Left Edinburgh at 10:00am on Saturday via East Coast Railway. It takes about 4:30 for the trip and the North Sea was calm and the weather fine.
They served sandwiches in first class and the seat's are quite comfortable, well worth the extra money.
Arrived at Kings Cross and checked back into the Great Northern Hotel.
As I didn't get much sleep friday night. My room in Edinburgh was above the path leading from the Royal Mile to the Hotel so late night Fringe traffic was noisy.
Went and got some takeaway from one of the shops in the railway station and got an early night.
Sunday, 11 August 2013
Saturday, 10 August 2013
Loch Ness Bus Trip
Went on a bus trip to Loch Ness today.
It goes from Edinburgh to Loch Ness and we stopped a couple of times for food and facilities breaks.
The first stop was a small town called Callander where they have a shop and a 21 year bull. We were warned not to touch as a tourist had recently pulled on his horns and now has quite a few stitches in his face as a results.
We stopped at Glen Coe where a massacre took place in 1692.
Arrived at Fort Augustus on Loch Ness at 13:30 after a long trip with about 1 hour in stops for breaks.
Some of the locals are trying to get the name of the town changed from Fort Augustus to another name as Fort William and Augustus have negative historical connotations.
We got sandwiches, water, shortbread and an apple for lunch. I took these on the cruise as it took about an hour.
The company runs two types of trips, the nice quiet cruise and the fast boat trip.
They have a fairly sophisticated Sonar system on the boat which shows 3D images of the loch as we moved along it. The loch is over 600 feet deep in places.
We stopped at another place after leaving Loch Ness for a break and then finally got off of the very winding roads from Fort Augustus to the main highway.
It goes from Edinburgh to Loch Ness and we stopped a couple of times for food and facilities breaks.
The first stop was a small town called Callander where they have a shop and a 21 year bull. We were warned not to touch as a tourist had recently pulled on his horns and now has quite a few stitches in his face as a results.
We stopped at Glen Coe where a massacre took place in 1692.
Arrived at Fort Augustus on Loch Ness at 13:30 after a long trip with about 1 hour in stops for breaks.
Some of the locals are trying to get the name of the town changed from Fort Augustus to another name as Fort William and Augustus have negative historical connotations.
We got sandwiches, water, shortbread and an apple for lunch. I took these on the cruise as it took about an hour.
The company runs two types of trips, the nice quiet cruise and the fast boat trip.
They have a fairly sophisticated Sonar system on the boat which shows 3D images of the loch as we moved along it. The loch is over 600 feet deep in places.
We stopped at another place after leaving Loch Ness for a break and then finally got off of the very winding roads from Fort Augustus to the main highway.
Friday, 9 August 2013
Bus Tour
Used the bus tour part of my Tattoo tickets and went sightseeing.
After two times around the city I decided to go on the castle tour and see some more of the castle.
They charge extra for the audio guide device (3.50 pounds) but it is a good commentary mostly by the same person as did the Master of Ceremonies for the Tattoo.
Looked through the Military Museum that is in the Castle.
Had some lunch in the cafe that operates in the same space as we had dinner last night and the guy who was our waiter was at the checkout.
Nice Salmon and Cream Cheese Sandwich.
I wanted to see the Scottish Crown Jewels and The Stone of Destiny. The stone will be transported back to Westminster Abbey for future coronations of Kings or Queens of England. There is no photography in that display.
Went to the Scottish War Memorial and it is very simple appropriate display remembering Scottish serviceman killed in conflicts. On one of the memorials is the encounter between HMAS Sydney and the SMS Emden. I will have to research why that is in a Scottish War Memorial.
That is a slow process as there was a slow moving queue to see them (They are in a vault). The Stone of Destiny was returned by the current Queen after residing in Westminster.
Bought one small souvenir.
And Edinburgh finally had the weather you sort of expect. It is raining so I got a little wet walking back to the hotel. It is not a long walk from the Castle to my hotel. Just down the Royal Mile and through a close which comes out at the back of the hotel.
