The Laird's Lug

Hiking up to Edinburgh Castle we passed some more buskers in the street. They are lots of fun to watch and are quite an accomplished group. All of the musicians seem to be very talented with the exception of the really little youngster who was playing the recorder all by himself with a sign that read, "Saving money for my future bagpipes."  One really must wonder which corner his parents were lurking around.

One of the buskers - he has no head - not sure if you can tell that or not? 

Edinburgh Castle was very interesting. We opted to tour around ourselves with Sir IF regaling MEG (sometimes forgetting he had the headphones on), with the highlights of the audio tour.

At the highest heights we got some lovely views of Old Town and New Town Edinburgh. Apparently New Town Edinburgh (though built in the late 1700s and early 1800s) achieved rave reviews in present day for its principles of city planning and is in fact considered quite a masterpiece. We hope to get more into that area tomorrow. There are some really beautiful examples of architecture to be seen from the castle heights which look out towards New Town.

Ceiling timbers in The Great Hall

The Great Hall - see The Laird's Lug in the right hand corner

Little P would have liked this cannon

The Great Hall was quite incredible and played several different roles throughout the years, most popularly as a banquet hall. The ceiling itself is quite a work of art as common to most ceilings of the time they used timber which was painted and adorned with symbols relevant to their architectural period. In the upper right corner of The Great Hall there was a barred window which the Laird at the time used to spy on his courtiers. This window is called The Laird's Lug.

The Scotland War Memorial located in the castle was a very memorable and sombre reflection on the brutality and losses of war. The memorial encapsulated the number of military losses of life during each war subsequent to World War I that the Scottish military were involved and as Sir IF said, when you see the numbers actually written down and depicted on plaques and elaborate wall monuments, it is very moving. They do not allow photography within the exhibit which helps to ensure the solemnity of the experience. Our friends have spent the day in France at the Vimy War Memorial's 100th anniversary ceremonies. 

Couldn't resist this photo op for its family relevance. 

After we toured the castle we stopped for lunch at the Cafe Hub, housed in the building with the offices of the International Festival of Edinburgh. This was quite a contemporary place with nice friendly service quite different from most of the other places we have seen here so far.

The National Museum of Scotland was calling out to us. Again, like much of Britain, it's a free museum and was really interesting. It gave us a real basis for the history of Scotland but then it also highlighted science exhibits and achievements, wildlife and had some fabulous interactive exhibits for families. A building with really unique architecture like most of the city, it was also such a welcoming place for everyone. 

This one's for you, Daddy P! 

Sir IF is out of this world!

And we ended the day with a stop at the Public Library where they had an interesting educational exhibit on Maps.