May 16, 2015

In Scotland, sunshine seems to be scarcer than underwear on kilt wearers, but the sun shone this morning for a couple of hours. We were grateful for it.

At the National Museum of Scotland, we saw a replica of the tomb of Mary Queen of Scots. It made me think of the elaborate sarcophagi we saw in Istanbul. It may be impressive to look at, but a fancy tomb doesn't make you any less dead.

We also saw a few of the Lewis Chess Pieces, which Tom and I had read about in one of Peter Mays's novels (titled Chessmen, appropriately enough). In the 19th century, more than 90 of these 12th century pieces were found on the Isle of Lewis. We saw 11 pieces at the museum; the rest are in the British Museum. The ones we saw all looked tired.

Naturally, we had to see the Edinburgh Castle. We went to the apartments of Mary Queen of Scots and other royalty; they had insanely high ceilings and vast fireplaces. Still, I imagine it was drafty and maybe even rat-infested. -- The castle was also used to house prisoners, who lived in cold, cramped, damp cells. Eventually, they got running water and community bathroom. A certain political party would probably think they were being coddled.

But the most fun was the City of the Dead tour. A lively young woman led our group of about 25 on an hour-and- a-half graveyard tour through Grey Friars cemetery this evening. -- More than 20 years ago, a homeless man, seeking shelter, broke into the tomb of George MacKenzie (sp.?), also known as "Bloody MacKenzie." (What else?) He had reportedly imprisoned, tortured, and killed lots of covenanters over differing religious perspectives. Our guide claimed that there has been paranormal activity since then, and that people on these tours occasionally experienced strange phenomena, such as the feeling of a hand around someone's throat or a vague sense of discomfort.


This tour was not recommended for people with heart trouble. I thought of all those cheesy horror movies in the late '50s and early '60s, how they'd have theater-goers sign a waiver in case they got so scared they got a heart attack and died. No one in our tour had a heart attack or died. However, the photo Tom took of me inside one of the crypts turned out blurry, and we're attributing that to a malevolent supernatural entity.