Edinburgh Day Four

Today we decided to take it easy, so we bought a ticket for the Edinburgh Tour Bus. You can ride all day and hop off when you want to see something then hop back on for the rest of the ride. Each tour guide tells the story a little differently so you get a variety of information while you just sit and look. We wanted to see the John Knox House but it was closed (Sunday) so we went to see St. Giles Cathedral, which is the oldest church in Edinburgh. Our tour guide said that it is not a cathedral because it is the Church of Scotland. I think that it may have once been a cathedral and after the reformation, led by John Knox, it became Protestant.



It is beautiful inside, but not nearly as grand as some other churches we have seen. One of the tour guides said that Edinburgh does not do anything to excess. Perhaps this is also reflected in the architecture. The column in the photo below is one of the oldest parts of the building. This is the church where the Order of the Thistles assembles when they have business to conduct or someone to knight. The Queen of England is the head of the Order of the Thistles.



The tour bus took us by the Grass Market, an area that was used for trading of animals. There is a wide space between the two sides of the street where grass once grew, for the cows, sheep and horses to eat. At the end of the street there is a round stone that marks the spot where Edinburgh once held public executions. They say hundreds of people turned out to watch them. We hopped off here to take a look around and took a break at the White Hart Cafe, on the site of the oldest pub in Edinburgh.



At the end of the day we returned to the Royal Mile to have dinner at the World's End. This pub got its name from its location. It is situated near the city wall, which the residents of Edinburgh cosidered to be the end of their world. The food here was great! I had a lamb roast with potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. Garold ordered cranachan for dessert: raspberries soaked in whiskey with granola and creme and a shortbread cookie.



On the bus ride home we had a little trouble figuring out which stop to take, but a very nice elderly couple stood up to help us out. The people of Edinburgh are some of the friendliest I've ever encountered. At least half dozen times in the last few days people have offered to help us find our way around.