Jeremiah Watt

This ain't no Honeymoon we are living ..

NOT SURE HOW THESE CABBIES ENDED UP HER AGIAN FROM EDINBURGH, BUT HER IS A CLOSER IMAGE

You could say that being married to me, has been no honeymoon for my darling wife. And I want to say publicly, that without her in my life I would have amounted to nothing. So Colleen, thanks for what is now 25 years of marriage. I love you, today, tomorrow, and always.

We began the day in Edinburgh as early as we could so that we would be amongst the first to get into the Edinburgh Castle. Now understand that when you travel with my wife, you don’t take cabs, nor very often busses unless the walk will excede 15 miles in length……….so baby, we walked till we sweated. The sites, the skyline and the buildings made the walk fun. We passed all the stores preparing to open for the onslaught of tourists, the Mongers cleaning stalls of the old fruit and veggies…….the aromas that make a visit that cannot be captured by camera, even digitally.
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Edinburgh Castle is the home to Scotland’s Royal Jewels. That being a small cluster of granite rocks hot glued to a tin helmet…………..I am just kidding. The total is a Royal Crown, that you cannot take a picture of………….then a Mace, that you cannot a take a picture of, …………..a Necklace that you cannot take a picture of, and finally a commemorative Sword that you cannot take a picture of. There was however, a one legged custodian in charge of that area, that you could take a picture of. The display consisted of primarily the well kept Castle formation, and not much besides that, which is also the case for many of the other Castles we have visited.

We strolled the streets of Edinburgh at a little slower pace now, being glad that we walked briskly to the opening as we passed a huge crowd of folks standing in line to get in now. We done a little shopping, and walked thru a neat exhibit of working tartan making and weaving, that uniquely combined a historical aspect and a wallet stripping aspect. In amongst the entire exhibit were small kiosk type shopping spots for each of Edinburgh’s finest weaving shops. SO we left with our hands a little fuller, and our wallets a little lighter.

OVERLOOKING THE HARBOUR AT EDINBURGH

INSIDE THE WALLS OF PROTECTION AT THE CASTLE.

THIS BOX, MADE BY THE HANDS OF A PRISONER IS MARQUETRY AND DONE IN THE VARIED COLORS OF STRAW THAT STUFFED HIS BED WHILE HE WAS A PRISONER

Down the street, and stopping to watch a young man play his Bag Pipe for pocket change, we happened onto the front doors of St. Giles Church. It was commenced in 1075, and completed in 1395. WOW, what a place to come and worship it must have been when people actually came to worship. I say that because you see there is a new trend going on over here, and that is to take these great old churches and turn them into Dance Clubs. That would be a shame in a plain old brick building, but even worse to do that to a Church. What the heck, the Indians always danced outside, why can’t these drunk teenagers, bunch of weenies.

I am not sure how to describe the work we seen on the inside of this Cathedral, but in every aspect it was an amazing testimony as to the skills acquired by the CRAFTSMEN who built it. From the engineering of the building and its massive scale, to the stone masons, to the wood carvers and wood workers, to the plaster artists, and marble carvers. Unless you have had the chance to walk into such a Cathedral and turn your head towards heaven and witness the majesty of all these pieces of work that can be seen, you may well not believe my words anyways. For me the Thistle Room as it is called is one of the most splendid rooms I have ever sat in, the wood work within this small interior enclave is just outstanding. Remember that the light is low, and I have no tripod, so my shots can be a little off.

ROYAL HIGHLANDERS SHEEP HEAD SNUFF CONTAINER

ONE OF THE GENERALS PERSONAL SNUFF HORNS WHICH ACCOMPANIED HIM ON A CAMPAIGN TO KASHMIR REGION

FRONT ENTRANCE TO HOLY CHAPEL AT EDINBURGH CASTLE.

THE MOST REVERED SPOT IN ANY CATHEDRAL, THAT BEING THE BACK WAL UPON WHICH SAT THE CROSS

We headed out of the Cathedral, wending our way towards HolyRood. This is the Queens Official stopping place when she is in Scotland doing any form of official state business. The word ROOD, is Gaelic for DUCK……………….er, no make that CROSS. Sorry I was looking in the wrong part of my Garlic/English dictionary. The HolyRood had an exhibit of many military items used by the Royal Highlanders Regiment, with plenty of Bag Pipes, kilts, Dirks and fancy Sheep Snuff holders to take a picture of. The gardens here are vast, since the HolyRood sits on some 1200 acres of ground and backs up against the Craig Heads National Park. We took high tea at HolyRood and Nevada bought a new tea cup and saucer for her collection of such things as a young girl of sound mind collects.

HIGH VAULTED CIELINGS AND HE PIPE ORGAN MAKE UP THE EAST WALL OF THE AMAZING CHURCH.

A CLOSEUP OF THE ASTOUNDING PLASTER WORK DONE AT THE SEAMS OF THE VUALITING OF THE ROOF

THE CARVED SEATS OR THRONES IN THE THORN ROOM, ALL DONE IN MAHOGANY OF ABOUT 2" THICKNESS

THE CIELING OF THE THROWN ROOM IS GILDED IN 24 KARAT GOLD.

EVERY INCH OF THIS ROOM IS EXQUISITE CARVING, FROM WOOD TO PLASTER.

Off we go, with the late noon sun to our backs as we head for the far side of the city and our car, so we can head out of Edinburgh to our next accommodations. With a little sun, all sorts of citizens of the city come out. There is a street type musician/thespian vendor on almost every street corner, from playing instruments, to acting as a Mime, to actual window dressing or just plain looking freaky…………we seen in all in that 27 block walk. Very little shopping, just a lot of walking, talking, and looking.

