With no schedule for the day we had a lazy start to the morning. we stopped on our walk into town at a bakery and had a quick bite for breakfast. I don’t know why I don’t make myself a cup of tea at home. I really enjoy it on vacations but when I am home I might do it some in the winter regardless that I have a cabinet full of teas I have brought home from trips. Maybe it is something I will pick up in my retirement.

We were headed to the Minster but couldn’t pass up an antique jewelry store on the way. This area has been making silver jewelry for hundreds of years so there were a lot of pretty things to see. Of course I didn’t just look. I had to bring a few things home. At this first stop I ended up with a silver locket bracelet and a heavy necklace made from watch chains.

It had rained while we were shopping so we thought we had gotten lucky and missed it. But sadly we didn’t make it to the church before we got a little wet. Good thing I brought that raincoat I left in the room.

The Minster is quite dramatic sitting right in the middle of town. It doesn’t have much of a square around it so it is just kind of crammed in there. I can’t decide if that detracts from its charm or puts the exclamation point on its gothic status. It does not have that airy beauty that churches like St Peter’s or the Duomo in Florence have. It is imposing and looks heavy. Of course the grey clouds also help set the mood.

Inside the church loses some of its heaviness and seems much bigger. There is some construction so the rose window is just peaking out from the scaffolding but most of the rest is open. Since my last visit in 1992 they have opened a museum in the area where they had to go in and fix the foundation. Like most everything the church was built on Roman ruins. You can see old Roman streets and pillars for various buildings that have set on this site over the years. The current structure was started in 1220 but the nave was not finished until 1472. So they were a little slow in getting this one built.

The rose window depicts the joining of the houses of York and Lancaster ending the war of the roses and dates to the 1500. However, the Five Sisters window in the north transept gets a lot of press due to both its unique style of mainly black and white glass, the glazing technique used for the painting and the fact that women raised the money to restore it after its removal in 1916 for fear of bombing during the war. Almyra Grey raised the money in honor of her sister and women who had worked on the war effort. It cost just under $4000 to restore.

The north transept is also home to the astronomical clock places in 1955 to honoring the Yorkshire airman. It is one of the few things I remembered from my 1992 visit.

We didn’t quite have the energy, stamina or the desire to climb the 272 steps up the tower. I would have liked to seen the gargoyles that were promised along the way but not bad enough to kill myself to do it.

So after a quick stop to the gift shop we headed out in the rain to see the rest of the town. And yes I did buy something in the gift shop. A cute little poppy pin. Surprisingly everyone has had cuter poppy items than the tower. The Tower is missing out on some easy money by not having cute poppy stuff. Not that they didn’t have stuff but no jewelry.

We of course shopped our way through town. I got another bracelet and yes I needed it and a great turquoise pendent to go with a turquoise dome ring I have. Val bought several things so we are doing our part to help the locals recycling effort. Everything was vintage so all good.

We went to the Merchant’s Adventurers Hall. A medieval timber roof building built in 1357. It started as a religious order but during the reformation it became more secular and emphasized the commercial and trading aspects of its members. Elizabeth I charted the company of Merchant Adventurers in 1581. A very romantic name for traders in grin and wool who probably never ventured outside of York.

The guid is still in existence and members still meet in the great hall routinely.

From there we headed out through the rain to Clifford’s Tower the only remaining part of the castle. Once we arrived we decided the steps up in the rain were more than we were up for, took a few pictures and headed back to the hotel to get ready for our evenings festivities.

All Saints church was on our way to the hotel so we popped in to see the medieval stained glass. The church was built between the 12 and 14th centuries. Most of the windows were done in 1410 except the lady’s chapel which was about a hundred years earlier in 1330. One the nine angel window depicts someone wearing glasses. They claim although rare glasses were available in 1410 but I think perhaps a future time travel went out on a merchant’s adventure.

It had been rainy windy and pretty chilly all day so we grabbed our scarfs and sweaters and headed out for dinner and our ghost tour.

Dinner was at the Olde Starre Inne one of the oldest pubs in York. I had the traditional steak and ale pie which was delicious and then shared the Eton Mess with Val.

After dinner we headed out for our ghost tour, the Deathly Dark Tour at 8. It was cold, dark and raining so the perfect atmosphere. It was one of the most fun ghost tours I have done. It was more theatrical than just telling stories. The guide was very over the top in a prissy Victorian manor. Supposedly York is the most haunted place in England but I am sure that every city says that. We sadly did not see anything supernatural but we had a good time. The tour tools us through the shambles which are quite creepy at night. I can see why they were used in the Harry Potter movies.

The tour ended at the Clifford Tower where we had ended our site swing earlier so we more how to get back to our hotel so all was good. I am glad I brought my scarf since it was a chilly night.

The AWT tour starts in York but I planned this stop in London to see the poppy installation at the Tower. The poppies were originally displayed in 2014 for the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI. This installation was smaller with only 30,000 poppies but still quite impressive.

