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Sunday 7/1

On this day, England’s smoking ban became effective in public places.  Robin gave us an exceptional tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia permanently docked in Edinburgh, sharing his experiences as a seaman on it when Prince Charles and Princess Ann were children, acting as one of Charles’s ‘nannies.’  When the children of the Royal family asked to borrow money for the NAAFI (shipboard shop for the crew), the crew would treat them instead of loaning money.  It turned out that Robin knew him so well that he once arranged for Diana’s son Prince William to show up at a 16th birthday party for a girl who was on a tour Robin was guiding and first impersonate himself only to later admit who he really was. Robin still attends annual get-togethers of the Royal family and crew. The yacht was launched in 1953 after Elizabeth had been Queen for about year.  It would sail from one location to another, and then the family would fly to yacht for business.
 
I would not have enjoyed the cramped quarters for either crew or officers (even the royal family's rooms were small), but the engine room was spotless. I was impressed by the dining room where each place had five knives, and the position each piece of silverware was measured. 

Robin stated that the Yacht was decommissioned by Tony Blair because of his desire to limit the expense and public exposure of the Royal Family.

Robin expressed the greatest admiration for the Queen. He said that when the royals used the yacht they stocked a freezer on board at their own expense with basic foodstuffs to be quietly distributed to local people at ports of call. When the royals were not using it, the yacht brought in income as a prestigious location for business meetings.

After a rushed lunch in the mall beside the Britannia, we returned to Edinburgh and took a guided tour of the house where John Knox finished his life.  Knox lived in the house owned by the Mosman family, Goldsmiths to Mary Queen of Scots.

After the tour, we walked about the new town area to see Georgian architecture and walked through the Princes Street Gardens, seeing the flower clock and looking for birds (found a hedge sparrow, our 47th bird of the trip).  I still don’t know how they weed the flower clock because the plants were too close together for anyone to get to the center of the garden. [Chris found a photo of a gardener working on the clock from a ladder suspended between the pavement and the railing.]

Ordered dinner from the hotel bar, correctly predicting that people at tables would wait an inordinate time.