Picto Diary - 23 September 2019 - Andrew Carnegie. Edinburgh Part 2 of 2

Above: Quotes from Andrew Carnegie. Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum. Dunfermline, Scotland. 23 September 2019
Out and about in Dunfermline.

Better than expected exhibits at Andrew Carnegie birthplace and museum. Gotta find a good biography.

Gilded age capitalists advanced civilization with their forward thinking ideas, provided millions of jobs, and gave away tons of money to advance worthy causes.

Missed out on Yemen in Carnegie's list (see image). Lived in Egypt for a year, India for three years, and Japan for three years. — at Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum.

Above: The Abbey Church of Dunfermline. Dunfermline, Scotland. 23 September 2019.
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Out and about in Dunfermline.
I would gladly reincarnate as an organist if I could play a pipe organ like this.
Tomb of Robert the Bruce is 'neath the alter in the lower right corner of the image.

Above; Lighthouse. North Queensferry, Scotland. 23 September 2019.

Out and about in Edinburgh .

Smallest lighthouse in Scotland. Built by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson, and builder of the Brough of Birsay lighthouse we saw two days ago in the Orkneys.

Beyond is the spectacularly engineered Forth Bridge, completed in 1890, a railway bridge across the Firth of Forth.

North Queensferry is a secluded, tony area that reminds of the funky communities in Marin County near the Golden Gate Bridge.

I climbed the tiny spiral staircase to see the lighthouse lamp. The original oil burning lamp and reflector were still intact. — at Stevenson Lighthouse, North Queensferry.

Above: Fish and Chips. Welsh Fishmonger's. Edinburgh, Scotland. 23 September 2019.

Out and about in Edinburgh.

Billed by driver/guide Steve as best fish and chips in Scotland. The place was full at 3:00 PM when we arrived for a late lunch. It must be good.

From the start our driver/guides have been outstanding. Personable, knowledgeable, sense of humor, planning, mid course corrections yada.

We've begged off ship's tours and hire our own cars with driver/guides in most of our destinations. Exceptions: We took a hop on hop off bus tour in Liverpool. We rented a car to drive around Lewis Island in the Outer Hebrides.

This car/guide hire practice has enabled more stops, seeing more off the beaten track gems, and more serendipitous surprises.

For example:

Because of need to pre book Maeshowe with 20 or less people, the 5000 year old Neolithic tomb on Orkney, the ship's tour, with over 30 people, didn't stop at this important archaeological site. We did.

The very off the beaten track Queensferry Lighthouse was not on the ship's tour. I called Queensferry the Sausilito of Edinburgh. It sat just 'neath Forth Bridge, not the Golden Gate Bridge. We enjoyed it thanks to driver/guide Steve's suggestion. Ship's tour didn't have Queensferry Lighthouse on its itinerary.

In the serendipity category, driver/guide Grant"s insight and knowledge about the Queen's church going habits at Balmoral, resulted in us, along with The Daily Mail, seeing the Queen close up. In a ship of 600 passengers the four of us were the only ones to see the Queen.

Good going to port tour organizers, Bronx Girl and TIMDT.