1Feb2009: Day 251: Edinburgh & Chris’s birthday

I think we need to start by saying Happy Birthday to Chris. He feels it’s time to start his midlife crisis now that he’s over 40. So I figured what a better way to start than to splurge a bit in Edinburgh, Scotland.

We made quite a day of it here. We started off at “The Palace of Holyroodhouse.” It’s at the bottom of what’s called the Royal Mile and to one side of it is “Arthur’s Seat” which is an extinct volcano. We watched as people climbed up “Arthur’s Seat.” Some took the path that is a gradual incline and some just went straight up the side. I would have liked to have climbed it if we didn’t have Makenna—just to say that you were on a volcano, extinct or not. How often are you going to be near a volcano? But my old man said he wouldn’t be interested.

The palace has been a royal residence for over 500 years. The Queen usually resides here during the summer for a week. It’s considered a working royal palace which means she does a wide range of official engagements. It started out as an abbey in 1128, which is still there but now in ruins. When James IV came along, he decided to convert the guesthouse of the abbey into a palace. Then James the V did even more building onto it. Part of the infamy of the palace was that Mary, Queen of Scots lived here for six years in the James V’s Tower. Her Italian secretary was murdered here by her husband – out of jealousy.

We then started walking up the Royal Mile which is made up of cobblestones towards the Edinburgh Castle. This was all up hill but we ended up breaking it into sections as we made a couple stops along the way. We stopped at a Museum of Childhood. It basically had very old toys, books, dolls, and bikes. It was cute to see some of the really old things, some of which we remembered from a very long time ago – longer for some of us on the trip (see how I keep referencing Chris’s birthday?)

We continued up and stopped into St. Giles Cathedral. They were just finishing up their Sunday service so we went in and checked out the stained-glass windows that it’s known for along with the famed crown spire. Since it was the end of the service, we caught the end of the organ music which was really nice. Again, as soon as it was over, Makenna was asking for the bread for sacrament.

We continued up and took pictures all along the way and we finally reached the top where the castle was. This castle was a well used battle castle, especially against England, and last saw action in 1745 but was still the main base for the British army in Scotland until the 1920s. It has the oldest building in Edinburgh which is St. Margaret’s Chapel built around 1130. There were also a lot of different museums within the castle buildings. One of which was the Scottish Crown Jewels. There’s a long history about these jewels that’s pretty interesting. I’d refer to a website to learn more about them if you’re interested.

We then started to head back down to the car and stopped at some souvenir shops along the way as well as getting some dinner. Makenna was a major pain in the butt for the first couple of hours at the Holyroodhouse. She again wanted to be carried the whole time and wouldn’t walk, yet, she screams “walk” when she’s in the car or in the pushcart, but then you get her out to walk and she wants to be carried. We finally put her in the pushcart and she screamed a bit but then was fine with it, which was a good thing as that’s when we were starting our journey up the hill. She was pretty good after that as we got to the castle and got lunch. She ate really well, and then promptly fell asleep in the pushcart. For pretty much the rest of the time we were at the castle, she was asleep. We certainly enjoy those moments.

We do also enjoy the little things she comes up with whether it’s catching her singing songs or repeating back to us the things we don’t think she hears. In fact, today she mentioned about kids having to hold hands and I pointed out to Chris how she does hear us, she just chooses not to obey us. I guess that’s more of being a two year old and practice for us as she continues to not do as we ask for, oh let’s say, the rest of her years until she has children of her own.