Last weekend, since Monday was a bank holiday, we drove north to see Hadrian's Wall and Edinburgh (pronounced Ed-In-Burrah). Traffic was very heavy around Manchester so the 2 hour trip to our hotel took 4 hours. On Saturday morning, we enjoyed a full English breakfast and set out across the country side to find the English Heritage site on a section of Hadrian's Wall.
The Roman Emperor Hadrian built a defensive wall across the entire width of Britain in AD122. English Heritage (we are members so admission is free) has a visitor centre in the village of Gilsland called Birdoswald. It contains the remnants of a Roman fort that was once part of the wall and is on the path that runs alongside the many miles of wall that is still visible.
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We arrived at Birdoswald to find a local expert teaching the kids all about life as a Roman legionary (soldier).
Matthew was able to do one of his favorite things; dress up! |
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| Maximus was our Centurion host. |
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| Matthew and the other children were conscripted into Maximus' legion. |
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| The dads were "encouraged" to participate too. Here we are saluting as a unit. Do you think that the Scots would have been scared to see us guarding the fort? |
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I don't think we did very well at the various drills.
At the end of the defensive maneuvers, Maximus discharged us all. |
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| Matthew is viewing the fort and countryside. |
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| Lori Poppins enjoying the wet and blustery day. This is August in the north? |
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| Next to the fort (wall in foreground) is a farm house built in 1858 that is still used as a hostel today. I presume most of the guests are taking a rest from walking the many miles of path along the wall. |
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| In the fort. |
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The countryside in the north is much more open than most of the rest of England.
The signpost marks the wall trail. |
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Mark on Hadrian's Wall.
It is hard to imagine the Romans creating the huge defensive structure with only 1st century tools. |
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| Matthew, facing the threat from the north. |
After exploring the fort and the wall, we drove through the rolling green hills dotted with flocks of white sheep to Edinburgh. Our hotel was difficult to find because the road was open to only bus traffic as the new tram system is still under construction.
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| We were pleasantly surprised to find Edinburgh Castle was directly across the street from the hotel. What a nice view! |
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| From the sidewalk, Matthew and I watched the fireworks that were launched from the castle as part of the annual military tattoo (parade). I wish we would have known about the parade so we could have attended. |
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| Ooooo. Ahhhhh. |
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| The king of souvenirs, Scottish Matthew. Matthew has more outfits than Barbie. |
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| On Sunday morning, we walked through the park to climb the hill to the castle. |
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| The park was well kept and very green. |
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| The oldest flower clock has an Olympic theme this year. |
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| The Scottish flag reminded us that we were not in England any more. The Scots are voting on an initiative to devolve and take power back from the U.K. parliament. To me, it sounds as if the governments are proposing a federal type solution similar to the U.S.? |
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| Just like in Wales, the Union flag is also flying here. |
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| Outside the front gate of the Edinburgh Castle is the parade ground. We arrived early and beat the queues. |
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| The crest of Scottish royalty is above the gate. |
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| High on the hill, the castle seems impenetrable. |
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| The ocean is in the background and our hotel is on the left side of the first row of buildings. |
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| Matthew is high above the city and we are only on the lowest level of the castle. The oldest portion is much higher. |
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| We saw the Scottish crown jewels that were displayed in a very informational maze of hallways. We were not allowed to take photos so the link below will provide more detail. |
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| The military still staffs the castle. This soldier was playing for us. |
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| Matthew was inspired and wanted his own bagpipes. |
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| The road between Edinburgh Castle and Palace of Holyroodhouse is called the Royal Mile. Adam Smith, the economist who influenced James Madison, was honoured here. We saw a marker on his former Edinburgh residence too. |
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| The architecture is amazing and well preserved. |
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| Adam Smith's former home. |
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| Matthew in front of the very modern Scottish Parliament building. The hill in the background is Arthur's Seat. |
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| We paid our admission to see the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Mary Queen of Scots lived here and it still used by Queen Elizabeth and the royal family. |
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| This tower is one corner of the palace and was once the home of Mary Queen of Scots. |
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The current royals use the top floor. The first and second floors are mostly museum and open to the public.
I was not able to take photos inside. Check out the link below. |
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| The house was built on the grounds of a old abbey. The ruins are adjacent to the palace. |
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| After checking out of the hotel on Monday morning, we made the Queen's former yacht, Brittania, our next stop. |
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| The ship was commission in 1953 and I would still like to travel like this today. |
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| The view from the bridge. The railing in the foreground was where the royals would stand to wave hello and goodbye. |
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| This is Queen Elizabeth's room. She helped to design the interior of the ship and was the only monarch to use the yacht which was decommissioned in 1997. Some of the wall are now plexiglass so we could see inside. |
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| The Duke of Edinburgh's room was next door. |
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| In the officers wardroom, I laughed when the guide told us about the wooden monkey in the case. No officer was allowed to touch it but it was mysteriously moved almost daily. This reminds me of the fun and silliness we Marine pilots had in the ready room. |
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| The officers of the ship lived well, enjoying daily formal dinners, many with live music provided by the on-board Marine band . |
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| The royal dining room was decorated with gifts presented to the royals. The table took hours to set because each item was placed in a precise location. |
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| A sitting room fit for a queen. There is even a baby grand piano in the corner. |
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| The Royal Marines quarters. In the many locker stickers, I found a USMC bumper sticker. |
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No visit to a royal location is complete without tea.
The queen was at her home in Balmoral, Scotland and did not join us. |
The weather was mild with no rain almost all weekend but a heavy rain started coming down on the journey home. Due to the weather and the Manchester traffic, the 5 hour trip took over 7 hours. Scotland was great, but there's no place like home.
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