{"id":283,"date":"2005-06-04T10:53:06","date_gmt":"2005-06-04T01:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.randomwire.com\/2005\/06\/04\/edinburgh\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T22:57:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T21:57:58","slug":"edinburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/edinburgh\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:10761,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.historic-scotland.gov.uk\\\/properties_sites_detail.htm?propertyID=PL_121&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:10762,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.edinburghguide.com\\\/travel\\\/visitor\\\/caltonhill.htm&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20081011005321\\\/http:\\\/\\\/www.edinburghguide.com\\\/travel\\\/visitor\\\/caltonhill.htm&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-02 17:21:04&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-28 08:17:22&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-15 21:35:58&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-19 09:13:08&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-22 10:23:44&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-25 15:29:27&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-29 01:02:30&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:503},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-01 03:35:13&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-04 03:54:49&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-07 12:37:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-11 01:43:20&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-14 02:36:03&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-21 23:33:15&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-15 09:14:09&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-15 09:14:09&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>Had a good time in Edinburgh yesterday. Whilst the weather was a bit variable we got some nice spells of sunshine and it was pretty warm. Our trip had two main objectives, get a European visa from the German Consulate and to have a look around the old part of the city. The former went off without a hitch although there was an annoyingly long queue to actually file the appropriate papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2272\" height=\"1515\" src=\"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_4967.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39826\"\/><figcaption>Edinburgh Castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1704\" height=\"2272\" src=\"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_4843.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39827\"\/><figcaption>Castle Cannon &#8211; kill the English!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We then moved off to have a look round the ancient <a href=\"http:\/\/www.historic-scotland.gov.uk\/properties_sites_detail.htm?propertyID=PL_121\">Edinburgh Castle<\/a> on the hill which was very nice but, at \u00a39.80 to get in, a bit of a rip-off. Whilst we were there someone was having a wedding in the tiny chapel and of course some of the tourists went a *bit* mad, so much so, at one point I was sure they would have to call in security!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2272\" height=\"1704\" src=\"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_4892.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39829\"\/><figcaption>The &#8220;Acropolis&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After this, we wandered up to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edinburghguide.com\/travel\/visitor\/caltonhill.htm\">Calton Hill<\/a> which is at the other end of the &#8220;royal mile&#8221;. On top of this is Edinburgh&#8217;s fake Athenian acropolis (built in 1822) which can be seen for miles around. We spent about an hour wandering about up here &#8211; the views of the city and its surround (leading out to the sea) are spectacular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2272\" height=\"1515\" src=\"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_4949.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39825\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Next we wandered down Queen&#8217;s Street past some very impressive architecture (which makes up most of the city) and eventually to Princes Street Gardens before heading off for some food. Tired, but satisfied, we took the 7 pm train back to Durham (arriving about 9 pm).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Had a good time in Edinburgh yesterday. Whilst the weather was a bit variable we got some nice spells of sunshine and it was pretty warm. Our trip had two main objectives, get a European visa from the German Consulate and to have a look around the old part of the city. The former went [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,1385,19,173],"tags":[1216],"class_list":["post-283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-photography","category-scotland","category-travel","category-uk","tag-castles"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img_4815.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44201,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/ben-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":0},"title":"Ben More: There and Back Again","author":"David","date":"18th December 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"We wanted to get a least one \"proper\" hike in during our time in Scotland so set our sights on Ben More (966 m) on the Isle of Mull. In comparison to the steep Japanese mountains we're used to, it felt like a walk in the park but was a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Outdoors&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Outdoors","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/travel\/outdoors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/R0007755-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/R0007755-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/R0007755-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/R0007755-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/R0007755-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/R0007755-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":282,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/poverty-hypocrisy\/","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":1},"title":"Poverty Hypocrisy","author":"David","date":"2nd June 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Well my final exam (hopefully ever) is over and now I\u2019m basically free until September when I start work. The exam, which was on Computer Graphics and Distributed Computing, went quite well considering how much I was dreading it. I\u2019m planning quite a lot of things planned on the web\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;China&quot;","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/china\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":910,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/chinese-employment-z-visa-application\/","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":2},"title":"Chinese Employment Z Visa Application","author":"David","date":"5th September 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Obtaining an employment visa (Z type) to work in China from the UK has been a real nightmare, seemingly compounded by the Olympics when things were further tightened up. The process isn't very well documented anywhere so to try and possibly help others I thought I might relay my experiences.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;China&quot;","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/china\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/zvisa.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/zvisa.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/zvisa.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/zvisa.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5311,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/shenzhen-fringe-pecha-kucha\/","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":3},"title":"Shenzhen Fringe + PechaKucha Vol. 5","author":"David","date":"7th December 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Last weekend Shenzhen opened its first Fringe festival centred\u00a0around Coastal City in Nanshan (where I live) loosely based on the\u00a0original\u00a0from Edinburgh. Two weeks of events are planned and proceedings kicked off with a colourful parade with various community groups taking part along Shenzhen Bay Avenue. Considering China's usual design\u00a0aesthetic it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;China&quot;","block_context":{"text":"China","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/china\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/shenzhen-fringe-festival.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/shenzhen-fringe-festival.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/shenzhen-fringe-festival.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/shenzhen-fringe-festival.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/shenzhen-fringe-festival.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/shenzhen-fringe-festival.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21821,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/tsuruga-castle\/","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":4},"title":"Tsuruga Castle","author":"David","date":"28th June 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the Golden Week holiday in Japan this year, I headed north from Tokyo to the lesser-known city of Aizuwakamatsu (\u4f1a\u6d25\u82e5\u677e\u5e02) in Fukushima Prefecture - yes, that \"Fukushima\" but 100 kilometres west of the nuclear disaster site and exclusion zone. While the small city is fairly non-descript it does lay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Japan&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Japan","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/japan\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tsuruga-castle.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tsuruga-castle.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tsuruga-castle.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tsuruga-castle.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tsuruga-castle.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tsuruga-castle.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25314,"url":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/neuschwanstein-castle\/","url_meta":{"origin":283,"position":5},"title":"Neuschwanstein Castle","author":"David","date":"3rd March 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent Christmas 2017 with family in the UK but after the festivities and before the New Year managed to squeeze in a short trip to Munich, Salzburg and Zurich. It was the first time for me to visit all three places and, after spending the last decade predominantly in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Europe&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Europe","link":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/neuschwanstein-castle-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/neuschwanstein-castle-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/neuschwanstein-castle-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/neuschwanstein-castle-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/neuschwanstein-castle-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/randomwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/neuschwanstein-castle-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93438,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions\/93438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/randomwire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}