We have been to the Tower several times so we breezed through some of our favorite spots and walked the walls to see the poppies.

The ravens were also out and mixing with the tourist. So we got some up close and personal time with them as well.

Of course we shopped. Who would we be if we didn’t. Found some lovely blue topaz that will go great with my dress for the gala dinner this trip so I could not pass them up. And of course I bought the usual tourist treasures of bags, magnets and ornaments.

After the Tower we headed across the bridge to the Southwark Borough Market. We had gone once before on a tour with Siobhan and it had been a fun stop across the river. This time its Instagram fame made it a bust. You could barely walk through parts of it. The line for the chocolate strawberries and the paella were crazy. I can’t imagine they were good enough for both the line then trying to eat them as you were jostled by the crowd. We did get a cheese pretzel and some focaccia to tied us over and Val had a lavender lemonade and I had a Prosecco and gin lemonade. Both delicious so not a total loss.

It is also a nice walk between the market and the Tower. Would have been better if it had not been raining but you can walk along the Thames and have great views of the Tower Bridge.

We got back to the hotel bought train tickets to York and ordered a cab only to find out the cabs were running really late. We switched to uber and probably ended up waiting longer. What should have been a 25 minute drive for 3.5 miles ended up being an hour and we missed our train by 3 minutes. Thankfully there was another in a little over an hour so we didn’t have to wait long.

Other than finding seats the train went okay. We still only have one bag a piece so it was doable. We had to go to the end to find seats without reservations got on got our bags in with a little help and got settled to only realize we were in first class without first class tickets. We had to jump off and walk back to the first cabin get back in and find seats. All in the last 3 minutes before the train took off. It was a mad dash. There was no where for our suitcases so they just rolled around between the cars while we crammed in the last two seats. Regardless we made it to York and our hotel was basically across the street from the train station. Thankfully I discovered that before we waited too long in the cab line.

The hotel is old and stately. We split a fish and chips in the hotel bar before calling it a night.

Val and I are off to England for another tour with Alison Weir and her friends. This one is through Northumberland and starts in York.

We flew into London and have basically 2 days to see the sites before heading up to York for a few days on our own before the tour starts.

Flight was a little late (about an hour) taking off but made up some time in the air. It was a full plane and we were packed in like sardines. I almost upgraded but I guess I wasn’t the fastest to realize my future sardine status. I hate to spend the money but I think the regular seats are getting smaller while the first class have more than double the space than they used to.

We arrived just fine although squished and tired but breezed through customs with just a photo and scan of passport. The taxi line was where the day kind of fell apart. There were cabs aplenty until about 4 groups ahead of us then it was a dead zone. We kept watching cabs drive by but none pulled into pick up passengers. Turns out there are just airport taxis and we needed a city car. Finally cabs start coming and we headed off to London. Trip that should have been 40 minutes was well over an hour and a half and cost about $175. We could have taken the tube straight from the airport to the tube stop at our hotel for $12 and well under 20 minutes. Live and learn. Highly recommend the tube or the train if you don’t have too many bags. Will definitely bring doing that next time.

Our hotel the Tower Hotel, is in a great location. It looks out on the Tower Bridge and is next door to the Tower. The lobby and restaurants all looked really nice. The room was a little dated. We should have upgraded to the bridge view. Ours had a nice window it just didn’t look out over anything. As far as London hotels go this one is pretty good. I would stay here again.

Due to the late departure, the wait in the cab line and the crazy drive through London (30 minutes for the last 2 miles) we missed our afternoon tea reservation at the Jubilee Room at Fortnum and Mason. Thankfully I was able to move it to 5:45. So we just grabbed a snack on our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the Cartier exhibit.

Crazy amount of diamonds and gems in one spot. There were some amazing pieces. Grace Kelly’s engagement ring, Jackie Kennedy’s tank watch, the rose broach Princess Margaret wore to her sister’s coronation, and more tiaras than I could count. Surprisingly the Duke and Duchess of Windsor ( Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson) had the largest collection of jewels I guess when you are no longer King and miss having access to the royal collection you spend outrageously on Cartier.

There were way more pieces than I expected to see. It was a little overwhelming. If the exhibit travels and I don’t know that it will (how they insure it I do not know) I would recommend seeing it. Well worth the price of admission.

We didn’t do too much more at the V&A since we toured it the last trip but did shop in the gift shop. If in London the V&A is free except the special exhibits and it is one of the best museum gift shops I have been to. So even if you just pop in to shop you won’t be disappointed. I bought the cutest poppy earrings in honor of the tower display.

After the exhibit Val and I continued to shop. We headed down through Hyde Park to the Mayfair area to shop at Hatchards bookshop and Fortnum and Mason before our tea. The walk was uneventful except for a few raindrops but we were prepared with our umbrellas so all good.

