Day 6, MAY 3RD, FRIDAY (12°C-6°C with light showers and grey skies):
Holyrood Palace:
We were at the Palace of Holyrood House as
soon as it opened at 9.30—9.40 on the clock as can be seen.
This is the forecourt.
This is the forecourt fountain.
The Holyrood Palace is the official residence of the Monarch of the United Kingdom in Scotland. The Palace of Holyrood, along with Buckingham Palace Garden and Windsor Castle are the 3 official palaces of British royalty today.
Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile
in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood
Palace has served as the principal residence of the Kings and Queens
of Scots since the 16th century, and is a setting for state occasions
and official entertaining.
Queen Elizabeth spends one week in
residence at Holyrood Palace at the beginning of each summer, where
she carries out official engagements and ceremonies.
The 16th century Historic Apartments
of Mary, Queen of Scots and the State Apartments, used for official
and state entertaining, are open to the public throughout the
year, except when members of the Royal Family are in residence.
The royal apartments in the north-west
tower of the palace were occupied by Mary, Queen of Scots, from her
return to Scotland in 1561 to her forced abdication in 1567.
Mary, Queen of Scots:
A brief history of Mary here...
Mary, the only surviving legitimate
child of James V of Scotland, was six days old when her
father died and she acceded to the throne. She spent most of her
childhood in France while Scotland was ruled by regents.
Vivacious, beautiful, and clever Mary played lute and virginals,
was competent in prose, poetry, horsemanship, falconry and
needlework, and spoke French, Italian, Latin, Spanish,
and Greek, in addition to her native Scots. In 1558, when
she was 16 years old, she married 15 year old Dauphin of
France, Francis. He ascended the French throne as King
Francis II in 1559, and Mary briefly became queen consort of
France, until his death in December 1560. Widowed at 18 years,
Mary returned to Scotland. Four years later, she married her
first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, but their union
was unhappy. In February 1567, his residence was destroyed by an
explosion, and Darnley was found murdered in the garden.
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of
Bothwell, was generally believed to have orchestrated Darnley's
death, but he was acquitted of the charge in April 1567, and the
following month he married Mary.
Following an uprising against the
couple, Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle. On 24 July
1567, she was forced to abdicate in favour of James
VI, her one-year-old son by Darnley. After an unsuccessful attempt to
regain the throne, she fled southwards seeking the protection of
her first cousin once removed, Queen Elizabeth I of
England. Mary had previously claimed Elizabeth's throne as her
own and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by
many English Catholics. Perceiving her as a threat, Elizabeth
had her confined in various castles and manor houses in the
interior of England. After eighteen and a half years in custody,
Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth in
1586. She was beheaded the following year.
There is no concrete proof of her
complicity in Darnley's murder or of a conspiracy with Bothwell.
Mary's courage at her execution helped establish her popular image as
the heroic victim in a dramatic tragedy.
It was at Holyrood that the series of
famous interviews between Queen Mary and John Knox took place,
and she married both of her Scottish husbands in the palace: Henry
Stewart, Lord Darnley, in 1565 in the chapel, and James Hepburn, 4th
Earl of Bothwell, in 1567 in the great hall.
It was in the Queen's private
apartments that she witnessed the murder of David Rizzio, her private
secretary, on 9 March 1566 by her husband Darnley. Darnley was
suspicious of their close friendship. When Mary, Rizzio and four
other courtiers were at supper, Rizzio was dragged out and stabbed 56
times and killed in front of pregnant Mary.
The name Holy Rood derives from
a legendary vision of the cross witnessed by David I, or from a relic
of the True Cross known as the Holy Rood or Black Rood, and which
had belonged to Queen Margaret, David's mother.
GARDENS:
The gardens of the palace extend to
some 10 acres (4.0 ha), set within the much larger Holyrood Park.
Could catch a glimpse of the lovely garden from all the rooms of the
palace. It has an array of hills, lochs, glens, ridges, basalt
cliffs, and patches of whin (gorse) providing a remarkably wild piece
of highland landscape within its 650-acre (260 ha) area.
We had planned to climb Arthur's seat
but could not spare the time.
We bade good bye to the palace at 11 as
the clock shows.
Went to the nearby Queen's gallery
next.
Atrocious they charge for this
collection of royal photos—we should have skipped it and saved
ourselves the time and money.
Tried to enter the Scottish Parliament
just opposite but the long queue was hardly moving, so we decided to
skip it... started trudging up hill on the royal mile.
