First thing after breakfast we schleped our washing back down to the laundromat. What do laundromats say about a culture? Both the Scottish ones we have visited have been run by kindly but super efficient, smart women, who keep those all those socks and undies moving smoothly through the process.
With the comforting knowledge of packs filled with warm clean clothes, we set out to explore Edinburgh a bit more. We wandered through the Old Town and up to the entrance to the castle, but whether it was a bank holiday or just that's how it is these days downtown, the streets were packed with people and just navigating a way through was hard work. And it started to rain, so we made our way over to the National Museum of Scotland, where we spent most of the rest of the day, wandering mostly through the history of Scotland and the early people's sections. It is a fantastic collection.
On the way to the cafe there are a couple of massive whale jaws, which a precursor of the museum requested. The jaws have some fine scrimshaw engravings, one completed by a Wm. Hardie. Probably no relation.
There is so much amazing stuff in there, extraordinary Pictish carvings (looking suspiciously like Leunig figures),
ten of the Lewis chessmen, the Covenanter's Covenant, the wonderful brass eagle lectern stolen by the English during the sack of Holyrood Abbey in 1544. So many stories, so much to marvel at. And a splendid view of the city from the terrace. We will probably have to go back again tomorrow.
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