Castles, Castles, Everywhere!

Today, castles.  We left our sweet country cottage at about 10, and headed out to do our own version of the Castle Trail.*

*The Castle Trail is an actual thing, street signs and everything.  I think it's largely a construct of the tourism industry in Scotland.  However, it is well earned in that there are 20 or 30 "real" castles in the northeast of  Scotland within 150 miles or so of each other.

First up was Crathes Castle.  It was in nice repair and we took a guided tour of the whole inside from a nice lady named Irene.  We learned about the history and the family.  It was the domain of a laird, who if I remember correctly, was basically the king's representative in that area.  He was law and tax collector and protector, etc.  We ran a little long there due to the timing of the guided tour (which was required to see the space).

Next up was Drum Castle.  It was of a similar era and also owned by a laird of the king.  Given we were running a bit late, we opted out of the guided tour and toured ourselves.  Each room had a description placard which gave us enough information to learn about the space while still allowing us to get through the castle relatively quickly.  It was built in three distinct eras, the tower house in the 1400s, then two expansions in the 1600s and 1700s.  It was similarly furnished and appointed to Crathes Castle.  Dad elected to hang out in the castle courtyard with our guidebook and a book so as to not over do it.

From there we went to Castle Fraser.  It was almost a fairy tale looking castle with parapets, etc.  Unfortunately, it required a guided tour and didn't have one available until later in the day ... later than we wanted to stay.  So we elected to walk around the outside and then head out to the real crown jewel of the day ...

Tolquhon Castle!  Definitely this was the high light.  It was another ruin.  When we were driving up, aside from seeing some street signs, we really thought we were in the wrong place.  We were on back roads and at one point basically drove through a farm.  When we pulled in, we were the only car in the parking lot!  We got our tickets and went in lickety split.  I think some of the things I like best about places like these is the freedom to go almost anywhere, the green grass against the stone work, and the relative lack of people at most of these ruin sites.  It was beautiful.  About the only thing that could have improved it would have been for it to sit on the banks of a river or something.  Cyndie and Emma did some senior photos here as well.

We were pretty wiped after all the action and happy to head to the next AirBnB.  It was a little bit of a drive, around 75 minutes.  We found our house*, put our stuff inside, and then headed to the local village for some traditional fish and chips take away**.

*Directions are not the easiest in this part of Scotland.  We ended up in a hilly rural community on a small one way road.  Fortunately we were able to navigate there more easily using the AirBnB app.

**Take away = take out.

After a quick stop for some groceries (for lunch in the car), a walk by the river, and observing a local piper's marching band practice for a regional competition, we headed home to get a decent night's sleep!

Leaving the City

Today we left the city early ... around 8.  Being a Sunday, the traffic was almost nil, so the drive was very easy and went by quickly.  By about 9, we were arriving at Stirling Castle.  It was fun to drive up from the highway as we could see the castle up on a cliff overlooking the city of Stirling, so we watched it as we approached. 

We arrived about 30 minutes before opening.  It was nice that there was a fun park-like graveyard on one side of the castle.  We wandered in there for a while until the castle opened.  It was fun to go in right away (skipped the line made by the three tour buses) because we had the Explorer Pass.  It was a beautiful castle with some restored rooms, though not as opulent as Edinburgh Castle.  The setting was awesome, overlooking a valley with a river.  Throughout the day, we learned a lot about William Wallace, who is a little like the George Washington figure for Scotland (not a founding father, but an inspirational military leader).  The castle has a significant part in the history of Scotland as it guards the passage between north and south Scotland.  After a light lunch at the castle, we headed over to the National Wallace Monument.

The Wallace Monument was built during the Victorian 1860s; a period of time during which the heroism of the past was greatly celebrated (e.g. the Washington Monument built in the same era).  It stands on a cliff facing the Stirling Castle; appropriate because it was the point from which William Wallace surveyed the battlefield prior to the Battle of Stirling Bridge (the big battle with all the lances and the famous speech from Braveheart).  It was about 200 steps (in a tight spiral) to the top and offered spectacular views of the surrounding hills and valleys.  It was well worth the trip to the top.  Dad didn't feel ready for the steps, but road the tram with us to the top of the hill and enjoyed the view from the bottom.

From the Wallace Monument we drove an hour and a half north to Dunnottar Castle.  This is the ruin of a castle which was held by and important nobleman during the 1400s and 1500s.  It was absolutely spectacular.  It was on a narrow (and tall) peninsula jutting out into the sea.  The ruin meant some walls had fallen, and there were no roofs on any of the buildings.  But man, was the site breathtaking.  It was also really cool that it was so well manicured.  Lush, thick green lawns all over the grounds were a really nice juxtaposition against the stone of the buildings.  Being much further away from the cities in the south, as well as not as easily accessible, there were far fewer people.  We spent an hour and a half exploring the ruins and admiring the views (we didn't see any dolphins or seals) and learning about the location's history.

After that it was a short drive to our AirBnb, a really cute country cottage.  After dropping our things we went and had Chinese, and now we're ready to drop!  We're all looking forward to a later start tomorrow morning (not leaving until 10a!).

Things we learned today:

• We definitely enjoy the country side and less heavily populated tourist destinations far more!
• Our VRBO was on Grassmarket Square, home to many restaurants and bars.  It was a party last night!  We were all so tired we slept fine, but man, what a mess the Square was when we woke up.  Cyndie watched the garbage/street sweepers working there for a while and was rewarded with a rousing rendition of "Sweet Caroline"!
• Reason number 482 to like AirBnB style traveling: fun bathtubs.  Emma soaked for a while tonight in our fancy tub!  Cyndie and I are looking forward to coffee out on the patio overlooking a field in the morning.
• The rough and wild shorelines of Western Scotland are spectacular!

Edinburgh!

Today we did Edinburgh ...

• First up, Camera Obscura.  We walked up in the drizzle, but it was only about a 5 minute walk from our place.  It's so hard to describe so here's the link:  https://www.camera-obscura.co.uk/.  Basically, it was a lot of illusions and tricks of the eye; lots of hands on stuff.  The highlight was definitely the maze of mirros (so cool!!!) and the Vortex Tunnel (which was this optical illusion where you walk across a bridge thing and totally think you're spinning round and round).  That was a ton of fun.
• Next up (through the actual rain) was Edinburgh Castle (fortunately only a couple minute walk from Camera Obscura).  There were a TON of people  there, despite the rain.  We read that it is Edinburgh's #1 tourist attraction and our experience there verified it.  We were able to skip some lines because we had pre-paid, so that's always great.  This is a huge castle complex, still in partial use by the military.  We saw lots of fancy rooms and dungeons and castle-y stuff.  All in all I'd say we were underwhelmed by the visit.  Perhaps somewhat due to high expectations and somewhat because of the crowds.
• While there, we had high tea in their tea room.  That was a lot of fun.  The food was good, as was the experience in general.  Thanks to Cathy (and Fred) for funding that experience!
• Next up (also through the rain) was a short walk down the Royal Mile to St. Giles Cathedral.  I'd say it was a pretty normal cathedral as compared to the others we've seen in Europe; medium sized.  It had a cool painted blue ceiling in one part of the nave.
• After that we stopped for a quick snack/drink in a little coffee shop (and to rest our legs).*
• Mary King's Close was next.  A close is a small street (6 - 8 feet wide).  Many years ago (medieval times), the Royal Mile from the castle down the ridge of the hill was the only main road in Edinburgh.  Going straight down the hill (perpendicular to the Royal Mile) were the closes.  There were five closes that were partially demolished, leaving two stories which were used as a foundation for a new, large civic building.  Mary King's Close was one of those streets.  20 or so years ago, it was re-discovered.  So what we got was a tour of the close and the tiny rooms/houses off it as well as a history lesson of the medieval times residents of that close (including dealing with the Bubonic Plague.  It was pretty interesting and worth the time/money.
• We stopped at the local shop for a few groceries and had dinner in. 
• After dinner, Grandpa decided he was ready to hit the sack while the rest of us took a walking tour.  The initial goal was Dean Village, a quaint and semi-historic neighborhood on the Waters of Leith (fancy name for a small river).  The village was nice, but what ended up being the highlight was the river itself, and the beautiful (and lushly green and quiet) path along the banks.  We spent about 30 minutes there and also visited the Walter Scott monument on the way back.  All in all it was another 90 minutes or so on our feet.  It was a lot of walking for the day in all!

*We continued our on-going corruption of Grandpa by playing black jack and "in-between", quick card games that we've enjoyed multiple times along the way.

Lessons we learned today ...

• There is no use for a car in Edinburgh.  We walked everywhere today, and it was definitely the best mode transportation.
• The Royal Mile was packed with tourists today, even with the rain.
• Pre-paying for tickets is the best way to go (when possible).  We used our Explorer Pass several times today.  Not only is it faster, but it is also cheaper!
• Having an AirBnB (versus a hotel) is fantastic as it allows us room to unwind and to make our own meals if we want.

Tomorrow we begin our journey north with some castles and end up near Aberdeen in the northwest of Scotland!

Glasgow to Edinburgh

*Of note, the proper pronunciation for Edinburgh is that the "burgh" part is like the "bru" in "brush".

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

We left Glasgow this morning around 8 and headed west ... coast to coast in Scotland (it's pretty narrow there). 

An hour's drive found us at Rosslyn Chapel, home to Dan Brown's book (read the Da Vinci Code ... fun read).  It was a beautiful chapel (not cathedral) set out a little south of Edinburgh.  From there we drove north a bit (toward Edinburgh) and Craigmillar Castle.  That was very cool.  It's a centuries old castle, no longer in use, but still in good condition.  It was a lot of fun to climb around and explore.  There were some fun views from the top as well. 

After that we drove up into Edinburgh and did a single stop for a walk/hike up Carlton Hill and a visit to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Holyrood Abbey.  Carlton Hill (steep walk!) was high above the city and had fun views of the sea, Edinburgh Castle, St. Giles Cathedral, and basically all of the city.  There were also some fun climbing spots and Cyndie and Emma did some senior photo stuff up there.  The Palace of Holyroodhouse was a smaller manor style home, and is the Scottish residence of the Queen.  We did a fun audio guided tour and learned a lot about its history (Mary Queen of Scots was there a lot) and also the history of the Holyrood Abbey (now ruins) which are immediately adjacent (holyrood, if I understand it, was a medieval reference to the cross of Jesus, and the abbey there was said to have a shard of that cross; hence the name). 

It rained a bit in the afternoon, and more in the evening.  Especially as we got into our house.  The house is nice.  It's overlooking a fun/busy square and right next to the Royal Mile where we'll be spending lots of time tomorrow.  We had a fun dinner at a contemporary Scottish restaurant.  Then Dad and Cyndie went to get a few groceries and I took the kids to visit the grave of Tom Riddle (inspiration for a character in the Harry Potter movies).  Now it's LATE, and I'm ready for bed.  More tomorrow.  It will be nice to just hit things on foot and not fight the city traffic which is not great.

Lessons learned:

• Edinburgh traffic and parking are horrible!!
• It rains a lot in Scotland, and the folks here just deal with it.
• Edinburgh is a much more historic feeling city than Glasgow.

Scotland, We Made It!

Yes, we did it.  We:

• Left Lake Geneva at 11:15 am
• Drove to O' Hare arriving around 1p
• With a minor delay left around 4p
• Flew for 7 or so hours to Dublin
• Laid over for an hour and a half ("losing" myself, Tim, and Emma in the process*)
• Flew the hour to Scotland on a small regional jet**
• Picked up our "wrong side" car
• Toured about some of Glasgow including lots of city/traffic driving
• Only took one wrong turn and one or two "almost drove the wrong direction.

*Only lost because we were on the other end of the tram driving us out to the puddle jumper and Cyndie and Dad couldn't see us through the crush of people.  Yes, they did rush off the tram to go find us in the lobby before the plane left, but fortunately Emma is a quick young woman and caught them before they got too far.

**First time on a turbo prop plane for the kids!

Things we saw:

• Glasgow City Chambers - a beautiful 130 year old building which holds the official offices for the city of Glasgow ... kind of a small White House.
• Sir Walter Scott monument - nothing too exciting, just a monument in a square.
• Glasgow Cathedral - Nice cathedral.  Wooden beam internal ceiling which you don't see to often.  Grave of St. Mungo in the crypt ... sounds like a character from Harry Potter (appropriate for Harry Potter heavy Scotland).
• Glasgow Necropolis - cemetery on a steep hill behind the cathedral.  It was very cool in part because of how unusual the steep terrain is for a cemetery, and partly because of the cool views from the top.
• Grabbed some lunch at a fun little Indian restaurant across from the art museum.
• Kelvingrove Art Museum - didn't see a ton in there; a Salvador Dali original, a few Monets, a Linda McCartney exhibit that Tim and I paid extra for (fun because of the Beatles element of her work).
• We went to what we thought would be a cool little shopping/tourist district in Ashton Lane.  Little was the operative word ... it was tiny, and not worth the trip.  We did get recommended to some really good ice cream as a result (and got caught in a shower in the process).  Turns out Scotland and Wisconsin weather are similar ... they can go from sunshine to rain to sun shine within minutes!
• We got to the AirBnB (perfect for us ... 4 BR, and close to lots of stuff).  Hitting the sack early now!!!

Things we learned:

• None of us, and especially the kids, sleep well on the plane.
• It's important to stay hydrated to fight jetlag, especially after landing.
• It's the legs that go first when walking/touring about on the first day post flight/pre-sleep.
• Food does wonders to perk you up when jet lagged.

We're off to Edinburgh tomorrow for a couple of days , then up to the highlands!