Life at Willis Creek Ranch: Our day in Edinburgh Part 2

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Our day in Edinburgh Part 2

Saturday, June 18, 2016 (part 2)

Here is part 2 of our very big day in Edinburgh. :)

We walked down to Princes Street Gardens. The day was turning out to be absolutely beautiful and the gardens were full of people enjoying the weather. Julie had been especially looking forward to seeing the gardens and they did not disappoint. Although Mama and I told Julie that honestly, her gardens at home are as pretty as anything we saw in Scotland. For real!

beginning the descent to Princes Street Gardens

It is a long walk down from Lawnmarket
to Princes Street Gardens

See the cat (ironworks) on top of that roof??? :D

Princes Street Gardens

basking in the sunshine beneath Edinburgh Castle

Princes Street Gardens

view of Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street Gardens

The Scott Monument (for Sir Walter Scott)

Again, not what I was expecting along an Edinburgh street...
he seemed to be selling CD's and other
Native American paraphernalia. :)

The Balmoral

We attempted to walk to Calton Hill, but by the time we made our long trek to the base of Calton Hill, we were too tired and were running out of time to make our way to the top. We took a bus over to the Usher Hall area where we found a cute little macaron shop run by a lady who lived a year in Paris where she learned to make macarons. She returned to Edinburgh, finished her degree, then opened her little shop just around the corner from The Usher Hall. She told us that the next week she was having a mural painted on her wall that would depict a map of Paris blended into a map of Edinburgh. Partly for her own sentiment, and partly because people are always popping in asking for directions and she feels it would be helpful to have a map to point to. :) If any of you go to this shop in the future, please take a picture of the mural for me! :D

Not only were the cookies pretty, they tasted really good.

Then it was time for the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra at The Usher Hall. Wow!! What a fantastic experience! So glad we went there. It was a beautiful venue and the program was authentic and entertaining.

the spiral staircase to the bathrooms - no joke. :D

This man played Scottish songs on the organ prior to the concert.

a beautiful venue

what a marvelous show!

A standout for us was a performance by Yla, a lady who played a lament on her fiddle that I can't even describe. Again, it was for Pierce. Haunting, moving, perfect. It brought us all to tears.

Yla's lament

There were bagpipes, dancers, and solo singers along with the talented fiddle orchestra. What an event! They only play 2 shows a year at The Usher Hall and we were there for one of them! :D

He was just 17

Dennis Haggerty, tenor

Julie sat next to a man who was retired Royal Air Force. He told her he never misses a performance of the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra at Usher Hall - and has been coming for many, many years. He explained to her about the importance of a Scottish folk song about a soldier and appreciated when Julie told him she was the mom of a United States Marine. :)

Here is a video with clips from the performance. Be watching for the snippet of Yla's lament on the fiddle. A masterpiece of emotion.

Scottish Fiddle Orchestra from Laura M. on Vimeo.

At the end of the concert they played Auld Lang Syne. This was clearly the traditional way to end the concert because everyone immediately stood up and held hands, swinging them front and back. Then, on the 2nd verse, everyone crossed their arms over and locked hands together again, lifting them up and down. It was pretty neat to be such a part of that and I was able to sneak a look over my shoulder and see what looked like the entire room swaying as one. We definitely remarked that on this night, we were with 'our people'. :D

It was still light outside when the concert ended a little after 10:00 pm. We made our way to a bus stop and caught a bus back to the apartment. It had been a Very. Good. Day.