personal experience travel – Page 6

January 31, 2021

My First Real Trip to Anywhere – Part 2

In 1983, my first real vacation trip to anywhere, inside or outside of the US, was to London with my mom. We had both wanted to go there all of our lives. We were finally there and were overwhelmingly thrilled.

After finally getting a good night’s sleep, we headed out to the Museum of London. One of the things that I love about this museum is that its exhibits are in chronological order, beginning with what has been unearthed in London from prehistory. The building itself straddles part of what remains of the Roman wall that used to surround Londinium and was enlarged to surround Medieval London up until the time of the Great Fire of 1666. Many of the exhibits take you back to a specific time in London’s history, such as Victorian London or during the Great Fire of 1666.

From the Museum of London, we walked a few blocks to St Paul’s Cathedral. I was especially interested in the crypts with the tombs of Admiral Horatio Nelson, Sir Christopher Wren, and the Duke of Wellington. This version of the cathedral had been built by Wren after the Great Fire destroyed the previous version. There had been a cathedral on the site since 604 AD.

From St Paul’s, after lunch, we set off for the Tower of London. On the way, we stopped at the former Roman Forum where the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange and the Lord Mayor’s Residence could be seen. Then we headed towards the river so we could take a look at the Monument to the Great Fire at the head of Pudding Lane, where the fire began at a baker’s shop. I have a real interest in history and love to visit places where historic events took place and picture what happened there.

We should have backtracked up to Eastcheap instead of making our way along Lower Thames Street. Rookie mistake. I did not realize that the area was not the best until I saw that we were totally alone and then noticed that we were being followed by a couple of men. That was when I steered Mom north towards Eastcheap. Fortunately we made it safely to the Tower. It is always important to be aware of your surroundings and try to walk along in more populated areas.

In 1983, not as much of the Tower of London complex was open as there is now. Many, many changes have be made over the years to make it a truly remarkable experience. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the wonderful Yeoman Warder (other than that there are now females as well as males). These folks are very, very knowledgeable and very personable. Talking to one or more of them during a visit can give you a lot more knowledge as well as some cool ghost stories (and often a lot of legends). They live there at the Tower and experience some amazing things after all of the visitors are gone. Starting your tour of the complex by joining one of their tours is well worth it.

The Victorian Tower Bridge is another structure that I find fascinating. On this particular trip, we did not cross the bridge, but did so in 1991 so we could also explore the part of London over on the other side of the Thames.

Instead of taking the underground back from the Tower, we started a tradition of taking the boat back to Westminster Pier and walking back to our hotel from there. Since that trip, every time I have been in London with or without Mom, I have always taken the boat to Westminster Pier, no matter how I got to the Tower in the first place.

The following day, we started out at the British Museum. I was really impressed by the Babylonian and Assyrian monuments as well as the Greek statues and Elgin Marbles. The Rosetta Stone was wonderful to see. We were amazed that we could get so close to it. Then there were all of the Egyptian statues and mummies. I had seen one mummy in a small museum when I had been a child. Here there were rooms full of them. It wasn’t until I went to Egypt and visited the Cairo Museum that I saw an even larger display of mummies and other Egyptian artifacts.

We also visited the British Library and looked at some original works by Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare, as well as a copy of the Magna Carta.

After lunch, we visited Dickens’ London home on Doughty Street. This was where he completed The Pickwick Papers, wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, and began Barnaby Rudge. Mom and I were the only visitors at the time and had a costumed guide all to ourselves. We enjoyed having a private tour with a fellow who knew all about Dickens and the house and looked like he had just stepped out of one of Dickens’ novels.

Before heading back to the hotel, we took the tube to Marble Arch. This monumental arch used to stand in front of Buckingham Palace until Queen Victoria had it banished to its current location at a roundabout. We walked along Oxford Street towards Piccadilly to do a little bit of shopping. I ended up getting one of those bulky, cable knit, highly British sweaters for 14 GBP.

Next time – My First Real Trip to Anywhere Part 3 – where Mom and I experienced the Trooping the Colour (and saw the entire Royal Family, including Princess Diana), visited the Royal Tombs in Westminster Abbey, and took the boat to Greenwich.

December 20, 2020

The Mysterious Meeting on Blackfriars Bridge

When the bus to The Making of Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour returned to the Victoria Bus Station, I walked along Buckingham Palace Road from there to Victoria Street to visit Westminster Cathedral. The only connection that Westminster Cathedral has to Westminster Abbey is that they are both located in the part of London called Westminster and are both essentially on Victoria Street (although it is called Broad Sanctuary by the time it reaches the Abbey).

Westminster Cathedral is a Catholic Cathedral, built in the 19^th century in the neo-Byzantine style, influenced by the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. It was that influence that made me curious to see it. The exterior is striped with white stone and red brick. The interior is covered with mosaics. The Hagia Sophia influence was the mosaics. Otherwise the basic floor plan of the cathedral was a standard, western, crucifix with side chapels and one long nave.

There was a very interesting glass coffin containing Saint John Southworth, who was a Catholic martyr in the 17^th century. He was hanged, drawn & quartered. But his pieces were gathered up, sewn together and parboiled to preserve them. I do have to admit that I was glad there was a gold mask over his face.

I took a taxi back to the hotel. A friend of mine, who had never been to London before, was supposed to be flying in that day and was going to contact me so we could get together for dinner. I waited for quite a while to hear from him and even tried texting him at one point. Unbeknownst to me, he was having some issues with his phone.

At about 8:20pm I received a text asking me to meet him in the middle of Blackfriars Bridge at 8:30pm. The only way I was going to make it in time was to take another cab. Fortunately, since the hotel was right next door to Charing Cross Rail Station, a line of taxis was always there ready to take folks coming into the station to their destinations. I leapt into one, apologized to the driver for the strange request I was about to make and sat back as I was taken to the bridge, arriving just in time to see my friend walking towards me.

Actually the driver spotted him before I did. I lowered the window and called out to him. Then I paid the driver and hopped out of the cab.

From the bridge, we headed up towards Fleet Street, but I wanted to show him the Temple first. By this time of night, there was only one entrance open and that was the entrance nearest to where we were. Not being a resident of the area, I explained to the person manning the guard house why I wanted to come in for a short time. She was fine with it and let us in.

The Temple had once belonged to the Knights Templar. The only vestige of their prior ownership was the Temple Church. The rest of the area that belonged to the Templars from the 12^th through the 14^th centuries had been taken over by two of the Inns of Court – the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple from the 14^th century on.

Wat Tyler had sacked the Temple during the late 14^th century Peasant’s Revolt. One of the Jack the Ripper suspects lived on King’s Bench Walk in the Temple. The War of the Roses began at the Temple when each side picked a rose from the Temple rose garden to symbolize their cause.

I knew my way around when coming in through the entrance under Prince Henry’s Rooms on Fleet Street. But I had never entered the Temple from this particular entrance before and so was unable to navigate the maze satisfactorily to get to the Temple Church from there. I was able to point out the rose garden and King’s Bench Walk however, and called it a day.

