Aug 3 – Camera Obscura

We have a light day of sightseeing today.  We are visiting the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions.  A camera obscura is an optical device that creates an image by focusing rays of light onto a screen or sheet of paper.  The Camera Obscura in Edinburgh was an attraction created in 1835. 

The exhibit now has six floors of exhibitions and on the top floor is an actual demonstration of the Camera Obscura’s ability to show the surrounding city...the views were "projected" on a screen.  Plus there were great views on the balcony outside. 

The other floors are the “World of Illusions” with many interactive exhibits.  The illusions included exhibits on optical illusions, light, color, sound and electrical and other things. 

There was also a vortex…only Liam went through.  The vertigo it generated was too much for either of us.

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Video of the Vortex
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And Liam also spent quite a while in the mirror maze.

After almost three hours there we headed off for lunch and then wandered down the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace and Parliament before heading back up.  

Paul headed over to an electronics store to get some tracking devices.  The airlines appear to be having problems with luggage these days and he thought having a tracking device on the luggage would be a good safeguard.

Liam and Mary headed back to the hotel.  Saw the Elephant House (pub where JR Rowlings wrote most of the first Harry Potter book.  The building had a bad fire a few years ago and is currently boarded up. 

We spent the rest of the day lazing in the room and had dinner in the hotel again tonight.