Saturday, June 26, 2004 (Long Walk along The Water of Leith)

Water of Leith Walk, Britannia, Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre

Early in the morning, the weather didn't look so bad, but in the weather forecast, they talked about rain in the afternoon. Anyway, Elsa and I went with the bus to the Rosburne Bridge; there we started our trip following the riverbed of the Water of Leith until the Leith Docks. We laughed a lot, then the distance given for our walk was never written twice the same. We also saw the stairs to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.



Dean Village

Looking up at the 100-foot tall Dean Bridge, which was designed by Thomas Telford, was really enormous. The bridge was opened in 1831. It was an important development for the time opening an access to the north of the city during the development of New Town. The pathway beside the river continued on to Stockbridge and provided a relaxing walk in the heart of the city.



Along the Water of Leith

It was a nice walk, we enjoyed it and we had a glimpse into the different epochs and districts of Edinburgh. We were in a hurry then we saw the dark clouds coming closer and closer. A little bit tired, we arrived at the Leith Docks on the North Sea. www.waterofleith.org.uk

BRITANNIA
The Royal Yacht Britannia stays in Edinburgh. For over forty years the Royal Yacht Britannia served the Royal Family. It has travelled over one million miles. To Her Majesty The Queen and the Royal Family, Britannia proved to be the perfect royal residence for glittering State visits, official receptions, honeymoons and relaxing family holidays. But it was a little bit tricky to find the entrance since it is on the third floor in the Ocean Terminal – a very big shop. The tour with audio headphones was really interesting, but with the tour the rain also began.
www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk



View from Brtannia - Ocean Terminal

After an expensive lunch inside the shop we searched for the bus back to the city centre. Elsa and I went separate ways in town, but we both were soaked when we arrived at our next sightseeing place. I wanted to know more about Scottish Whisky so I visited …

THE SCOTCH WHISKY CENTRE (a barrel of fun)
It’s about the history and mystery of Scotch Whisky. Adults receive a free taste of Scotch Whisky, one of Scotland’s most famous exports. Through a short, lighthearted film, I discovered what makes Scotch Whisky unique. Afterwards, we learned about Scotland’s Whisky producing regions and the influences they have on different Scotch Whiskies. From the model distillery, we learned about the production of Grain Whisky. The blender’s ghost explained to us his life in the whisky trade and let us in on some secrets of the art of whisky blending. The whisky barrel ride was fun and we travelled back in time through 300 years of Scotch Whisky history. www.whisky-heritage.co.uk

I bought the book “The little book of Whisky” from Thierry Bénitah ISBN: 2-08010-626-0 for my husband. How do they say – everything you want to know about your favourite subject in one handy volume. In the shop you will find also a lot of Whiskies and also an in house restaurant.

In the easyInternetC@fe I first wrote my German diary and after that my English one. It needed time but it was nice to stay inside, to drink a coffee and eat some sweets. After answering a lot of emails, I sprinted to the bus station and also from the bus back home.

After dinner I talked with Elsa and made her a list of the addresses of the other students. The next two students from Spain arrived and on the next day Elsa left us. I heard some Scotch and Irish music on the radio and was tired. On the street there was a big and loud birthday party. ;-)

A lot of links about Edinburgh www.rampantscotland.com/edinburgh.htm

Friday, June 25, 2004 (Blair Castle, the Hermitage and Dunkeld)

Today was the social program day in the Edinburgh School of English. We met at school at 9:00 h and left Edinburgh with the bus and then went northward.

