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Last Updated: 03. Mai 2000
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Our English Heritage, Great Britain
Scotland
New Lanark
Edinburgh
Glasgow
New Lanark
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In the small town of New Lanark, there is a special exhibit of an 18th century weaving mill. This exhibit tells about the day-to-day experiences from the perspective of a 10-year old mill worker. Her name is Annie McLeod. The tour is called "The Annie McLeod Experience". The tour starts with a ride that vividly reproduces the sights and sounds of the early days of the Industrial Revolution. We took a ride in a "time-taxi" through a multimedia experience with holograms, projectors, and digital sounds that took us back to the 18th century. The holograms were really cool and they presented realistic faces giving us the impression that someone was actually talking with us.
After the multimedia experience, we were guided through the exhibit to learn more about the old weaving mill. In this exhibit, Erika was introduced to the craft of spinning thread with a hand spinning wheel and weaving on a small frame loom with cotton rag thread. Then, while we were in Edinburgh, we saw a tartan weaving loom factory with many looms working. Again, there was a small frame loom for weaving with cotton rag threads.
After visiting the museum, we took a short walk to the Clyde Falls. Along the way, we saw the impressive water wheel that was used to generate hydropower for weaving mill.
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Edinburgh
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Since we stayed in a hotel near the city center, we took a short double-decker bus ride into the historic district of Edinburgh. It was very pleasant to leave the car at the hotel for a day, since we were driving so much throughout England. Edinburgh is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world. After arriving at the historic district, we took a Guide Friday bus tour for an interesting tour of the city. Our plans were to get off at Edinburgh Castle, walk along the Royal Mile, and then hop back on to the bus tour at Holyrood Palace at the end of the Royal Mile.
Edinburgh Castle dominates the city and was built on a rocky crag. It has been an excellent fortress for Scotland. At Edinburgh Castle, we listened to an audio guide on CD-ROM that is available for all visitors. Each of us enjoyed a private tour of the castle. We saw St. Margaret's Chapel, the smallest and oldest building at the castle. It was built in the 12th century. Mary Queen of Scots is perhaps one of the most famous figures that lived at the castle. She is the mother of James VI of Scotland who united the crowns of Scotland and England and who became James I of England. Of course, we saw the Scottish Crown jewels. Finally, at one o'clock, we saw the Scottish guard shoot the cannon. This cannon is known as the one o'clock cannon and many Scottish people set their watch to the sound of the cannon.
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After the castle, we walked to St. Giles Cathedral. Edinburgh is the place where the Scottish reformation occurred in the 1550s under the leadership of John Knox. At St. Giles, John Knox preached for 11 years in the 1550s as a Catholic priest. As you enter the cathedral, there is a statue of John Knox. There is a rather odd fact about John Knox. His burial place is located in a parking lot - actually parking stall #44.
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While Chris was asking about John Knox's burial place, an old Scottish gentleman who is one of the tour guides and deacons, took an interest in showing Erika special features of the church. He showed her a stained glass window with a deer, a statue of ET, the inner workings of the organ, and then he let her sit in the Queen's chair. Needless to say, Erika enjoyed every moment of the special attention. The Scottish guide then showed all of us the Thistle Chapel at St. Giles. This chapel is for an esoteric order of knights of which Queen Elizabeth is the principal knight and Prince Charles is one of the many knights. He told us about a special day when Queen Elizabeth II installed a knight and he was present for the ceremony. We spent so much time with the John, the deacon that we missed the last Guide Friday Tour bus, so we did not complete the tour. We did have a very memorable visit of St. Giles Cathedral!
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Glasgow
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After Edinburgh, we drove to Glasgow to see the Charles Rennie Mackintosh House at the University of Glasgow. Charles Rennie Mackintosh is an art-nouveau designer who focused on interior architecture design as well as graphic design and textile design. The Charles Rennie Mackintosh House is situated in a large portion of the art gallery of the University of Glasgow. It is composed of a 3-story dwelling that replicates Mackintosh's residence. Everyone in our family agreed that it would be cool to re-create the blue-striped bedroom in Erika's new bedroom when we arrive home. So be watching for a renovated bedroom in a few years.
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Die Fotogalerie von der Grossbritannien
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See you all later.
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