UK Day 5: Museums and Ghosts

Different coloured 18th century shop fronts along a curved cobblestone street
~ Chris Kearney

Today’s main event was to go to the National Museum of Scotland and go to a pre-booked ghost tour in Edinburgh city.

Gardens

We started off by taking the bus from our hotel back into the city. Due to the high demand of the hotels, we stayed about an hour away from the city.

We then got off close to the Princes Street Gardens, which sits below Edinburgh Castle. We then stumbled through a cemetery first, seeing if we could identify any names (lots of Campbells and lawyers), then into the gardens which provided a good view of the castle.

View of the Edinburgh castle and other buildings from the Princes Street park
View of the Edinburgh castle and other buildings from the Princes Street park
Different coloured 18th century shop fronts along a curved cobblestone street
The famous Victoria Street
A garden fountain
A gravesite
Princes Street park view to the Edinburgh mint

National Museum of Scotland

We made our way to the National Museum of Scotland, not quite realising just how massive and captivating it would be. Best of all? Entry is completely free, which made it even more appealing.

We arrived just before midday, and within minutes of walking through the doors, we were already regretting not coming earlier. The museum’s central hall is jaw-dropping—a three-storey, light-filled atrium framed by elegant ironwork and crowned by a stunning glass ceiling that pours natural light over the exhibits below. We easily spent the first fifteen minutes just standing there, taking it all in. The architecture alone feels like a museum piece.

At some point a mechanical clock chimed and because it was midday, it was quite a dazzling show!

With limited time, we focused mainly on two areas: science and technology, and Scottish history. Among the highlights was meeting the legendary Dolly the sheep, the world’s first cloned mammal, looking surprisingly serene in her glass display. The Scottish history section pulled us deep into the past—early settlements, ancient weaponry, and stories of clans and conquests. It felt like paging through the roots of the entire nation. It provided some great context of some of the things found along the Royal Mile and helped Chantal connect more intimately with her ancestry.

An enormous grandfather clock with loads of mechanical entertaining items when it chimes
The mechanical clock
A taxidermised dolly the sheep
Dolly was the first animal to be successfully cloned
Wall text says: for we fight not for glory nor riches, nor honours, but for Freedom alone, which no good man gives up except with his life.
A view of the lighthouse light in the 19th century museum
A lighthouse light
View of a plane in the science and technology section
A lot of the items were also interactive, especially in the science section.
An eagle that would have been fixed to a castle roof
A 19th century printing press
This printing press was designed in America and is named Caledonia – what the Romans called Scottland
A 16th century guillotine
“the maiden” – a beheading machine, introduced by James Douglas and who was executed by it on 2 June 1581.

Ghost Tour

In the late afternoon we joined our pre-booked “Old Town and Underground Ghost Tour”, a one hour walk through the streets (above and below ground) with a tour guide. Our guide, James Douglas (the most Scottish name you can get) was an absolute character and kept us entertained with his quirky humour and stories.

The tour, whilst entertaining, did have a spot of truth to the ghost story. We subsequently learnt about the Burk and Hare murders. Read the linked Wikipedia page for a true story spooky.

We ended our night with a quick meal at a restaurant in the Grassmarket called Dunedin before we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.

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Published by Chris Kearney

Australian living in New Zealand. Technologist, coffee-drinker, cat enthusiast.

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