High Street was lined with statues, churches, and shops, all adorning the route towards Edinburgh Castle. Just before we made it to the castle at the top of Castlehill, we saw a Highland warrior in full dress, with kilt, claymore, and half his face painted blue. The claymore is a massive, two-handed sword popularized by the Highland clans in the 1400s and used until around 1700. The average claymore is about 140 cm in length, weighing 2.5 kg.
The castle is predicated by a large paved rectangle lined with memorials for Scot military groups. The walk to the castle follows a stone bridge then links to a modern wooden bridge in place of the would-be-drawbridge over a dry moat. Under the portcullis, you are directed to the queue, which was surprisingly long. The castle charged £14.50 for admission, unfortunately without student discounts. The walk from the queue to the inner portcullis rises another few metres, impressing the loftiness of this fortification. Edinburgh Castle rests perched atop a craggy cliff in the heart of the city. As we walked to the parapets, regularly intersected by cannons, the cityscape of Edinburgh sprawled before us. The view from the parapets was spectacular, with the harbour situated on Forth Firth, the inlet bisecting Edinburgh from the Scottish Highlands, to the Forth Bridge leading into North Queensferry. From the parapets we headed into the castle, passing the three storey governor's house and stopping to go into the Royal Scots museum. This museum explained the military history of the Scottish members of the British Armed Forces, including some of the history of the formation of the Queen's Own Highlanders. From the museum we headed up several more metres to finally reach the citadel. We stopped at the citadel near Mons Meg, a medieval bombard, appropriately known as a "supergun" that is capable of firing a 510mm stone ball about 2 miles. It is 406 cm long, weighing 6.6 tonnes. It was manufactured at Mons in Flanders. The most common legend surrounding it is that it was manufactured by a blacksmith of the Threave Order to be used in aid of King James II in the 1452 siege of Threave Castle. Clan MacLellan used it to batter the castle and named it after his wife. Since then, it has mostly been used in celebrations. The 20-inch gun fires balls weighing 400 pounds, but in 1680 it was fired to celebrate the arrival of James Duke of Albany and York, causing the barrel to burst. It has been broken ever since. An Englishman loaded the weapon, which led to views that the gun was purposefully destroyed as it was larger than any cannon in the English army. From the citadel, we were able to get a good view of the one o'clock gun, a tradition carried on by Einburgh castle since 7 June 1861. A 64 pounder used to be fired, but now a 105mm field gun, a safer gun, is used, firing blanks, to announce one o'clock. At about five till, a woman in military dress appeared and marched towards the gun. She stopped several paces short of it and produced a timepiece. We all watched with bated breath. Finally, she took two steps forward and held the pocket watch at arm's length. She stopped once again for about a minute. Then, neatly and without much warning she took one step forward and fired the gun. From the citadel was also a view of the dog cemetery used for the dogs of those living in the castle. Miniature tombstones bearing first names make up the small grassy plot. Further into the citadel we passed by the half moon battery, a semicircle of cannons used to defend the front of the castle. When Edinburgh was captured by the Highlanders, the castle protected itself from capture mainly by use of these guns. Past the battery is David's Tower, mostly in ruin, but on display under very dim lit.
We next entered the main square of the castle, a quadrangle made up of The Scottish National War Memorial on one side, the Great Hall Opposite, the Honours of the Kingdom exhibit and the Royal Apartments. The Scottish National War Memorial was a sweeping hall filled with books honouring those that had fallen in battle. I found a book detailing the Cameronians of the Queen's Own Highlanders who had been killed. Clan Cameron fought at times for the King and at times against the King. Names engraved in the stone lined the hall, from floor to ceiling, adding to the twenty-odd books of names. After that sombering experience, we headed across the square to the Great Hall. Just as we had entered, two soldiers dressed in WWI garb rushed past us, carrying a comrade between them by his arms. They were donning gas masks, their comrade coughing violently, and the muffled shouts of "Gas, gas, gas!" filled the hall. This was of course a reenactment of the horror of mustard gas use in WWI, and the Great Hall was filled with these theatrical reproductions followed by historical explanation throughout the day. The hall itself was lined with broadswords, claymores, spiked shields, and other forms of weaponry and armor.
I ventured next into the Honours of the Kingdom exhibit. The Scottish Honours, or Crown Jewels, were used in the coronations of Mary, Queen of Scots, James VI, and Charles I. Their last use was in 1651 for Charles II, before he was executed by Parliament. They narrowly avoided being melted down by Cromwell because they were smuggled out and buried under the floor at Kinneff church for eight years. They were later locked away at Edinburgh Castle for 111 years starting in 1707. By 1818 most had forgotten about them, some believing them to have been stolen. In any case, they were lost within the castle. A group led by Walter Scott, a writer, found the chest in which they honours were thought to be stored. Most, including Scott, thought the chest would prove to be empty, but when they opened in, the honours were found again. The original chest is on display within the exhibit. The Honours are on display in the final room of the exhibit, along with the Stone of Destiny, so named for its use in the coronation chairs of lines of Kings. Nobody knows for sure where it came from, but legends surround this stone that would be placed under the coronation chair of kings.
As we left the castle, we passed a headless street performer. Indeed, with trenchcoat, tophat, sunglasses, and no head, he proceeded to read the newspaper. We made the short walk to Victoria Street, famous for its multitude of colourful shops. Meng and I stopped to get lunch at Howie's Cafe, where we both tried haggis. I found it to be delicious. It is served with neeps and tatties, or potato mash and squash. After lunch we met up again with Andrew and Melina and stopped at the Old Town Book Shop, a fantastic little store that had some really old books. Most of their prints were guaranteed to be at least 100 years old, but there were also some rare volumes, maps, and the like. I got a facsimile copy of a map of Scotland from the 1600s. Our group took one of the ubiquitous black cabs back to the hostel. The taxi was actually really comfortable and spacious inside.
Back at the hostel, everyone got ready for the Thanksgiving celebration put on by the EAP through which we were studying, the main reason for many to come to Edinburgh. They had hired the double decker red buses to take us to the venue, called the Hub, which was a converted cathedral we had walked by earlier in the day. The celebration was a little bit more than that, being a Caleigh, or traditional Scottish dance. Because of this, we were invited to wear kilts, which accounts for my business yesterday. Before dinner started there was a display in the bar of the photo contest and poetry contest entries, the winner to be announced during dinner. After mingling and mocktails, we sat down for dinner, which was a lovely feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, and thankfully, pumpkin pie. They announced the winners of the contest, and I was fortunate enough to receive an award for my picture of me holding up the Plassy. After dinner we started the Caleigh, which was difficult given our inexperience and the size of our group, but quite entertaining nonetheless.
It's plain to see that you made the most of this wonderful visit. Just thinking of all the history and emotion involved boggles my mind.
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