Day 5 : BLOX Fun Times In Edinburgh

Before we launch into today’s episode – note that I have updated “Day 3” with pictures and video as promised, and we also have a new poll for you to have your say on J

Finally, we have found the solution to the unusual building in Tokyo... read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asahi_Beer_Hall

Right – today is the story of Berian (our host and guide in Edinburgh), Leela (the reason we sat at Edinburgh Airport for 2 hours last night after arriving), Owen (who you all know by now) and Xavier (the hero of our story) exploring Edinburgh.

In the morning, we jumped on a bus and headed to the Royal Mile – the main roads through Edinburgh’s Old Town from Edinburgh Castle (pictured) to Hollyrood Abbey. Starting at the Castle end, we walked along the road, checking out all fabulous things along the way including a Tartan Weaving Mill, an historic church, and an old man who was supposed to be collecting money for a charity but seemed more interested in bailing up passers-by to regale them with his old war stories.

We didn’t get all the way to the other end of the mile before turning off to cross into the New Town via “Jacob’s Ladder” (which was actually a staircase – yes, possibly to heaven). In the New Town we decided to reinstitute to coin-tossing-walking-tour procedure that had worked so well for us in Japan. After a bit of cheating, we ended up at the Scott Memorial – a monument in honour of famous historic novelist and poet, Walter Scott. It cost us 3 pounds each for entry, which allowed you to climb to the top and enjoy the view. The view was fine, but not really worth 3 pounds – however, the experience of the climb more than made up for it!

There were 4 stages in getting to the top – each involved ascending a tight, spiral stone staircase (containing a total of 287 stairs). The staircases were narrow enough that whenever you encountered someone coming the other way (i.e. down), it required both people to slide past each other side on. We eventually learned to call a warning into the stairwell before starting off to warn people at the other end not to start coming the other way!

We then had a warning from one lady on her way down that it got worse near the top. We didn’t believe her. We should have. As we approached the very top of the monument, the staircase became narrower... and narrower... and narrower. The final half a dozen steps would probably have prevented some people from reaching the top at all. Even Xavier standing on these steps found himself with shoulders firmly wedged against either side.

After sitting around back at Berian’s apartment solving some levels of ‘Braid’ (a computer game he told us we really really should have a go at), we headed out again to walk to the top of Arthur’s Seat (pictured) for a lovely views of the city, and went past the ‘distinctive’ (i.e. ugly) Scottish Parliament Building.

So plenty of sightseeing, and less of the amusing stories today. And now everyone seems to be stupidly tired, and is getting ready for bed...