Day 2

Day 2

Well…. we got up today and looked out at the pouring rain. Our hearts sank a little at the prospect of tackling the castle in the rain but we knew there was no alternative. At last some of the pupils thought it might be a good idea to put on a jacket!

Breakfast was in two sittings and group 1 went at 8.00am while we waited with the second group for ours at 8.30. The rooms on the whole were very tidy and parents should take note that they can tidy up when they put their mind to it …. or are told they wont get breakfast until it is acceptable!

We set off on the bus at around 9.15 with the packed lunches on board and headed for the castle. We were dropped at the Esplanade and made our way to the castle. Construction work is underway for this year’s Tattoo and you have to wonder why they don’t leave the stands up permanently!

The groups all set off in different directions to explore the castle. We visited the prison and dungeon area which was popular with everyone, the Scottish Crown Jewels, the War Memorial and the Great Hall. We went to see Mons Meg and the other assortment of canons along the ramparts. Of course we had to go to the shop where again you could see them thinking about presents for taking home and souvenirs for themselves.

When we were ready to go the pupils were perturbed to see that the bus was not there. We had arranged for it to meet us at the other end of the Royal Mile. We made our way down the mile and took note of the attractions enroute. St Giles, The Heart of Midlothian, the Christmas shop (yes…. Even in April!) and John Knox’s house. We took a slight detour to visit the statue of Grey Friar’s Bobby which proved popular. By chance we passed ‘The Elephant House’ café which is now famous due to the fact that J K Rowling used to go their for coffee and write sections of Harry Potter there.

We made it down the mile and went past the new parliament before heading round Holyrood Palace to the bus park where we waited for the bus to arrive in the pouring rain once again.

Lunch was fun as we tried to distribute sandwiches, juice, fruit, crisps, biscuits  and finally the highlight for many – Mrs Davidson’s toffee! The toffee is sitting in my room right now and resisting it is proving difficult but I cannot give in to temptation!

After lunch we took a bus trip round Arthur Seat which gave us a totally different view of Edinburgh. However, how much the children appreciated the view or actually looked at it as we went is up for debate! Children need to be ‘taught’ to appreciate good scenery but it is not helped when the bus comes equipped with curtains!

We then headed to Murrayfield which proved interesting as the driver forgot that he had the double decker and so ended up in one or two tight squeezes as he tried to make his way along some of the side streets to get there. We arrived for 2.30 and were greeted by one of our guides.

The tour was really great and I know that I really enjoyed it as did the children. We visited the ‘Bill McLaren Press Suite’, although that did not make much impact on the children, and the ‘TV studio’ where the pre match and half time round ups are broadcast from. The room was cold, poorly decorated and at the end of a long concrete corridor….. but by the magic of television it always appears to look like an executive box! How wrong we were to think that!

Our guide spoke to us about the stadium as we sat in the press seats in the stadium. We heard about the history of the ground and some facts about the new stadium which is really very impressive. The capacity is 65,000 and the seats are coloured to represent the Scottish Rugby Union tartan.

We then got to go right up to the top row at the back of the main stand and the view down across the stadium was awesome and you also got a wonderful view right across the city to the Castle and Arthur Seat where we had just been.

Then we headed down to trackside where we got to see the pitch. However, you are not allowed on the grass and the children in our group were delighted when they were able to run a 100m sprint along the track that runs down the side of the pitch by the main stand. We then headed inside to the ‘President’s Suite’ where we saw some rugby memorabilia. The highlight of the visit was when they went and took though two large cases which held The Calcutta Cup and its base. They don’t like hands on it as the acids in the skin can tarnish the silver and they put on special gloves to remove it from the boxes and to put it on the table for us to look at.

We were then presented with two commemorative certificates for each school to take back and some Scotland Rugby team photos for each person. The 1 ½ hours seemed to shoot past and before we knew it we were in the shop on the souvenir hunt once more.

We were soon back to the hotel and got ready for tea before our group headed out for the bowling and the others were going for their late visit to the cinema.

All in all a really good day and everyone seems happy. We celebrated our second birthday of the week also – but had to use toffee instead of cake!

Anyway that’s all for today apart from some comments from the pupils about their day in the city. We hope to get comments from the rest tomorrow night if we can.

Thoughts of our trip so far…..

It was good because the castle was very big but the rain was on and we all were soaking.  Gavin

It was good when we got a tour around Murrayfield and getting to sit on the players seats in the changing rooms. Connor

It was okay at the castle but the rain drenched every one and at Murrayfield you could smell the brewery. Jake

It was good because we stopped at Deep Sea World on the way and today we went to Murrayfield and saw people training. Ryan F

We had a great experience of the Edinburgh weather with rain and sun though the day was still great. RyanT

I liked seeing Murrayfield and the weather was a bit on and off.  Kieran

The rugby stadium was cool and I got to go into somewhere where nobody else did. Jacob

I liked going to he castle and gong to Murrayfield but it wasn’t nice weather. Stuart

I liked the castle and Murrayfield. Martin

Edinburgh castle was good fun .Hannah

We went to Murrayfield - it was ace! Liam

Today I liked going to visit the dungeon at Edinburgh Castle. Declan Addison.

We saw the time gun at Edinburgh Castle. Jack

I enjoyed looking at all the sights! Clair

I enjoyed Edinburgh Castle – especially the dungeon. Becky

I enjoyed having the race on the track at Murrayfield. Jasmin

Today I enjoyed going round Edinburgh and seeing Greyfriar Bobby's statue. Megan

It was great fun at Edinburgh Castle. The view from the top was good. Mary

I enjoyed walking the Royal Mile. Kevin

I enjoyed eating my lunch as I was hungry after all the walking! Kyle

I enjoyed going to Murrayfield. We saw in the Scotland changing room. Liam H

I liked seeing all the trophies at Murrayfield. Dylan

I liked Murrayfield Stadium because it was different. Jack

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