I had planned that we would eat at the George Pub, which was a very old, very traditional, half-timbered Elizabethan pub at about the spot where Fleet Street became The Strand. So I wasn’t in any big hurry as we sauntered along Fleet Street. I pointed out St Dunstan’s Church which was reportedly where Sweeney Todd hid the remains of his victims in the crypt (until the stench started coming up into the church).

I told him about the Great Fire stopping just before Prince Henry’s Rooms (so they were authentic to their time) and that Prince Henry would have been king instead of Charles I had he lived. What a difference in history that might have been.

We walked by the Griffin marking the border of the official City of London from the rest of London (and where Fleet Street became The Strand) and gazed at the Royal Courts of Justice (where civil trials are heard) before turning our attention to the George Pub. Although it still looked the same outside, it had radically changed its menu since I was there last (and probably had changed ownership too). It had gone from being a traditional pub with traditional pub food to being a trendy restaurant with trendy, and expensive, food.

So we walked a couple blocks further along The Strand and had our dinner at a café. We sat by the window and marveled about how we were hanging out in London instead of Minneapolis. Had I known that the George had changed, I would have taken him to the Olde Cock Tavern (16^th century) just a short distance before Prince Henry’s Rooms. I had wanted to show him a place with some real traditional English atmosphere. Oh well.

After dinner, we continued along The Strand, veering off to Trafalgar Square to take a look at it all lit up at night before getting a few groceries for him from the Sainsbury’s by my hotel and putting him into a cab at the Charing Cross rail station. He was staying in the part of town near Victoria Station.

Then I prepared for my flight home the following day. I thought it was a shame that we only had that one evening in common.

Next – some time spent at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia where Confederate General Robert E Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S Grant to end the American Civil War.

December 6, 2020

Harry Potter London Studio Tour

Once upon a time when I was buying some DVDs, they had a special to buy so many and get so many free. So I picked up the first Harry Potter movie for free. I loved it. I went on to see them all.

When a day trip to The Making of Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour in London popped up when I was researching what I might want to do while in London on my 2017 trip, I signed up. I just needed to be at the pickup point at the Victoria Bus Station by a particular time, show the ticket I printed off once it was booked and climb onto a purple double-decked bus.

This was a tour of the actual sets, props, and costumes used in the Harry Potter films. In addition to being a fan of those films, I have always had a fascination regarding the making of movies and television in general. Therefore I had visited other studios in the US when I had been out in LA. I had also managed to be involved with filming a few movies when I worked in the recording industry in NYC fresh out of school. So I had been able to watch firsthand how some of it was done. Then there was my double major in Theatre & Radio/Television with a minor in music.

A few of the chess pieces from the very first film were arranged outside to greet us as we approached the building. Then we joined in the long and winding line to actually get in. This tour was a popular one. When booking, both the date and the time were booked ahead so they wouldn’t have everybody showing up at the same time on the same day.

The line did move relatively quickly. All around the top of the hall we were in were photos of all of the actors. Shortly before being able to get into the auditorium, we could see the cupboard under the stairs. This was where the Dursleys had kept Harry before he went to Hogwarts School.

We entered a very large auditorium where I could see that there were some seats open on the front row just right of center. I chose one of those, sat down, and the introductory film began.

When the film ended, the screen rose up into the ceiling and a couple of very large doors were visible. A woman said a few more things and then invited us into Hogwarts. That was when the giant doors opened and there was the set for the Great Hall – also immense.

I was one of the first people through the doors since I was in the front row and didn’t need to gather anything or anyone before getting up and going in. They had mannequins representing several of the characters and dressed in costumes that had been used in the movies.

I had plenty of time, so I took my time looking around and taking photos. Also, I had learned long ago that when you have a fair amount of people around you who are jumping and screaming and terribly excited, it is a good idea to let them get far away from you. Otherwise trying to take photos and even being able to see things can be difficult.

From the dining hall, an enormous sound stage was entered that had exhibits all over the place. They had it all arranged so that you could flow through fairly logically and there was plenty of room to be able to see everything without being crowded out or rushed along. There wasn’t a guide that needed to be followed. There was, however, plenty of staff who could be questioned.

Grouped together were the Yule Ball Ice Castle and the costumes from the dance (from the Goblet of Fire film), the staircase that swings around and the portraits with it, plus the Leaky Cauldron (the pub in London on Charing Cross Road from which one could enter Diagon Alley). Across from the Leaky Cauldron were the Gryffindor boys’ dorm and the Common Room. Then the off-kilter hallway that was also in the Leaky Cauldron.

A very large set was the Potions Lab with both Snape and Quirrell (who was in the first film). The Goblet of Fire itself, the egg that could only be opened underwater without it shreiking, and the Tri-Wizard Cup were logically grouped together, since they came from the same movie. Shelves crammed full of other props were next to these items. Another enormous set piece was the Hogwarts Pendulum Clock.

A favorite of mine was Dumbledore’s office. The Griffin that guarded it came first. Then, at the entrance of the office was the Pensive with the bottles containing people’s memories that had been extracted. The office was quite cool, having multiple levels to it. The fact that it was the actual set used made it really intriguing.

Things often look so much larger on film than in reality. This was not the case when it came to most of the sets. There were only a couple, the interior of Hagrid’s Cottage, The Burrow (the Weasley Cottage), and parts of the Ministry of Magic that were quite small in reality.

A collection of broomsticks and the Quidditch equipment and uniforms were next. The Whomping Willow had a hold of the flying car, which was next to the door to the Chamber of Secrets with its snakes.

Barty Crouch Jr had imprisoned Mad-Eye Moody inside of the lowest level of a multi-level trunk in Goblet of Fire. The trunk was sitting fully open.

Between the Burrow and Malfoy Manor was a display of Horcruxes. A meeting of several of the Death Eaters (from one of the Deathly Hallows films) was taking place at Malfoy Manor, which included Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Beatrix Lestrange, and the snake Nagini.

Dolores Umbridge’s pink office and some of her costumes were on display. Then, through a creaky gate, was the entrance to the Forbidden Forest where we were able to encounter Buckbeak, Aragog (the giant spider), and the dog patronous.

The final exhibit in that part of the studios was Platform 9 ¾ from Kings Cross Station. They had the actual engine and the train cars used in the film. It was tough to get close enough to the engine since everyone was determined to get a selfie with it. Folks also wanted photos of themselves pushing the cart through the wall. There were several of those on the other side of the platform from the train. Oddly enough, not as many people were interested in taking a photo of Ron and Harry in the train car with Ron’s rat Scabbers (and tons of candy).

Before going outside to the sets there, I stopped for some lunch, including some butterbeer. I could keep the mug. So I cleaned it off best I could, wrapped it in several napkins and stuffed it into my camera bag.

Outside was the triple-decker purple Knight Bus. It was possible to get on it and look around. The Dursley Home (No. 4 Privet Drive) was there. It was possible to go inside and see the letters flying around from the first movie when Harry received his invitation to Hogwarts.

The long, covered bridge from Hogwarts and the Potter Cottage at Godric’s Hollow were also out there. I could walk on the bridge, but not enter the cottage. Several more chess pieces were standing just outside of the next building. They were so realistic I almost expected them to move as they had done in the first film.

