Today, I went to visit Craigmillar Castle. According to the curator, it is the best example of a medival castle in Scotland. Suprisingly, the Castle is not very big and feels quite cosy. The castle was origninally built in the early 15th century but the site has been occupied since the early 12th century. The castle has a long history and was an important retreat for Mary Queen of the Scots.There is a long story behind its role in her life.

This is the 'front' door for visitors in the modern day. The real front door is actually opposite this entrance.

An example of the many spiral stone staircases in the castle.

The castle is one the best preserved medival castles because it defenses were extremely good. The picture above shows a tower in which there are small holes at the top. Guards would dispatch boiled urine, feces, hot rock and hot ash through these holes at attacking bad guys. Contrary to popular belief, boiled oil was not used. It was simply too expensive to waste, pee and poo are far cheaper. The holes might not look big in the picture, but when I was up close I could see that it was big enough for a kitchen chair. According to the curator, this is the best example of this defensive feature in a Scotish castle.

This is a gun hole. Yet another defensive feature of the castle.

I had french classes yesterday so didn't have time to make a posting. But here are the pictures from yesterday's adventures. I got a new bike (which I love!) and was zooming about town yesterday.

Duck habitat at Blackford Pond.

University of Edinburgh Observatory Builiding. This observatory is on Blackford Hill, the highest point is 539 m (I assume that it is in meters but since I'm in Briton, the units can be anything, perhaps even something the rest of the world doesn't use.) I biked half way up and then travelled the rest on foot paths. I saw small little dried poos everywhere so there might have been either sheep or rabbits on this hill at some point.

This is a view of the city center from Blackford Hill. I was also interested in the sky in this picture as well. The object sticking up over the sky line on the left hand side of the picture is Sir Walter Scott's monument (I think).

I was facinated by the little garden plots at the bottom of the picture. This is a view of the 'burbs' of Edinburgh.

This is a picture of the Lion's Haunch. You can see the Lion's head at the upper left hand corner.

Today's pictures taken at the Museum of Scotland and the Royal Museum (they are joined).

This is the main atrium in the Royal Museum. The Museum of Scotland is a much newer and more contemporary building. It is a very nice example of modern museum architecture.

Suprisingly, you are permitted to take pictures inside the muesum. This is the bust of some priest or saint, I can't remember. The image was interesting to me because he looks like he is trying to get out of the glass case. It is blurry which gives it some movement. The static image is more creepy b/c you can see the expression on his face more clearly.

There was a 'green design' exhibit at the Museum of Scotland. This is a paper mache coffin made with recycled paper and biodegrades more quickly than regular coffin b/c there is no varnish. This coffin was designed by Hazel Selena. She also designed a paper mache urn styled after an acorn.

This pouffle was made of used tennis balls. I forgot to write down the designer's name.

There are many of these cows throughout Edinburgh. Just like the Moose in TO or Orca in Victoria. This particular cow was in the museum and is painted with thermosensitive paint (see below).

The sky over the North Sea. I like the texture.

A small light house on the North Sea. Again, I like the sky.

I took this from the second level on the bus.

National Gallery of Scotland. All museums and public galleries are free.

Sky from our back window

More old buildings

Bronze pigeons

This is on a wall, i don't know what it is or what its for. There was only one of them. In any case i thought it was kind of neat looking, like a giant metallic spikey catepillar.

This photo was taken near the base of the castle. The church spire in this photo is the same as the one in the edinburgh pic from yesterday's post.

Planter box outside firefighter engineer's office

Hi!

Welcome to my photoblog. I'll endevour to take and post a few pictures each day. The pictures are all taken by me. At the moment, there is no organization. Feedback and comments are always welcome.