Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Graham & Jane
So it's Monday and it must be Edinburgh.
Off on the train again, which is so much cheaper in Scotland than England, we arrive in Edinburgh and straight onto the tour bus, with its main stop so conveniently sited right out the front of Waverly station.
Edinburgh is Scotland's capital and home among other thing to the parliament, Queens residence when in town, and of course one of the most famous castles in the world. This dominates the city and whilst we did not visit the castle on this trip it is something we will do in the future given the chance. We took the bus to near the castle from where we strolled to the gates visiting the tarten exhibition and demonstration centre. Then strolling down the high street of the old town (also known colloquially as the golden mile) we saw a number of buskers and laneways which would take a day in themselves to expolore, on one Graham went down was some clever sculptures. and interesting views over the city.
The Golden mile runs from the castle at the top to Hollyrood house at the bottom, opposite of which is the new Scottish parliament.
Current industry in Edinburgh is built on the finance industry with some 28% of all employment in the city being related to this.
Edinburgh is also home to the infamous Burke and Hare pair. In the early 1800's the surgeons at the local university were desperate for cadavers to further their knowledge on the workings of the human body, the only bodies they could legally get were from criminals being hanged. Unfortunately there were not enough being hung to meet the demand, so people started robbing graves, so this tower was erected to look over the graveyard and stop the robbing. However as the sentry was only paid 6d (sixpence) and the surgeons were paying 10G (10 guineas) for a corpse the sentries could easily be persuaded to turn the other way. As demand grew Burke and Hare decided it was easier to just murder a victim and pass the body on to the surgeon. They were convicted of 16 murders in 1828 but suspected of a lot more.
This is definitely somewhere we would like to spend some more time in.
Off on the train again, which is so much cheaper in Scotland than England, we arrive in Edinburgh and straight onto the tour bus, with its main stop so conveniently sited right out the front of Waverly station.
Edinburgh is Scotland's capital and home among other thing to the parliament, Queens residence when in town, and of course one of the most famous castles in the world. This dominates the city and whilst we did not visit the castle on this trip it is something we will do in the future given the chance. We took the bus to near the castle from where we strolled to the gates visiting the tarten exhibition and demonstration centre. Then strolling down the high street of the old town (also known colloquially as the golden mile) we saw a number of buskers and laneways which would take a day in themselves to expolore, on one Graham went down was some clever sculptures. and interesting views over the city.
The Golden mile runs from the castle at the top to Hollyrood house at the bottom, opposite of which is the new Scottish parliament.
Current industry in Edinburgh is built on the finance industry with some 28% of all employment in the city being related to this.
Edinburgh is also home to the infamous Burke and Hare pair. In the early 1800's the surgeons at the local university were desperate for cadavers to further their knowledge on the workings of the human body, the only bodies they could legally get were from criminals being hanged. Unfortunately there were not enough being hung to meet the demand, so people started robbing graves, so this tower was erected to look over the graveyard and stop the robbing. However as the sentry was only paid 6d (sixpence) and the surgeons were paying 10G (10 guineas) for a corpse the sentries could easily be persuaded to turn the other way. As demand grew Burke and Hare decided it was easier to just murder a victim and pass the body on to the surgeon. They were convicted of 16 murders in 1828 but suspected of a lot more.
This is definitely somewhere we would like to spend some more time in.
- comments
Marion and Terry Where did you get those hats, where did you get those hats ?!?!?!