The building had a lot of the animated pieces for the movies, such as Nearly Headless Nick’s head (played by John Cleese), the dragons (both large and mini), the elves, the goblins, the troll, the Dementors (who guarded Azkaban, the wizarding prison), the werewolf (Professor Lupin), the Thestrals (who drew the carriages to Hogwarts from the train station), the Grindelows (the mer-people in the lake at Hogwarts), and Dobby (everyone’s favorite house elf). Most of the magical menagerie creatures were there.

After seeing all of the creatures and special effects, it was time to take a stroll along Diagon Alley. All of the special shops were there – Eeylops Owl Emporium, Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor, Flourish & Blotts bookseller, Gambol and Japes (a wizarding joke shop), Madame Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, the Magical Menagerie, Ollivanders wand shop, Potage’s Cauldron Shop, Quality Quidditch Supplies, Slug and Jiggers Apothecary, Twilfitt and Tatting’s clothing, Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment, and Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. Then there was Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

Beyond Diagon Alley was a room with loads of miniatures and models used in filming the series followed by a huge room with the full model of Hogwarts Castle. It was very detailed and fun to view.

Next time – a mysterious meeting on Blackfriar’s Bridge

November 22, 2020

Covent Garden & Soho

The Scotsman Hotel was right across the street from the Waverly Train Station. After checking out, all I needed to do was take the elevator down to the lowest level, cross the street and then look at the boards inside the train station to see from which platform my train would be leaving.

On the four hour train ride back to London, I sat with two really enjoyable ladies. The first one got on the train with me in Edinburgh and the other joined us in Newcastle. They both went all the way to London with me and helped the time fly by.

This time in London, I was staying at the Amba Charing Cross Hotel, which is on the Strand, right next to the Charing Cross Train Station. As soon as I checked in, I headed out to spend some time in the Covent Garden and Soho areas. First I headed up Charing Cross Road to say farewell to Wyndhams Theatre and its production of Don Juan in Soho. Then I went over to St Paul’s Covent Garden.

Built by Inigo Jones in 1633, St Paul’s was nicknamed the Actor’s Church. Several actors have memorials there including Peter O’Toole, Vivian Leigh, Boris Karloff, Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, and others. During a past visit, there had been a plaque that indicated that some of the plague victims from 1665 were buried underneath the garden. I couldn’t find that sign on this particular trip. But I found the photo I had taken of the sign on the prior trip once I got home. It is among the photos I have included.

I stopped in at Covent Garden Market and explored the shops that were there. I missed the Dolls House shop that used to be there for several years. I always found something unique and highly British to buy there. Several tea shops were still there as were shops like Crabtree & Evelyn. More pubs and other places to eat were there than had been in the past plus more souvenir shops. Stopped to take a photo of the Royal Opera House before heading off to the Lamb & Flag.

Mom and I used to have lunch at the Lamb & Flag when we visited London together. They had good pub grub. In 1679, King Charles II sent men to confront the poet John Dryden out in the narrow street next to the pub and to beat the living daylights out of him. He had published a not too gentlemanly satirical verse against one of the king’s mistresses. The building itself dates from early 18^th century (after Dryden’s encounter with the king’s men) and became a pub in 1772.

At that point in time that particular area of Covent Garden was rather violent. The upstairs room of the pub held bare-knuckle prize fights causing the pub to be called “The Bucket of Blood”. By the 19^th century, things had calmed down a bit and Charles Dickens used to frequent the place. The upstairs room is now used for serving food while downstairs is more of a bar and gathering place.

From the Lamb & Flag, I set off for Maiden Lane, which is the street between Covent Garden and The Strand. The oldest continuous restaurant in London, Rules was established in 1798 and still serves traditional British food – classic game, oysters, pies, and puddings. It was where the future King Edward VII wooed the actress Lillie Langtry when he was still Prince of Wales.

Other famous actors and authors who dined there have included Henry Irving, Laurence Olivier, Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, John Barrymore, Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, and H G Wells. I have never dined there myself. But Mom and I had a traditional British dinner at the nearby Simpson’s on the Strand during a visit that included my birthday.

Back in 1897, the actor William Terriss (known for playing swashbuckling heros) was murdered in Maiden Lane just outside of the stage door of the Adelphi Theatre. The man who stabbed him was a fellow actor who had become unhinged. He spent the rest of his life in an insane asylum.

Heading down the narrow Bull Inn Court towards the Strand, I encountered the Nell Gwynne Tavern. On a plaque outside of the tavern it says, “Built on the site of the Old Bull Inn, the Nell Gwynne Tavern was named after the infamous mistress of King Charles II. Nell, born and raised in this locality, sold fruit in nearby Covent Garden before gaining fame as an actress on the Drury Lane stage. Samuel Pepys, the renowned diarist, describes seeing ‘the mighty pretty Nell’ on his way to the Strand in 1667.”

The Nell Gwynne is a fairly small, cozy pub with some tasty toasties on the short menu. I liked both the food and the atmosphere of the place and didn’t feel odd going there with my mother in prior years or on my own.

The rather weathered Statue of Charles II that has stood near the center of Soho Square since 1681 figures in the comedy Don Juan in Soho. At one point it even comes to life for the rather snozzled Don Juan. So I am including a photo of him too.

Next time – a visit to the London Warner Brothers Studios where much of the Harry Potter movies were filmed to see the sets, costumes, and props from the films.

November 8, 2020

Anstruther & St Andrews with a Stop in Falkland

My last full day in Scotland on this particular trip involved a day trip from Edinburgh to Anstruther and St Andrews with a stop in Falkland. I had been to St Andrews several times before, but only passing through, with just a half hour or an hour to spend there. This time I would have about three hours.

Whenever heading north from Edinburgh the route goes through South Queensferry as both the rail bridge and a couple car and truck bridges take folks across to the other side of the Firth of Forth. The Queen in question was Saint Margaret, consort of King Malcolm Canmore. This time, when we stopped, I zoomed in with my camera on the rail bridge and caught a train on its way to Inverness. I think sometime I should take the train from Edinburgh to Inverness just so I can ride across that bridge.

Founded as a fishing village in 1225, Anstruther (pronounced like “ANN-stir”) is now a resort village on the north coast of the Firth of Forth where it meets the North Sea. It is a pretty little village that can be walked from end to end without much effort.

Anstruther is another British place name that illustrates how British English and American English can be slightly different. There is Belvoir Castle, which is pronounced “Beaver” (don’t ask). Leicester Square in London = “Lester”. Southwark Cathedral = “SUTH-erk”. One of my favorites isn’t a place — it is just the British word for aluminum, which is aluminium (“al-u-MINI-um”).

We were dropped off at a spot where we could use restrooms and get some coffee. We would be picked up at the other end of the main road bordering the water in about 45 minutes. I had plenty of time to walk around, explore and take photos.

When we got to St Andrews, we were given the choice of being dropped off at one of three places – the main street in town, the Old Course, or the Cathedral. We would be picked up at the in town drop off spot in three hours, so we were all shown where that was first. Then we drove over to the Old Course.