Lets find that Castle that we booked for a one night stay, and we start our leather lined Swedish luxury liner and head out of Edinburgh with very little trouble. Mom always has that magical bag of something stuffed under her seat for those moments when kids just cannot hang on to eat at the proper place down the road. SO we had some excellent Stilton on Oval Eddie Crackers, a few pieces of what they call Flap-Jack over here. A very edible almost all Oatmeal and Honey cake, sort of thin, and rather hard than soft like our cakes are. EXCELLENT road food.

A VERY TALENTED GIRL PLAYS A POOR MANS VIOLIN FROM JAPAN.................NOT SURE WHAT IT IS CALLED

THIS LADY FELL HEAD FIRST INTO A STAPLE & SCREW BIN

ANOTHER LOAD OF SIGHT SEEING TOURISTS HITS THE STREETS

FRONT ENTRY TO HOLLYROOD CASTLE

We make our way out of Edinburgh in our Swedish made, leather lined road rocket, that is now stuffed to the gills with every thing that you could imagine……….if we ever got in a wreck I don’t think there is even room for the airbags too go off. We are spending the night at a Castle that we booked on-line. And by 7pm, we pull into the grounds of Melville castle. A smallish Castle by the tourist standards, but one with luxury appointments that you would expect from a $575.00 pound per night stay ( translation is about $1000.00 per night in dead Presidents currency) Castle Stay. We couldn’t believe our eyes, there were sheets on the beds, no socks hanging from any of the bed posts………..and no one was sleeping in Goldie Locks bed when we went to check our rooms. This was Mom and I’s one night of luxury, a room all to our self………….for final results please check this blog in nine months.

We are taking the kids out on our Anniversary treat, our 25th to be exact, and I can’t think of any body better to share it with than my kids , my wife and Darren. Every one had Brazed Angus Beef Steak, while I ordered the Chicken stuffed with what they call Black Pudding. Black pudding is very common, made of a mixture of items that most folks rub on castle walls when they want to protest high taxes or something similar. But since UK has moved to VAT tax on all gods, they have little resource for using thess extra animal parts up except on us un-expecting tourists. I guess it goes without saying that each region has its own recipe for Black Pudding, but it goes something like this: a pinch of Blood Sausage, and a smidge of Liver, a handful of bread crumbs soaked in blood, along with a dab of toasted Oatmeal. All of this is mixed with a little Port and a sprig of various spices. Cloves for sure and I think all-spice. This is packed in a gut and then rolled till round and well shaped. Once cured………….not sure by what stage of de-composition that you know it is cured, but anyways it is then boiled and cooled and then sliced and quick fried it seems. To be honest, I have come to enjoy it very much, to end this pudding story, I will tell you that they also have a very commonly available Whit3e Pudding. It is never offered in Restaurants, but al most always available at each towns butcher shops………….it is comprised mostly of Bacon and Bread and Oats, minus the Blood, Liver and guts that cause Mad-Cow-Boy disease.

GARDENS AT HOLYROOD

LEAVING EDINBURGH TO THE REST OF THE TOURISTS, AS WE DEPART FOR OUR CASTLE STAY

MELVILLE CASTLE

For desert we had something that Darren had to be forced to eat, had to live thru and now cannot get along without. I am telling you I think that food freaks are made not born. You wouldn’t think that any kid could find a reason to not want to eat desert…………I mean could you? Well our friend Darren had this thing that he has somehow developed, in which if something rhymed with something that he didn’t like he would then have two things he could not eat. I am telling, somehow this kid has got to this stage of life on plain white bread and water…………….the toughest of military prisoners would have starved to death long ago and her he stands in all his 83 pounds of glory. So it commenced, that we all ordered a desert, and the idea is that we all sample each others fare. Darren had to get past the fear of BLUE BERRIES, of all things to have a phobia about…………..can you imagine. All because they sounded like Strawberries…………..which I crammed down his overly narrowed gullet just a few days later.

The stay was a luxury one to be sure, and a nice way to say thanks to my very Blessed bride. We capped of the day with a very late stroll thru the way to dark woods and we actually convinced my height fearing wife to try her hand at crossing a 12”wide x 60 feet long swinging bridge that spanned a swift flowing stream……………yes at night and no flashlight, just 6 glasses of Wine. As it turned out it all went well, we patted her on the back for success and just hung her clothes to dry for the night.

Good Night and God Bless

THREE KINDS OF FRUIT SORBET, OUTSTANDING

VANILLA BEAN CHEESE CAKE, POURED OVER WITH HEAVY CREAM

DARREN BEFORE HE ATE THE BERRIES

DARREN AFTER HE ATE THE BERRIES

THE BLUEBERRY DISASTER, SHORT BREAD TOPPED WITH CHOCOLATE AND THEN A DOLLOPE OF VANILLA CUSTARD AND POURED OVER WITH CREAM AND BLUE BERRIES TOPPED WITH A MINT SPRIG THAT OUR YOUNG CHAGE REFUSED TO SAMPLE.

A CUSTARD PIE, WITHA PIECE OF BLUE CHEESE AND SOME BLACK BERRY COMPOTE.........WOWZER, THAT IS IF YOU LIKE FOOD THAT SMELLS LIKE A TEENAGER'S GYM BAG

THE CASTLE LIBRARY, WHERE FINE SCOTCH AND A GOOD CIGAR COULD BE HAD TO ENJOY AFTER DINING.WE TRADED MOM THE CHANCE ON A ROPE BRIDGE FOR HER USUAL CIGAR AFTER SUPPER.

THE DRAWING ROOM................UNFORTUNATLEY NONE OF US BROUGHT PENCIL NOR PAPER.........

SWINGINH MAMA HITS THE ROPES OF THE CASTLES VERY SWINGING, SWINGING BRIDGE...........AND MAKES IT

Good night and God Bless