Scottish Genealogy Society, Edinburgh (Day 13, Part 2 of 3)

 

After our chocolate tour we decided to wander in Edinburgh for a while.  Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland.  The Royal Mile runs through the heart of Edinburgh's Old Town, connecting Edinburgh Castle, perched high on a base of volcanic rock, with the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the British monarchy in Scotland.

This restaurant reminded us of our beloved Sis. White!

We wandered in and out of shops but didn't buy a thing.  We saw St. Giles' Cathedral.  The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 16th century.  It sits on the same location as the original church built in 1124.

King Charles will be presented with the Honors of Scotland - the oldest crown jewels in Britain - at a service at St Giles' Cathedral on Wednesday July 5th.

 

One of the places I had spotted in Edinburgh on MAPS.ME was the Family History Center.  This building is home to the Scottish Genealogy Society.  What we found inside was a treasure!

We met Dorothy, a genealogy loving volunteer, who gave us so many tips for researching family histories.  I wish I had taken a better picture of her, she was so great!

She let Les look through files and do searches on her computer.  We spent about an hour there and I loved listening to Dorothy talk about the family researching she has done.

Les found several John McElhaney/McIllhineys born in 1760.  Some were born in Ireland but some were also born in Scotland.  The mystery continues!

Glasgow, Scotland (Day 10, Part 1 of 2)

After our very busy day on Thursday we were ready for a more leisurely paced day in Glasgow, Scotland.  This was our first of three stops in Scotland.  We didn't wake up to an alarm and we took our time getting to breakfast.  There we met a lovely couple from Florida who are also Pentecostals!  They even know some of Les' family.  

 

Our ship docked in Greenock and it was about an hour train ride to Glasgow.  Below is the Men of Clyde sculpture in Greenock. Three shipyard workers are hauling a ship's propeller. A tribute to the long and important ship-building tradition of Greenock and the River Clyde shipyards.

We really enjoyed riding the trains in Europe.  They always seemed very relaxing and the scenery is amazing!

With absolutely no plan, we got off the train and just started walking around Glasgow.  It is the most populated city in Scotland and the fourth most populous in the UK.  There were lots of interesting buildings, both old and modern.

We found the coolest building for a coffee shop!

As with most of the European cities we visited, cycling is part of the culture.  Les really liked this traffic sign.

 

The River Clyde runs through Glasgow.  There are 15 bridges that cross the river and a lovely walkway.  We saw a few.  

Have I mentioned the beautiful weather?

We also spied on a wedding party outside the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Andrew.  Building of the cathedral began in 1814.

We also started looking for more information about the McElhaney family.  The more we learned, the more we realized that the name is as likely to be Scottish as it is Irish.  While we were in one of the shops we saw family tartans and started looking for the McElhaney tartan.  We didn't find what we were looking for but we did meet some very helpful store employees.

Prior to our arrival in Glasgow we had attended a port talk.  This gave us tips about getting around and things to see.  One of the things mentioned was the "traffic cone" statue.  This is actually the statue of the Duke of Wellington on his favorite horse Copenhagen.  It was sculpted by Italian artist Carlo Marochetti and erected in 1844.

 

No one knows exactly when the statue was first capped with a traffic cone.  Most say it happened some time in the 1980s.   The city council tried to put a stop to this practice, but even doubling the height of the base of the statue couldn't stop it.  They finally gave up after a "Keep the Cone" campaign reached 10,000 signatures in just 24 hours!

We finally took the train back to Greenock to return to our ship.  We had a special date planned for that night - I'll tell you about our evening in the next post!