The public cn have lunch at the Clubhouse. It isn’t necessary to be a member. There is a museum a short distance from there. A ways across the course is the hotel where a lot of the golfers who come to play stay. It also isn’t necessary to be a member to play the course, but there is a long wait for a tee time. So advanced planning is necessary.

Several people jumped off at the Old Course. The rest of us headed off to the cathedral. There were only three of us that got off there. The others were apparently going into town for lunch first.

I had never had time to visit the cathedral. On the other trips to St Andrews we had been dropped off at the Old Course and had to hot foot it at a sprightly pace down the road to the castle. I could only gaze at the cathedral longingly from the road next to the castle. So this trip, it was my first priority.

St Andrews Cathedral was built in the 12^th century and was ransacked and ruined during the Scottish Reformation in the 16^th century. The grounds over which the ruins are scattered are quite extensive. Many people have been buried there throughout the centuries. Some of the tombstones depicted the person buried beneath as a golfer. What a place for a lifelong golfer to be buried!

After I took all the photos I wanted, I headed over to the town to get some lunch. Since we had had our lunch stop in St Andrews on the first day of the Scottish Castles Experience tour, I had learned about the main drag of St Andrews and had a pretty good idea of the pubs along the road.

I had been to a pub down closer to the fountain in the middle of the road, but didn’t want to go too far that way since I wanted to visit the castle after lunch. The road to the castle was fairly close to where I had come out of the cathedral grounds. So I opted for the first pub that looked welcoming and had an open table.

One of my favorite pub lunches is a ploughman’s lunch which includes bread, cheese, usually some sort of pate or ham, and maybe a hard-boiled egg. If they don’t have a ploughman’s lunch, I will often get fish & chips unless they have something else interesting like bangers & mash (sausage and mashed potatoes), toad in the hole (sausage baked inside of some Yorkshire pudding), Scotch eggs (soft-boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat and bread crumps and deep fried), or Welsh Rarebit (a cheese toast usually made with sharp cheddar and a spicy mustard). I know. Healthy dining! That’s why I like to get the ploughman’s lunch. It is the least of all evils.

I do like to eat in pubs because they are much cheaper than restaurants and take much less time to get your food. You also order at the bar, so no waiting on the server to come around. And you usually pay when you order, so can leave when done instead of waiting for the bill. It is plenty of food for me too.

Sometimes I will do a café, especially one in a museum or other attraction that I am visiting (such as the one at Holyrood Palace). I prefer to eat the local cuisine, so I tend to avoid American fast food shops unless I am really pressed for time and/or desperate.

The particular pub I chose had a board outside that said they had a ploughman’s lunch. So I ordered that and a half pint of local Scottish dark ale. They served grape jelly with the meal. It was not to spread on the bread, but to eat with the pate. The first time that happened years ago I thought that it would most likely be disgusting, as peanut butter and liverwurst had been (which was a common sandwich on offer at several sandwich shops). But I was wrong. It was delicious.

Now well fortified, I headed for the castle. I had made a hurried tour of the castle several years before when I had an hour total in St Andrews. This time I wanted to take the trail down to the water’s edge. Then I would see how much time I had left to tour the castle again before I needed to be at the pickup point.

I often overestimate how much time something will take, especially since I have fairly short little legs. But I can get those stubby limbs in gear and cover a lot of ground quickly. More than one tour director has commented on how fast I can move. I think it’s because of having to spend so much of my life keeping up with people much taller than me.

I got to the top of the trail quickly (even with stopping to take a couple photos on the way) and headed down, knowing it would take longer to get back up the trail than down it. Fortunately it wasn’t too steep. It was also worth it. I loved the photo of the castle with a couple of the university buildings behind it.

The castle had been built in the 12^th century for the bishops of St Andrews Cathedral. Cardinal David Beaton had the protestant preacher George Wishart burned at the stake in front of the castle in 1546. There was a marker in the street just before reaching the trail down to the beach.

Later in the same year, the Cardinal was murdered and his body hung out of the castle window. The Protestants were in control of the castle, but not for long. A French fleet bombarded the castle with enough canon fire to render it defenseless and it has been a ruin ever since.

When I came back up from the beach, I found I still had plenty of time to visit the ruins. So I paid the fee and went in to see the bottle dungeon.

Located in the northwest tower of the castle, the bottle dungeon was shaped like a bottle, with a narrow opening at the top through which the prisoner was lowered. One prisoner was even Archbishop Patrick Graham who was imprisoned in his own castle when he was judged to be insane. It is also said the body of Cardinal Beaton was stored in a chest of salt in the bottle dungeon during the siege of the castle.

I had timed my walk to the castle from the main road and so knew how long the return trip would take me. But the pickup point was a fairly long haul down South Street in front of Madras College (one of the colleges of St Andrews University). So once I had looked down into the bottle dungeon, gazed out at the sea, and climbed up on a part of the walls that was still standing, I headed back along the castle road and then down South Street.

I arrived at our rendezvous with about 15 minutes to spare, so I crossed the street to the place advertising ice cream and purchased a double scoop cone to savor as I sat on the low wall and waited for the tour coach. As others in the group arrived and asked where I had gotten my ice cream, I pointed them in the shop’s direction. By the time our chariot arrived, nearly all of us had ice cream.

On the way back to Edinburgh, we had a stop at Falkland in front of Falkland Palace. Our driver/guide told us we had time to tour the castle if we wanted, so I decided to buy a ticket and see it again. I really liked that castle.

This time, we were on our own instead of being taken around by a guide who explained everything. I was still regretting that we couldn’t take any photos. But I got a really good look at everything by being decisive and ending up first in line. That way there weren’t a lot of people in the room with me. They also took longer because they would stop and read the signs telling them what the room was and some history. Most of the time, I had whatever room I was in to myself.

When I got back to Edinburgh, I decided to stop in at the private bar in the hotel just for guests. I had a drink called a Strawberry Whisky Smash, which contained Dewars blended Scotch, strawberry, lemonade and mint. My second drink was a French Martini. This consisted of vodka, Chambord, and pineapple juice. Then I picked up a sandwich in the shop next door to the hotel and packed up to be ready to leave for the London train the next day.

Next time – return to London and spend time wandering around the Covent Garden area.

October 25, 2020

Scottish Castles Experience Day 4 – Ruthven Barracks, Dalwhinnie Distillery, Pitlochary, Loch Leven Castle, and Back to Edinburgh

In the area of Badenoch, Scotland, sits the remains of Ruthven Barracks. The British Government forces built Ruthven on a former castle mount in 1721 after the Jacobite rising of 1715. The barracks could accommodate 120 troops and 18 horses. The walls had loopholes for musket firing and bastion towers built at opposite corners.

In 1746 prior to the Battle of Culloden, the commander of Ruthven surrendered to a fairly sizeable force of Jacobites after a short siege and battle. The day after Culloden, roughly 3,000 Jacobites retreated to Ruthven but were sent home by Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) as their cause was determined to be hopeless. As they departed, the Jacobites blew up the barracks so the government forces wouldn’t be able to use it.

It had a fairly steep gravel path leading up to it, but was very interesting to explore. Most of the other military barracks I have seen in the UK have still been in use, so it wasn’t possible to go inside. Of course this one was missing floors and roofs, but many of the stone walls were in pretty decent shape to get an idea of what it might have been like when it was used as a military base.