Hatchards is the oldest bookshops in London, it opened in 1797 and it is a twisty curvy old building with several floors of books. It was actually around in Jane Austen’s heyday. So maybe she browsed for books here when she was visiting London. Of course I didn’t leave without a few books. One on witches by Tracy Borman who will be on the tour and another on love stories of WWII as told through letters. Very excited about them both.

After Hatchards we went right next door to Fortnum’s and shopped a bit waiting on our reservation for afternoon tea. Fortnum’s is a great store even if you don’t like tea. They have a bit of everything (including jewelry on the 2nd floor) so everyone can find something there. They did have the cutest advent calendars but sadly too big for my suitcase. Maybe next year.

We went up to the Jubilee Room for our high tea and it did not disappoint. We celebrated Val’s retirement in style. We started with a couple of cocktails- gin, champagne and peach liqueur anyone? They were delicious. The tea was served with scones, finger sandwiches and fancy desserts. Who knew we liked coronation chicken (basically chicken salad with curry but delicious).

We spent more time than intended and had to rush to Liberty London for our last shopping stop. It is a great store that has been around forever and sales everything from fabric to furniture. I wanted the liberty London adidas shoes but didn’t find them. Almost bought a silk scarf but talked myself out of it. They had their Christmas decorations up which was fun to look at but sadly came away empty handed.

Having walked enough we decided to take the tube back to the tower. Through some misadventures underground we ended up walking almost as much as we would have had we skipped the tube but at least we got to sit for awhile.

Perk of the hotel being near the tower and the tower bridge. Great night shots.

Back at the hotel. A big adventure for our first day in England. We usually don’t make it so late but I guess we can always stay awake for shopping. Tomorrow we will be seeing the poppy exhibit at the Tower before heading off to York.

I can’t believe the trip is almost over. I have looked forward to this trip since January 2023. It seems like it takes forever to get here then comes and goes so quick.

We didn’t really have anything left on our must do Edinburgh list so we were just going to try out some of the other areas a little more off the beaten path. Originally we decided to get the tourist bus route that would take us out to the Royal Britannia. We wanted to hit the gift shop since it wasn’t open when we were there at night.

The bus went by the Stockbridge and Dean’s Village so we hopped off there to check them out. Probably should have saved that to the next time around. It was a little early and most things were not opened. Mainly shops, antique/thrift stores coffee shops and restaurants but a cute area. A little newer than new town where our hotel is which was wide avenues and Georgian large buildings. Stockbridge and Deans Village were more rambling streets and brownstone type buildings. We walked around until 10 when most things opened then started shopping. You would think we would be all shopped out but of course not.

After shopping our way around the area we hopped back on the bus to head to the Britannia gift shop. The entrance to the Britannia is basically in a port side mall. This was not the entrance we used when we went to dinner so we were very confused and took us a while to find it. We couldn’t get to the main gift shop but there was one before the ticket area and we were able to find a few things and head back to the bus.

We were intrigued with the discount store so we got off at the next store to hit the Pringle discount tartan shop. Do not waste your time unless you are looking for a frumpy old lady outfit. We had high hopes as we walked up. The signs claimed to have all types of things at great prices. We were excited but it was quite a letdown. There were a few scarves and cashmere sweaters but they were not any cheaper than what we had seen in the other much more convenient stores. Very disappointing.

We ended up riding the bus back around to the Royal Mile and went back for a few things we had seen that we knew we wanted. We went back to one of the scarf store where we had purchased a few early in the trip and purchased a few more. I now have a scarf to match any color I might want to wear. I need a very cold winter or maybe a winter trip somewhere cold.

I also went on a search for a bottle Ballindolloch whiskey. It was the Grant home that we saw that also produced estate style whiskey. I regretted not buying it when we were at the castle. Sadly I could not find it.

It was one of the prettiest days we have had on the trip so we found a table outside and had a little break from all our shopping.

And for Kris the mayonnaise has a different name.

On our last wander through town we came across a scene from The Birds. Sadly there was an injured seagull and the number birds flying above it just kept growing. It was like every bird from miles away answered the call. We didn’t hang around to see how it ended so in my story the hurt bird was just stunned and with the encouragement of his many friends recovered and joined them on an exciting adventure back by the ocean.

It was time to go back to the hotel and pack all our purchases. It was a tight squeeze even with the extra suitcase I had packed and required quite a bit of shuffling before we got the 4 bags we were checking down to close to 50 pounds.

We had a quick dinner at one of the pubs we had eaten at before with giant chicken sandwiches. That was close to the hotel. We had an early evening to prepare for our early morning flight.

We had to get up and out by 4 am. It took us a couple of trips down from our room to get all our luggage. While we waited for our taxi we could watch the craziness going on outside. There were no typical bars or pubs on our street so not sure where everyone came from but there were probably 20 people hanging out just seconds from a street brawl. There was lot of pushing but we did see one punch as we drove away in the taxi. No one else seemed concerned so this must be a normal occurrence for Saturday morning.

