Day 5, Aug 14 (Tuesday)

Planted two letterboxes.  Both in Leith, no point in planting in downtown Edinburgh; way too many bums and street people there.

can you see the letterbox in this picture?

professional cemetery creeper

Walked through the Old Calton Cemetery.  It was disconcerting to see all the litter from homeless living in the graveyards.  So much trash scattered about.  We noticed this is a trend in Edinburgh – there is a lot of litter in this city.  I like to think the homeless would be welcome in my tomb, but they should take their trash with them.  To see that basically nobody cares enough to take care of the parks and cemeteries is a little sickening to us.

Of course we spent a fair amount of time creeping around the cemetery near our hotel.  I (Erik) love the old headstones.  It's interesting how they changed over time.  Unfortunately for this part of Scotland, there is a lot of sandstone.  Easy to carve and work, but not as long lasting as granite.  Here are a few of the more interesting ones.

From the 1700's

Is this intended to keep some out?  Or something in?

This is the oldest stone in the cemetery, from the mid 1600's.  Symbolism was very common at the time.  The skull and cross bones represents our inevitable end.  The hour glass is to remind us that time is running out.  I believe (but am not sure) there is a cross in the hour glass which is there to symbolize salvation.

 

Diane in her natural habitat while letterboxing.

I thought this was a neat thing.

growing right out of the rock. (you get my artistic side)

I had to know what the inside looked like.

So I took this long exposure shot by holding my camera up to the grate above the door.  Other tourists stopped me and asked what it looked like.  The results were even better on the big screen.  Yes, I know I am now officially a creeper.

this plant is everywhere, even in tombs

While walking in Leith, we ran into a nice lady that walked a ways with us to find a post box for post cards to send home.  She spent some time in Boston, and found the relatively open and welcoming attitude of Americans to be agreeable.  The Scottish aren’t as open and friendly as… get this, Bostonians.  We didn’t know how to reply to that.

As we walked towards Old Town, we tried to visit some rescue cats at the local shelter.  No joy there, they turned us away because we aren’t locals looking to adopt.  As they say here, they are fucking cunts.  Caught a bus back to the Old Town for lunch at the very cheesy World Famous Frankenstein.

World Famour Frankenstein is tacky enough to be in the Wisconsin Dells.  The food was a little overpriced (but not as bad as expected).  The worst part – 2 days of food poisoning that Erik got.  Ick.

waiting for mediocre tasting food poisoning

good party decor, no?

total tourist pic.

Took in another show.  This one was called “Good Grief” by an Australian performer (Natalie Harris).  It was quite good.  Her thing was about finding humor in the life and passing of her father who sounded like quite the character.  It was poignant, funny, and at times a little inappropriate as she told the story from day he died to a few years later and her dating experiences.  One of the highlights was when the performer ejected some douche for using FaceBook during the show and never bothered to silence his phone (we think he was just charging it, not really watching the show).

Did dinner at an Indian place called Vinyasa.  The food was good, but the service, even by UK standards, was atrociously bad.  Rice was not included, so Erik had to improvise with naan and some rice from Diane, else the curry chicken would have been curry soup.  It was a little weird and took about 20 minutes to get the check.

Last thing we did was Mercat Tours “Hidden and Haunted Tour” by Jarred, another local year round guide.  This style was totally different than Ian from the previous one.  This one was basically all in the vaults with a short section above ground.  Jarred was also very funny, and just as enjoyable.  

stop off at the Scottish National Museum

well, hello, Dolly! <3

Took a bus back to the hotel.  Bad stomach ache thanks for World Famous Frankennausea.  Not 
enough sleep that night.





























 Some pictures of a dress from the 1700's.  There are a few views, but look especially at the close up.

The world's smallest museum.  This is on a counter in a kitchy shop selling tourist crap.  It's a display of a leather business card holder made from the tanned skin of the 1820's murderer, William Burke.

Made from human skin; this is what macro settings on camera were made to capture!

Naturally we did another underground tour...