Ain't Technology Grand

(Edinburgh, Day 3 - August 24th, 2007)

Started the day off again with the Scottish Breakfast. As heart-attack inducingly delicious as the previous day. We started running low on clean clothes so some drastic measures needed to be taken, mostly having to do with going to the local laundrette. On the way I noticed that the fire department had shown up at a vacant shop. It seems that there was a fire somewhere as there was smoke coming out of the building. I don't think it was particularly serious however as the firemen were out carrying on and generally appearing to be not very concerned.

After dropping our freshly laundered clothes off at the B&B we headed into town with the intent of going to Edinburgh Castle. We lingered around the Scott Monument and took in the sights and sounds of the festival atmosphere, however, before heading up the Royal Mile towards the castle.

We got to the castle just before 1pm which meant that we could actually try and get a picture of the 1 o'clock gun firing. The 1 o'clock gun you see, was in years past a way for the people of Edinburgh to synchronize their timepieces to one standard. They even had charts people could use to take into account the lag effect of the speed of sound based upon your position. Unfortunately there was no joy in 1 o'clock gun land as it failed to fire. Apparently the recently installed gun, a marvel of modern military technology designed to replace the WWII era gun that is now on display elsewhere, is not exactly what you would call reliable.

We explored the rest of the castle at our leisure. There are about 17,000 museums and shops in various locations around the castle... okay maybe not 17,000, but there are quite a few. It's all very interesting though, and definitely worth the time and the money.

After we leave the castle we go up Calton Hill to get a better look at the National and Nelson Monuments. The view is pretty damn good too, though it won't be the best view we get by a long shot. On our way down we hear the sounds of the beginning of the Edinburgh Tattoo. There's a bit of a firework show as well. It's pretty cool, and we continue to regret being unable to book tickets for the show before we left, as it's been pretty much sold out since tickets were made available months and months ago.