The Heaton's: Edinburgh, Scotland here we come!!

About 3 years ago during a family reunion the subject of going to Scotland came up once again. We decided that instead of us all talking about planning a trip to Scotland one day, we should just do it. Knowing it would be expensive and we would need time to plan for such a big trip we decided we'd go in the Summer of 2017. Well that summer has finally arrived.

Grandpa Hunter (who was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland) and Grandma Becky was suppose to come too. However 2 weeks before our departure date he ended up having a stint put in his heart. His doctors nor himself thought it was wise for them to come after all. So disappointing! Most of his expenses had already been paid for. The whole family was invited, all of my siblings. We just stated 3 years ago that kids were NOT invited. We knew this was going to be a fast paced trip and we didn't want to be slowed down by kids or babies. Unfortunately not everyone was able to come. Mom and Dad came, Myself and Kory, Jonathan & Camille, Matthew & Miranda and Hanna. 9 adults. WooHoo!

Mom & Dad, Kory and I and Hanna left for Vegas Saturday August 19th at 5:30 am. We flew from Vegas to North Carolina in 4.5 hours where we had an hour lay over. Just long enough to grab some lunch and then get back in line to hop on a plane. We then had a 7.5 hour plane ride to Dublin, Ireland. We arrived about 6:30 Sunday morning, their time. I had plans of going into Dublin and seeing a few sights during our 7 our layover. However we soon learned that nothing opens until 10 am and it was about a 30 min bus ride to the city. We had to be back to the airport at noon to catch our last flight. Realizing that we really didn't have a lot of time we opted to hang around the airport instead. Going through who knows how many time zones and not being able to sleep on the plane because it was early afternoon back home for our bodies we were starting to feel a little jet lagged. Finally our last flight for Scotland was called. We were so excited for this last 1.5 hour flight! Due to more time zones we landed in Edinburgh, Scotland about 4:45pm Sunday afternoon. Utah time it was 11am Sunday morning. We had been awake for more than 24 hours. We were tired!

But it was Sunday evening here (Aug 20th) and we had spent most of our 1st 2 full days of vacation in airports or flying.

We learned a lot this trip. We have never rented a car before. We went through Expedia and had reserved a 7 passenger van with insurance. When we went to pick up the van we learned that the insurance we bought through Expedia wasn't enough for Budget so had to buy it again! Next time we'll just wait until we get to the actual counter to pick up the car for insurance. We had been told many times that in the UK their cars are a lot smaller than ours here in the US. O.K but isn't a mini van and mini van? Nope not really! Yes the mini van did fit 7 people however there was no room for those 7 people's luggage! We sat on laps, sat luggage on laps and eventually pulled out of the airport parking lot. We quickly discovered something was wrong with our van. The GPS that we had paid extra for showed that we were driving in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. And every time we came to a stop sign or red light the van would shut off. What the heck??? Kory would have to put the gear back in park, restart the van and off we'd go to the next stop. We finally found a spot to turn around and took the van back to the airport. There we were told that the engines run on diesel and that all their cars automatically "shut down" when you come to a complete stop. To get it to go again all you had to do was press on the gas. Oops! The GPS was still a issue so they gave us a hand held one instead to use as they supposedly didn't have any more vans with the GPS installed. The GPS was about 10 seconds behind, we were driving on the "other side" of the road and in drizzling rain.

The roads in the UK are super slim! You really feel it after work hours and people are home. There is barely enough room for your own car and if someone else is coming in the opposite direction you better pull over cause there is NO way both cars can pass. That first night was a bit stress full! We quickly discovered that UK drivers are quite courteous drivers and often would pull over for us before we had the chance to pull over for them.

Something else we quickly discovered is that in the US we have street name signs that hang over the street generally near the red/green light. In the UK the street sign is attached to the side of buildings. Sometimes they are on the first floor, sometimes the 2nd and sometimes none at all. And almost every 2-3 blocks the name of the street changes! (In the below pict I circled the street names in red.) Making it really hard to know when to turn when your GPS is off several seconds. We were constantly making u-turns. Frustrating!! There are also very few individual homes. People own their "home" but its more like our apartment buildings here. You own 1 apartment in a building that has 15 other apartments in it. They all share the interior hallways.

