Not so smooth car rental return, scenic train to Edinburgh and The Real Mary Close walking tour - 22 May
Bit of a sad day today as we return our wonderful CX60 Volvo - it has been an amazing car to drive around in for 22 days - and we felt very lucky. Quick servo visit to make sure her petrol tank ⛽ is full and we continue our journey to Aberdeen airport ✈.
Find Hertz easily and I head off to let them know we are ready to return it as Sue does some final suitcase packing adjustments. We need to catch either the 10.10am or 10.25am bus back to Aberdeen city centre to ensure we make our 12.07pm train to Edinburgh.
Everything is going well as the girl takes less than 5 mins to check the car and declare it 'ready for return' and I ask her how to find the airport bus back to Aberdeen city centre. It's less than a 5 min walk from our current location, so we skip off quite content with our efforts thus far. Sadly this is where things go slightly pear shaped.
About half way to the bus stop, Sue asks me if I have her Scotland folder that was between the front seat and console on the passenger side. I answer no and so she rushes back to the desk, whilst I wait with both suitcases. About 5 mins later she returns telling me they'd already taken the car off to be cleaned but they have the folder and will return it when they return with the clean car - about 10 mins.
I'm thinking, we had that car for 22 days and it was pretty dirty both inside and out - may be 15 mins!! I continued towards the bus stop in the hope it'd be easy to find and I'd wait out Sue in readiness to jump on and hopefully make the 10.25am bus. Thankfully it was blissfully easy to find and as I sat waiting, the 10.10am took off and 'our' bus pulled in a few mins later. Close to 10.20am, I see Sue walking with purpose and more importantly holding the Scotland folder - it had all our tickets in it!!
We jump on the bus (after a very funny exchange with the bus driver) and take a seat, breathing a sigh of relief. We end up having some time to kill when we arrive, so grab a bite to eat for lunch. The walk from bus station to train station was very simple and we head to the customer service counter to get our pre-booked tickets. The train is on the platform, so after a short wait they open the door, we store our bags and find our (1st class) seats - which we'd forgotten we'd booked.
Finally Scotland's weather turned rainy and the lovely train ride to the coast didn't eventuate - which didn't really matter as we were on the wrong side of the train!! Our walk from the train station to our accommodation (about 15 mins) wasn't overly pleasant as the rain was coming down quite hard. Thankfully the four flights of steps we had to navigate weren't as horrendous as I was imagining - they were concrete and some were only 7 steps, whilst others 9 steps.
The airbnb is definitely worth it though as it's central to most things in Edinburgh and as an added bonus we both have a bathroom and a 3rd toilet - but with only 2x bottoms needing a toilet, I don't anticipate a need to utilise the third one!!
We have a short time to settle ourselves and dry out a little before heading off to our walking tour called "The Real Mary Kings Close". This tour was suggested by Sue's cousin and is conducted underground. It looks at the way people lived, worked and died on the Close (what their living areas were called back in the day).
The Guide brings the history of The Close to life, so they dress in period costume and characterise a former resident who really lived, worked and died on the closes of the Old Town Edinburgh. The timeframe of their lives spans from 1535 to the last resident of the Close in 1897 - compelled to vacate his lodgings to make way for the expansion of the Royal Exchange building.
But, who was Mary King, the namesake of the Close?
- born in Edinburgh at the end of the 16th century, but nothing is known of her life prior to her marriage
- in 1616 she married Thomas Nimmo and bucked the tradition of taking his name - she kept hers 'King'
- they had four children; Alexander, Euphame, Jonet and William
- in 1629 tragedy struck when Thomas passed away, leaving Mary to raise the children alone
- luckily for Mary, in Thomas' testament he left her a title naming her a Burgess
- Mary gained a seat on the Edinburgh Council, granting her voting rights - considering women did not achieve the same voting rights as men until 1928 (in Scotland), she was almost 300 years ahead of her time!!
- as a merchant in the city, it only made sense for Mary to move to Mary King's Close, then known as Alexander King's Close
- it was the second largest street in Edinburgh - the first being the Royal Mile - and used as a market
- in 1635, Mary moved her family to the Close and purchasing two properties - her "turnpike hoose" (taxed house) with a cellar and her "laigh forbooth" (stall)
- Mary sold clothes and cloth to support her family and also had a taste for the finer things in life, like fine wines and imported ceramics - which left her with very little money in the end
- throughout history, the names of closes took inspiration from businesses, activities and essential people; for example Fleshmarket Close was the city's abattoir and Anchor Close was named after a Tavern on the same street
- Mary King's Close was named after the fantastic work and life Mary achieved.
Sadly, Mary never lived to see her name recognised; the first recognition of her Close was in a council meeting half a century after her death. Mary passed away before the tragedy of the Great Plague in 1645.
No photos allowed inside, but here's the few we were able to take:
 |
| Our photo at the end of the tour |
I ran into the Plague Doctor upon leaving the tour. He looks terrifying, however was a distinguished physician who played a pivotal role during the second and most devastating plague outbreak in Edinburgh. His dedication to serving the city council and his pioneering contributions to the emerging medical sciences set him apart from his contemporaries - as you can see by all his 'protected clothing'.
 |
| 1645 - Plague Doctor, George Ray |
 |
| This is Anchor Close in the rain |
Really interesting tour that was made even more entertaining by a very outspoken American who worked in construction and even had to tell our group his GPA!!! By the end, almost half of our group were rolling their eyes when he opened his mouth 👀😏.
Comments
Post a Comment