Our next stop was the Dalwhinnie Distillery, which produces single malt Scotch whisky. The distillery straddles the regions of the Highlands and Speyside in the Cairngorm Mountains. They refer to themselves as a Highland Scotch. The location was chosen because of the availability of clear spring water and the abundance of peat.

Peat is a brown deposit that looks like dirt bricks which is created through decomposition of vegetable matter in places like bogs and fens. It is often used for fuel. Some of the whisky distilleries in Scotland use peat fires to dry out their malted barley. This gives the Scotch a distinct smoky flavor.

The name Dalwhinnie comes from the Scottish Gaelic Dail Chuinnidh, which means “meeting place”. It was a meeting point of cattle drover’s routes through the mountains.

Immediately upon arrival at the distillery, I headed for the restroom. That was where I was when the fire alarm sounded. As I left the room, I found myself alone in the tasting and shop area as the alarm continued to sound. There was a woman outside of the front door who was quite startled to see me. I explained where I had been and asked where my tour group might be so I could join them. With a chuckle, she pointed me to the Rabbies group just as George was heading towards us.

He was very glad to see me, but was missing one more. This was the woman I mentioned back in my first post about this particular tour — the one who was constantly asking questions, didn’t seem to be terribly bright, and never listened to what anybody else said. The woman at the door sent one of the men outside with us back inside to call out the missing woman’s name. In the meantime, I headed for the rest of our group while the fire department arrived.

It turned out that it was a false alarm. We were able to enter the building once the fire department vacated it. Our missing colleague had been completely oblivious as to what had been going on. She said she heard the alarm but didn’t know what it was for. I thought it was a very good thing that it turned out to be a false alarm as she could have ended up being in real trouble since she never caught on that she needed to get out of the building.

Photos weren’t allowed inside, so nothing to share of the tour other than that they walked us through the entire process they use to create their Scotch. After the tour, we were able to taste, not only the varieties of Dalwhinnie Single Malt Scotch, but also several of the single malt Scotch whiskies produced by Diageo (the company that owns Dalwhinnie and several other distilleries). This was helpful to discover the preferred level of “peatiness”.

I found that I liked more smokiness than the Scotch I was drinking at that time, but not nearly as much as the Scotches one of my brothers prefers. Dalwhinnie actually was in the “sweet spot” as far as I was concerned, especially when accompanied by some of the luxurious Scottish chocolate truffles they also had on hand.

Michelle, Searan, and I had lunch together again in Pitlochry, which was a mostly Victorian town that sprang up as a tourist resort back when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited and bought Balmoral Castle not too far away. We ended up at an Italian Restaurant as we wanted a leisurely lunch outside and they had tables in a courtyard at in the back of the restaurant.

After lunch, we went to a nearby crafts shop. I found a table runner with thistles embroidered on it that I bought.

Down on the other end of the block, we visited a sweet shop called Scotch Corner. They had loads of fudge and other sweets in addition to ice cream and cotton candy. We each bought a variety of fudge and other Scottish sweets. Then we decided to have a little dessert for the road and bought ice cream cones.

Our last castle on the tour was Loch Leven Castle. This was a 13^th century castle that is best well known for being a prison for Mary Queen of Scots from June 17, 1567 until her escape on May 2, 1568. The castle originally took up most of the island, but when the river that feeds the loch was canalized in the 19^th century, the water level lowered.

There still is a tower house (keep) at one corner and the remains of a round tower called the Glassin Tower at the diagonally opposite corner with most of the inner wall somewhat intact. But only outlines of some of the other buildings remain and the outer walls are gone completely.

The only way to get to the island was on a 12-person ferry from the visitor center in Kinross. It travels back and forth at specific times. We were a tad early for the next crossing, so we visited the gift shop while waiting.

I saw a woman looking at a rubber duck that was dressed as Mary Queen of Scots. She apparently decided not to buy it and set it down. It was the only one, so I quickly picked it up and bought it. Later, she went back to try to find it, but it was too late. The rubber ducky was safely inside my camera bag.

During the time when Mary was a prisoner there, she was mainly held in the round Glassin Tower. The Towerhouse was used to accommodate her jailer, Sir William Douglas of Lochleven, and the staff to look after the Scottish Queen.

Not long after her arrival, Mary miscarried twins that she had conceived with her second husband, the Earl of Bothwell. They were quickly buried somewhere on the grounds of the castle. Just a few days later she was forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son James who was being looked after at Stirling Castle.

She made several attempts to escape which failed until her jailer’s family (the men seeming to have fallen in love with her) helped her to a boat and some awaiting horsemen. She fled to another castle from which she contacted her cousin, Elizabeth I of England, and asked for her help.

Loch Leven Castle is one of many castles throughout Scotland where the ghost of Mary is supposed to roam. It is said that she looks for her lost twins.

The Highlands of Scotland has insects known as midges that swarm in large numbers, biting and getting into eyes, mouths ears and noses. In all of the trips I have made to Scotland, I had never experienced the swarms in such enormous numbers before. But on that little island where the remains of Loch Leven Castle stand, I had the full Highland Midge experience. I don’t recommend it. It was much worse than the mosquitos in Minnesota, which we jokingly call our state bird.

That evening, we were dropped off at the Edinburgh bus station. From there, I took a taxi to the hotel where I would be staying for two nights.

The Scotsman Hotel was originally the offices of The Scotsman newspaper. They were housed in the Scottish baronial style building from 1904 until 2001. That was when they moved to new offices and the building was renovated into a hotel. It was just the other side of the North Bridge from the Balmoral Hotel on the Old Town side.

It seemed like it would be such a cool place to stay, but I ended up being creeped out. I found out after my stay that my room was on the same floor and only a short distance away from a room where a couple had committed suicide a few years earlier. Despite not knowing about this, I found it to be really spooky when I turned out the lights, so I left them on all night both nights.

Next time – a day trip from Edinburgh to Anstruther, St Andrews, with a stop at Falkland Palace.

October 18, 2020

Scottish Castles Experience Day 3 – Part 2: Brodie Castle, Culloden Battlefield & Clava Cairns

Located in Moray, Scotland, Brodie Castle was built in 1567 by the Brodie family. They had been in the area from the 12^th century, so likely had an earlier castle on the site that may have been swallowed up by this castle.

The Entrance Hall to the current castle is in the 16^th century part of the castle, flanked by a Guard Chamber (rather disturbingly containing the skeleton of a child in a glass case) on one side and the Library on the other. From this part of the house, a staircase leads up to the Dining Room.

The Dining Room has a very ornate and heavy ceiling. It also has a portrait of a lady who is pointing to the ceiling. Is she trying to say, “Look up?” And is she indicating the ceiling or the room above?

The lady in question is Lady Margaret Duff, who was the wife of Lord James Brodie back in 1786. In the room directly above the Dining Room, known as the Best Bedchamber, Lady Margaret fell asleep by the fireplace where her clothes were set on fire and she died. She is said to haunt the castle.

