A siege of The Castle

Another freezing morning in Edinburgh it was!

We wrapped really well and ventured outside to visit the most prominent tourist attraction of the city which is the Castle, of course. Wherever in the city you are, sooner or later th castle is going to emerge to tower on the horizon again.

Situated at the top of the core of an extinct volcano, it's layers are literally cut out in a solid rock - one has to mount quite a bit to get to the very top of the fortress (escaladed only once in 1313 by Randolph, Earl of Moray. It is a very specific siege term, like most of the terms deriving from French, but it just simply means that Randolph used ladders to get over the Castle's walls).

Today it was full of people, first gathered in front of the ticket office (Helas, this time we were not smart and did not book on line so we had to queue at least 30 minutes in the freezing cold) and then in every possible stage of the visit - around Monster Meg - a giant cannon, in the museum's cafe (though it was freezing we had to give up a cup of hot tea as there was simply no space to squeeze ourselves in the room) and especially in a tiny Margaret's Chapel. This good queen did a lot to introduce some civilization in Scotland during Dark Ages, however if one dares to venture out on a Saturday night in Edinburgh, it quickly becomes clear that she have missed a lot in her work.

The most interesting to me were of course the royal appartments with a room where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to her only son James I of England.

In his Child's History of England Charles Dickens describes James I as unning, covetous, wasteful, idle,drunken, geedy, dirty, cowardly, a great searer, and the most conceited man on earth. In An Uttelry Impartial History of Britain John O'Farrell adds that Jame's parents have been cousins and it showed. His tongue was too big for his mouth, with the charming result that he slobbered when he spoke, a habit not helped by him being halfpissed most of the time.

Nowadays he would be sitting in front row for Marc Jacobs but at the time, being gay on top of all that did not help his reputation amongst historians. His wife, queen Anne of Denmark eventually agreed to live apart exchanged for a handsome sweetheart - the Duke of Buckingham.