Yesterday Mike and I had coffee and Victoria spongecake on Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia. Unfortunately, Her Majesty was not on board.
The Britannia was decommissioned in 1997 and is now permanently docked at the port of Leith on the Firth of Forth
. Tours are available and we took one. Mike loved the idea of seeing the ship and I liked the idea of seeing how the other half live. Great Fun!
Did you know Sean Connery delivered milk in Edinburgh before his career took off? True.
The Botanical Gardens here have the largest collection of Chinese plants outside of China. In fact, when the Chinese government decided to restore some of the gardens destroyed during the cultural revolution they had to obtain a large number of the plants needed from the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens. Now that is irony!
Queen Victoria did not like her view from Holyrood House Palace so she had the outside walls of a fortification built so that she had a better view! That was a woman who was used to getting what she wanted.
Holyrood Park became a Royal Park way back in the 16th century and is basically unchanged since then. The park is now surrounded by the city and is used extensively by the people for hiking, picnicking, etc.
The sport of golf began in Scotland. Originally a round of golf consisted of 22 holes but was later changed to the more familiar 18 holes found on today's courses.
Edinburgh University knocked down a great deal of historic Georgian buildings when it expanded in the mid 20th century. It was later suggested that they apologize to the citizens of Edinburgh for doing so and for what they erected in its place. I have to say I agree.
The poet Robert Burns is not only the national poet of Scotland, he is also the national poet of Russia. Strange.
Edinburgh Castle stands high on a now extinct volcano. It is now homed to the crown jewels of Scotland.
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