ROYAL MILE:
Walked the royal mile stopping for
photos along the way... this is a military commemoration.
Eternal Christmas in these shop windows...
We entered a church but the interior
was modern... no stunning architecture.
The People's Story Museum :
We entered the People's Story Museum next. It was EXCELLENT. The collections here tell the story of the people of Edinburgh from the late 18th century.
The first gallery looks at life in tenemant houses in the 18th century.
The second gallery houses many banners from the museum's collection and tells the stories of Edinburgh citizens in the 20th century, through waxworks and written histories.
The final galleries describe Edinburgh in the mid- to late-20th century.
This workman on the ladder was so life like.
Our next stop was the botanical garden, so we walked toward city centre to catch the bus.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh:
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is
situated at Inverleith, one mile north of the city centre, with
entrances on Inverleith Row (East Gate) and Arboretum Place (West
Gate and John Hope Gateway)
BUSES TO AND FROM CITY CENTRE: numbers
8, 23 & 27.
We got down at the east gate ... there
was no fee for the glass houses that day as there was work going
on... marched right in and admired these rhododendrons.
Some more rhododendrons.
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has
been the major centre for Rhododendron studies since the late
nineteenth century. About half of all the 1,000 known species
are cultivated in the Gardens and include most of the temperate
species and over a third of those known in the tropics.
The garden is world renowned for its
horticultural excellence. Over 70 acres of beautifully landscaped
grounds provide a tranquil haven.
We spent 5 hours walking through all
the highlights. This is a variety of cedar... the leaves are pine needles. In Houston, we are used to the regular pine around our home but this looks so different... when you pluck a small leaf and crush it the smell is the same though.... so FRESH!!!
is a lovely website.
There was a drizzle on and off but our jackets did
not let the rain in... surprising as the jackets were fleece not
water proof but the rain drops just rolled off and did not seep in.
Scottish heath here.
This garden had a
unique flavor ... we have been to the best gardens in the world in
Hawaii, Rio (Brazil), South Africa, Russia but this was all the way
up in beauty and diversity.
This is a small pavilion in Queen
Mother memorial garden...
her father was a Scottish lord. Lovely
decor with shells, ceiling with pine cones— amazing designs with all
natural material.. took a video to capture the whole beauty.
This is Holly used in all Christmas
decorations—the best recognised Scottish plant.
Alpine greenhouse:
This is the fossilised tree of Pitys
withamii, which lived 320 million years ago.... YES, REALLY THAT
OLD!!!
It is over 10.5m long and is Scotland's
largest fossil. Uncovered in 1835 at Craigleith, where the
stone for the two palm houses was quarried. The huge glass palm house in the
background.
Fossilized root on a rock here.
Glasshouse:
The glasshouse equalled the
Hawaiian tropical gardens we had visited in Dec 2012.
heliconias—-parrot beaked. saw these
in Hawaii
Lily pond.. in season these have the
huge 25-45 kg victoria amazonica lilies which grow in Rio.
up on the treetop walkway in the
glasshouse... they keep spraying water to maintain the humidity.
after temperate plants and rain
forest riches, this is arid land cactus.
Biggest seeds displayed in the glass
dome.
Bromeliads are plants that are adapted
to a number of climates. Foliage takes different shapes, from
needle-thin to broad and flat, symmetrical to irregular, spiky to
soft. The foliage, which usually grows in a rosette, is widely
patterned and colored. Leaf colors range from maroon, through shades
of green, to gold. Varieties may have leaves with red, yellow, white
and cream variations. Others may be spotted with purple, red, or
cream, while others have different colors on the tops and bottoms of
the leaves..
wow...this is a variety of reed—so
often heard of the expression—thin as a reed—the green shoots
seen are the typical reed.
The buff color reed looks like
feathers.
Lake here or loch as they say in
Scotland.
Here's the largest collection of
chinese plants outside china.
primrose...primula pseudo dendiculate—Himalayan primrose
It is an herbaceous perennial growing
to 45 cm (18 in) tall and wide, with rosettes of oval leaves and
sturdy stems bearing spherical umbels of purple flowers in late
spring and early summer.
The word primula is the Latin primus,
meaning first (prime), applied to flowers that are among the first to
open in spring. The specific epithet denticulata means
"small-toothed", referring to the serrated leaf edges.
Rock garden...
We went back to our hotel after this visit to this wonderful garden. Next day report is here:
No comments:
Post a Comment