The Edinburgh airport was kind of a mess. There was really no organization to moving through the process. We went from 12 lines down to 8 back up to 10 then to two. A complete mess. We make it through after a bag check for not pulling my iPad out of my purse and to the gate right as boarding was starting. It was a quick flight and we were in Amsterdam. We had about a four hour layover so we wandered through the airport. Not much shopping a lot of high end tiny little shops but not much else. Also not a lot of food options. We had some premade sandwiches nothing special and headed to the gate.

I can highly recommend the direct KLM flight from Amsterdam to Austin. It wasn’t crowded the plane was nice and the economy plus seats provided enough extra leg room to be comfy. It was a 10 hour flight so a little long but KLM provided enough snacks and movies to make it doable.

We made it safely home with our 200+ pounds of luggage and I am already looking forward to the next adventure.

The tour is over but we still have a couple of days before we head home. The only thing we have planned is our Main Character photo shoot. We want to go to the Museum of Scotland at some point but otherwise just wherever the day takes us.

Our photo shoot is bright and early Thursday morning. She recommended that we start early to get comfortable with it before it got really crowded so we planned to meet at 8. We didn’t give ourselves enough time for breakfast so we had to head out as soon as we got ready. We were meeting at St Giles which we had been to or by countless times but this morning we turned too soon. So instead of the gradually increasing road that wasn’t so bad we climbed the steps up to High Street. So I was a sweaty by the time we got there. And I am sad to report I was passed by someone carrying a suitcase. She was at least half my age but still I should have done better.

We got to the church and met the photographer. Kate was super nice and did her best to get us comfortable with the whole thing. We started with some pictures back behind the church where there were some steps and columns. Then we moved on the front steps of the church. we climbed back up to the view point of the castle Val and I did earlier in the trip. Glad another photographer was there taking pictures and we had to wait our turn. Gave me time to catch my breath.

We wandered around to other places and I think we got better as we went or at least it quit being so awkward. I got a few samples from her and I think they re promising that it went well. I might should have picked another dress but no changing that now.

After we were finished with the photos we went back to the hotel and dropped off a few things and headed to the museum. I have to say I have been surprised by the Edinburgh museums. They have some really high quality exhibits. The art museum and the portrait gallery were both really impressive and the National Museum of Scotland was top notch. It was in a nice big building with a front foyer that was four or five feet high which let in a lot of natural light. Each section of the museum went off from the main area. We primarily did the Scottish history portion but also wandered through the section on fashion and a little bit about technology. The fashion was basically how things changed over time both in textiles and style. They had a lot of great pieces. I only took one picture of a dress that reminded me of the fabric in the fancy dress I brought on the trip. It was an orange red instead of blue but had the same metallic thread running through it to make it sparkle.

We also saw Dolly the first cloned animal. She was in the technology section right beside a race car simulation you could test drive and some other interactive exhibits. We did not walk through the natural history or animal exhibits where all the dinosaur bones and large stones are held.

The Scottish history exhibit had several really nice items. My favorite being a casket box (nothing to do with bones or funerals) that is believed to be MQS and could possibly be where she held the letters between her and Bothwell that were her downfall and referred to as the casket letters because they were found in a box that was said to be in her possession.

Another favorite were the Lewis chessmen. The 12th century chess pieces found in the 1800s on Lewis island. A majority of the pieces are in the British Museum but Scotland has 11. They are stumpy little pieces carved out of ivory but you are able to identify the pieces.

Also saw some early road construction/design instruments. Since it plays into what I do I thought I should take a photo. the chain for measuring and the circle thing was for surveying. These were used for Scotlands first paved roadways.

The museum also has a terrace deck so we went up to get another view of the Edinburgh castle and skyline. At least this time no steps were involved.

After the museum we walked around the university of Edinburgh campus. It is right in the center of town just a few blacks off high street. It was created in 1583 and surprisingly Scotland has 3 Universities older than 1583. The part of the campus we saw the buildings were not from the 16th century probably more like the early 1800s with some 1970 thrown in for fun. Part of the original school is on the other side of High Street and we went in there with Kate on our photo shoot.

The rest of the day we just wandered around. We shopped a little bit but not too much and went out for an Italian dinner. Ended up having pizza and a salad and called it a night early.

It doesn’t sound like a busy day but we did 22,000 steps and 17 flights of stairs which were more than any other day on the trip. So all in all a busy day.

Today is our last day with the tour. We pack up and head back to Edinburgh this morning. We have a few stops long the way so a little more fun before it is all over for another year.

Due to some bus driver timing out we got off to a later start than originally planned. everyone was happy about that. We missed a stop but we didn’t have to get our suitcases out quite so early and we time to enjoy another lavish breakfast. I hope someday to return to Gleneagles and rely enjoy the resort but they will need to have a sale on their off season prices to make it doable. Maybe it will show up on Groupon one day. More likely to win the lottery than that but fingers crossed.