THE FORTH RAIL BRIDGE
Yes, we saw the huge railway bridge over the Firth of Forth it was the first larger Railway Bridge. Its three huge cantilevers span 1447 m and it took 59’000 tonnes of steel, 8 million rivets and the lives of 58 men. The well-known local landmark has dominated the local view since it was opened in 1890 by the Prince of Wales. The plans for the bridge began with a work by Sir Thomas Bouch; his proposal was soon rejected, however, due to unforeseen events. A previous bridge built by Bouch collapsed in 1890, and seventy people lost their lives as the Tay Bridge gave way in stormy weather. www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/queensferry/forthrailbridge/

THE FORTH ROAD BRIDGE
We used the Road Bridge with the bus. It opened on the 4th of September 1964. The bridge connected the North and South Queensferry, replacing the regular ferry service that had been existance for 800 years. Work began on the approach roads for the bridge in 1958, with the bridge being nicknamed the "Highway in the Sky". At the time, the bridge was Europe's longest suspension bridge at one and a half miles long. http://www.feta.gov.uk/

Sitting side by side, the two bridges contrast starkly the engineering feats of two different centuries and no doubt shall continue to do so for years to come.

BLAIR CASTLE
Dating from 1269, Blair Castle has been the home of the Atholl family for over 700 years. Set in the dramatic scenery of Strath Garry, it commands a strategic position on the route north. Today, 32 rooms of infinite variety display beautiful furniture, fine paintings, arms and armour, china, costumes, lace and embroidery, masonic regalia, Jacobite relics and other unique treasures.
But for us, the big problem was the amount of available time, we had just two hours for visiting the Castle, including lunch and the beautiful nice view around the building. So we had to miss the 18th century walled garden. www.blair-castle.co.uk/



Blair Castle

THE HERMITAGE
Situated just beside Dunkeld, the Hermitage is a National Trust for Scotland property. What was believed until recently to be the tallest tree in the UK stands in these woods. Then someone got round to measuring it and it lost its title to a tree in Moniack near Inverness. From the car park, we walked under the railway bridge on either of the two paths and followed the riverside to a delightful stone bridge and victorian folly known as Ossian's Hall overlooking the waterfall. It was another break for taking pictures. Was that a salmon?
www.nts.org.uk/web/site/home/visit/places/Property.asp?PropID=10071&NavPage=10071&NavId=5121



The Hermitage - some Friends

DUNKELD
The little town of Dunkeld is one of Perthshire’s gems. Nestling beneath thickly-wooded hills, its Cathedral and beautifully restored 17th century buildings have an air of timeless tranquillity. We strolled by the mighty River Tay (Scotland’s longest river) and took pictures of the Thomas Telford`s Bridge. This is an ideal centre for lovers of history. www.visitdunkeld.com



Thomas Telford's Bridge - River Tay

THE DUNKELD CATHEDRAL
For a short period, Dunkeld played a leading role in the history of the early church in Scotland. In the middle of the ninth century, King Kenneth brought some of the relics of St. Columban from Iona to Dunkeld. The Cathedral is a mixture of Gothic and Norman styles, and was built in several stages over a period of more than 200 years from 1260 to 1501. www.dunkeldcathedral.org.uk



The Dunkeld Cathedral

After our dinner at "home", Elsa and I went shopping. We looked for some special gifts from Scotland to bring home. But so much is very expensive and what we bought, that is our surprise ... ;-)

Thursday, June 24, 2004 (End of Term Party)

And the rain went on … I don’t know if there is the same phrase in English, in German we say “it rains like strings” and again I didn't want to go outside. Wendy and I were wondering; Elsa tried a slice of a melon for breakfast… ;-)

James tested our team ability in his lessons. He gave us a list of the top 40 words from 2003 and we had to explain them in a short time. We tried to distribute the words among the four members of our group, I wrote a template and then we looked in the Internet for words like “bogotify, sheeple, trolleyology, saviour sibling, etc.”
For the people who would like to look for this words, you will find them at www.macmillandictionary.com/New-Words/2003-Top-40.htm

Then we received our certificates from the school, ok, a little bit early then I wanted to stay here for another week … and we received our last homework from James; we had to write for him “what I learnt in Edinburgh” till the next day. I ignore this order then I wanted to complete this diary and then write him that I couldn't compress it into five or more sentence. :-)

For lunch I tried pork chops with noodles and for this, “our thick group” looked for a dry place in town. We needed a little bit more time to finish this lunch and to find a dry place.

