We ended back at the courtyard behind the Abbey. The Abbey is a huge church built about 1500. In the courtyard there were a lot of performers. There were musicians, mimes, fire swallowers, and others. We sat in the courtyard to eat and enjoy the entertainment. We were going to do a hike, but decided that we wouldn't get back until late so we decided to skip it and go home. We got back to the apartment about 5:30. The subways were being worked on for maintenance so we had to wait a longer time for them to come.
We had to do wash and pack because we are leaving for York and then Scotland. We won't be back here for about 3 1/2 weeks. It has been nice having a home base, especially with all the comforts of home. I will miss this place.
June 15, 2003
We packed up our big packs and headed out. It has been pretty easy while staying at Kevin's
We took the 8:30 train to York. At first when I got on the train, I thought we must have been on the new high speed train. We went into first class and there were coffee cups on the tables. I thought maybe they were going to serve breakfast. They didn't serve us breakfast but served coffee and tea and biscuit cookies. I would have preferred if they came around with diet coke.
The train ride was two hours. At the train station in York they had information about places to stay. We picked one that was close. It was on old school. We checked it out and decided to stay and we are in a dorm of 16 beds. It isn't too full.
After dropping our packs off we went out to explore the city. Another old city. They have a wall that I believe was once around the whole city. It was built in the 13 century and a good part of it is still standing and you can walk around on the walk. I think the reason it still isn't around the whole thing is because they built roads.
The church, York Minister, took 250 years to build; from 1220 to 1480. If you saw it you would understand why. I don't know why the churches were built so large back then. We roamed the streets and gardens for about four hours. I was tired. We went back to the hostel to rest a bit before we went on this walk called "The Ghost Trails".. The walk was an hour. Not a lot of walking. The guide was very good with his ghost stories and around some of the old homes. It would have been a better seetting if it was dark out. Well, it was entertaining for an hour.
June 16, 2003
We had our continental breakfast before we caught the train to Edinburgh. It was a two hour ride. We found a hostel close to the train station and it is central to everything. It is just a lot of stairs to get there, 37 steps. After we settled in we headed out to explore the city. We decided that since it was so big it was best to do a bus tour. On the bus tour you can get off at certain places and then get picked up and continue on the bus. We went through the whole tour to hear the narrative. We continued on with the bus ride and got off at one of the stops. We were told about this free museum so we decided to go. We had to go through a narrow passage way called a "close". This took us behind the stores in front to a courtyard with houses. The museum was called "Lady Stairs Close Writers Museum". It had displays of Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote Treasure Island, John Muir and Sir Walter Scott. The old house was neat and they had some good pictures of the writers.
We walked on and went to the Museum of Childhood. This was also free and certainly brought back some childhood memories. I think it would mean even more to people older than I. One girl in our hostel didn't care for it, but I think that is because she is too young.
There was a Scottish group of five, wearing kilts, long hair, and tatoos, playing bagpipes and other instruments. We stopped by the crowd that was there to listen and watch.
The next "free" place we went to was the National Gallery which had paintings from the 15th century and after.
We had done our share of walking for the day, so we went to the store for groceries for dinner. Sometimes it is very hard for three people to agree on food. We managed to get out of the store with food for dinner.
June 17, 2003
It was raining first thing this morning. We have planned on doing a walk, but decided that maybe later in the day would be better.
We took the bus to the main attraction of Edinburg which was the Edinburg Castle. This castle had lots of history and was fought over a few times between the English and Scots. Mary Queen of Scots' son was born there. He later became King of Scotland and then United England and Scotland and became King of England. We got an audio cassette and the tour took about two hours. We waited til 1:00 to hear the firing of the cannon. This has been fired everyday at this time for over 150 years. The firing was to let the ships know the time.
We walked out of the castle and it started to pour. We ducked in some place to get something to eat. After eating the weather cleared. We walked down to another free museum called the People's Story. It was a well done museum telling about the way things were in the late 1800's to recent times. It talked about the types of jobs the people held, what conditions were like, and the fight it took to change laws. It also showed what people's living conditions were. I compared this to the way some of the people in Nepal lived.
We were exhausted from walking around. It is more tiring then hiking. We headed back to the hostel to relax. After a while I got up and headed out. I ran with Laurie and we took a walk around. They had some nice gardens we walked through. They had a Scottish Counry Dance in the park. We watched for a couple of songs then left. I used the internet til about 10:00. When I left it was still light out.