Val and I walked around a little and found the golf shop. Of course we both found things to buy. Just a little bit more for my already over stuffed luggage. Everything is so nice and well manicured here I want to have something to show from it. I did buy a Christmas present so that is good.

From the bus we went to a little town to see some waterfalls. I think it was basically a sit for the historians to have one more lunch together. Alison always plans plenty of time to eat but since we had a late start and breakfast was such a feast I am not sure any of us were hungry. Mainly we walked around town looked at the gals and then had ice cream tea and cokes. It was a nice break but a little too long. From there we headed out to Linlithgow.

Linlithgow is mostly in ruins but it was once a royal residence for the Kings and Queens of Scotland. it was where Mary de Guise wanted for king James to return from battle just a week after MQS was born in one of the tower rooms. It was where James VI and Anna of Denmark spent time before he became King of England. It might have had a connection to Margaret Tudor as well but I can’t remember.

The building is done in both medieval arches and the renaissance Roman style. One interior wall fell overnight (makes you a little nervous to wk around it) back during James VI time and he replaced it and remodeled with in the Roman style. His crest and name are above the windows on the Roman side.

You can basically climb the towers or ramble around in the basement dungeon and kitchens. It was all a little spooky. We went up the tower but did not climb the last bit to the tower room. The staircase was outside and steep. Too much for me. You could see the remnants of an even worse staircase wrapping around the outside of the tower room. Not sure who used that or how. Today it is rightfully blocked off from use. regardless the 6 flights we went up in one rounding stone staircase was enough for me.

We had a little time to wander the grounds but then it was back on the bus for one last ride. The 10 days went too fast. We had such a great time and learned so much about the Scottish history and culture. I can’t wait to go back. It was a fabulous trip.

We has short reception at the hotel while our luggage was unloaded which gave us time to say goodbye to everyone. We made some good friends on this trip that hopefully we will see on another AWT tour or maybe even somewhere else down the road. Most people were leaving early the next morning and we will miss seeing them in the breakfast room and around the hotel.

Val and I have a few more days on our own. We haven’t been on our own and responsible for our own stuff and plans for ten days. We will see how it goes tomorrow.

Even though I very indulged last night I was up and ready to start our next to the last day of the tour. We stop a couple of places on our way back to Edinburgh tomorrow but really today feels like the end of the tour.

It started off great with the best breakfast spread in the best dining room I have ever seen. It puts the breakfast buffet at the Paris in Vegas to shame. Gleneagles does not mess around. I am very sad that I did not take any pictures but trust me it was amazing. It even had a spot down low for kids to pick out cereal, fruit and toppings. I went with the eggs baked into tomato sauce which were delicious. They had probably 10 types of juice and dozen of pastries plus all types of bread and cheeses. Of course they had all the breakfast standards even American bacon which I have not seen in Scotland.

The room was had probably 25/30 foot ceilings with big windows looking over the garden in the back. We talked about how pretty it would look done up for Christmas (it had a fire place) and somebody looked it up and it was so out of my price range I was shocked. I guess I won’t be celebrating Christmas in Scotland anytime soon.

We had a bit of time to wander before getting on the bus so we walked along the grounds. The golf course is right outside the hotel or as least the putting and chipping greens and other practice areas. The big course starts a bit farther away. Took a few pictures and headed back to meet the group.

Today we are off to Stirling. I think I have been to stirling before but I didn’t really remember much about it. I will have to dig out my old journals and see if I find it. Stirling has a big connection to Robert the Bruce and it is the location of where he defeated the English and really became King of Scotland. The castle also was where Margaret Tudor (Henry VIII sister who married James IV of Scotland) came when she first married the Scot King and was where the council came and took her son James V after his fathers death. MQS was crowned at Stirling and she was leaving Stirling when Bothwell captured her and led to their marriage and Mary’s downfall.

Today the castle is pretty empty. It is part of the historical trust and does not like many of the others we’ve seen that have a lived in look to them. Stirling is pretty bare. It is also restored to he they think it looked back it’s heyday. The historians always say that the medieval and renaissance kings and queens lived color and would have painted their walls and ceilings in bright colors. They have done that in Stirling and it looks like a Disney version of a castle. Everything they say indicates the colors are correct but it looked garish.

One ceiling I think was the great hall but not as big as some of the others had all these carved wooden disks of important people. They found most of them and could see traces of paint on them so they were painted. The ceiling itself is a reproduction but there was a museum onsite that had all the disks. They were really elaborate but I think they looked better without the paint. But the medieval royalty were gaudy and liked to show off.

After the castle we walked through the town but not much up in the old part and the new was way down the hill. I didn’t have another big climb in me so we just didn’t the old hilly part.