In the lesson with Kirsty we did a lot of games to wrap up the lessons and for the last time I had an intensive lessons with James. I’m not sure about the theme but in these two weeks we heard a lot about phrasal verbs. You have some verbs like “bring, get, go, put, take, turn”, then there are the prepositions or adverbs “up, down, out, in, off, on” and now you bring them together like “bring in, take out, go off, get on with, etc.”. James told us, that the right use of phrasal verbs also would bring us up to a higher English level and I can confirm that, then everything that you learn brings you further. :-)

After school I went shopping in the Tourist Information Centre in the Princes Mall. I just needed some stamps for the last postcards, but when I saw the books and maps, I needed time to rummage through these too. So I found maps from Scotland, they will be excellent for our stay in August.

After our short visit home for dinner, we went back to town. We met in Ryan’s Bar in Edinburgh’s West End for the End of Term Party. There was live music, a lot of pictures were taken and a lot of discussion went on. Upstairs, they were showing the football match Sweden against England from the European Championship, and sure, the Scots helped Sweden – but in the bar there were a lot of English people too. I liked the conversation with two Iranians comparing their with our culture.

www.firstcity.force9.co.uk Edinburgh Firstcity – Culture, Travel, Entertainment, Accommodation

Our Teachers and Tongue Twisters

I had three very good teachers during my stay in the Edinburgh School of English; Kirsty was perfect in imitating us with our country accents in English. We laughed a lot too, when she told us some sentences “from the street” - in different English dialects. She explained us about a lot of nice places in Scotland and some things from daily life, but also about the social problems in Scotland. We learned a lot with and from her concerning pronunciation, like the phonetic spellings – but I think it’s easier for a person to learn, when she or he is musical. For me it was hard work, to do her phonetic crossword.

James our morning and my most intense teacher demanded a lot from us in different ways. First he was very tough in the lessons, we had a lot of homework and he told us a lot of things about what we should do outside of school or at home. I think I would still be in Scotland right now, if I had started to fulfil all his suggestions … ;-)
I think we noticed, that he had also learned another language and he shared with us his own experience and gave us a lot of know how concerning our way of learning English - it wasn't obvious, but he did it. I appreciated his “multinational cultural way” of thinking and living.

Last but not least there was Andrew. We joined his lessons just for four days, but in a smaller group and so it was to our benefit, that we could talk more in class than in the first two weeks. Our discussions were legendary because his theological background and his living in different countries gave us a new point of view and new questions for us to thinking about. I remember his story about the “nae knicker” for a wedding.

But now there are some tongue twisters for people who like them:

Six sick slick slim sycamore saplings.

A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk
But the stump thunk the skunk stunk.

Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.

Six thick thistle sticks. Six thick thistles stick.

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I’m sure she sells seashore shells.

Shy Shelley says she shall sew sheets.

Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 (Haggis, Mashed Tatties and Neeps)

In the night the rain started and sometimes it was very intense. During breakfast Wendy ate her porridge, I had my more or less continental breakfast and Elsa, her coffee. It was very quite this morning in the house. We left home a little bit later than usual. We didn't take the 31 bus so we had to walk through the rain from Princess Street to the school and we were soaked when we arrived in our classroom. Also during the lessons, the window fogged up and the paper was wavy under our writing utensils.

A distinctive feature of Edinburgh’s weather is the “haar” – a dense, chilly fog that often blows in from the North Sea when the wind comes from the East. You can usually escape it by heading just a few miles inland.

This morning we learned a lot of idioms – I think James liked them the most. Many were the same like I knew from our language like “Too many cooks spoil the broth. We were all in the same boat. In the blink of an eye.” And there were some, which I just liked: “As dead as dodo. Donkey’s ears. Don’t rub him up the wrong way.” – and a lot more. Some are different “A wild goose chase. Keep a tight rein. Swing a cat. Monkeying around. He’s a cold fish. Snail’s pace. Skin a cat. Trawl through” - and others. I think that’s the cultural difference but also that we have different kinds of animals in our countries.