The above picture was taken out of the master bedroom balcony of our 1st airbnb. The whole family stayed together in this 2 bedroom flat. The below picture was taken of the "back yard" which really there are no individual back yards. Just a shared grassy area. But so, so green and pretty!

That night we all piled back into the van and found a nearby restaurant that advertised "fresh" fish and chips.

This ended up being the best fish and chips we had the whole trip. Most "fish and chips" are served with mashed peas. They are really just that, mashed peas, no butter, no salt and pepper. Reminded me of the home made baby food I use to make. Kind of bland. We did learn this night that they don't serve ketchup! There table tops are clutter free, no ketchup, no salt and pepper, no little sugars, etc. Our waitress had no idea what we were talking about, she had another young man come over who also had never heard of ketchup. Finally the third person that came over replied, "ahhh you mean red sauce?" We said we'd try it, even though we weren't sure what red sauce was. What did he bring out???? A bottle of ketchup however it didn't say ketchup on the bottle, it said red sauce. Hehehehehe

While waiting for our "red sauce" we thoroughly enjoyed the tarter sauce. It was the best I have ever had!

The next morning our 1st real day in Scotland Kory and I headed out to find some breakfast. Scotland doesn't have a lot of restaurants. There aren't any iHop's or Denny's or anything like that. In fact there's not a gas station, convenience store or grocery store on every corner either.

Across the street from our flat were some little shops.

There was a tailor, a book store, a shoe repair store and about 3 different eating places. All advertised croissants, breads and different kind of meats. Up the street was a tire place.

Having a 2nd and 4th grader who still get spelling tests at school this picture made me laugh! In the US "tyres" would be misspelled but not here.

In between shops you can often see these beautiful flower arrangements. It's so moist here I bet they rarely have to water them.

We chose to eat our breakfast's here. It was the only one offering eggs with breakfast. And their meat wasn't in front of the window. Eeeek! The first morning we chose sausage and an egg on a croissant. I did NOT care for their sausage. It tasted and looked much more like a hot dog. Not very good. If you know our family we never eat hot dogs! The next morning I chose bacon instead of the sausage. It was much better. However, their bacon is not like ours or what we are use to. It was more like a thin slice of salty ham. Still good!

Our plan was to be in Edinburgh all day Mon and Tuesday. Wednesday morning we will begin our tour around Scotland. We all had a list of places we wanted to see and do so we didn't waste much time. Monday was dedicated to Grandpa James Hunter. Our first stop was to find the home he grew up in.

We found it pretty easily. When Grandpa was a boy the wood fence was not here but instead a food and flower garden. Grandpa's dad was a whale hunter and as he has said, not the nicest man. Everyone in the neighborhood knew to stay away from the Garden. This was not the house kids wanted to accidentally kick their ball into the yard. I wish Grandpa could have been with us on this trip. I can't even imagine the stories he would have remembered and been able to share with us about his childhood.

Dad, Hanna, Mom, Jonathan & Camille, Miranda & Matt, Me & Kory

This big building was Grandpa's Primary School. It is still being used today as the local Primary School for this area.

The entire school is behind a chain link fence. There was no grass and no playground. Knowing that there were children in school (we could hear them through the open windows) we decided not to walk around the school but just stayed on the sidewalk in front of the school. On the far side of the school it looked like there were basketball hoops but that was about it. It certainly doesn't look like our schools in the US that are cheerful and welcoming. My first impression of the school was an orphanage you see in movies, dark and dreary! I was able to find one colorful piece of artwork on the outside wall. I had to capture it!

I will be showing lots, and lots of different signs we saw in Scotland. This one took us a while to figure out. It means "No Dog Pooping". Most of the time there will be a little red box that the dogs owner can put their dog poop in so it doesn't get left on the ground. I wonder who's job it is to empty those little red boxes??

Next stop was the cemetery. This is the cemetery that Grandpas parents and other family members are buried in. Absolutely beautiful.

This was my favorite headstone!

We had a real hard time finding Grandpa's parents headstone. Grandpa had told Mom that there was one. Mom was inside the visiting center trying to look up the plot number with a workers help for about an hour. The problem is that Hunter is a very common name. The rest of us were outside wandering. A grounds keeper was asked to come out and look at a few different locations that could be the right spot. He was having a hard time too. Finally he decided that Grandpas parents were probably buried here with hundreds of other people. Most of the people were not wealthy so if you could not afford an actual plot you were cremated and your ashes were dusted/buried here. If your body was actually buried and there was not a current headstone it could be in any of the many unmarked spots. Apparently during WWII parts of the cemetery was destroyed. And the names of many buried were lost. Over the years when Scotland has discovered a name of one of these people they have added their name to this area. People are then sent to this area to look for the name or told this is where they "probably" are and can be remembered here. How sad!!!