From Stirling we went to the Bannockburn battle site visitor center. Has far as battles it’s this is probably the best one I have ever been to as far as explaining what happened. Culloden had more artifacts and was more of a museum. This one was more of a guided tour with visual aides. They used big map and the guide told the story and pointed out the different areas so that it all made sense. Robert the Bruce fought the English here after his brother made a deal with the Sir Mowbry to give up the siege of Sir Mowbry would give up the Stirling peacefully if more English didn’t come by the next summer. The English army showed up with just a few days to spare but the Scot’s and been building their army and training so they held the high dry ground. The Scots won the day and chased the Brit’s and King Edward away. King Edward fled to Stirling but they wouldn’t let him in too worried about the ransom if the castle was taken with him in it.

Walked around a bit outside to see the other Bruce statue but was a little windy so didn’t stay out long. It wasn’t a long stop so we were soon heading back to the hotel to get all dressed up for dinner.

We didn’t have much time back at the hotel before heading off the Glamis Castle (pronounced Glams) for our final gala dinner. I pulled back out my sparkly dress and dressed quickly so that we could take some photos out by the flowers before we headed out. Still waiting to get these from Val.

Glamis Castle was the Queen mum’s childhood home. She grew up there, basically honeymooned there and continued to come to visit until she bought another estate not far off but on the water.

The castle had both the fortress look and the stately home feel. We started our evening with drinks and hor dourves in the sewing room. It had a big fireplace where most people were huddling because the castle was really cold even though the day had been surprisingly warm. The thick walls make all these castles cold. I think I need thicker walls at my house. I of course in my coat dress was not cold and could not stand by the fire. They passed around fried haggis balls which were much better than they sound. In fact it was the best haggis I had on the trip. The room was stuffed with furniture and paintings with a big round table at one end and a grand piano at the other. Through in around 50 people and I was nervous my big full stiff skirt was going to knock things off tables. Thankfully that did not happen.

From our reception we took a tour of the castle. Our guide was a bit animated but you could tell he was just very excited about his job. The bet port of the castle was the queen mums sitting room and bedroom. She had several photos out of her as a young girl and then of her two daughters. She cry at gave birth to Margaret at the castle. They also had the rocking horse Queen Elizabeth played on. In fact it was recently brought down by King Charles (before he was King). Those rooms had a nice personal touch and I a glad we got to go through them.

On a side note supposedly there is a ghost in the castle of one of the witches James V burned at the stake. We didn’t see her but after hearing her story and what she went through to get her to confess they deserve her haunting.

We were also piped into dinner which was held in the dining room which I guess not surprisingly could hold 50. The dinner was really nice. I had lamb and it was enough for three people. The wine flowed freely and I was sitting beside Sarah so it was a great evening.

After dinner we went down to exit and a highland military band could be heard in the distance and not long before it came around the corner of the castle. I have to say it gave the royal Yacht a run for its money as being my favorite part of the tour. There was just something about watching the band on a clear crisp night in front of a castle. I felt like I had gone through the stones to a different age. They played several songs then went to present themselves to the military commander of the castle which for tonight was one of the ladies on the tour who had served in the navy. She had designed her own tartan and had several pieces of clothing made from it and tonight was wearing the long straight skirt. She held herself with regal precision and looked amazing saluting the band. I was a bit jealous.

A dark night good food and drink and a highland drum and pipe band an excellent way to basically end the tour.

On our move from Inverness to Gleneagles we only had one stop at Blair Castle. It was one of the largest we visited and is set up well to offer many attractions.

We had been driving all over Scotland and every once in a while I would catch sight of the shaggy highland cows or coos as they say up here, but never with my phone out at the ready. Jo who is the wife of the tour coordinator and Alison’s uncle sets t the back of the bus with us and she had said that she had seen some cows up near Blair castle so I watched out the window with camera ready from the time we turned off the highway (highway might be overstating it a bit but it was one of the better roads we were on). I saw a few but they were on the wrong side for a good photo. I went through my map hoping we had to go back to the highway the way we came but I could see we wouldn’t have to. I was about to ask if maybe we could do it when we pulled into the parking lot and there these four were. Jo had been holding out. She said she was afraid to say that there castle had some in case they had moved them. Never have I been more frustrated with my back of the bus seat. I was afraid that everyone would scare them off before I got out to see them. Thankfully they didn’t and I got some good photos. They are super cute and the little calves darted around while the cows pretty mush just munched on grass. I was already happy with the stop and I hadn’t even really seen the castle.

Blair castle was started back in the 13th century but it is hard to see that part. Most was built in the 15th century but remodeled in the 1870s. A t is owned by the Duke of Atholl- originally the Earl of Atholl but somewhere along the way he got promoted. It has connections to Robert the Bruce, the Jacobite rebellion and Queen Victoria. It is also the home of the Atholl Highlanders which is one of the last private army regiments in the world. It provides guard service to Queen Victoria when she was in the Highlands but mostly just ceremonial roles now.