Over lunch we searched for a dry place in Old Town to eat. In this big group, it was difficult to find a place, so we went from pub to pub and then I ate a bacon and cheese sandwich – also not bad.

In the lessons with Kirsty we didn't have many new things, but a lot of homework for the next day, so I was a little bit annoyed about this.

After school I visited an outdoor shop then I looked for pure benzine or propane - for our holidays in August. It’s used for cooking and my husband mailed me the name of a special brand. I wasn't not sure and felt insecure because the bottle's weight was different than the information that I had. But in the other shops they didn't have any stove fuel so we will try in August the first one. Through the rain I “swam” to the bus station and back home.
Wet, wet, wet but this “boy-group” came from Glasgow … ;-)

Dinner was a very Scottish one, for the first time I tried Haggis and honest, I like it. This national dish consists of stomach stuffed with diced innards and served with mashed tatties (potatoes) and neeps (turnips). This menu is not suited to everybody’s taste, but in Switzerland we also have black pudding and another one, called liver sausage - so I was well prepared.

After dinner, Wendy gave me a lot of good information’s about the Military Tattoo and Edinburgh’s Festivals. I heard that the last tickets for this big spectacle in August were now sold out and it takes places during three weeks …! Wendy reassured me, that there was also the possibility to buy a ticket just on the spot for the daily shows – it would not be for the evening show, but for the earlier one. She also gave me an article about the Royal Highland Show which was to be on the next weekend in Edinburgh. I thought that I would visit this big exhibition but I hoped for better weather then. It was a very quiet day with no excitement.

P.S. How many words do you know, which collate with age? Like: old, childhood, birthday, whisky, etc.

Tuesday, June 22, 2004 (The Long Day with James)

II was still a little bit tired after getting up, but the weather was beautiful, there was not a cloud in the sky. So I thought about going to Arthur’s Seat after class. But at breakfast, Wendy told us that on the radio news they said that rain was coming up in the evening. I told Wendy that I would call her at lunch about dinner; it was not a problem for her. She would be in Glasgow again today at her mother's.

This morning we were a little bit too early. It was always so different how long the bus took, to go from our host family to school or back. So we walked through the Royal Mile (High Street). I enjoyed it every time and saw some new things, which I hadn't seen before.

Today the whole class had lessons with James until 5 pm. I think that the theme of this day was about getting older. Other themes were “Old enough to be her grandfather” and “Ageism turned her into a liar”. The first script was about relationships, when, for example, the man is 25-year old and the woman is 40 or about the relationships of famous people. The second story was about a relationship in which she lied her age because her boyfriend was a lot younger. But she got in trouble, then after the first lie she needed more stories and that made the problem much worse.

One of Luisa’s friends had tooth problems and they needed the form E111 to go to the hospital. I think that is much different than in Switzerland. If you have serious pain, you made an appointment with “your” dentist and normally you can go within 24 hours. But here, they had to go to the hospital and wait, till they could meet the doctor, and this could go longer than two hours. After the first try, they came back because the hospital had closed earlier that day!

During lunch, I phoned Wendy because of dinner and afterwards, I went to a bookstore. I especially looked at books on architecture and Scotland and so the time flew by. After another Tikka and buying some food supply for the walk on Arthur’s Seat, I ran back to school.

In class we went to the computer room and completed our English diaries in the blogs. Sure, the discussion about age continued.



Arthur's Seat

After class, Elsa went shopping for our walk to Arthur’s Seat and then we started in the direction of the Palace of Hollyroodhouse. We took the Radical Road to the Salisbury Crags and first we thought that was it, we were now standing on Arthur’s Seat … but farther back, there was another, a little bit higher summit … no problem for us as we both liked to walk and so we first went down and then up to climb up to Arthur’s Seat.



Salisbury Crags from Arthur's Seat

The highest point of Edinburgh is the 251m summit of Arthur’s Seat, the deeply eroded remnant of a long-extinct volcano. In Holyrood Park, Edinburgh is blessed with a little bit of wilderness in the heart of the city. It is the former hunting ground of Scottish monarchs. The park covers 650 acres and has a varied landscape, including crags, moor land and lochs.



