Scottish history

What's that you say?  Your eyes do not deceive you. You are gazing upon the sign for the Family History Center in Edinburgh, Scotland.  It wasn't too difficult feeling right at home there among microfilm and fiche and stacks of reference books. After all, those of you who know me well, know that I enjoy volunteering every Thursday at my local family history center library. And, I couldn't help but laugh when I realized that today was Thursday and here I was, standing in a Family History Center in Edinburgh!

I had promised a friend that I would see if I could locate information on her family if I had some time to spare.  Today was the perfect opportunity to check out the place and see what the locals had to offer.  But I had not realized the day of the week until I had to sign-in on the patron list.

The day had begun wet and rainy, so I grabbed my umbrella & hopped on the train to Edinburgh.  I needed to pick up some heritage passes that I had purchased, and today seemed as good a day as any to head into town.

When I exited the Waverly train station, the hustle & bustle of people made it pretty obvious that Edinburgh in April is far different than Edinburgh in January.  I actually found it rather annoying having to weave my way through the throngs of people to get to the castle.  And, coming back down the hill wasn't any pleasanter.  So, as I found myself nearing the destination of 15 Victoria Terrace, it was comforting to walk into a building and to be greeted with a smile and an enthusiastic genealogist.

Ewil Cullins was his name.  He was an older gentleman and it was quite obvious from the start that he was eager to delve right in and look for the surname that I had come in with.  In no time we were searching through microfilm and I found myself getting excited at finding so much information for my friend.  And, the best part of the search was that it was written in English!  I generally spend hours attempting to decipher Hungarian or Latin, so what a treat it was to scan through a page and actually be able to read it!  It certainly made the whole experience that much more pleasant.

After a couple of hours, I exited with a handful of registry copies and was surprised to walk out into brilliant sunshine.  That's when I took the photo.

So, I fear that I don't have much exciting to share today.  But I am certain that the recipient of today's adventure will think otherwise.