Queen Victoria nd Prince Albert stayed on their way to Balmoral and there are some things from her time here. They pointed out the room she used which had a small bed that supposedly she and Albert used. (Clearly Elizabeth II was not sharing that tiny bed on the Britannia with Phillip.). It also had the chest of drawers used by Prince Albert that had 7 drawers and his clothes were laid out for the day of the week with Sunday clothes going in the top drawer. Sunday clothes being your finest day wear this is where the saying top drawer came from. You never know what you are going to learn from an Alison Weir tour.

I also learned that the people invited to the coronations had to pay for their chairs. The coronations were a big expense on those attending. They had to have the robes, chairs and back in the day had to find horse drawn carriages no new finagled automobiles for these events.

Also with other houses this one had a huge display of weapons in the entrance hall. All designed to be impressive as visitors entered. Not the most inviting decor but I guess powerful and deadly were better things to show off.

We walked through the gardens before the house but they weren’t really all that exciting. It was a large and I mean enormous walled garden named the Hercules garden due to the Hercules statute that is not inside the walled garden. Walked the whole thing looking forward only to learn it was on the outside but surprising not near either of the gates. It did have baby ducks so all is forgiven.

After touring the house val and I walked down to the meadow where the sheep were grazing in a field of dandelions. We have seen so many sheep on this trip in fields along the highway but again this is the first time we could get good photos. The babies are so cute. They stand so proud and strong and basically just stare you down until mama sheep walks away and they go scurrying after her.

We tried to see the cows again as we got back to the bus but they were too far away. Really I should not be so stingy. I had been trying to take their picture from a moving bus and now I got to be really close so I should be happy with what I got but they are so cute.

From Blair Castle we headed out to Gleneagles which is our fancy hotel on this trip and is it ever fancy. It is a world class golf resort that has also held world leader summits. Sadly we don’t have much free time to enjoy the amenities that range from golfing to archery from fishing to falconry, horse back riding to spa facilities and anything in between. tonight we barely have time to change for our dinner. Val and I got a great room in the old original 1924 part of the hotel and it was lovely. The newer rooms were bigger but ours was great.

Dinner was lovely a great recovery from the fiasco at the Inverness hotel. After dinner I went with a few others to the bar to try some whiskey. After a lot of wine at dinner I might not have needed the whiskey which then led to me getting a pink gin and tonic and closing down the bar. At least I didn’t buy any concert tickets after having this pink drink.

I love a good castle and today we did two with a pub lunch in between. The first stop was Cawdor Castle of Shakespeare and Macbeth fame. Although for our purposes we were at the actual history. Macbeth did in fact exist but the castle was not completed during his lifetime. Shakespeare made him Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor but there was no evidence that he was the actual Thane.

The house was built around a living holly tree in 1454 and you can see it in the dungeon or as we would call it the basement. Although it probably was a dungeon back in the day. In all my many photos I somehow missed the tree but I do have a lovely photo of the dungeon cells.

The current Dowager Countess lives in the house. She moves out during the summer while the castle is open for tours. So although very stately you can also see that it would be comfortable to live in. They said they only moved the furniture out of the way of the paths but I do imagine they move in maybe at least one or two comfy chairs for lounging. Who knows maybe the aristocracy does not lounge. One room was set up and describes as a Singleton for the stay of a single guest.

As you will see in Cawdor Castle and many other homes and castles on this trip, swords and muskets were often used for decor. It seems at least one wall is decked out with a circle of swords or guns. Which shows the importance and the overwhelming number of weapons throughout Scotland.

My favorite part of the grounds was the woodland garden which was basically trails through the woods. There was a nice rambling stream that ran behind the castle which added to the peacefulness of the visit. The walk through the woods was a great escape from the busy days on the tour.

Of course there were also some formal gardens. A little early for the garden flowers but still lovely.

After the castle we stopped at the local pub for a Sunday pub dinner. I chose the traditional roast dinner and it did not disappoint. It was delicious. Sadly I forgot to take a picture or maybe I was hungry and couldn’t wait to dig in. I finished with basically a fudge brownie sundae. The best lunch of the trip. So if ever in Cawdor try out the Cawdor Tavern. Outside the tavern was a lawn bowls club and several people were out playing. Seems like a perfect Sunday afternoon activity.

From lunch we headed out to Ballindalloch Castle. The castle was built in 1542by John Grant who may or may not be my ancestors. My maternal grandmother is a Grant and my DNA shows that I am 56 % Scottish (the rest of me is British, Welsh, Ireland and a little Scandinavian.)

I am sure something historical happened here but I can’t remember what it was. What I do remember is that this estate shows how these families are making these big estates work today. The family opens the home for tours and events, raises cattle, have wind turbines and a whiskey distillery amongvarious other activities. It was interesting to see how it works.

