Great Scots, It's Edinburgh

"Did I hear you mention Calvary Chapel?", the enthusiastic Scottish woman exclaimed, grabbing Kathy's arm. "I go to Calvary Chapel here in Edinburgh!"

Our children both remark that whenever they go out with us, Kathy knows absolutely everyone. It was really a surprise to me, though, to find such a close connection while visiting a downtown museum at St. Columba's Free Church of Scotland, right on the Royal mile at the foot of Edinburgh castle.

The woman, Alison Carter talked with us for a few minutes and told us that her daughter Zoe had just gone to the Scottish Pastor's conference with Brian, where she did child care.

St. Columba's is really interesting. We first passed it on our way up to tour the castle, and I stopped to take a picture of its bright red door. This is just up the street from St. Giles Cathedral, with its statue of Adam Smith out back and Marquis of Queensbury out front.

As I was taking the picture, I noticed that there was a sign on the door, advertising an exhibition about the Christian heritage of Scotland. Since it wasn't open until 2:00, we made a note and planned to visit it after the castle.

Earlier in the Day
After our nice day of rest, Monday found us ready to go at the crack of dawn, walking across town to catch the 8:30 train to Scotland. This was our first non-weekend day in England, so it was interesting seeing the Yorksters heading off to work.

With reservations, we got to sit at the table in the center of the train, so I had a little more room for my legs. Our guidebook said that we shouldn't spend the extra money for a first-class rail pass, but I wish we had; being 6' 5" makes it hard to fit in the standard-class seats.

It was a nice sunny day, and it was fun seeing the country side up the west coast of England and Scotland. We sat next to a newly minted geology PhD named Acher from India who was going up to Edinburgh to go to a conference, and he told us a little about the educational system in the UK.

The trip took about two and a half hours; by noon we were climbing the steep hill from the train station up to the main street, called the Royal Mile.

Most of the main sights in Edinburgh lie along this road.

At the very top if the hill is Edinburgh castle, with its statues of Mel Gibson (sorry, William Wallace), and Robert the Bruce flanking the gates. (Coming up the hill to the castle, the only street performer we saw was a costumed Braveheart, with his face painted blue. Kathy remarked that he even looked like Mel Gibson).

Once we got in line for tickets, the ticket seller took one look at me and asked Kathy how old her father was, so we could get a special rate. (She didn't really ask if I was her father. We did get in for half price; they call it a "concession" rate for reaching such an advanced age.)

The castle tour was really well organized. They gave us an audio headset and as you walked around the castle, you pressed different numbers on the player, to hear about the site you were looking at.

The oldest building in Edinburgh is St. Margaret's Chapel, build by King David I (of Scotland, not the original King David), for his mother in 1130.

On top of the castle is one of the giant cannons of James II named Mons Meg.

Instead of cannon balls, it fired cannon stones, each weighing 300 pounds. Because of the heat, it could only fire about 8 times a day.

Here's the view from the parapet where Mons Meg was set. The water in the distance is the Firth of Fourth. The town on the far shore is Fife.

In the compound, there are several military museums. Here's famous painting called The Thin Red Line.

There were also separate museums for the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the Royal Scots museum. It's very interesting to see their take on their history; We in America see the Purtians as brave defenders of religious liberty. Here, the Puritans are the villains.

At the very top of the hill is Crown Square that houses the "Honours of Scotland", the oldest set of crown jewels in the British Isles. You aren't allowed to take pictures, of course, and the entrances leading into and out of the exhibit are bank-vault style, foot-thick steel doors.

In addition to the crown jewels, Crown Square also has the remains of the Royal Palace where James the VI of Scotland (later James the I of England, and the James of the King James Bible) was born to Mary, Queen of Scots. We got to see the little room where James was born.

Leaving Crown Square, we wound our ways down through the dungeons where prisoners of war were kept, including pirates from the Caribbean, and, of course, sailors from those mutinous colonists in New England.

Leaving the castle, we had about an hour to get lunch before we needed to get to the train station. We started to cross the street to check out a Kurdish restaurant, when we saw that the exhibit at St. Columba's was open. This is the church building where the Free Church of Scotland (Presbyterian or Covenanters) has their national assembly each year.

There were about a half-dozen workers managing tables and exhibits inside.

When we talked to Alison, she said that the workers came from all of the evangelical churches in the area, working together to explain about the Christian heritage of Scotland.

Alison mentioned a place we could eat next to John Knox's house. (Knox was the reformer who started the Presbyterian church in Scotland.) We found Knox's house, but never found the restaurant.

Instead, we had lunch at the End of the World where Kathy had carrot-ginger soup, and I had the William Wallace burger.