From Arthur's Seat, direction Leith Docks

On top, we took some photos, ate our picnic and relished the spectacular view over Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth. First I thought that we could see North Berwick in the distance, but at home on a map I was sure that we couldn’t. On this windy place it was cold and I was surprised about the different flora we saw here – just about 2 km away from the castle as the crow flies, amazing.

To go back, we tried another way down, called Hunter’s Bog. We had enough time to talk about sport, holidays, work, the differences and the things in common between the three countries (France, Scotland and Switzerland) and a lot more. We saw the ruins of St. Anthony’s Chapel and St. Margaret’s Loch with a lot of birds in and around the loch. The time went by and we came back to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. I told Elsa about the view from Calton Hill and she wanted to see it too, so we went on and therefore, I stood on Calton Hill twice this week.

With weak knees but very pleased about this nice trip, we came back to Princess Street. A little bit tired and hungry, we waited for the bus home. In the Ross Open Air Theatre on West Princes Street Gardens there was a troupe practising Scottish dance – for the Highland game?

P.S. I had a good discussion with Bill about getting older.

Monday, June 21, 2004 (Summer Solstice)

The week is just starting...

At breakfast, the three of us (Wendy, Elsa and I) ate together. Elsa just drank some coffee. After that, Elsa and I went to school. On the bus I attempted to explain what she could see on the left and right of the street and how she could get home. Then we tried to exchange our mobile numbers.

This morning we also had a new student called Therese. She lives in Schaffhausen in Switzerland. She had just changed classes. After the morning break, a big surprise, Elsa was also joining our class. James went on and we had a lot to laugh about. The article and the questions about the summer solstice were very interesting and we learned a lot about the differences in the celebrations today.

At lunchtime I went with a group of French people to the bus office. They bought bus passes and after that we went to a coffee shop to buy a sandwich to take away. There we met a man from Philadelphia (USA), who was studying architecture here for a year.

After this fast lunch, we went back to school and had our lesson with Kirsty. I had just a few minutes to check my emails, and after that, the lessons with James started. Siv and Christa then did their presentation about their country. So I learned a lot about Sweden.



From Calton Hill, direction Arthur's Seat

Now I was a little bit tired, but the weather was good, so I walked to Calton Hill (100 m). But I didn't take the shortest way up; I surrounded Calton Hill and had a nice view of the architecture on the Regent and Royal Terrace. I saw the Royal High School, dating from 1829 and modelled on the Temple of Theseus in Athens. Former pupils include Robert Adam, Alexander Graham Bell and Sir Walter Scott. On the other side of the street you can see the Burns Monument (1830), a Greek-style memorial to Robert Burns.

The view from Calton Hill was very beautiful and I was just sitting there and having a look. The panorama took in the Castle, Holyroodhouse, Arthur’s Seat, the Firth of Forth, New Town and the full length of Princess Street.

Calton Hill is scattered with memorials, mostly dating from the first half of the 19th century. The design of the City Observatory, built in 1818, was based on the ancient Greek Temple of the Winds in Athens. Its original function was to provide a precise, astronomical time-keeping service for marine navigators. The Nelson Monument was built to commemorate Admiral Lord Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar in 1805. www.cac.org.uk

The National Monument looks like an over-ambitious attempt to replicate the Parthenon and intends to honour Scotland’s dead from the Napoleonic Wars. A little bit downhill is the circular Monument to Dugald Stewart (1753 – 1828), who was a Professor of Mathematics and of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University.



