Mary King's Close

Harrison has had the week off of school for what is called "half-term" here in the UK. Since school started 3 weeks earlier than in Canada, the Scottish system has more holiday breaks during the school year which ends at the same time at the end of June. As a result I planned a fun & action-packed week of activities. To kick it off on Monday we went on a tour called the Real Mary King's Close which takes groups down into old streets now underground that were used several hundred years ago. Edinburgh is very much a city of layers with many current streets built overtop of railway tunnels or other streets that are no longer used. In the case of Mary King's Close, it was a street not far from the Edinburgh Castle ... during the plagues that hit Europe, there were many people afflicted and eventually the street along with others were bricked up and other structures built overtop. Portions have been re-opened over the years (sometimes for storage and during the 2nd World War as a bomb shelter) and now some areas have been opened to the public and there is an organized tour that takes people "down into the depths". This was quite a bit of fun and our tour guide was excellent finding the right balance between humour and observing the sombre past of the area.