Day Forty from Melissa - Descending to earth

Well, we're back in London tonight. This morning we got up, ate a good breakfast, checked our luggage with the hotel, and set off to spend our last few Scottish hours in style. 

Side note: I love how all the continental breakfasts here seem to serve beans. You know, as in pork and beans. It's really good, and keeps you from getting hungry, and is good, sensible food that doesn't make you sick. Also, their sausages are fantastic...

Anyway, first we went to St. Giles cathedral. We'd heard it was worth a walk through. 

We stopped at a sign advertising a market, and put our heads in out of curiosity. It was a little market, with stalls and food and arts and crafts. What took me aback was that it was inside an old church. 

The whole thing felt a bit money-lenderish. 

Anyway, then we went to St. Giles. 

I took this picture last night - that's why outs a little dark. Regardless, it's a very grand birch, and the dome is made to look like an imperial crown. John Knox preached here for the last years of his life. 

It was beautiful. No pictures inside, but they had the most wonderful set of stained glass windows depicting the life of Christ. Made during the end of the 1800's, they look almost Carl Bloch-ish when it comes to drapery. Everything was very sensitively portrayed, with nothing gruesome or strange going on  

I loved them dearly. We spent an hour, walking slowly along the line and trying to figure out who was which person.  Sadly, although there were postcards of other, more secular windows in the church, such as the coat of arms, the unicorn, or the Robert Burns window, the little church store didn't sell a thing with that remarkable set of windows on it. 

It was kind of sad. Of all the stained glass windows I've seen yet here, those were the most special. Following along with the stories, tracing out what happened, the Spirit was very strong. But they weren't acknowledged at all, even in the cover of the pamphlets on the stand. I hope those windows survive a long time. 

Anyway, then we went to the Writer's museum, dedicated to Burns, Stevenson and Scott. 

All three are Scottish writers, so there was a collection of their papers, books, and belongings. They sort of assumed you knew their life stories, so I was a little lost when it came to Burns, but it wasn't bad. I was especially pleased to see Sir Walter Scott's chess set and first edition of Waverly, which I have read. 

It was also neat to see Stephenson's ring engraved Tuisitala, the Samoan name for him. If you've ever read The Little Colonel's House Party, which I doubt anybody has, you'll understand. A major plot point revolved around that name and the story of Stephenson's death among the Samoans. 

Then we went to the Scottish National Museum. This is an everything museum. - the kind I could've spent days in when I was little. Actually, I could still spend days in it. 

They had meteorites, geodes, stuffed animals, ancient archaeological finds, native costumes from around the world... You name it, they had it. 

Me and a skeleton of a big deer. Don't ask why it was important to me, but it was. 

Is this not every kid's dream?  Maybe not, but it sure looks like mine. 

And this is me with an amethyst geode. It is my birthstone, after all. 

Fflewder Fflam?

The Lewis Chessmen, found in the UK, but of Norse make. They're from the 11th century, and would comfortably fit in my hand. Maybe three inches tall. 

Bonnie Prince Charlie's canteen!  One of the few things absolutely known o belongs to him, it was retrieved by the English after the battle of Culloden. 

A feather cloak from Hawaii from the 1800's. 

Such a fun museum!  And only an hour to spend in it. We used our time as well as we could. 

Hurrying back to the hotel, we retrieved our luggage, skyped Mom and Dad do they could see Edinburgh, and headed to the train station. 

There's a funny thing about the Royal Mile. That's the street we live off of, by the way. It has a few cross streets, but then lots of alleyways branching off of it. You'll be walking down the street and there will be a stone archway set into the buildings. You'll go through it into an alleyway that goes between the buildings and down to other streets. This is the one we go through to get to our hotel. 

Way down at the end of that alley is our hotel and another street. 

Arriving at the station, we stood in several cow-like huddles until our platform was announced. Then off we marched to get on car F for Frank. Don't ask me why Dr. Durham chose that as our mnemonic- there's nobody by that name in our group. It worked though. 

After that, we had a nice long five-hour train ride to catch up on our travel journals and blogs or sleep. 

It's funny - you could totally tell who was not used to car trips. "This ride is taking forever."  "I'm so booored."  "I can't believe we have to be in a train for five hours."  They're all the rich young ones who buy lots of expensive souvenirs and aren't used to passing food at the table. I bet they all fly everywhere. 

Then we got home, and my phone was full. So no more pictures. But we had dinner at a chicken place nearby with our dinner money. It was good. It's strange though - they have Heinz ketchup here just like at home, but it's sweeter here. It really is, it's not my imagination. 

And that's all for today. Bye!