I went to this guided tour (the Scots pronounced it as 'guee' 'det' 'two' 'err') at St. Mary King's Close, at Royal Mile, Edinburgh with my friend Michela last weekend. It cost me 6 quids and since I had not much option. What with the rain pouring and me already halfsoaked, I decided to give it a go. Being me, I was very cynical of the idea of having this make belief tour to the 16th century. Kept on telling Michie that I hoped that it's worth it and that we will get something out of it. Seriously... I kept on thinking about all those trips/so called educational tours that I had been to (yeah, I know they are not really that many) and deep down in my heart I thought that I was going to be cheated again.
Hah...little did I know what was waiting for me. Words can never be adequate to describe the experience. For those of you who have read Jude Deveroux, Julie Garwood, and historical romances, you probably have an idea of the medieval period but I can tell you, seeing and 'living' the period is totally out of the world experience. I am probably naive or too inexperiece, but I have never been struck dumb before with what I see/saw. But the guided tour left me speechless and most of the time, breathless. It was a paradox, I didn't want the 1 hour tour to end and I can't wait for the tour to end as well. I am not good at describing but here goes ....
We were taken to the basement (I assumed it was a basement). Underneath the basement, it was a different world. It was very dark, mind you, the building was real (no polysterene or film-made products). What I saw around me were 14th -16th century buildings. I explored several rooms which were untouched (meaning: no modifications were made) and the guide told us the story of the buildings and Mary King's Close. The rooms were small in size and height. I didn't have to bend my head but other tourists had to. We were told that the medieval people were short and small in size and that explained the size of the rooms. The buildings were 3-storey apartment with the poor people living on the ground floor, middle class occupying the 2nd floor and the better salaried people occupying the 3rd floor. The ground floor apartment has only one room which I was told normally housed as many as 16 people at a time. Imagine 16 people sharing a small room and they had to do their 'business' in a bucket and their faeces were thrown outside their house. These people would shout 'Girdaloo' (or something similar) and other people (their neighbours) would know that the unwanted dirt was about to be thrown out. Yuckksss.... But that's how they did it in the past. The dirt would seep in the road and people would just walk on them. Talk about being hygenic. I just don't understand why these people can't devise a better way to get rid of their dirt. Now what really brought tears to my eyes is the fact that these people didn't get to see the sunlight. Honestly. that was what I was told. NO SUNLIGHT allowed. Only rich people could afford to have sunlight because in the past, these people had to pay taxes to get some sun. That's where the expression 'Daylight Robbery' came from. Edinburgh was an overcrowded city during the medieval period and living expenses were very high during that time. I also went to a room to 'experience' the bubonic plague. We were told how the poor people suffered most and during the time when anaesthetic didn't exist, the patients had to endure a lot more pain in order to be cured. You wouldn't want me to give me the details. Trust me, Horrific.
All in all, the tour has taught me to look at the medieval period differently and the next time I read historical romances, I will definitely appreciate life in the 14th - 17th century.
Posted at 03:16 am by Picadilly