Mom didn't give up while being inside. She knew that the headstone had survived WWII and she was determined to find it. I honestly don't know why it took so long but a different book was pulled out in the little visiting center and the correct names were found almost immediately. Yippee!! We seriously didn't think we would find it. I know Mom had help from her ancestors to find this spot!

Before leaving we picked some flowers and left them.

We discovered that there was more than just Grandpa's parents buried here. There is also an uncle and a nephew that died when he was 10 days old. Isn't it interesting that there is only one name on the headstone? Why were the other 3 not added?

Next stop was finding the house that Grandpa Hunter's grandpa lived in. We weren't 100% sure but this was the address that we were given. I love the red door.

While searching for this great Grandpas home we decided it was garbage day. A little different than what we are use to again. This small green can that Matt volunteered to stand by for me is all garbage except food.

Then they have this small one sitting next to the bigger one that reminds me of a chicken bucket. It holds "food waste" only and was kind of stinky.

A few streets over we found the building that Grandpa used to attend church at.

Two Hillside Crescent. It was really neat to walk where my Grandpa use to walk. To see what he must have seen so many years ago. Scotland is old, full of old buildings that have been around for centuries. They don't knock down old buildings and start again, they just remodel the inside and fix the outside.

Scotland is full of beautiful old buildings.

We spend the rest of the day wandering and exploring.

I have no idea what these buildings are being used for today. But the craftsman ship caught my eye, their beauty!

Oh look! An English course for teenagers during the summer. I'm sure they love that. HaHaHa.

I love the red phone booths!

Many of the streets are still cobblestone. It's awesome!! But can be hard to walk on. By the end of the day our feet were tired!

A Edinburgh police car.

Monday night we went looking for something like a Wal Mart. We discoverd that the converter/charger I bought on Amazon for our phones, my camera battery and ipad was not working. We needed to find a way to charge our electronics.

A specific shopping center was recommended so off we went. It looked like a mall from the outside but had shopping carts or trolleys.

You walked into this mall like building and could follow the signs.

This sign was posted in one of the stores windows. Fidget Spinners just a pound.

We didn't find what we were looking for but some things caught my eye. All the make-up were behind these locked shelves. Make-up was only available during the day time hours.

Fresh pancake's anyone?

Kory discovered these chips. We aren't a real snacky family but wanted some sort of snacks to keep with us since we were quite often skipping lunch. These were the best!

Tuesday (Aug 22) was our 2nd and last full day in Edinburgh.

We spent most of our day here at the Edinburgh Castle.

It is huge! With lots of side buildings to walk in and out of. Archaeologists have discovered human artifacts dating back to the Iron Age or the 2nd Century. The castle itself isn't that old (2nd century) but this specific spot they think has been used for royalty since then. The castle has existed since the 12th century, still incredibly old. There has been an estimated 26 sieges on this one castle. We learned that it is the most besieged places in Great Britain and one of the most attacked in the whole world. Crazy! When Scotland was it's own country and NOT being reigned under the Queen of England this was the working castle. This is where the king and queen lived.

Sitting on a pile of lava rock.

The all uphill road went on and on and on. I thought we'd never get there!

There were lots of people here that day.

Once we got to the top we had a ton to see and lots of buildings to explore. Many of them however did not allow cameras. Bummer!

This spot was called Mons Meg. The artillery on display was used in the past to protect the castle.

This is the one o'clock gun. Everyday at one o' clock they shoot it off.

One of the first buildings we went through they call the Military Prison. It hasn't always been a prison. Soldiers were housed here also. Showed us how soldiers lived there lives here.

Hanging hammocks on top of cots.

After it was used for soldier housing it was used as a prison.

The last time it was used to house prisoners was during WWII.

Look at all that stone work. The workers must have thought they'd never see the day that it was finished. And probably some of them didn't.

This building houses the "Crown Jewels" It's outside is currently under construction.

