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Scotland the Beautiful
Scotland is a country in the United Kingdom to the north of England. Its symbol is a thistle, its patron saint is St. Andrew. The country is divided into Highlands and Lowlands. Most of the industry is concentrated in Lowlands, in the Clyde Valley.
Glasgow is its largest and busiest town, Edinburgh is its capital. Glasgow and Edinburgh are the two great centres of Scotland. There is only 45 miles between them, and it will take you about an hour to get from Glasgow to Edinburgh by train but the cities are very different.
Edinburgh is rather cold but attractive, very proud but friendly and has a great past. Edinburgh is known as the Athens of the North. It is an ancient city and if you walk around it, you can feel history at every step. Practically every building has a tale to tell.
The Edinburgh military tattoo takes place every August and September and is known throughout the world. For 90 minutes on five or six nights a week, 600 people perform in the square in front of the Castle. The performers play military music and march to it. At the same time as the tattoo, you can go to the famous Edinburgh festival. The festival started in 1947. Every year the best performances from all over the world can be seen in Edinburgh.
Glasgow is the heart of industry. It is a centre of business and trade. It is very busy, prosperous, dirty in some parts and smart in others, it is beautiful and ugly with its large port and busy streets.
The most interesting parts of the city are the Old Town and the New Town. The Old Town lies between the Castle and Holyrood Palace. The Castle hangs over the city like some Disney cartoon — but it is real.
Later they built a castle that used to be a fortress and then a royal palace. It looks good in any weather but at night when it is floodlit it looks just like a castle in a fairy tale. It is not surprising that the Castle attracts a lot of tourists.
Holyrood House is a big royal palace which is the residence of the Queen when she is in Edinburgh.
The Castle, in fact, is older than the city. No one can say exactly when the first settlers came to live on the huge rock that stands high above Edinburgh.
The most picturesque part of the Royal Mile is the Cannongate, which gives a good idea of what the Old Town was like.
One of the most modest and yet one of the best known monuments in Edinburgh is a monument to a dog called Bobby or Greyfriars Bobby. The dog belonged to John Gray. When he died Bobby lived near his grave for twenty-six years.
A line of streets, which runs from the Castle to Holyrood House, is called the Royal Mile. It consists of High Street near the Castle and Cannongate near Holirood Palace.
Closes (narrow passages) lead to little yards and attractive historical buildings.
Later Bobby was buried near his master and his statue in the Old Town has become a symbol of devotion.
The Old Town is a striking contrast to the New Town with its white and beautiful streets lined with trees. Princes Street is the most beautiful street of the New Town. It has a lot of gardens on one side and it is also Edinburgh's popular shopping centre.
Princes Street is connected with the name of the famous writer, Sir Walter Scott. A monument 200 feet high rises among green trees. They call it a poem of stone. It is the Scott Monument. Inside it there is a marble statue of the writer, and of his favourite dog.
Princes Street lies between the New Town and the Old Town. The modern town is on the lower side, the old one — on the higher. They look at each other across the valley under Scotland's blue sky.
