5 June - Edinburgh Part 2

Forgot to mention that went to the Meadows last weekend for a summer Festival.  Lots of Festivals now Summer has arrived.  Leith is about to have one for a couple of weeks.  Last time we went to the Meadows it was full of cherry blossoms.  They are all gone and now just a lot of flowers (and pollen 😟).  The Festival was like the Crows Nest fair but with worse food.  Lots of fried bits and pieces.  We opted for a beef burger as was the plainest option.  Also lots of stalls selling second hand things.  Bands playing who were very good. A lone piper (below) was bravely competing against a rock band and a dog was responsible for one of the stalls. The Meadows backs onto Edinburgh Uni and is a nice part of Edinburgh. Was warm and sunny so nice to wander around.

We then ventured into Grey Friars Kirkyard and down into the Grassmarket.  The Kirkyard was full of tourist groups looking for the graves of people referenced by JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame.  We skirted around them.  It is a lovely spot with some interesting tombs and has the old Flodden Wall (part of an old city wall) running along one side.  

We then walked down to the Grassmarket and back up again alongside the Castle so more castle photos below.

Definitely hard to avoid photos of the Castle.

And lastly we watched a TV debate between Rishi Sunak and Kier Starmer.  That was an hour we are never going to get back.  Sunak was ruder than I thought he would be. Very entitled.  Starmer is as boring as I thought he would be.  Both spent a lot of time attacking each other and esp Sunak talking over the (female) moderator.  Sunak mentioned the Labor Party will increase taxes as many times as he could and Starmer kept on with look at what the Tories have done to Health and Education the last 14 years.  Sunak mentioned his policy of reintroducing national service as a vote winner.  That got a laugh from the studio audience.  Don't think he is winning the youth vote with that.  A lot of the issues were identical to what is discussed at home - cost of housing, cost of living, migration, health, education and climate change. Consensus seems to be Sunak was slightly better (not sure I agree) but Labor still going to win.  Was educational but will probably pass on any future debates.

Very last - here is a coat of arms that appears all over Leith.  It's a gallery with the Virgin Mary and Jesus in her arms with the motto "Persevere" on it.