Scotland.

 

 

 

 

 

I was told that Edinburgh was recently voted the best city for living in the UK.  And a note in my guide book says that there are more restaurants per capita here than any city in the UK. 

Greater Edinburgh has perhaps a million people, but the Old Town area is compact and quite walkable. They call this area the Old Town (ancient) and the New Town (Georgian) but they run together. All of the old town is a Unesco World Heritage site.

 

 

 

 

 

The heart and symbol of the city is the Edinburgh Castle that looms over the city and is visible from almost anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The castle sits on the top of the remains of a volcanic core, eroded by Glaciers.  Since the Glaciers moved in one direction they left a sloping mound of till on the downdstream side, convenient for a single access to the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Scots and the English fought over and around Edinburgh for centuries, but that is another story.  The Castle has been continuously occupied for a thousand years. 

At the bottom of the “Royal Mile”, the road build on the sloping till, is the Scottish Parliament and the Queen’s Palace, where she stays when in town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a number of interesting neighborhoods worth a look:  Grassmarket, Stockbridge, Dean, to name a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I once lived for a few years in Manchester in the North of England, which is built almost entirely with red bricks. This city was constructed using cut stone blocks.  There are endless streets of stone buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some other subjects from our visit:

 They have a wonderful Botanical Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A number of good (free) museums.

 

 

A 300 year old                    Newcome Steam Engine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The city is covered with excellent markers and monuments describing historic places and local heros.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of quiet churches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better than the USA, UK zoning preserves areas around cities as green spaces giving plenty of opportunity to walk directly from the City Center.  Here is a fine walk we took from the castle (looking out at Arthur’s seat park) ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

And from Arthur’s seat looking back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have had a very nice week here. Lots of good food. And the weather has been as cooperative as could be.

Lucky for us, with the current uncertainty around Brexit, the UK, which has been very very expensive for a decade or more is reasonably priced just now.

 

View from our hotel balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAMarchand is soon winging home,

 

 

 

 

 

and I fly south east into Romania.