We also got to meet the Baroness and her husband and saw the new laird in passing. They were driving by from their new home down the way and stopped to talk. Their sone is the new laird and he and his family live in the house. They were super cute and she told stories of when her father became the Baroness and Laird and they moved into the castle. He inherited it from her naughty uncle George. This was one of the days the tour split into 2 groups and Alison went off with the other group. I think they were a little disappointed that they didn’t get to meet her. However they were still super cute and posed for pictures. Since we were mainly Americans they talked about Americans that had stayed there and if we were ever to see Robert Zemeckis we should tell him that they said hi. Actually one of the people on the tour does sound editing for movies and does know Bob so maybe she will be able to tell him that they remember his visit.

After the castle we returned for another night in Inverness. Val and I tried to go here some local music. One of the girls had gone out the night before and said the Hootenanny was the place to be. It showed to have ceilidh music from 6:30 – 845 so I thought it would be perfect not too late since we had to pack to move hotels the next morning. We walked into town passing several where we could here Scottish music but kept going to the Hootenanny. The bar wasn’t packed but all the best standing places were taken and the tables reserved for those eating. I got a beer and hoped that the music would be good. There were 5 people with instruments but there was no mics so it wasn’t ever very loud and the crowd never really got into it. We stayed until i finished my beer and walked back to the hotel. We can say we went to a Ceilidh but it wasn’t what I thought it would be. Might try again in Edinburgh

Since we had such a big lunch Val and I split a fish and chips in the bar. The French fries were delicious the fish not so much. So not our best night but all in all two castles in one day is always a good day.

Our morning started with a full Scottish breakfast minus the haggis and black pudding. Not sure I am ever going to understand the draw of pinto beans and mushrooms with my eggs. But I guess breakfast tacos would be weird to the Scottish. They did have some delicious granola which I am going to miss when we move on.

The first stop was Culloden. It is the first day we were happy to have overcast skies. A sunny day would just seem weird while walking the field where so many highlanders lost their life. Julian has worked on the museum and information supplies in the audio guides. So he was well prepared to show us the highlights. We have heard a lot about the Jacobite rebellion and BPC so we were well prepared to see where the story pretty much came to conclusion.

The museum is set up without the often romantic view of the highland cause. The British army was not a horrible killing machine but a well trained army fighting to preserve the established government. I did not realize that the Duke of Cumberland was the 25 year old son of the King George II. He was well liked by his men and as portrayed in Outlander his birthday was the night before the battle and BPC did try a sneak attack to catch them drunk from the celebration. has the story goes they got lost and then were all tired the day of the battle.

The highland charge that had been so successful in previous battles was not enough to overcome the well trained army who had practiced new tactics and had better artillery. has our tour guides Julien and Micheal continually repeated that the English took the BPC and the Scottish position serious and planned and prepared to defend again the attack in 1745 and any future attacks by building forts like Fort George that we visited earlier).

The battlefield conservatory owns only about a fourth of the actual battle ground. The part that is owned is the far north portion where the two lines of soldiers were closer together than at the other end. It was this misalignment that caused additional trouble for the highlanders as those on one end got to the British much more quickly than the others and in fact lead to some of the highlanders to never charge. Without the charge the highlanders had no advantage and were never going to win in a gun or artillery battle.

One of the questions is why did the highlanders fight that day. They could have snuck around the British and headed back up to Edinburgh or elsewhere in Scotland but they stayed and fought. It appears BPC did not want to run again. He had already turned back from his route into London and he was running out of money to fund the advance. He also knew that the British never had captures the ship carrying additional funds from France and that no other aid was likely to be sent. it was either fight and win at Culloden or disband nd head home. It is thought BPC did not want o be seen as his dad was in 175 when he got chased out of Great Britain.

Walking through the battlefields the ground looks endless. The ground is uneven, soft and marshy. not the ideal place to run 400 yards. The clans have laid out stones to identify their fallen. The British are all just buried together regardless that there were several highland and Scottish clans that fought for the English. I walked the distance from the Jacobite line to the English and I have no idea how the highlanders ran the entire way to take on the English in hand to hand combat.

It was a moving experience to walk where basically a way of life died.

Now onto Act II of the day – looking for Nessie. Our first stop is the Loch Ness Center. The center is the old hotel where the majority of sightings from the 1930 and it is basically a Disney type display of not only the eco system of the Loch Ness and the Loch Ness monster myth. You move from room to room getting different information and end with a vote on whether you believe Nessie is real, a hoax or a possibility. It is not as cheesy a it sounds but more for families.

From the center we rushed to catch a boat to take a short bit cruise. The cruise take you down Loch Ness and passes the ruins of Castle Urquhert. The castle was built in the 16th century and used for several until raided in the 1700s. It had been abandoned for years before a storm brought even more of the castle down. Now it is a lovely set of ruins right on the waters edge.

It was windy and cold on the boat but we stuck it out outside to get some photos then moved downstairs for the return trip to the dock.

The ride back to the hotel was pretty uneventful and we had dinner at the hotel bar so it was an early evening and our second day in Inverness came to close.