In the Blue Drawing Room, which is just off of the Dining Room, a ghostly soldier often sits in contemplation. The Red Drawing Room leads to the very large and airy Victorian Drawing Room. This was my favorite room in the castle, other than the suite of Nursery Rooms. Brodie was the only castle on this tour where we could see a Victorian Nursery with all of its furnishings and even the toys. It covered the entire top floor and looked as though the children would be returning any minute. A little ghostly dog probably would agree as it is often seen heading for the Nursery.

The child’s skeleton was found when some renovations were being carried out on a set of turnpike stairs in the castle. Surprisingly enough, there doesn’t seem to be a ghost associated with the bones. Maybe that, and the fact that nobody seems to know who it is, are why they haven’t been buried anywhere and are on display in the Guard Chamber instead.

I have been to Culloden Battlefield four times. Each time has been completely different. The first time was on the second anniversary of 9/11 in 2002. It was a gloomy, rainy day. Not much was there at the time. It was mainly a rather overgrown field with a path leading to the monument. Said path was dirt, so quite muddy on that occasion. We all tromped out to the monument and had a minute of silence for 9/11 in the rain and mud.

Other than the path and monument, was the little, thatched cottage. We could go inside back then. It was decorated to look as it had after the massacre of the battle when those would took refuge there were all slain.

The second time I was there, they were starting to clean up the area – mowing the grass and uncovering the various small, stone markers to indicate the mass graves of those who had fallen. They were also raising money for a visitor center. I contributed. That was in 2005.

By my next visit in 2009, the visitor center was up and running. They had artifacts from the battle, a timeline, a display of the history behind it all, and a very moving film. To see the film, just stand in the middle of the room and watch the battle unfold all around you. I have seen it twice now and it moved me to tears both times.

The battlefield had flags indicating where each side was, the ground had been cleared, paths were created, the clan grave markers could be seen and other signs had been added. There were also benches to sit on if needed or desired.

The best part was that there were GPS devices with recorded commentary. These would beep when you entered a space where something notable happened. Then they would tell you all about it when you pushed the button in response.

I had looked for my name on the ceiling of the main room of the visitor center, but couldn’t find it. All contributors towards its building were supposed to be represented. But it was in order of contribution which made it difficult to find. There were a lot of names there.

During the 2017 visit, I watched the film for the second time, went out and explored the battlefield again, and then came back to the cafeteria for some lunch. I have included with this post, photos of some of the mass grave markers for some of the clans.

The nearby Clava Cairns were built about 4,000 years ago and constitute a Bronze Age cemetery. After many years of suffering from a lack of interest, the site has become famous as the inspiration for Craigh na Dun in the “Outlander” books and series.

We visited the main site, known as Balnauran of Clava. It has three large burial cairns, each with its own stone circle. Two of the cairns are called “passage cairns” where you enter through a narrow corridor. The third cairn (in the middle of the other two) is completely enclosed. All three have lost their roofs as well as their contents.

Of the four photos I selected to include here, the first shows two of the cairns with several of the standing stones. The second is my viewpoint from inside of one of the passage cairns. The third is a lovely tall stone. The fourth is the infamous split stone which, if you are an Outlander fan, you should recognize immediately as Claire’s means of time travel.

That night we spent the night at Knockomie House Hotel, a stone house built in 1812. The owners have it set up as a 15 room inn. Each room is different. Mine was dark purple and had a Victorian iron bed and plaid drapes. The reception area where we checked in was very quaint. Next to that was a small pub where they also pushed together a few tables and served us a delicious dinner.

We were served a Chicken and Ham Terrine (kind of a pate) with Chutney; Haddock with a nice variation on a Hollandaise Sauce and some Lemon Dill Mashed Potatoes; and a Sticky Toffee Pudding with a Butterscotch Sauce and some Ice Cream. I remember sleeping quite peacefully after that meal.

Next time – our last day on the Scottish Castles Experience tour with Ruthven Barracks, Dalwhinnie Scotch Distillery, lunch at Pitlochary, and Loch Leven Castle.

October 11, 2020

Scottish Castles Experience Day 3 – Part1: Fyvie Castle

I was really excited to be able to visit Fyvie Castle. From what I had read about it and had seen in various programs that talked about the castle, it was quite a place.

The oldest of the castles we were visiting on the tour, Fyvie was said to have been built originally in about 1211 by King William the Lion of Scotland. It remained in royal hands until about 1390 when it became the property of the Preston family in order to pay off a ransom. The Prestons celebrated by building a tower.

Early on in its history, however, it gained a curse. A prophet called Thomas the Rhymer turned up at the castle in the 13^th century (same century in which it had been built). Due to some freak gust of wind that came up just as he reached the gate, Thomas was incensed that the gate had been slammed in his face and put a curse on the castle. This curse involved three stones that were referred to as the “weeping stones”.

The “weeping stones” always appear to be wet no matter what is happening with their environment. The curse says that, until all three stones are found and removed from the property, no eldest son of the owner of the castle will ever inherit. So far, it has appeared to be true as no eldest son of any owner since has ever inherited the castle.

Originally the three stones were said to have been boundary stones marking the parish. But one supposedly found its way into the walls of the oldest part of the castle. Another somehow ended up in the Charter Room. That is the only one to have been found to date and is on display in a bowl inside of a glass box in the Charter Room. The last stone was lost in the River Ythan, which makes it impossible to ever lift the curse.

I have included a photo of the stone on display in the Charter Room. On the day we visited, it seemed to be only slightly moist. Apparently it hasn’t cried quite so much since it has been in the glass case.

While exiting the tour coach before going into the castle, I felt like we were being watched from one of the rooms above. I looked up and took a photo of the window. It was at the corner of where the south range met the west range, just below a little turret and a flag pole with the Scottish flag. I didn’t see anybody at the window, but they could have just stepped out of sight.

We entered the west range into the main hall which contains loads of armor, some taxidermied animals and a few bronze Chinese dogs. It was very interesting room and one of 110 rooms in the entire castle. We went up what was called the Great Wheel Stair to the Dining Room. This was a lovely room (though my photos were a little on the dark side), followed by the Morning Room, which I thought was quite cozy. It seemed like a pleasant room to hang out in. The Charter Room came next and then the large and opulent Library.

In addition to the “weeping stone”, a second curse having to do with the castle involves a secret chamber below the Charter Room. It is said that, should anyone enter the chamber, the Laird of the Castle will die and his wife will go blind. They say that someone did enter the room once upon a time and the curse did happen. So the chamber was completely sealed up to the point that there isn’t even an entrance to it.

After the Prestons, the castle passed to the Meldrums when a Meldrum married a Preston daughter. This was about 1433. The Meldrum family added a tower too. Then the castle was sold to Alexander Seton in 1596 who added the Seton Tower in the middle of the south side of the castle (between the Meldrum and PrestonTowers). He also added the West Range.

Alexander Seton’s wife, Dame Lilias Drummond, kept giving him only daughters, which ticked him off royally. So he imprisoned her in part of the house and starved her to death in order to marry a much younger cousin of Lilias with whom he was enjoying himself. If the room in which she died had been the secret chamber below the Charter Room, it would make sense that the curse would be about killing the Laird and blinding his wife.

