Holiday Photos #21

We're done touring the Edinburgh castle and back to wandering the Royal Mile. There's a very touristy spot just down from the castle, sort of a permanent "house of mirrors" it seems. We didn't bother going in, but they had some fun silly mirrors along the sidewalk.



Pretty, isn't it? The next photo I mean, not the hobbits above. Although I do feel a little badly for that golden mouse, forever stuck in the talons. This was over the doorway of a small museum, something we would have passed right by if we hadn't had our British Heritage Passes that allowed us a free look see. The docent explained that in times of yore, many homes had some sort of display like the golden bird in lieu of house numbers.


We took this next photo for hubby, who's name is Jeffrey, not Geoffrey, but still, he has actually worn a kilt. In public. Okay, it wasn't a real kilt, but even more to his credit that he wore it in public. There were a number of kiltmakers with shops, the full kilt (including jacket and the rest of the bits and parts I don't know the names of) were quite expensive, same as a well made wool suit in this country.


If you've been reading these holiday posts for awhile, you might remember me telling you'd I'd explain what a "close" was. Well, this is a close. It's not an alley, it's not a road, it's not a sidewalk. It's a thoroughfare but a very thin, narrow one. The walls are "close" on either side. Some led into large courtyards with more shops or homes. Others led all the way through into the next parallel street. I've always been a sucker for "what's just down that passageway... around that bend.... behind that archway" so I wanted to investigate and photograph all of them, which annoyed William to no end. "MOM! Come ON! You've already taken a zillion photos of those!" Alas, I didn't take a zillion photos. I wish I had taken a zillion photos.


This was down a close in one of those courtyards, The Writer's Museum. We went in but except for the narrow winding staircases, William was bored with it. I would have loved to spend more time there.



Here's another close. Make sure you click on these so you can get a bigger view and more depth. (Although, for some reason, suddenly the large photos are too large for my monitor, I don't know why they're suddenly oversized. Anyone know how I can get them to return to monitor sized images?) Don't you want to go see what's down there?


Although, maybe not on a dark, foggy night. Mary Shelley got the idea for Frankenstein from all the grave robbing that occurred in Edinburgh during the her time. What with a medical school in the community, and not enough fresh dead bodies around for cadaver use, many enterprising entrepeneurs saw an opportunity to fill a hole (er, unfill a hole?) in the market.