Summer Cocktail Recipe

Inspired by a favorite summer cocktail of the British, Pimm's Lemonade:

Here's the "recipe". Start by plopping the following into a 16 oz. glass:

- 4 small strawberries, sliced
- a few slices of cucumber
- 6 mint leaves, bruised a bit to release flavor
- 1/4 lime, squeezed into glass
- 4 ice cubes

Now cover with the following:
- 2 parts lemon-lime soda
- 2 parts tonic
- 1 part gin

Very refreshing!

Greyfriars Kirk

An old church in the heart of Edinburgh, Greyfriars Kirk is home to history and legend. The legend tells of a dog named Bobby who sat on his owner's grave for 14 years (being fed by the townspeople all that time). The history is that it is home to the Scottish Covenantors, an anti-Catholic movement. They signed an important declaration, called "The Covenant," in 1638 in the church, and you can still see it on view today in the recently rebuilt building. Because the church was established on Christmas day, 1620, which is sometimes given as the date the pilgrims landed in the New World, also seeking refuge from religious persecution, the church also displays an American flag.

 Memorials built into the side of the church.

Gravestones built into the wall of the cemetery.

 

 Gravestones built into the wall of the cemetery on one side, houses making use of the same wall on the other.

 Another shot of the gravestones and houses built into the same wall.

 Inside the recently rebuilt church.

 The 1638 Covenant.

The American flag on display in the church.

Edinburgh Botanical Garden

Pictures from the lovely Edinburgh Botanical Gardens:

Edinburgh Castle

Every city should have a castle in the middle of downtown. Some pictures from Edinburgh's:

 All castles should have a logo.

 Entrance.

 Entrance.

 All proper castles have a portcullis.

 View of the city from the castle.

 One of the largest canons ever made, nicknamed "Mons Meg." When it cracked and could not longer be used, there was no furnace large enough to melt it down, so now it's decorative. Actually, most of the canons at Edinburgh Castle were only ever decorative - ordered in place by Queen Victoria who thought that a castle without canons is simply wrong.

 Wandering around...

 Another view...

 City clock: For centuries, this ball has fallen every day at 1PM (see next picture) so that the city can synchronize their clocks. The problem is that Edinburgh is a pretty rainy climate and most days most of the city can't see it, so the castle also fires a canon at 1PM.

 

Fallen ball.

 Another view from the castle.

 Another view of downtown.

 Place where they kept prisoners of war, including some soldiers from the American Revolution. Some of their graffiti has been preserved. See below:

Greenwich

A few pics from a day that boasted some of the best weather we've seen yet (high 60's and sunny) in Greenwich:

 With the DLR closed, a boat ride was the quickest way to get to Greenwich. I didn't complain!

 Here we go under Tower Bridge...

The Cutty Sark.

This sailing ship was one of the last tea clippers that brought tea from China to England in the mid-19th century. It retired from the tea run in 1869 when the Suez Canal opened allowing steam ships to take over the job. The Cutty Stark switched for running wool from Australia. The name of the ship is a Scottish word for a lady's garment, something like a chemise. A fire did a lot of damage to the exhibit in 2007 and it just re-opened two months ago and everything is clean and gorgeous. As you can see, the ship sits on top of a glass building that looks like water. You go all over: inside, on top of, and under the ship.

 Mordu take the wheel.

 Nautical cup-holders.

 Collection of retired figureheads.

 Mordu holding up the entire ship.

 National Maritime Museum. Mordu does some of his research in their library.

 One of many nautical instruments we saw in the museum.

 Figurehead of Tipu. Nowhere in the exhibit did it say that Tipu says "I'm sorry" -- clearly an oversight.

Prince Frederick's barge.

 Lions on Prince Frederick's Barge.

 The Tulip Staircase in the Queen's House. This house also featured many wonderful navy-themed paintings. My favorites were the ones done by artists who were brought to new worlds by various ships and sketched quick (and wonderful) paintings to bring back to England.

 The Royal Observatory.

 An explanation of Flamsteed's telescope built right into a well (he sat in the bottom of the well to make observations).

Much of the museum here was dedicated to the problem of solving longitude while at sea. In the 18th century, latitude could be calculated easily enough, but longitude was still a challenge. Two solutions were eventually found. One was to build a clock that kept very accurate time. The clock was set in London, and then at sea, the captain was able to calculate local time. The difference between the two gave the longitude. A clockmaker named John Harrison took 45 years and four attempts to build a clock that could withstand the high seas and keep adequately accurate time. Here they are:

TRY 1:

TRY 2:

TRY 3:

TRY 4:

 Success! Fourth attempt worked and won him the 20,000 pound prize for solving the longitude problem (nearly a million dollars in today's terms).

 Contemporary dolphin sundial.

 If you look at the place where the dolphin tails meet and the markings on the side of the clock, you may be able to make out that I took this picture at about 4:20PM.

 View of London from the Royal Astronomical Observatory. That stadium in the foreground is in place for the olympics; it will host the equestrian events.

 Straddling the prime meridian.

Beautiful rose garden in Greenwich:

Each bed of this rose garden was planted with a different variety of roses. Here are a few pics:

To quote a beloved character from "Up": "Squirrel!"

And finally, some pics of a few gorgeous old trees: