Edinburgh, Day One

Another six hour bus ride got us from York to Edinburgh. Our host Gordon met us at the bus station and drove us and our luggage to the apartment. We have so much room here it almost feels like home....includes a kitchen, wireless with laptop and a washer/dryer! The first night we walked to The Fisher, a restaurant recommended by Gordon. Garold ordered salmon with butter beans and sausage and I had the Orkney Scallops, with broad beans, baked in the scallop's own shell with pastry. These scallops are hand dug by a family in the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland, and shipped fresh. They were still attached to their shells and included the roe. We both had creme brulee for dessert, and agreed it was the best we've ever had.
The next day we got up around 9:30 and headed out to see Holyrood Palace, where British royalty stays when they are in town. Here's Garold walking down Croft-an-Righ on our way to the palace.



This is Holyrood Palace, once the home of Mary Queen of Scots. It was here that her secretary was murdered by her husband and his friends, who suspected adultery. Mary, who was pregnant at the time, gave birth to a son (James I of England) soon after the incident. The infant was taken from her and she never saw him again. She fled to England seeking protection from her cousin Elizabeth. But Elizabeth perceived her as a threat to her throne, so she imprisoned her for 19 years, then signed her execution order. It took two strokes from the executioner's sword to complete Mary's beheading.



The royal palace was built on the site of this 12th century abbey.



There are signs of previous excavations, which were authorized by the current Queen of England.



The Queen's Garden is nothing short of spectacular. There are many varieties of flowering plants and trees here that I had never seen before.



After touring the palace and gardens, we hiked up Salisbury Crags. This is a mountain formed 350 million years ago when a volcano erupted. The yellow flowering bushes that grow here (corce) are covered with huge thorns. Each leaf is a thorn!

York Day Two

Today we went first to the Castle Museum, which according to Rick Steves is one of Europe's top museums. There were thousands of artifacts on display and a couple of recreated streets that show how the English lived a couple hundred years ago. Some of the shops, such as the candy shop, were attended, while others (like the candle shop) were not. Prison cells projected animated characters who were actually incarcerated there once upon a time. One such character was Dick Turpin, a well-known highwayman, who was hung and is today buried in a cemetary in town where his is the only gravestone.
Here's one character who managed to escape:



On the same grounds is Clifford's Tower, all that remains of a 13th century castle. According to our tour guide, the castle itself was blown up by York citizens who got to celebrating and shooting off rockets, one of which came back and landed right in the chimney of the castle and blew it up! (Who knows if this is really true, or just one of those stories that people like to tell?)



Next we hopped back on the tour bus and rode around to Yorkshire Museum, which is located on the site of St. Mary's Abbey. The grounds there are so beautiful they are used for picnics by the locals and tourists. Today there were a lot of children running around, some young people lying out on blankets, and some families having a picnic lunch.
We didn't have a picnic but we did have a "cream tea" at Bailey's Tea Room. It was a pot of delicious Yorkshire tea for two, served with buttered scones, with jam and whipped cream. So delicious!



Here's a photo of Garold standing in an arch, part of the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey:



The Yorkshire Museum has a collection of Viking artifacts, including shoes, a helmet, and some combs that they made from deer antlers. It is built around the abbey, so the original abbey walls are down in the basement, too, along with some Roman artifacts. York has been ruled/influenced by lots of different cultures.

When we left the Yorkshire Museum, we rode the bus around to see the Quilt Museum, but unfortunately it had already closed, so we walked across the gate (street) to the Black Swan Pub and had another pot of tea. It was a comfortable place to hang out, so we decided to eat our dinner there, too. We shared a shepherd's pie, served with peas and a pitcher of gravy.



This is our last day in York. Tomorrow morning we will catch a bus for Edinburgh.

York, Day One

After a 9-hour flight,a 6-hour bus ride and a mile and a half walk, we finally arrived at our destination....the Foss Bank Guest House in York, England. Foss (in Latin fosse is a ditch) is the name of the narrow canal that is located across the street from our B & B. It is one of two rivers in York, which originally made it an advantageous place for people to settle.
Here is a photo of the city's most prominent landmarks, York Minster. Built between 1220and 1468, it is one of the oldest Anglican churches in England. It was built on top of the Roman fortress that was built by the 9th Roman legion sent here by the Emperor Vespasian in AD 71. Years later, it was spared by Henri VIII when he dismantled all of the monasteries in England.