No cameras were allowed in this building. It had some pretty amazing jewelry!

This next building was the Great Hall.

The Great Hall is still used today for Military Functions.

The Scotland Military is still being run from this castle. It's just on the "other side" that we don't get to tour.

The Weaponry is amazing!

There was a part of this room that didn't allow pictures. It had old, old, I mean very old, leather bound books with pages and pages of names written in Latin, Old English and other languages. Very carefully and under security eyes you can search these books for family members that served in the army. They are the old records of the army. Pretty amazing that people are allowed to handle and touch such history.

One of my favorite buildings we walked through was St. Margaret's Chapel. It is on the castle grounds but is supposedly the oldest building in Edinburgh.

Beautiful glass stained windows.

It was also probably the smallest buildings of all. We had a line coming in and a line going out. When you got to the entrance you had to wait for the group coming in to all get inside before your group going out could leave.

Leaving the entrance of the castle we chose to walk around and be the tourists that we were. We ran into this guy!

Beautiful green foresty grounds. Felt like I was walking through the mountains at home.

One of my Grandpa Hunter's first jobs was near the "flower clock" at the bottom of the castle. We went looking for it. Wow! What a flower clock it is!

Near the flower clock we stumbled across this guy!

What the heck!!

Kind of awesome!

We took an early lunch knowing it was going to be a very late night!

A nice filling, hamburger, fries and cole slaw. Their coleslaw was nasty. It tasted like a spoon full of mayonnaise with chunks. Yuck! But the rest was great.

Late afternoon we had a scheduled tour at Mary King's Close. This ended up being one of my favorite places.

Close is another word for street so for us tourists it means Mary King's Street.

Most of Edinburgh was built on a hill. I swear there isn't a level street around. The castle can be found at the very, very top. Back in the day the government decided to take over an area of town and turn it into government buildings. Not having the space to build outwards, they decided to build up instead. So they took over a specific part of town and began to build over existing homes and stores. The picture below will give you an idea.

The problem was that people still lived down there. People had there businesses down there. Some of these people had no where to go and so chose to stay living there.

We were given a guided a tour through the underground city by Mary herself.

Mary was a servant of a wealthy family. The Gentleman of the house was found dead and his wife was blamed for this sudden death along with her mother. Both women were killed for their supposed involvement of his death. They had a servant Mary who was also supposedly part of their scheme. Mary ran away and hid herself in this underground city. Because most of the people had to leave their homes it left the perfect place for those on the run from the law or in hiding to take over. It has been said that even Queen Mary of Scott's was hidden here for a time.

During our tour "Mary" walked us from room to room to see what life was like living in the underground. She introduced some of the people that lived there during this time period. Due to the government building on top of this close aka street cameras were not allowed. So I borrowed some picts I found off of google to show you some of what we saw!

The above picture is perfect at describing how uphill this town use to be and still is. The wide open part is the street. Before the above building was built there would have been street merchants on both sides of the street selling their goods. Their homes were generally behind their store front. Which is the open entryway you can see on the left.

It was during this time that the Plague hit. Because of the "new" building on top it left very little open air which allowed the plague to run wild.

This is a doctor that was willing to serve the people underground. These pictures of these doctors have always scared me. I never understood why they dressed the way they did. They look so scary! We were told why during this awesome tour. They wear a thick black cloak in part to keep themselves clean. The long beak represents a bird which is to scare off death. They use to fill those beaks with herbs to keep the bad smell of decay and death from becoming over powering.

When the government buildings were being built they still didn't have indoor plumbing meaning when people used the above restrooms it all fell down onto the streets of these little underground homes. They had a real issue with rats which is what helped spread the plague so quickly and made it so hard for people to recover from. They just couldn't get a way from the germs. There was one room that we were able to see that had been a carpenter shop. "Mary" pointed out the horse hair that you could see coming off the interior walls. Horse hair was used in their mortar when they built their buildings. So very cool to see! It was such an amazing part of Scotland History that we learned. There was so much to see and hear and smell. I'd love to go back and do this tour again. I'm sure you would learn more every time. There was just so much information.

Tuesday night was an event we have been looking forward to for a long time.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo!

Jonathan and Camille.

It was a night of music and dancing. Men and Women from many different countries played music and danced. Their groups representing all aspects of the military, Navy, Air Force, Marines, etc and from many different countries.