Shortly after Lilias died, Alexander married his mistress. On the wedding night, the newlyweds heard some scratching and moaning outside of the window of the bedchamber (four floors up). They thought it was just the wind. In the morning when Alexander opened the shutters and the window, he saw the name of his first wife,” D. Lilias Drummond”, scratched deeply into the stone window sill , outside, upside down, as if done by someone hovering outside of the window.

We were shown the room. It was no longer a bedroom (who would want to sleep there?), but had maps and charts and such scattered around. It seemed to be a storage room. I walked over to the window and took photos of the name carved into the stone. It was the same window from which I had felt we were being watched when we arrived.

A successor of Alexander Seton died in exile in Paris after a Jacobite uprising that had taken place in 1689. At the time of the uprising, the castle had been forfeited to the crown. This would have been the Hanoverians down in London.

It remained a crown property until it was purchased by William Gordon, who was Earl of Aberdeen at the time, in 1733. Forty five years later the Gordon Tower was added to the north end of the west range. Gordon was also the one who moved the main entrance of the castle from the Seton Tower in the middle of the south range to the middle of the west range.

One more family purchased the castle in 1885, adding the final tower. That was the Forbes-Leith family. It was Alexander Leith who built the Leith Tower in 1890.

Another ghostly presence for a short time was Lady Meldrum, who died sometime in the 13^th century. For some strange reason, her dying wish was to be placed in the walls somewhere in the castle. She supposedly loved the castle and didn’t want to leave it. Around 1920 her skeleton was discovered, carefully excavated from the castle and buried in a grave. After that, she haunted the castle as The Grey Lady (Lilias Drummond is called The Green Lady and has been seen here and there too). Once they gave in and put her back in the wall (in one of the bedrooms), she stopped her haunting.

One of the most impressive parts of the castle consists of the enormous Drawing Room in the Gordon Tower and how it opens onto the Gallery in the Leith Tower. The Gallery has several rich tapestries and portraits of King Charles I and his wife Henrietta Maria. It also has a fairly large organ. The Gallery is often used for weddings.

Heading back downstairs towards the entrance again, we entered the Billiard Room. This was a more casual, welcoming room with flowered sofas and a table with a tartan cloth.

Next time – Brodie Castle, Culloden Battlefield, and Clava Cairns.

October 4, 2020

Scottish Castles Experience Day 2: Castle Fraser, the villages of Ballater and Crathie, as well as Crathes Castle

Pretty much every castle that is at least two hundred years old has a ghost. The older the castle, the more spirits there may be roaming the building or grounds or both. Both of the castles in this post and both in the next post were reportedly haunted with very interesting stories associated with them.

The majority of the ghosts in haunted castles seem to be of females who were victims of domestic violence. Either they didn’t want to marry the man to whom their father was trying to unite them or they wanted to marry a man of whom daddy didn’t approve. Or they were someone entirely inappropriate who turned up at the castle with child by one of the males in the castle. Or they were an inconvenient wife of whom their husband wanted to dispose so he could marry someone else.

Built in 1575 by the 6^th Laird, Michael Fraser, Castle Fraser was originally a two-story square keep. Over the centuries the castle was added to and evolved into what is considered to be the most elaborate Z-plan castle in Scotland. A Z-plan castle has a strong, rectangular center tower with smaller towers attached at diagonally opposite corners.

Castle Fraser is now six floors with turnpike stairs at each end and a normal staircase covering some of the lower floors in the center of the main tower. Two additional wings form a courtyard in the rear of the castle. The photo I have included is from the rear as I think that is the most interesting façade.

The rooms were a more human scale than in many castles and more cozy and livable too. The Great Hall was in the oldest part of the castle and very simple in layout and décor. One of the early lairds (Scottish Lords of the Manor are called Lairds) apparently was not too trusting. He had both a spy hole into the Great Hall and a Lairds Lug, which was a tiny secret room above the Great Hall where the Laird could sit and listen to everything that was said below.

In the Great Hall was a chest with a complicated locking mechanism that reminded me of the trunk in Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire. After exploring some of the other rooms on the ground floor, we headed up a set of turnpike stairs all the way up to the top of the castle, stopping off on various floors to see various rooms on the way up and then again on the way down.

One of the rooms we visited on the way up was the Green Room (a bedroom). While visiting the castle, a woman was murdered when sleeping in the Green Bedroom. Afterwards her body was dragged down the turnpike stairs for disposal. The blood stains could not be removed, so they placed wooden steps over the offending stone steps. The ghost of the murdered lady has been seen throughout the house.

Once we reached the top of the castle, we went out on the roof where we had gorgeous views of the grounds. I included a photo of the view down at the back of the castle from the roof.

On the way down, one of the interesting rooms we visited was the library. One of the Lairds, Charles Mackenzie Fraser (1792 – 1871) lost his leg in the 1812 Peninsular War. His wooden leg was on display in the library. You can see it in the far right of the photo included here of the library. It is peeking out from behind a green baize gaming table.

Apparently the leg’s owner doesn’t need it anymore as he doesn’t seem to be hanging around looking for it. However, children laughing and other unearthly sounds have been heard in the kitchens; piano music has been heard drifting through the castle when nobody has been playing; and disembodied voices are frequently heard in various parts of the castle.

Then there is Lady Blanche Drummond who died from a fever in the 1870s, just a couple years after her marriage. She has been seen wandering the grounds in a long, black gown.

We stopped off in the village of Ballater to have lunch. Once again, Michelle, Searan and I ate together at a pub where we had some good food and a pint of the local ale.

After lunch we paid a visit to the village of Crathie. This is the village just outside of Balmoral Castle where the Royal Family goes to church and where some of the people who work at the castle live.

This was my fourth time in Crathie. The prior three times, we were supposedly going to visit Balmoral Castle, but some member of the Royal Family ended up being there so we could only visit the church.

This time there had been no discussion of any possibility of seeing Balmoral Castle. Since I had seen the tiny little church three times already, I decided to cross the bridge over the River Dee and walk to the gates of the castle. Included here is my photo of the gates – most likely the closest I will ever get to Balmoral Castle.

I did get a great photo of the phone box back across the road from the bridge to the castle. It’s very colorful with yellow daffodils around the bright red phone box.

Our final visit for the day was Crathes Castle. Like Castle Fraser, Crathes Castle was also in Aberdeenshire, near the town of Banchory. The land upon which Crathes was built was given to the Burnetts of Leys by King Robert the Bruce back in 1323. Originally the family built a Crannog (a kind of fortification made with timber on a manmade island in a lake or bog), but by 1553 they started building the castle. It was mainly a tower house with a wing added in the 18^th century.

The first thing I noticed in the Great Hall was what looked like some chainmail armor high up on the wall in a niche. Not far below is an ivory horn that Robert the Bruce also gave to the family. It was called the Horn of Leys.

Again like Castle Fraser, Crathes had six floors. The only stairs were of the turnpike variety. The stairs we were led up, however, did not have any kind of railings or even ropes. So I was holding onto the steps themselves and the walls on the way up.

