Leith | Around the World with Corey Sandler

By Corey Sandler

Edinburgh has been recognized as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, and is the location of the Scottish government within the United Kingdom.

The city’s Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the Monarchy in Scotland. The palace is at the bottom of the Royal Mile, at the opposite end from Edinburgh Castle, which occupies the high ground above town.

Holyrood Palace is a setting for state occasions and official entertaining. Mary, Queen of Scots spent most of her turbulent life in the Palace. Mary’s 16th century Historic Apartments and the State Apartments which are used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public throughout the year, except when members of the Royal Family are in residence.

Queen Elizabeth II spends one week in residence at Holyrood Palace—usually from the end of June to the beginning of July, carrying out official engagements and ceremonies.

Holyrood week begin on the forecourt of Holyroodhouse with the traditional ‘Ceremony of the Keys’, with the Queen officially welcomed to the city of Edinburgh.

Why she needs keys, and why she needs them again and again, I don’t know.

Today I went to the National Museum of Scotland. The building combines a truly grand old design, dating from 1861, with a great collection and modern presentation.

The view from the rooftop is also grand, Edinburgh on display.

Here’s some of what I saw today:

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By Corey Sandler

We have sailed back across the North Sea to the glorious city of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Welcome to a famous city, the capital of Scotland, a place that is among the more commonly mispronounced locations in the world.

Resist the urge to call it Edin-BURG.

In Scotland and Northern England, starting from King David I in the 12^th century, significant communities were awarded the status of a Royal Burgh, never mind the spelling.

Elsewhere there are places that spell the word in the Scottish sense but pronounce it in the Germanic style. Like Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, and Lansingburgh in upstate New York.

It is the equivalent of the word borough, which is in use in many places around the world, and the spelling of that word includes one of those magically invisible “O-U-G-H” vowel-like sounds.

Places like downstate New York, where New York City is made up of five boroughs, which is different from the remainder of the state which is divided into counties.

If you really want to sound as if you are either very, very knowledgeable—or extremely out of touch—you can try one of the old nicknames for Edinburgh:

“Auld Reekie”, meaning Old Smoky,

Or “Edina”, the source of the first part of the city’s name, before it became a burgh.

Or this one: “The Athens of the North”, s nod to the many classical designs for grand buildings.

We went for a long walk in the morning sun. Here is some of what we saw today: