The Isle of Skye in northwest Scotland

Hi again from Scotland. We're in the beautiful Isle of Skye in north west Scotland. I want to say "Hi" to Ella and the 1st grade class in Rochester, Minnesota. I wish you could be here with us to see the amazing sights and learn of the vast history of Scotland. We learned so much today so we'll start with.....

This is the Island life museum. The thatched roof huts are replicas of the houses the Crofters live in some 150 years ago. The Crofters were farmers that were given a small piece of land that was just enough to live from. They spent their days raising potatoes and farming the land. It was a tough life and can you imagine.... no TV, internet or even blogs!

We then drove to Armadale where the Mc Donald castle is located. Here we walked the grounds of the abandoned castle and visited the museum where we learned about the Mc Donald clan and it's place in Scottish history. The Castle was built in the mid 19th century and was destroyed when invaders burned it. The Mc Donalds did not rebuild and the grounds and garden have been donated to the state.

I just love the roads. Here we are on a one lane road and had to stop for a sheep that was using the road as well. Look how narrow the road is. when cars meet one pulls into a little side area and lets the other pass. The encounter always ends with a wave and a smile. Travel on these roads is 15 miles per hour at best and it's good not to be in a hurry. Sheep are one of the main industries on the Isle of Skye. They use the meat as well as the wool to make clothing.

This is a photo of Portree taken from our room window. What a quaint village! The people are great and the scenery fantastic. The best part is that we are learning about this area of Scotland up close and personal. So much history in such a small area!

That's all for tonight. Time to put the feet up and relax. The weather was bad today so Flat Ella stayed in the car all day.... such a wimp! It was about 40 degrees with a 30 mph wind and rain. I wanted to stay in the car as well but Sharleen wouldn't let me.

More tomorrow night from the Isle of skye.

Oban day 2

Tuesday dawned clear cool and windy so it's off to the Isle of Mull again. The same old ferry ride but......

This time instead of the bus we took the train. Can you believe the size of this one? We climbed inside the car in the fetal position. It really was fun and the engine is a real steam engine. The ride took about 15 minutes and.......

After a short walk we arrived at Torosay castle. It's a residence for the owner and his family and is relatively new as these things go. It was built in the mid 1800s making it only about 150 years old. We toured the castle rooms and talked with the owner. When I asked why he opened it to the public he responded that it was a financial decision. The estate tax was more than he could handle. By the way, it's for sale for about 100 million pounds. Anyone want to live in a Scottish castle?

Flat Ella really liked the grounds and the gardens. She walked all around and just was amazed at the sights. You can tell she's happy.... she's smiling! I understand that flat Pam (her words not mine) wants to come along on the next adventure. I think we may be on to something here.

What a beautiful house and when the owner says his home is his castle he really means it. He was really nice to talk with and was happy to answer our questions. I wonder what the heating bill is like in the winter?

After three hours it was back on the ferry to Oban. On the way back into port I spotted our B&B. That's it in the middle with the white dormer windows on top. Our room is the dormer on the left.

Today ( Wednesday) we headed for the Isle of Skye and a town called Portree. It's an easy drive and we were here in time to tour the town and just relax. We have two days here to look around before moving on. More tomorrow night I hope.

Oban on the west coast of Scotland

Greetings again. We now have internet access again so it's time for a couple of posts.

Oban (pronounced oh-bun) is the jumping off point for visiting the outer islands on the Scottish west coast. It's a really nice seashore village that hums with tourists in the summer but for now is relatively quiet.

We took the ferry from the port in Oban to the Isle of Mull ( about a 40 minute ride) and from there we took a bus for a hour and a half, then another ferry ride and ended on the Isle of Iona.

So... after two and a half hours of traveling we were rewarded with this..... the Iona Abbey.

It was built in the 13th century by Benedictine monks on the site of St Columba's first church. St Columba landed here when he arrived from Ireland about 549AD. He introduced Christianity in Scotland during the period after he arrived.

The stone cross in front of the Abbey dates from the time St Columba was here. It's hard to believe that it's some 1400 plus years old.

Near the Abbey lies the ruins of a Nunnery dating to the 1300 as well. Things this old give a sense of history and time to anyone who stops and gazes at the stones laid there some 700 years ago.

This photo has no particular significance other than I just wanted to share it with you all. What a beautiful place this is!

This is Duarte castle on the way back to Oban. Again, what stories it might tell if only it could talk. Even without the stories it's still is amazing to look at. By the way.... people still live in it!

Whew! it was a long day .... 5 hours of traveling and two and a half hours on Iona. The McEwans Scottish ale washed the traveling dust off and a good nights sleep helped. So.... the isle of Mull again tomorrow. Or as I said it's Mull again tomorrow..... for my buddie Wally... the golfer... I think that's where the term mulligan came from.

Edinburgh day 4

Another interesting day in the cold north land. The day started with sun and no wind, then the clouds rolled in and it got windy, and now it's sunny and windy. All of that is to say that we spent the day walking old town and are now trying to get warm in the bed and breakfast.

After breakfast we headed to old town and the Edinburgh Castle. The Castle sits on a large rock formation and dates back to 1130. If my math is correct we strolled cobblestones that were placed there some 880 years ago. The castle was home to Mary Queen of Scots and we saw the small room where she gave birth to her only child James, who would later occupy both the Scottish and English thrones. For the most part the Scottish Royalty did not live in the Castle, considering it too damp and cold to be comfortable. In later years it's dungeon was used to house prisoners from the various wars Scotland fought.

Flat Ella found this bag Piper and just had to have a photo. She loved the music and also the museum just behind him. The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards are horse mounted soldiers that still are active today.

Just down High street from the Castle is St Giles Cathedral where John Knox, the founder of Presbyterianism, preached on Sunday morning. This stained glass window was the most spectacular window I have ever seen. The picture is a poor representation of the real thing but it gives you an idea of the impact of the window on the sanctuary.

Finally we took a hike to Carlton Hill Park. It's a great place to view the city and just take in the beauty that is Edinburgh. The monument second from the left is in honor of Lord Nelson. I'm not sure what the others are but I'm betting that the one on the far left that looks like the Washington Monument existed before the one in DC. That's just a guess but it sure looked like it had been around a while. As you can see the sky was now blue but it was still cold.

We are heading back downtown in a little while to get something to eat and bid farewell to Edinburgh. It's been a fine visit but tomorrow morning we rent a car and head across Scotland past Glasgow and Loch Lomond to the little town of Oban. So that's all from Edinburgh. I'll do more of this rambling as we get internet service. I hope the next B&B has internet but we don't know till we get there. Till then hope all is well where you are.

Day three in Scotland

Today is Friday and time to get a look at the countryside around Edinburgh. To do that, we took a 9 hour tour down to the borders area (the Scottish and English border). The first stop was Rosslyn chapel. It was built around 1446 Sir William St Clair who was a member of the Knights Templar and made famous most recently by Dan Brown in his blockbuster book The DaVinci code. To see more of the Chapel go to: http://www.rosslynchapel.com/



This really ugly picture is of the renovation of the outside of the Chapel. They have made so much money from the increase in visitors that the funds are now available to repair the external areas of the Chapel. No pictures were allowed inside but even though the outside was ugly the inside was spectacular. There was carved stone everywhere with many symbols of the early church. It's easy to see why Dan Brown used this in the book.









The next stop was at the Melrose Abbey. This is the ruins of a abbey built in the 12th century by King David the 1st. The history of the monks that occupied the abbey is fascinating and as you can see the abbey now lies in ruin.










Flat Ella is really enjoying seeing the abbey. She walked through the stone arches and was amazed at the size and intricate stone work of the building.
















The interior of the abbey was spectacular with blue sky above the long gone roof.





















For centuries the abbey served the local area with full monks who lived in the abbey and tended to spiritual needs and lay monks who did the work but also participated in things spiritual.











Again, this is for Ella. This is the bus that Flat Ella rode in all day. A great new bus except for the flat tire we found when leaving Melrose. So, we called the tire guy (that's him under the bus) and he got us on our way again. Flat Ella really liked seeing the country and the bus ride.






We made it home in time for dinner at the local pub with lots of loud college kids and now it's time for some rest. This vacationing is getting to be hard work.
More tomorrow I hope.

Edinburgh day 2

Today was a "down" day since Sharleen was a bit under the weather. Jet lag is a real thing and not to be taken lightly. It did give us a chance to walk down to Holyrood park just to look around and watch the people hiking the massive hills.

Holyrood park is a huge area just a few blocks from where we are staying and just a block from Holyrood palace and the Royal Mile we visited yesterday. It's a dormant volcano and is one of the prominent landmarks of Edinburgh. The highest peak in the picture is called Arther's seat.... I don't know why but that's what it's called. People use this park at all hours for walking, bicycling and running.

This is another area of Holyrood Park. For those of you who are old like us you may remember the movie Chariots of Fire. The ridge just below the rock uplift is where they filmed the scene of the young men running up a trail.

I got out there this morning and ran up the trail. I could almost hear the theme song as I climbed. I might have except for the panting and puffing. With all the noise I made no one could hear a thing!

How about this for a college dorm? Not like the one I know back home. It almost makes me want to go back to college and attend the University of Edinburgh...... almost!

This is just for Ella. The main transportation here is the bus. That's the way we get around town. Most of the buses are double Decker's.that's to say there are two floors as you can see here. Flat Ella took a ride on one yesterday and sat upstairs. She just loved it!

For those of you who are wondering about Flat Ella try googling Flat Stanley and see what you find.

Tomorrow we do an all day tour to the Scottish and English border to visit Roslyn Chapel and Castle. More tomorrow night if I'm not too tired. Till then we wish you all were here.

For those of you who have forgot you can enlarge the photos in this blog by simply clicking on them.

Wednesday in Edinburgh

Hi to all from Edinburgh, Scotland. We arrived last evening a little weary but in good condition for the most part.

After a night of not much sleep (jet lag over 8 time zones does that to you) we headed out this morning to "get our bearings" and see what Edinburgh is all about.
It's pretty good weather for Scotland.... cool and cloudy but no rain.
We took the bus into town and started walking to orient ourselves.

We ended up across the river from "old Edinburgh" so took this looking back. On the far right is Edinburgh castle and the other buildings from left to right are along the "Royal Mile" between the castle and Holyrood House Palace, a working palace for the royal family.

Sharleen is holding "flat Ella" since she stowed away in our luggage and is now in Edinburgh with us. I'm sure you will see her in many more pictures.












We took a bus tour to the botanical gardens and rode through new Edinburgh before stopping at Holyrood House Palace. This is the main courtyard and entrance and it's easy to imagine the Queen pulling up and entering. We were able to tour the interior with it's massive rooms and ornate tapestry. We visited Mary Queen of Scots' apartments that were used when she lived here in the 1500's. What a sense of history one gets from seeing such buildings.








This is our B&B located a 10 minute bus ride from old town. The owners are nice and the room is pleasant but a little small. The breakfast this morning was excellent being almost too much to eat. That's all for now.... more tomorrow evening I hope. Time to think about dinner and some sleep I hope.