Friday 15th August - Departure day

It has finally arrived - the day we had to get packed up for the last time and then head off to Edinburgh airport to fly back to London, Dubai, Sydney and finally Auckland: New Zealand:

Heathrow airport from the transit lounge

Quantas flight QF 2 - to Dubai and Sydney

Thursday 14th August - Edinburgh city

Neil took us on a wander through the rest of the city down to where we had to catch the bus home:

Fringe ad for a NZ show

Fringe ad for Haka

Houses

West College Street - I think

Edinburgh tram

Near here was Victoria Street which led downhill to where the gallows used to be. Now there is a pub there called "The Last Drop"!

Edinburgh public transport was great!

Here is one of the Edinburgh buses:

Thursday 14th August - Greyfriars Church and George Herriot's College

Gravestone of the dog - "Greyfriars Bobby"

The Greyfriars Church

The front of the church

George Herriot's College

George Herriot's College site of "Hogwarts" in Harry Potter. George Herriot, a wealthy businessman, provide the money to establish the school. He acquired the nickname of "Jingly Geordie". He also lent money to James V1.

Closer view

Thursday 14th August - Edinburgh University

After looking at Mum's School we went to Edinburgh University that Neil was familiar with:

James V1 of Scotland and the 1st of England

Up the stairs in the Playfair Library

The interior of the library

James V1 of Scotland and 1 of England was a well educated man for his day, but acquired the title of the "Wisest fool in Christendom".

The main building

The old quadrangle 1583 designed by Robert Adam

The left-hand side of the quadrangle

Charles Darwin's lodgings: 11 Lothian Street

The plaque

Thursday 14th August - George Watson's Ladies' College

Neil had said that one of the things that he could do would be to take us to George Watson's Ladies College next to George Square, which is where my mother went to school:

The door lintel

Te main facade

The entrance lintel

If you look carefully under the triangle left and right you can see the inscription: "George Watson's Ladies College"

From down the street

Wednesday 13th August - J K laidlaw's house at 13 St. Bernard's Crescenr

Here is J.K.Laidlaw's house in Edinburgh where he lived while working as a conveyancing lawyer. Dad, Uncle John and Aunty Flora grew up here.

The house itself

The front door

Neil told a story about J.K. while he was working in Edinburgh.
He had a horse and cab and employed a driver to get around while conducting his business. At some time the cab had an accident and the driver was killed! J.K. went round to the driver's wife - a Mrs. Fairweather, and offered her a job as his housekeeper and accommodation to go with it.

She was a largely uneducated woman. J.K. like to use Demarara sugar with his coffee. When Mrs. Fairweather served the coffee she announced the sugar as, "drumhairy sugar"!

Wednesday 13th August - Dad's old school "Edinburgh Academy"

Neil then drove us to our fathers' (William and John) old school "Edinburgh Academy".
Here is the pillar at the entrance

and then the views either side from the gate.

The main entrance

Left hand side

Right hand side

Last there is a close up view of the main entrance. Note the inscriptions: latin above and the greek below