After two times around the city I decided to go on the castle tour and see some more of the castle.
They charge extra for the audio guide device (3.50 pounds) but it is a good commentary mostly by the same person as did the Master of Ceremonies for the Tattoo.
Looked through the Military Museum that is in the Castle.
Had some lunch in the cafe that operates in the same space as we had dinner last night and the guy who was our waiter was at the checkout.
Nice Salmon and Cream Cheese Sandwich.
Went to the Scottish War Memorial and it is very simple appropriate display remembering Scottish serviceman killed in conflicts. On one of the memorials is the encounter between HMAS Sydney and the SMS Emden. I will have to research why that is in a Scottish War Memorial.
That is a slow process as there was a slow moving queue to see them (They are in a vault). The Stone of Destiny was returned by the current Queen after residing in Westminster.
Bought one small souvenir.
And Edinburgh finally had the weather you sort of expect. It is raining so I got a little wet walking back to the hotel. It is not a long walk from the Castle to my hotel. Just down the Royal Mile and through a close which comes out at the back of the hotel.
Thursday, 8 August 2013
Tattoo
Picked up my tickets to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo this afternoon for this evening.
How did they handle the 8000 people that the seating holds. Very Well. They managed to marshall the 8000 people out of there seats and out through the castle entrance into High Street in about 15 minutes. There are some other events I have been to which didn't do any where as good as that.
The DVD release should be available in October. It is produced by the BBC and I am definitely going to order a copy.
Every large souvenir I have looked at buying is also available by mail order so I might wait until I get back and order a few things. I even looked at a kilt but didn't know when I would wear it.
Some of the photos from the Tattoo
The view from the Jacobite room where we had dinner before the Tattoo.
After dinner we walked across the drawbridge to our seats which were directly opposite looking towards the castle gate.
The view from my seat (Section 8 Row V Seat 9)
Just got back.
The tickets I bought included dinner first in the castle.
They served a very nice roast beef with roast potatoes, carrots, zuchini and peas along with Yorkshire Pudding along with wine and champagne.
I don't normally drink scotch whisky but couldn't resist trying some. This is not part of the ticket price ($400) but only 3.75 pounds. Although scotland is part of the UK you sometimes get change in notes issued by the Bank of Scotland.
It started to rain during dinner but eased off later on except for about five minutes with light drizzle. Luckily the woman at the ticket office recommended I take a coat. We also got a rain poncho as part of out ticket so didn't get wet.
We were escorted down to our seats which were in the stands facing the castle entrance itself. This year they dedicated the event to the 60th aniversary of the Korean Conflict and the 500th aniversary of the Battle of Flodden.
It was a great show. The Master of Ceremonies went through a list of countries and asked who was from them. It seems Australia is well represented (about 5%) with the US and Scandinavia also well represented.
They use the castle as a screen for what must be a very large video projector as it mounted above where I was sitting but the image was bright and clear.
The only annoying thing is people who don't know how to turn off the flash on there cameras. There was plenty of light to take photos without flash.
The only thing we didn't get tonight was the RAF fly past but you still hear the sound effect.
The fireworks at the end were great.
The national anthem at the end. I am amazed that I still remember the words to God Save the Queen from school assemblies.
How did they handle the 8000 people that the seating holds. Very Well. They managed to marshall the 8000 people out of there seats and out through the castle entrance into High Street in about 15 minutes. There are some other events I have been to which didn't do any where as good as that.
The DVD release should be available in October. It is produced by the BBC and I am definitely going to order a copy.
Every large souvenir I have looked at buying is also available by mail order so I might wait until I get back and order a few things. I even looked at a kilt but didn't know when I would wear it.
Some of the photos from the Tattoo
The view from the Jacobite room where we had dinner before the Tattoo.
After dinner we walked across the drawbridge to our seats which were directly opposite looking towards the castle gate.
The view from my seat (Section 8 Row V Seat 9)
Going on a sight seeing bus around Edinburgh tomorrow and then a Loch Ness and Highlands tour on Friday and back to London on Saturday before flying out to Chicago on Wednesday.
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