First Day in Scotland

Here we are in Edinburgh on our first day. This is after a long night on the plane and we have a whole day ahead of us. The hardest part of the trip. . .trying to enjoy being there while fighting off sleep so we can adjust to the time zone.
This is what the city center of Edinburgh looks like. The city is very old and stained by hundreds of years of civilization.

This is a beautiful park we found while walking around the city center. It was very cold and cloudy that day but the colors of the new green leaves and spring flowers couldn't have been more vibrant.


Can't . . . . .stay. . . . .awake. . .



This is St. Giles Cathedral. We walked through as we explored Edinburgh. This church had nice stained glass windows but it was difficult to take any pictures without a tripod. It was very dark inside.

This is Mary King's Close. A close is the alley that lead from the main road down to the lake down the hill. Picture this entry continuing down with dozens of doors opening to this alley. There were hundreds of these closes in Edinburgh back in the day with up to 800 people living in one close, each with their own living space. The poorer people lived on the lower floors and the wealthier lived on the upper floors. Why?  Well, remember the lack of sewer systems and sanitation back then. Each day at 2:00 p.m. and again at 10:00 p.m., everyone would empty their chamber pots into the close so it would eventually make its way down to the lake at the bottom of the hill. It probably didn't smell very good so the wealthier people paid more to live above the filth. We learned that when people emptied their pots in the close it was proper to shout "gardie-lou" to warn people that something awful was coming and watch out. You can see why the black plague wiped out so many so quickly.