LISA

Edinburgh Day 3

The rainy morning convinced us it would be wise to catch the bus to the Museum on the Mound (a.k.a. the money museum). Having a different guide added to our ever-increasing knowledge of Scottish myth, legend and history, although we're not quite sure which is which. At the museum we feasted our eyes on £2million, all unfortunately stamped with a big CANCELLED. We also cleverly cracked a safe, but unfortunately some kids had done it just before us and gotten the chocolate money prize (doesn't say a lot for our intelligence does it?). There were some interesting forged stamps and dyes on display as well. It was a great guide to the history of Scottish money. Oh, and an interesting random fact: all UK bank notes have the words 'I promise to pay' on them - they're not actually legal tender.

Then it was a damp walk to the People's Story Museum, being temporarily distracted by some fantastic fudge! This little museum was all about the lives of ordinary people in Edinburgh over the years. We followed this with a quick look inside the Museum of Edinburgh over the road. In here were some great relics of Edinburgh history (as is to be expected in a museum) including wooden water pipes that were used to supply the 5 water spouts on High Street where the people got their water from.

A short stroll down the road to the Scottish Parliament was next, but realising Paul probably wouldn't be let in with his pocket knife he ducked inside while I minded his pack, sheltered by the >£400 million parliament building, and contemplated the beauty of the Salisbury Crags.

Some thorough searching of the street was required before we located the Brass Rubbing Centre. Brass-etched images were originally made to adorn tombs, but rubbing centres with replicas were set up after brass rubbing became the thing to do and the tombs began to wear out. We had a bit of a gander but didn't see how we could get a giant sheet of paper home, or justify the £5ish cost.

Feeling absolutely whacked we were in need of a hot chocolate and a toasted cheese sandwich and so we hurried back to the hostel wishing we could also indulge in the fudge we'd bought for Frank and Mary.