Another prominent structure in York is the city wall, which was built by the Romans when they were in charge. It reportedly took 3 legions of Roman soldiers to keep the Brits under control! This is a photo of the ancient city wall at Bootham Bar, with York Minster in the background. There are four main gates around the city wall. One close to our B & B is called Monk Bar, off Monkgate and fairly close to Huntington Rd. In the lingo of York, a gate is a street and a bar is a gate.



The walls are open to the public during the day and are an easy and safe way to traverse the city. We walked from Bootham Bar to Monk Bar and saw some pretty amazing views from the top of the wall. Here is a view of someone's backyard garden:



On the outside of the city walls there were thousands of yellow daffodils in bloom:



We stopped by this old church (St. Cuthbert's) to see the "Devil's door." The tour guide on the bus said this door would have been left open during baptisms. If the child cried when holy water was sprinkled that meant the devil was leaving, and this is the door he would use to exit the church. Just to the right of the Devil's door was a small window, which was used to pass food and clothing out to lepers.

Red Top Mountain

After Christmas this year, we took a trip up to Red Top Mountain, just north of Atlanta. We stayed in a rustic cabin with a view of the lake -- the water was a little low. There are lots of hiking trails throughout the park, ranging in difficulty from very easy to very strenuous. Laura found this fallen tree on one of our hikes.

Cousins Elena and Isabella came up to play with Grace. They went hiking and played hide and seek later in the cabin.

It was very cold, but we were disappointed because it did not snow. Grace had to put on a coat, hat and gloves just to go outside to play.

We went on a hike together one day. The boat dock in the background was unusable because the water level in the lake was so low.

Laura the explorer found this gigantic rock to conquer!

Here she is doing the dance of victory.

All that hiking and climbing was tiring.....time to relax and enjoy the view.

The woods were quietly compelling. There's nothing like a walk in the woods to make you forget all about work.

Retirement Looms

Hahahahahahahahaha

So I was looking forward to retirement until I saw this photo! I will have to work very hard NOT to reach this stage of life.

Early Birds

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Greenwich Village

Today is our last full day in NYC. We started early with a cruise on the Hudson. Our tour guide pointed out where Robert DeNiro and Nicole Kidman have apartments. He showed us where the Titanic would have docked, if it had made it to New York all those years ago. He pointed out the search crew that was still looking for debris from last Saturday's helicopter/Piper mid air collision. They've recovered all of the bodies, so they must be looking for the black box. We cruised right over the Lincoln Tunnel, and the Holland Tunnel. We cruised by Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

After the cruise, we rode the subway to Greenwich Village and had some lunch.
There are some really beautiful parks in New York.

We bought some good things to eat at the Magnolia Bakery before Laura had to leave to go to her rehearsal. Garold and I found a park to sit while we enjoyed our sweet treats.

We strolled around trying to find some landmarks that were described in his AAA Guide Book. We managed to find the neighborhood where ee cummings lived for the last 40 years of his life. Many of the buildings in the Village are now owned by New York University.

We finally got tired and abandoned the walking tour. We found a subway station where we could use our very last Metro pass, but not before a crazy person approached us to apologize and tell us that he just got a haircut.

Museum of Natural History

We spent the entire day Monday at New York's Museum of Natural History. And still did not see it all. Really. We got there when they opened at 10:00 and stayed until they closed. The dinosaur exhibit is the best I've ever seen, with real bones, not plaster casts. The origin of the human species exhibit is also very good, including fragments of an early human named "Lucy." We ate in the museum's cafeteria (no choice, since they do not allow you to bring food in). It was OK but rather expensive. This museum could easily monopolize a couple of days. The admission is "suggested," and you can barter with them over how much you want to pay. But the special exhibits are an additional fee. We paid to see the Space Show, which wasn't much more than a video clip with Whoppie Goldberg narrating. After the museum we ate at Katz' Deli (the famous scene in When Harry Met Sally was shot here) and then over to a dessert place recommended by our tour bus guide. I got strawberry shortcake Laura got an individual cheescake, and Garold of course got Tirimisu.