From Calton Hill, direction Leith Docks

St. Andrew’s House (built between 1936 and 1939) housed the civil servants of the Westminster government’s Scottish Office until they were moved. “It was built on the site of Calton Gaol, the successor to the much-despised Tolbooth on High Street, and was once the biggest prison in Scotland.” All that remains is the distinctive turreted building just west of St. Andrew’s House, and well seen from North Bridge – this was the Governor’s House.
Old Calton Burying Ground, is one of Edinburgh’s many old cemeteries. It is dominated by the tall black obelisk of the Political Martyrs’ Monument, which commemorates those who suffered in the fight for electoral reform in the 1790s. The massive, cylindrical grey stone tomb of David Hume (1711-76) also stands there.

some web cams in Edinburgh
www.camvista.com/scotland/edinburgh/index.php3

www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/webplay/webcams/webcam.shtml?image=arthurseat

After this walk, I went back home and a little bit later, we ate dinner. Then we asked our host parents about their wishes because it was our homework for James. We had some answers like “She wishes she had another dog, she would like a puppy to see it growing. She wishes they had a B&B close to a sea. He wishes just that he can support his wife in her wishes”.
And I also learned “If I could write better in English, I would like it even more”. ;-)

Sunday, June 20, 2004 (Father`s Day)

My host mother wanted to go for a walk with JoeJoe but didn’t know when or where, so I preferred to go into town. The weather was the same like yesterday - cold and wet. So I was looking for a place to stay inside. First I addressed the postcards and took them with me; eventually I could write them in a dry place in the centre of Edinburgh.

First I visited the famous place "Palace of Holyroodhouse" on the east end of High Street or Royal Mile. It’s the official residence of her Majesty the Queen when she stays in Scotland. It stands against the spectacular backdrop of Arthur’s Seat. Just before I arrived the Palace a crowd of people came through the south doorway. It was a charity walk – the answer to my question, but for what? Nobody around me knew. For me, this spectacle was perfect then a group of Bag Piper joined the people and that was very photogenic.



Palace of Holyroodhouse

This fine baroque palace is closely associated with Scotland’s rich history. The palace developed from a guesthouse attached to Holyrood Abbey, which was extended by King James IV in 1501 to create more comfortable living quarters than were possible in the exposed windy hill-top castle.
The Palace is perhaps best known as the home of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary was twice married in the Abbey at Holyroodhouse. Her secretary, Rizzio was brutally murdered by her jealous, second husband Lord Darnley, in her private apartment. And it was here that she debated with John Knox.

Although Holyrood was never again used as a permanent royal residence after James VI departed for London in 1603, it lay neglected through much of the 18th century – though Bonnie Prince Charlie briefly held court here in 1745 on his way south to Derby – but it was gradually renovated as royal interest in Scotland revived following George IV’s visit in 1822. In Switzerland I read a book about Mary Stuart and now I had a glimpse of her life and the way she lived. I liked the tour through a series of impressive royal apartments with lots of portraits, tapestries and other royal items.



Bag Pipers - Palace of Holyroodhouse

King David I founded Holyrood Abbey in 1128. It was probably named after a fragment of the True Cross (rood is an old Scots word for cross) said to have been brought to Scotland by his mother St. Margaret. As it lays outside the city walls it suffered repeated attacks by English invaders, and the great abbey church was demolished in 1570. Except for the nave, it remained in use as the Canongate parish church until it collapsed in 1768. Most of the surviving ruins date from the 12th and 13th centuries, although a doorway in the south-eastern corner has survived from the original Norman church. The bay on the right, as you look at the huge, arched, eastern window, is the royal burial vault, which holds the remains of kings David II, James II and James V and of Mary’s husband, Lord Darnley. www.royal.gov.uk/output/page559.asp



Holyrood Abbey

And again the camera didn't have enough power and the weather was still changing every 15 minutes, so I went into the next exhibition close by, it was Our Dynamic Earth. This is a modernistic white marquee structure and is the latest tourist attraction in Edinburgh. There I could explore the extremes of our dynamic earth. I enjoyed the different areas like pre-historic, volcanic, tropic, Antarctic, etc. Like they say "... volcanoes erupting, a tropical rainstorm, earthquakes and tidal waves at every turn Geology has never been more interesting.” or "Live 4500 million years in one day!”. www.dynamicearth.co.uk

And again I sat in the easyInternetC@fe and wrote emails and my diary. Back home, I met Elsa (from France) our new fellow occupant. She and Bill tried to patch up the computer.