Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble
         
     
   
 
 

 
 

Exploring Edinburgh on foot
and a meeting with Tim
 
Sunday 19th July 2015
  

At breakfast, we met another couple, Isabelle and Keith. By coincidence, they were going to be sailing with us on the cruise! We chatted to them and to our hosts, as we enjoyed the delicious meal. Afterwards, we set off on foot to the Royal Botanic Garden. We were in for a real treat. The garden was at its peak, there weren't many people about and Bruce got to play with his new camera! We entered via the East Gate; yesterday we had popped in quickly via the West Gate.
 

 
 
 
Barbara Hepworth - Ascending Form (Gloria)
 
An impressive Gunnera
 
 
 
A Paperbark Maple (Acer Griseum)
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bruce enjoyed experimenting with various shots... many of them didn't work too well.
 
 
A John Chamberlain sculpture called Fiddlersfortune (2010)
 
Tropaeolum speciosum
 
The temperate palm house
 
The new alpine house
 
 
   
 
Beech hedge and herbaceous border
 
   
 
The wonderfully sculptural Eryngium
 
Aruncus dioicus (goat's beard)
 
Restaurant and shop at the West Gate entrance
 
Inverleith House
 
 
Another John Chamberlain sculpture, "Ritzfrolic".
 
The Chinese Pavilion (ting)

 
 
Candelabra Primula
 
Primula vialii - wow!
 
 
Lily
Aconitum Monkshood
 
 
 
Leaving the garden, we made our way back towards the city centre, passing Broughton St Mary’s Church in Bellevue Crescent.
Hmmm, that sky looks a little menacing.
 
Luckily it didn't rain and within fifteen minutes we had pleasant sunshine once again.
 
We were soon back in the centre of town. This is Princes Street, looking towards the famous Balmoral Hotel
 
 
A glimpse of St Giles' Cathedral
 
 
The Scott Monument is a Victorian Gothic monument to the author Sir Walter Scott. It is apparently the largest monument to a writer in the world. It stands in Princes Street Gardens, opposite the Jenners department store and quite close to Waverley Railway Station, which is named after Scott's Waverley novels.
 
Another Edinburgh landmark, Jenner's department store.
 
 
A tram running along Princes Street. The service began just over a year previously (in May 2014), after a lengthy, costly and controversial project. It is an 8.7 mile line between York Place in New Town and Edinburgh Airport, with 15 stops.
 
We continued our walk up to the Old Town...
   
 
...emerging on The Royal Mile.
 
St. Giles' Church
 
Edinburgh Castle
 
 
   
 
We walked around the base of the castle...
 
...and finally sat down for a rest in Princes Street Gardens, having been on our feet for several hours.
 
There were rumours that a street carnival was about to begin on Princes Street (part of the "Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival"). The street had been cleared of traffic and people were milling about in anticipation. We decided to take a short detour and come back, but in doing so, we missed the whole thing!
 
We enjoyed a quiet stroll around the squares and alleys of the New Town, however.
 
A statue of Prince Albert stands in the centre of Charlotte Square, in front of West Register House
 
 
A wonderful Georgian terrace on the north side of Charlotte Square, designed by Robert Adam. One of the properties is now a museum.
 
Bute House is the central house in the terrace. The four storey house contains the Cabinet Room, offices, conference, reception, sitting and dining rooms where the First Minister works, and where Scottish Government ministers, official visitors and guests are received and entertained. The second and third floors contain the private residence of the First Minister.
   
 
We continued our tour of the New Town by walking along George Street.
 
 
Despite being in the city, once again we were able to get glimpses of the countryside beyond. It gave the city a very human feel.
 
Still on George Street, we paused opposite "The Dome". We had arranged to meet a friend there later, so it was good to know exactly where it was.
 
At the eastern end of George street, there is a statue to James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879).
"He was one of the greatest scientists who have ever lived. To him we owe the most significant discovery of our age - the theory of electromagnetism. He is rightly acclaimed as the father of modern physics. He also made fundamental contributions to mathematics, astronomy and engineering" - James Clerk Maxwell Foundation

Just beyond the statue is the Melville Monument in St Andrew Square.
We didn't go into the square because it looked like it had been taken over by the Jazz & Blues Festival... We did go back later that evening, though.
 
Our detour to avoid St Andrew Square meant that we stumbled upon the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which Anne and John had recommended to us yesterday, so we popped in. We were very impressed by the entrance, but by then we felt too tired to do the rest of the gallery justice, so we didn't stay. Tomorrow perhaps?
   
 
 
 
   
 
By now, we were feeling very tired, so we made our way back to our B&B for a rest. A couple of hours later we felt refreshed and ready for our next adventure. We had arranged to meet Tim (a friend and ex-colleague of Bruce's) for drinks at "The Dome" in George Street. The bar was amazing. It was once a bank, apparently.
 
It was lovely to catch up with Tim, especially as he had arrived back from his holiday at 5.00 a.m. after an overnight flight and had made a special effort to come and see us!
 
Afterwards, we went to Browns Brasserie for dinner. It was a good choice for an informal meal in a quiet restaurant.
We enjoyed the meal very much. Bruce especially enjoyed the vanilla panna cotta with
Pimm's, mint jelly and candied cucumber which he had for dessert (with a little help from Geoff).
 
It was after 9:30 p.m. when we strolled back and it was still quite light, despite the grey sky after the rain (which we missed, yay!). We stopped for ten minutes in St. Andrew Square to listen to the musicians. It was very atmospheric.
 
 
 
 
©Geoff Brock and Bruce Gamble