james test

Tuesday was our last day of shared holiday time, with Cindy heading to St Andrews in the evening and me to Tokyo the next day. We were a bit done with sightseeing, but mustered up the energy (helped by an absurdly gigantic vegie breakfast at some pub near our hostel) to tackle Edinburgh's Camera Obscura . The Camera Obscura, built in early 1850s, uses a combination of mirrors to project live images of the city onto a white table. It's not particularly technologically sophisticated, but it's still pretty impressive to see live - it's like someone is training a video camera on the streets outside. The mirrors are adjustable, so you get a run through Edinburgh's history as the operator guides the camera across the inner city. It was great fun, and it's well worth ignoring the cheesiness of the exterior and giving it a look. As well as the camera obscura itself, you get great views across the city from the roof of the building. Back up the Royal Mile Across the ...

We had another half day in Plockton before heading back to Edinburgh. I'd finally run out of enthusiasm for cooked breakfasts, so we both started the day with porridge (with a bit of jam mushed on top). It was a warming start to the day, and I'm sure my heart appreciated the break from fried eggs. Our original plan was to spend our last couple of hours in the Plockton hotel enjoying their hospitality and free wireless internet. Alas, the internet was broken, so we were driven back out into nature. Following the recommendation of the hotel staff, we headed for a walk up a track in the northern section of the town. Something about the scenery reminded Cindy of a particular scene in Monkey Island , so she spent the whole stroll singing the midi-style tunes that are eternally lodged in her brain. It really added to the highland ambiance. The weather was a bit crappy, but the walk was still wonderful. A fitting finale to our couple of days in the highlands. Afterwards, it was...

Our first adventure on Friday morning was an hour-long tour of the Real Mary King's Close . In the 17th century, many Edinburgh residents lived in densely packed homes running steeply downhill from the Royal Mile to the Nor Loch. As the City Chambers were planned and constructed these homes were repossessed. (I think most of this happened by the 1750s, though the last residents were not removed until the very early 1900s.) Rather than comprehensively demolishing them, the homes were simply cut level and built on top of! Mary King, a seamstress, was the most senior member of her close (street) and thus, it was named after her. What remains of her close underground was the location of the tour, a series of dark, dank rooms. The costumed guide and thematic mannequins were a little cheesy, but also a most effective way of presenting the lives of those at the Close and others like it. The tour does not permit photography so you'll just have to see it for yourself! Once we eme...

The morning started as so many have on this trip - with a breakfast at our lodgings. Another vegetarian take on the English cooked breakfast for Michael; cereal and a bit of toast for me. Have I mentioned the strawberries? They've been abundant throughout our journey, and like none I've ever tasted. You don't need a super-red and almost over-ripe specimen to detect flavour - even the plainest ones are bursting with it! We bought a huge punnet from the supermarket in anticipation of the next leg of our train trip. But we still had an hour or two before our train was due, and we passed that time at the National Railway Museum . Fierce. Actually, this was precisely the tidy and informative collection you would expect of the British, particularly the section devoted to the carriages set up for the royal family. Here the warehouse was decked out in Union Jacks as far as the eye could see, and the platform covered in a red carpet! Travel by rail wasn't so luxurious for ...