One of the problems with traveling in the spring is that I have allergies. Beginning in 2016, a certain amount of dizziness accompanies the allergies. So holding onto something as I go up and down twisting, uneven stairs is somewhat of a necessity. Not too interested in falling and possibly ending up as another ghost in the castle.

My favorite bedroom had a 16^th century bed with a bedspread covered in crewel embroidery from the 17^th century. At the top of the castle was a long gallery with a wooden barrel vaulted ceiling. There was a bedroom up there too. I didn’t think I would want to have to haul myself up all of those stairs every night. However, I had once lived in a fifth floor walkup in NYC and had to go up and down those stairs constantly. I was in my early twenties at the time and quickly became used to it.

The turnpike stairs on which we came back down had railings. I was so relieved.

This castle had several rooms with very colorful painted ceilings. One of the rooms was where the ghost of this particular castle comes in. It is called the Green Lady’s room. This is where several people have seen a woman carrying a baby walk through the room and disappear at the fireplace. Skeletons of a woman and a baby were found behind the hearthstone of the fireplace when some changes were being made to the fireplace a few years back. They received a decent burial but continue to haunt.

The photo I include here of the Green Lady’s Room doesn’t show the fireplace. Unfortunately I learned of the story after having returned home from this trip, or I would have taken a photo of the fireplace.

There was a tiny little room inside of a tiny little turret. It seemed like it might be a fun place to hang out, read a book, and drink some hot chocolate, or ale or mead or mulled wine.

Once back downstairs and outside of the castle, I visited the walled garden. It was very nice. Parts were somewhat wild looking and parts were fairly formal. It had a lovely pond in it with a bench nearby. So I took a seat for a bit. I like to be able to have some time to sit and absorb it all.

During the English Civil War, the Burnetts had friends on both sides and so had letters from both sides stating that they should not be “molested”. The castle hasn’t ever been sacked or taken from the family. What can been seen is pretty much as the family left it.

We returned to Thainstone House Hotel for another night. After all that climbing up and down six floors each in two castles, I felt a relaxing bubble bath followed by a stiff glass of Scotch was the ticket.

Next time – Fyvie Castle

September 27, 2020

Scottish Castles Experience Day 1: Falkland Palace, House of Dun & Dunnotter Castle

As you may remember, I have never met a castle I didn’t like. So I figured a Rabbie’s tour with four days of Scottish Castles would be a good one. I wasn’t wrong.

Shortly before this 2017 trip, I had purchased a new, four-wheeled, hard-sided, smaller suitcase to make life easier with all of the times I would need to lift and carry the darned thing on this trip. The longest I would ever be seen by the same people was five days. So five days of tops were what I brought along. I would wear each of them up to three times. So I wouldn’t need a larger case. I had it all figured out. But, for some reason, the wheels were not all that cooperative on anything but a smooth surface (like the floor inside of the store where I bought it). Even some carpets caused an issue, much less cobblestones, uneven sidewalks and gravel. Obviously I should have test driven it before leaving home.

Because I had fought with it all the way from Waverly Train Station in Edinburgh to the hotel (just two blocks), I was not in the mood to be fighting with it for the four blocks from the hotel to the bus terminal. So I took a taxi instead. At the bus terminal all of the floors were even and tiled. Smooth sailing.

This time we had eight people – one from Malta, four from Canada, two from Germany, and me. Our Tour Director/Driver was named George and he wore a kilt. Many of the male tour directors and drivers on day trips or longer tours like this one up in Scotland wore kilts. Like all of the Rabbie’s personnel before him, George was knowledgeable, helpful, very nice to deal with, patient, and had a good sense of humor.

He would need both the patience and the good sense of humor in abundance. One of our number (not me) continually asked questions at about a five year old level. “Why did they paint the walls blue?” Each time she received an answer, she would respond with, “Oh,” and quickly ask another equally ridiculous question.

She didn’t listen to anything anyone else said, so she frequently asked things that had already been answered. Such as “Where are the people who own this castle?” when it had been said repeatedly that all of the places we were visiting were run by the National Trust of Scotland.

This carried on both while we were on the tour coach and at the site of whatever location we were touring. She drove all of the guides at the places we visited bonkers. She pretty much ignored the rest of us who were on the tour. So none of us were peppered with constant questions. Whew!

Our first castle on the tour, Falkland Palace, was built by Mary Queen of Scots’ grandfather, King James IV of Scotland. This James’ son (and Mary’s father) died at the Renaissance style palace, leaving Mary as Queen at the ripe old age of six days.

During the English Civil War, while some of Cromwell’s troops were staying there, a fire destroyed part of the palace. For a couple hundred years, the palace fell into ruin until it was bought and restored in the late 19^th century. I really liked the interior of the place, but we weren’t allowed to take photos inside. I found it to be rather cozy. It seemed like a nice place to live.

Falkland Palace had the oldest tennis court in the world still in use. Mary Queen of Scots used to play there. It managed to survive even when the palace itself was in ruins.

I really loved Falkland Palace. Even though parts were in ruins, the parts that weren’t in ruins were lovely and cozy. It seemed like a place in which it would be great to live.

We had lunch in St Andrews, in a part of town where I had never been before – along the main street in the town center. Every other time I had been there, I had confined myself to the castle and/or the Old Course. Two ladies from Quebec City (Michelle and Searan) and I had lunch at a pub on the main street. We had a tasty lunch and some of the local ale.

Built in the 1730s, the House of Dun lies in the county of Angus. More of a large country house than a castle, the Georgian house is known for its extravagant plasterwork in the salon. One of its former residents had been very handy with a needle as there was a very large amount of really well executed needlework throughout. They still had a Game Larder just outside of the kitchens. We were able to take photos inside this time.

Our last stop of the day was Dunnotter Castle. Located on a rocky outcrop with steep cliffs jutting out into the North Sea, Dunnotter was a spectacular ruin of a mainly 15^th and 16^th century castle. It was fairly recently (2015) used during parts of the filming of Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender as the title character and Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth.

After Charles II was crowned King of Scotland at Scone Palace during the English Civil War, the Honors of Scotland (the Scottish Crown Jewels) were hidden at Dunnotter Castle to keep them out of the hands of Oliver Cromwell and his troops. Katherine Drummond had carried them into the castle concealed in sacks of wool.

When Cromwell besieged the castle, the Honors were smuggled out hidden among sacks of goods over the course of three visits to the castle by Christian Fletcher, a minister’s wife. They were then buried under the floor of the church until Charles II returned. In the meantime, another woman, Anne Lindsay, removed the King’s papers from the castle sewn inside of her clothes. Some pretty brave women.

On this tour, instead of booking hotels, B&Bs or hostels, we were all together in country house hotels which were included in the price of the tour. Our first two nights were to be in Thainstone House Hotel, which was near Aberdeen and built in the 18^th century. The house was set in 44 acres of woodlands. So once you were there, you were there (unless you had a car). It had a restaurant that had the reputation of the best steaks in Aberdeen. Breakfast was mighty tasty with a buffet plus a cooked breakfast to order. Our last morning there I was in the restaurant early and our driver/tour director, George, joined me.

Next time – Day 2 of the Scottish Castles Experience with Castle Fraser, the villages of Ballater and Crathie as well as Crathes Castle.