Edinburgh Castle

Today was the day to visit Edinburgh castle. It had been recommended to get an early start so I purchased my entrance ticket for 9 :30. When I arrived at the entrance at 9:15 there was already a very long line. They let everyone into the grounds in front of the castle where the Edinburgh tattoo is held. It was large enough to hold us but the space was surprisingly small for hosting such a large event. At 9:30 they let us into the castle. I had signed up for the audio tour which lead one throughout the castle describing events from Scottish history. Stories of Scots fighting Scotts and the English. For much of the history the castle had been occupied by the English. The Scottish had always been smart enough to find the hidden pathway up to the castle where it was easy to scale the walls and overcome the English. One thinks that the English would have caught onto this trick. How many hidden pathways could there have been. After it wasn't required as a fort it became a garrison for Scottish regiments and at times a prison for enemy soldiers. There was a nice exhibit of what the prisons had been like during the American revolution. The audio tour made it sound quite rosy and fun. The French soldiers had been able to counterfeit Scottish bank notes by making stamps from bones and dyes from plants and animals. It seemed quite incredulous but they showed examples of forged notes and the stamps they had made. I couldn't tell the difference. It is incredible what one can accomplish when on has alot of time on one's hands I think that during the Victorian era the castle had been extensively improved and remodelled so one really doesn't know how similar the building is today to when the Scots were fighting over it. At the citadel a war memorial to those who fell during WWI had been built following the war. Scotland lost 148000 soldiers during WWI. One could walk through the building and see the Coat of Arms of the various regiments with the battles they had been involved in. It was very touching. The Canadians of the Black Watch were mentioned with the the Scottish Black Watch. There were also three or four regimental museums at the castle and a museum of war. Some of these regiments were 400 years old so they had a lot of history. There was a lot of interesting stuff. They had the original paintings depicting the Thin Red Line and the Defense of the Hougemont gate at the battle of Waterloo. I am worried that my wife Cheryl who is coming to Edinburgh in August with Madeline and who has a penchant for Military museums will never be able to leave the castle. Reading all the exhibits would take days. I lasted at the castle for about 4.5 hours but there is only so much fighting, killing an maiming one can handle in a day so I left for some culture at the National Portrait Gallery.Read more