We drove from Bath to Edinburgh through The Lake District where we stayed over night in a Bed and Breakfast. We had dinner in a little English Country Pub down the road, I had steak and ale pie - it was so good that I had it two nights in a row! The Lake District was really beautiful but it was foggy so we couldn't see much from the tops of the hills. The villages near the lakes were lovey, they were just like out of a story book. When we got to Edinburgh we were staying in a really old Victorian town house. It was three stories high with a basement and an attic as well. We stayed in the attic and had to climb up five flights of stairs with our suitcases.
Edinburgh Castle was pretty big, it was built ontop of a huge rocky hill. Building it took a few hundred years, they started in the 11th century and finished in the 1570's. There were a couple of churches, lots of cannons, a military museum, a prison and a dog cemetery. The dog cemetery is where a lot of the generals from the military buried their "faithful hounds". Some of the dogs buried here were called Jess, Winkle and Dobbler.
Edinburgh Castle was pretty big, it was built ontop of a huge rocky hill. Building it took a few hundred years, they started in the 11th century and finished in the 1570's. There were a couple of churches, lots of cannons, a military museum, a prison and a dog cemetery. The dog cemetery is where a lot of the generals from the military buried their "faithful hounds". Some of the dogs buried here were called Jess, Winkle and Dobbler.
We learnt about "The Honours of Scotland" which are the Scottish Crown Jewels which include a double handed sword, a crown and a sceptre. They are older than the Crown Jewels of England and were made for King James IV. They are kept in a strongroom which is basically a giant safe. The interesting thing about the Honours of Scotland is that the English (led by Oliver Cromwell) came to Edinburgh Castle to take over and destroy the Scottish crown jewels just as he had destroyed England's crown jewels. Two women wrapped the Honours of Scotland in linen and hid them under their skirts. They then snuck to nearby Kinneff Church where the minister and his wife hid them under the church floor. Later they were locked in a chest and forgotten for 111 years still wrapped in linen and perfectly preserved. They were rediscovered in 1818 after Walter Scott gained royal approval to break into the room which contained the chest. Drew
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