Scotland's Special: Enjoy Edinburgh, Capital City Quiz

Answer: St. Andrew

There is a legend that king of the Picts, Óengus II, in AD 832 was in a battle against the Angles, led by Ćthelstan in East Lothian. He had the smaller army, so Óengus prayed for help, and in the morning a white cross formed out of clouds appeared in the sky, the sign of Saint Andrew. A sign of promised help. After winning against all odds, he declared Saint Andrew as a patron saint and chose the white saltire on a blue ground as a flag.

Nowadays a cross on the sky is most likely made by contrails, and not by saintly intervention.

Answer: North Sea

Scotland may be cold sometimes, but it isn't in the Arctic Sea, just the North Sea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is between England and Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. There are also some islands in it, like the Scottish Shetland and Orkney islands, Lindisfarne (England), Texel (Netherlands) and Norderney (Germany).

About the picture: no red sails in the sunset, but white in broad daylight. It was taken in the waters close to Edinburgh.

Answer: Firth of Forth

The Firth of Forth is the estuary of some Scottish rivers, including the river Forth. It enters the North Sea with the historic country Fife to the north and the area called Lothian to the south. A firth is a fjord.

There is a road bridge and one for trains. The road bridge was the longest steel suspension bridge in Europe when it was opened in 1964. The other one is a cantilever railway bridge, and the trains rumbled officially for the first time on them in 1890. It was the longest of its kind for some decades until they built a longer bridge in Quebec. It is still the world's second-longest single cantilever span, of 1,709 feet (521 meter).

While we were visiting, they build a new bridge close to the road bridge. It opened to traffic in 2017 and is called the Queensferry Crossing.

Solway Firth is in England, the Firth of Tay can be found in Antarctica. The Flensburg Firth (Flensburger Förde) is in Northern Germany.

Answer: Prince of Wales George, later George IV

That street can be found in Edinburgh's so called "New Town". It was planned in the middle of the 18th century. In Edinburgh they wanted to call it "St Giles Street" (after the town's patron saint), but the then reigning British monarch George III told them he didn't like that name. St. Giles was the patron sains of lepers, and St. Giles was also a terrible neighbourhood in London. So it was named after George III's heir, George.

If you plan to buy something Scottish, you surely might find this. But the real stuff, like an authentic kilt, doesn't come cheap. You might feel the need for a real whisky after seeing the prize tag.

Answer: A founder of ragged schools for poor children

Ragged schools were meant for the children that really went in rags.
They got food, clothes, schooling and prayers, instead of living a life as street urchins. Looking at the statue, you can see one child close to Guthrie's side.

Mr Guthrie lived from 1803 to 1873 and was one leader of the Free Church of Scotland. As the inscription on the statue tells us he was:

"An eloquent preacher of the gospel. Founder of the Edinburgh Original Ragged Industrial Schools, and by tongue and pen, the apostle of the movement elsewhere. One of the earliest temperance reformers. A friend of the poor and of the oppressed."

The statue by F. W. Pomeroy was erected in 1910. Guthrie deserved such an honor. After all, it is nice to see a statue for someone who did something good. There are too many quarrelsome warriors on impressive horses everywhere in Europe.

Answer: Holyrood Palace

While we were visiting, that gates were closed to the public, as some event including her Royal Highness Elizabeth II needed preparations.

History happened in these walls: James II was born there in 1430, David Rizzio was killed there in 1566, in front of Mary Stuart - and Queen Elizabeth II had some nice garden parties in her yearly one-week stay there.

All the other buildings are in Edinburgh, too. Jenners is a big department store on Princes Street.

Answer: Arthur's Seat

Arthur's Seat, a former volcano, is in Hollyrood Park, rising 251 metres high. So after a visit to the royal palace you might put on sensible footwear and do some climbing. To the north you can see Holyrood Palace, to the west Edinburgh Castle. Somewhere in the distance, the sea.

The origin of the name lies in the past's mists.

Answer: Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland

And the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland does a good job.

What a place to go! Tractors, Highland cattle, sheep. Things to buy, like fudge or clothing. Public performances - we watched a show of horse-drawn carriages, for example. There are also some musical performances worth listening to.

The show dates back to 1822, and since 1960 it happens every June in Ingliston. Only one time cancelled, when there was cattle disease. The event attracts up to 190,000 visitors, including royalty sometimes.

Answer: Greyfriars Bobby

Sniff. Bobby (May 4, 1855-January 14, 1872) was a lovely Skye Terrier. He lost his master and visited his grave on Greyfriars kirkyard daily, it is said, for about 14 years until his own death. The local people cared for him. I suppose the little bobblehead dog on my photo might be the wrong kind of terrier, but it is a terrier (and a Scottish one!). In 1961 Disney made a movie about that doggie Bobbie.

Now about the other celebrity animals:

Mick the Miller (29 June 1926 - 6 May 1939) was a famous racing greyhound.

Whisper was the last of Queen Elizabeth's II Welsh corgis. He died in 2018, aged 12.

Humphrey the chief mouser is the only feline in this elite troupe. He was born around 1988 and died in 2006. He worked in 10 Downing Street, London, between 1989 to 1997. 10 Downing Street, the seat of the prime minister, is quite an old building, and Humphrey is one in a line of cats dealing with rats and mice attracted by such an old building. Humphrey started under Margaret Thatcher and ended with Tony Blair.

Answer: umbrellas

Robert Louis Stevenson was born 1850 in Edinburgh and he died 1894 on Samoa.
Amongst others he authored "Treasure Island", "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", "Kidnapped" and "Catriona". The two latter books are mainly set in Scotland and for a good part in Edinburgh. In fact, you can visit Hawes Inn in South Queensferry, where David first met the villainous captain Elias Hoseason.

As I missed taking a picture of this venue, I've strayed to one of Stevenson's lovely poems, released in "A Child's Garden of Verses" from 1855. As my son, the fella with the umbrella, and myself had some rain, it is an appropriate way to end this quiz with fitting words of one of the town's greatest sons.