Arthur's Seat.....so called because of a confusion between Scottish and English, referring to a hill the height an arrow can fly....actually the site of a volcanic eruption.....and King Arthur had nothing to do with it!
Below is a graveyard which Kenzie suggested we investigate...McKenzie is a bit weird when it comes to things like this....more on that later....
We are back on the Royal Mile.....
Yesterday we saw the "old" government buildings.....today we see the "new" ones!
The Queens's Gallery was opened by current Queen Elizabeth in 2002 to exhibit the Royal Collection Trust. The Royal Collection is one of the most important art collections in the world and one of the last great European Royal collections to remain intact. This display is a small part of the Collection which rotates on an annual basis.
These are the door handles on the entrance to the Gallery.
The current Royal Collection features the clothing styles of the Tudor and Stuart Royals during the 15th and 16th centuries.
After reading this, I decided this woman deserved to be canonised!!!!
When boys reached the age of 6 or 7, they were "breeched" which meant they discontinued the clothing attire of a "dress" as we would call it, and assumed the attire of a young man.....britches or "breeches"
Holyrood Palace is home to the Royal Family one week out of each year......Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were here last week! Just missed them!
As our tour of Holyrood Palace grounds continued, we were cautioned to "keep to the paths"....a much more polite way of saying "KEEP OFF THE GRASS"!
The greenhouse is to cultivate the Queen's favourite flowers.....which are planted and displayed during her one week here!
The Royal Family resides on the third floor when in residence.....that part of the Palace is not open to the public. Pictures were not allowed inside the Palace.
This particular planting was designed by Prince Albert to make the observer believe that the Palace grounds extended far in to the distance....when, in fact, the Holyrood grounds terminated immediately behind these trees.
The Palace actually started as an abbey in 1128 by King David I.
During the Victorian era there were ambitious plans to expand the Palace even more. The plans would have resulted in totally eliminating the abbey ruins. Fortunately they ran out of money and we still have some of the abbey.
Having a vegetarian in the family, McKenzie, invites us to try new cuisine
Said same vegetarian daughter in law has multicoloured hair.....very, very Londony!!!!
A plate of humus, cucumber and fried haggis....which is the national dish of Scotland, a savoury pudding of sheep's pluck (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt.....gag!!!
After dinner, we had some free time....we found a book store and each of us spent an hour or more reading our particular interest....Kenzie: The Fall of Giants; David: World Economics and Capitalism: Tom: Scottish politics; Kathy: the Scottish Referendum on Independence....it was a delicious, quiet hour!
AND THEN....on to the GHOST TOUR, booked by McKenzie some months ago....really, Kenz....a ghost tour.....seems as though she has been interested in this topic most of her life!!!!!
We are in one of the underground vaults, a part of the structure of the South Bridge. For approximately 30 years, these vaults were used to house illicit material and subsequently became home to the very poorest of the poor lived here.
Our Ghost tour guide
Our tour continued to a Victorian cemetery where 1200 Covenanters, those who opposed the King as Head of the Church, were tortured, starved and died. As a result of this macabre history, there have been many reports of para-normal, poltergeist activity in these locations. Actually, the MacKenzie Poltergeist has been called the most well documented para-normal phenomenon in the WORLD!! Between 1990 and 2006, there were 350 reported attacks and 170 reports of people collapsing!!! I, for one, was white-knuckled, tense, rigid, frightened....and damned glad to get outta there!!!!
