Wednesday, July 17, 2019 Fourth Full Day In Edinburgh The National Museum Of Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

When I got up this morning I checked the forecast for Edinburgh and it looked like it was going to be a rainy and overcast day. Sounds like perfect day for a visit to the National Museum of Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿.

After I showered, shaved and dressed I went out to the Cathedral where I lit a candle 🕯 and said a prayer for Anna. Then it was on to breakfast. I visited the Tesco next to the Cathedral and picked up my breakfast.

Doesn’t that look like a delicious smiley face breakfast? I decided to dine al fresco as it had not yet started to rain. I found a park bench and proceeded to have a relaxing, delicious and healthy breakfast.

After breakfast I returned to my hotel and relaxed for a few minutes. The Museum opens at 10:00 AM so I had a few minutes to kill before I commenced the 15 minute walk to get there. As I was walking to the Museum I passed by the Patisserie Valkyrie. Dana loves pastry shops so I thought I would put this picture in the blog for her.

I was stuffed from breakfast and knew that I did not need a pastry. I am proud to say that I exercised a great deal of self control, unusual for me, mastered my craving for a pastry, wiped the drool from my chops with a handy hanky and proceeded to the Museum.

What a great Museum. I started out on the main floor of the Museum where they have cultural artifacts from all over the world. The Scotts collected these artifacts when they were helping the Brits civilize the rest of the world.

This looks like a canoe 🛶.

It is actually a huge banquet bowl that can hold 200 gallons of food.

Next I moved on to the Scottish technology exhibit. Guess who this is?

It is Dolly the cloned sheep.

They had a great exhibit tracing the development in Scotland of the coal industry, the iron and steel industry and the textile industry. During the height of the Industrial Revolution, Scotland lead the world in the development of these three key industries. Scotland was also one of the world’s leading shipbuilders and was a leading manufacturer of steam locomotives.

This is a full scale working model of the first steam engine invented by Thomas Newcomen.

This steam engine was used to pump water out of underground coal mines. Scotsman James Watt was hired to repair a Newcomen steam engine. Watt quickly realized the the Newcomen steam engine was extremely inefficient. Watt developed a new and much more efficient steam engine. This new and improved steam engine was one of the driving forces behind the Industrial Revolution.

Next I visited the Far East exhibit. I was greeted at the entrance to this exhibit by a smiling Buddha.

I spent a delightful four hours at the Museum, out of the gloom and the rain. Time now for a late lunch. As I was walking back to the hotel and searching for a place to grab a quick bite to eat, I started to think about all the things I had done in Edinburgh and all the things I had failed to do, namely try haggis. A number of you are scratching you heads and wondering, what exactly is haggis. Well let me tell you. Haggis is minced sheep lung, liver and heart mixed with onion, suet and oatmeal and cooked in a sheep stomach. It is the national dish of Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿. Like the thistle is the national flower of Scotland. I think haggis is to fine dining what the thistle is to beautiful flower arrangements.

In an earlier post I railed at people who claim they don’t like sushi 🍣 when they haven’t even tried it. How can I say I don’t like haggis when I haven’t even tried it. That would make me a hypocrite, wouldn’t it?

As I continued my search for a good lunch spot I saw this sign.

I still don’t know if I want to try haggis, but this restaurant claims to “Have Edinburgh’s Best Haggis By A Royal Mile.” If I am going to have haggis, I definitely want Edinburgh’s best haggis.

Unable to decide “yes” or “no” on the “do I want to try haggis question,” I continued walking.

Then I walked past this sign.

What in the world is a haggis ball. Is it kinda like a Rocky Mountain Oyster only with sheep testicles? Now my poor little head is really spinning. I am terribly confused. Should I try haggis, yes or no? If I try haggis do I go for the traditional haggis or do I eat outside the box, take a walk in the wild side, and try haggis balls?

As I was trying to solve this dilemma, I walked by an Indian fast food joint and decided to say no to haggis and yes to chicken tikka masala.

Call me a hypocrite, but I have decided to take a complete pass on haggis.

After I wolfed down my tasty lunch I continued my perambulation to the hotel. On the way I spied Greyfriars Bobby. It is an Edinburgh tradition to rub Bobby’s nose for good luck.

Bobby and his master guarded the graveyard at the Greyfriars Church. Resurrectionists would come into the graveyard at night and dig up fresh graves and sell the bodies to the medical school in Edinburgh for big bucks. Bobby was such a loyal dog that when his master died, Bobby spent every evening for the rest of his twelve year life guarding his master’s grave in the graveyard at the Greyfriars Church.

This is one of the many bagpipers who stand on street corners all over Edinburgh playing their bagpipes.

In Edinburgh you are rarely out of earshot of the sound of skirling bagpipes.

After I got back to the hotel I realized that I was long overdue for a laundry day. To put it delicately, my clothes were getting a little ripe.

This is the laundromat.

And this is me in my rain suit at the laundromat.

Every stitch of clothes I packed for the trip went into the washer. I spent a very pleasant two hours at the laundromat chatting with the owner, Anne Gracie. It really adds something special to a trip when you get to chat up the locals.

After I finished my laundry I went to dinner.

Beef stroganoff over wild rice. Yum!

That is it for tonight.

I hope everyone had a good Wednesday.

Good night for the last time from Edinburgh, Scotland. Tomorrow I fly to Bilbao, Spain.