Friday 28 September 2012

Historical Revisits!


Well the weather has certainly been "interesting" over the last few days but despite this, I have managed to visit a couple of places that I haven't seen since childhood; in fact, it was a bit of a trip down memory lane!!

On Tuesday my mum's cousin and the cousin's daughter came up to Edinburgh from the Midlands, where my mum is originally from.  We hadn't seen these relatives in about fifteen years so it was lovely to catch up; we felt as if the years had just fallen away, it was as though we had only just seen them yesterday! After a lovely lunch at
the Scottish Cafe at the National Gallery (the visitors had to sample the local haggis, of course!!), we trekked up to the Castle, a place that I visited many a time in my childhood, but never in the intervening years.  It was mobbed with visitors and the weather was very blustery (it was hold-onto-your-hair time!), but we had a good wander round.  I couldn't remember a lot of it from before, although I did have a weird flashback in one of the rooms; I vividly recalled being there as a schoolgirl and being told a particular story about the castle's history. It spooked me a little!

On the castle ramparts there were lots of big guns: 



And I found the wee burial ground for soldier's dogs particularly poignant:

As was the war memorial building:



A lot of the castle buildings are extremely old:



Unfortunately we didn't get to go down into the dungeons but we did have a nice cup of coffee in the cafe and a lovely natter with the rellies! It was a shame their visit was so fleeting but I'm glad I went along to see them, it might be another fifteen years before we see them again!!

The next trip down memory lane was on Wednesday when Himself and I decided to head across to Dunfermline's Pittencrieff Park and the adjoining Abbey.  My last visit here was as a sulky teen so I was hoping to be a bit more appreciative of the trip than I was back then!!

The weather was really kind - blue skies and sunshine - but there was a distinct "moistness" lingering from the previous downpours.  We made our way towards the Abbey via a mossy, grotto-filled walkway by the full-to-bursting stream:




The abbey itself looked very impressive in the sunshine and, again, a very old building with lots of turbulent history:





We had a lovely walk through the park itself and even came across the mysterious St Margaret's Cave, which was located in a car park! A bit of wandering in the shopping precinct, a lazy coffee and then it was time to come home!

So two enjoyable days out in one week! I feel very fortunate! But now it's time to get down to some hard-core crafting!!

1 comment:

Allison said...

lovely selection of piccies- did the Castle two years ago because like you I hadn't been for many a year and thoroughly enjoyed it
Have a good weekend
Allisonx