2023 Scotland – 4

Landmarks and Old Friends

Last night was the first night at the Kingsway Guest House. This is a lovely Victorian row house B&B near Mayfield Gardens. Lizzie and Gary have done their best to maintain as much original fittings to the house as possible, while still running a guesthouse with the modern conviences like modern plumbing, lol. Our room is lovely, with high ceilings, spectacular crown moldings and a large window. Our bathroom is perfect – with all the amenities you could wish for! Breakfast was excellent, and served in another large ceilinged room with a beautiful ceiling medallion.

The guesthouse is in an area that is popular for B&Bs. I can see why – the neighborhood is quite and pleasent, and has great access to the bus lines, and is within walking distance of the Royal Mile.

Mayfield Street is beautiful, and as always, there are some stunning gardens.

Julie and I split up today. She headed for the Dorothy Dunnett lectures, and I headed to Princes Street and the New Town to meet some old friends. Wendy and her daughter Ava and I had known each other through horses. They moved back to Scotland last year, and live very close to Edinburgh. They took the train into town, and while I waited for them to arrive I took pictures and did some shopping. I manaaged to catch the correct bus and everything!

Once Wendy and Ava arrived and we caught up, we decided to go up the Scott Monument. I didn’t even know you could go inside it! I’d taken several pictures of it yesterday and posted them to the last blog post. I had noticed some stained glass windows, but hadn’t realized they weren’t just decorative.

The monument to Sir Walter Scott is 60 meters high and was begun in 1840. It’s a pretty impressive piece of architecture. There is a small kiosk attached to the monumnet, and they take about 12 people up at a time. The first staircase is a stone spiral staircase of about 90 steps to the first level. The second, narrower staircase is 60 more steps, and the final, even narrower staircase is another 60 steps. We made it to the first level only, and I probably had no business doing even that. I was fine as long as there was a handrail. When that quit about 3 steps from the top, my knees nearly did as well!

The first level was an actual room with incredible woodwork and stained glass. The vaulted ceiling was about two stories high, and the glass was amazing. We were able to walk around the first level, and it was really windy! The balconies were narrow, but the stone and metalwork railings were high enough to feel secure. The views were really amazing. We took one look and the entrance to the second staircase (no handrail) and significantly narrower, and said no way! It is certainly worth doing, even to the first level. Wendy provided some of the pictures as well.

After than we wandered around the gardens in the park below Princes Street. They are truly incredible. The two gardens are bisected by the Scottish National Gallery, and we stopped for a light lunch and a chance to talk. Then we explored the second garden. These gardens were the site of the original Nor’ Loch. This man made lake was drained in the late 18th centry to allow for the construction of the North Bridge, and later provided the site of the Princes Gardens. One of the more incredible monuments in the sunken garden is the Ross Fountain, which was installed in 1872. We were also amused to see a palm tree. There is one in the front garden of Kingsway Guesthouse. It seems kind of incongruous!

Our final stop of the day was the Georgian House Museum on Charlotte Square. This museum gives a feel of what it would have been like to live in a Georgian home. Much like the Merchant House Museum that Sharon and I visited in Nyumberg in 2017, you began at the top of the house with a film that talked about the New Town, and why that was begun.

The Old Town of Edinburgh was incredibly overcrowed at the time, and following Jacobite Uprising, the Scots had been doing their best to get into Englands good graces. Beginning with Charlotte Square, the New Town is primarly made up of Georgian row houses, with streets with names like Georges Street and Princes Street to appeal to the English monarch. These houses in the district have been miticulusly maintained. The museum was excellent.

Of course, of special interest to me were a sampler some other stitched items. One was a picture of a gazebo that was quite large, and was beautifully done with satin stitch and french knots. I asked about it, and was told that it was a kit of the time, based on a known painting. I guess needlework kits have been around for a long time!

The bed hangings were lovely as well. They appeared to be a type of applice. We were also interested to find out that the bedroom was right off the main foyer. Apparently it was a status symbol at the time. We just found it odd!

Afterwards we met up with Julie and Wendy’s husband Gabhan. They took us on a car tour of the New Town district, and I was amazed at how large it really was. We also drove on the Royal Mile, and saw the street that inspired Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter books.

It was a wonderful day spent in an amazing city with good friends. I can’t ask for much more! Lots of various pictures are below.