We set out from Holyrood Palace where the Mile starts and slowly made our way westward. Much of the central city is old old, similar to Dublin. Stone mason must have been *the job* back then, much as software coder and investment banker are now. We found tributes to Adam Smith and John Knox along the way.
Adam Smith brick
John Knox's home on High Street
At South Bridge St. we turned off the straight path, looking for Cowgate Road and a particular fossil shop. Whoops! There it was, 50' below us. Backtrack and find a steep "close" (alley) to take us down. In the end our fossil hunt was a bust...but we did chance upon a picture and plaque to the memory of Irish trade unionist and revolutionary socialist James Connolly. You'll remember him from our Dublin posts about the Easter Rising. Connolly was born in 1883 in the Edinburgh working class slum of Cowgate! Funny how you can stumble on bits like this unexpectedly.
James Connolly portrait and tribute
Rather than climb back up to the Mile, we continued on the low road thru Grassmarket, King's Stables, and around to Princes Street. By now we were both pretty hungry. Kate remembered that the venerable Scottish department store, Jenners, was somewhere nearby. (Think of Selfridges in London.) However, when we discovered that Jenners' ancient elevator is just as venerable (tiny and cramped) we decided to roll on.
Princes Street Gardens
Finally we settled down to some lunch at the Omni, a collection of glitzy restaurants just across from the Sherlock Holmes statue (and some odd sculptures of giraffes.)
Today's totals: just over 10,000 steps and just under 5 miles! 😀
Back home at Adria House now, sipping a hot "cuppa" and writing this post.
It is interesting how one runs across surprising things when visiting a foreign place. You are in a visually heightened awareness and you see things that people who have lived there many years might not even notice. I like the little hidden surprises tucked away here and there.
ReplyDeleteHere is the US, in particular the west coast, we don't have "old" like many cities do. I have always wondered how it would feel to live around tangible human history and how it affects one's thinking compared to what we are used to here.
Your weather in all of your photos looks pretty good or at least not very wet anyway. Sounds like you guys did some hiking today. Impressive!
You're so right, Carrie. When we described what we'd found to our innkeeper, who grew up here in Edinburgh, she had no idea what we were talking about. Wonder how many little treasures we miss in our own home town.
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