich64]

The stairs inside the monument.









Edinburgh's newest attraction, Mother Earth.



Buskers



St. Giles Cathedral





Edinburgh Castle, the stands were being taken down, we missed the Tatoo.



another of my personal favorite photos

[fumobici]

Lovely set of new photos these. Between this, the Serbia tour, Bixa's Day of the Dead and the new Iran photos (I'm surely forgetting one) it made a very pleasant surprise opening the site. The Scott tower intrigues me.

[lagatta]

Mich, this is magnificent! What a beautiful little city Edinburgh is. I think you had remarkably good weather.

The Britannia is at once quietly elegant and practical, and how I love that pie!

When sleeping alone, I like small beds too. I'm not much taller than the Queen...

[mich64]

Thank you Fumobici! Indeed, many wonderful photo essays of late. The Scott Monument was fabulous. I sat on bench while my husband climbed the 287 steps to the top, there were 3 levels to step out on where he would wave to me and take photos. He wondered how he would get to anyone having a heart attack up there (being a firefighter he frequently looks at things very differently).

Unlike climbing the stairs at Sacre Coeur in Paris, the only way up and down this monument is the same staircase. My husband can not imagine what it must be like in July/August with the heat and volumes of people.

The Monument is discolored/stained with black soot from the industrial era and they have attempted to clean/restore the stone but found the chemicals in the cleaners were deteriorating the stone even more so they have decided to leave it be.

Thank you Lagatta! We had fabulous weather, I brought a new pair of rubber boots expecting to wear them daily as I was told by many of my Scottish friends to expect poor weather. We only had rain three times and the third was on our way to the airport when we departed. It never interfered with any of our outings.

That pie was delicious! A short rib with some vegetables and gravy topped with such a flaky pastry.

I am probably quite a bit shorter than the Queen!

[lagatta]

They give the Queen's height as 5'4", but I'm sure she has shrunk (as most people blessed with a long life do, as we walk upright). I've NEVER achieved 5'4", and even 5'3" was more than a bit of a stretch. So what?

Those lovely high greystone blocks of flats are "tenements" in the Scottish sense. In Edinburgh and Glasgow, the term didn't necessarily imply slum housing. Those tenements look very posh, from the ground floor businesses, but of course there were also slummy ones, and everything in between.

[mich64]

Lagatta, I am just a little above 5'2" so we are both vertically challenged.

We took a tour of the tenement housing, I think it was called Mary King's Close. It had some very good actors detailing the life and times of the tenement from the bottom to the top. We heard stories of the plague and the white flags that had to be posted out the windows and how survivors were used to help nurse and clean the newly diseased as they believe they developed an immunity to it IF you survived.

We were shown where, two times daily, each family (of up to 12 or more members to a room) would throw their pails of the families "waste" down the close (alley) and the alleys were where the bottom dwellers came to and from. They said that being built on a slight hill was good as it flowed down the close but in winter it would freeze to a horrible slush that would have to be shovelled. The wealthier tenants were on higher floors and would use the front entrance and come out onto street level.

[bixaorellana]

Those stairs!

Mich, what is that sort of lyre-shaped thing that looks scraped into the hill? It's on the left side of the photo of the church spire right below the stairs pictures.

The castle is so wonderfully castle-y!

How long were you all in Edinburgh? Was it cool there? I see sweaters & jackets on people in the pictures.

[Deleted]

I like the way the architecture matches the climate. You really need sturdy stone buildings to face the elements in an area like that, which really makes one wonder how people ever decided to settle in such a place back in the times people were living in tents and wearing bear skins for warmth.

[mich64]

Bixa I believe it is for downhill skiing. We were in Edinburgh for 4 nights and in Glasgow for 6 nights. The weather was cool but it was comfortable. We enjoy fall weather as we do so much walking.

Good point Kerouac, indeed there was an abundance of sturdy buildings.