The Commando Memorial

Ok, it's been a long time since I wrote about my adventures, so I'm sure my memory is going to be a bit fuzzy.  

One thing I noticed on our tour, is that there are a lot of landmarks commemorating events in Scottish History, or perhaps just left over from civilizations past.  On a historical note, one such landmark is the Commando Monument, located at Spean Bridge.  The monument marks the training ground for an elite group of soldiers during World War II.  Three Commandos stare out across the training ground of Achnecarry toward Ben Nevis, Britian's highest peak.  

A typical day of training might include a run to the peak, a mere 18 miles away.  The weather in Scotland changes rapidly, especially in the Highlands and these men were trained to deal with whatever Mother Nature had to offer, day and night.  Live ammunition was used to better prepare the men for battle like conditions, and officers were trained just as hard as enlisted men.  The battles fought by the Commandos were some of the bloodiest of WWII.

We left Oban, Scotland around 8:30 am on Tuesday, March 11. Our primary destination for the day was the Isle of Skye. While on the bus, Rab entertained us with many stories about the Highlands, the Clans, and wee folk. I will try to pass on some of the stories that I heard.

In a previous post I mentioned that King James VI of Scotland was also known as King James I of England. His heir, James VII (James II) was ousted as King of England, and forced to go into exile in France, through a series of a events much too complicated to go into with this post, but much of which centered around religious ideology, William of Orange of the Netherlands was invited by England to keep the throne warm until things were settled in regards to who the rightful heir was. Through an additional series of events, the Scottish Parliament was forced to accept William of Orange’s reign.

Not everyone in Scotland was thrilled Parliament agreed to this arrangement, particularly Scottish Highlanders, and so an uprising was formed to try and restore James to the throne. The Jacobite uprising did not succeed and the clans made their way back to their homes, but not without some mischief along the way. It seems that the MacLains of Glencoe, part of Clan MacDonald, decided to raid the livestock of Clan Campbell. This forced Robert Campbell, already in financial straits, to accept a commission with the British army.

Meanwhile, a declaration went out granting amnesty to any clan who signed allegiance to William by January 1, 1692. Again, this didn’t go over well with many of the Clans who had sworn allegiance to King James and felt they could not change allegiance with out first asking permission of King James. King James, not wanting to risk the lives of his subjects, finally released them of their duties. Unfortunately, that release didn’t happen until mid-December and the winter conditions were terrible. Still, many chieftains began the trek to the nearest magistrate to sign an oath of allegiance on behalf of their clans. However, the Chief of Glencoe, a MacLain, stubbornly waited until December 31 to make his trek to Fort William to take the oath, but was told that the Governor of Fort William was not authorized to witness the oath, and that MacLain would have to travel to Invarary and take the oath under Sir Colin Campbell....

On his trip, despite having a letter from the Governor ensuring his safety, MacLain was detained in Balcardin Castle by Captain Drummond. MacLain arrived 3 days after departing Fort William, but had to wait 3 more days for Sir Campbell to arrive. After reading the letter from the Governor stating that MacLean had reached Fort William in time, Sir Campbell reluctantly accepted the oath of the Chieftain, and MacLean left believing his duty was fulfilled. The crown to which he swore allegiance, had a different viewpoint and decided to make an example of the MacLeans and Clan McDonald.

In the Highlands there was a code of hospitality upheld by every Clan. Simply put, this unspoken code was that no matter how bad the blood was between 2 clans, if hospitality was needed, then it was granted and no clan would attack the host clan during its stay. If there was a problem during the stay, then the visiting clan would leave, come back and fight with honor. In February, during very bad weather, a company men headed by Captain Robert Campbell, requested the hospitality of Clan McDonald, so that they might go about collecting the taxes for the Scottish Parliament. Hospitality was granted and for a week a grand time was had by all, so much so, it seemed that all was forgotten as to why there was bad blood between the Macdonalds and the Campbells to begin with.

Despite the hospitality, before anyone had risen from bed, and with the blessing of the crown, Captain Campbell attacked the MacDonald Clan killing most of the men. The houses were burned to the ground and women and children were forced to escape out into the very cold night. Many died from exposure to the elements.

There is a category of murder, ”murder under trust”, which is considered the most heinous of crimes under Scots’ law. News of the massacre spread quickly throughout Scotland and an investigation was launched. Unfortunately, very little resulted from the investigation and despite the fact that the orders were signed by the king, he could not be implicated...because he was king.

Perhaps if there had been no Campbells involved, the government might have been held more accountable. Sadly though, the massacre came to be seen as a result of the rivalry between the MacDonalds and Campbells and not the government action that it was. Many stories have There is an inn in Glencoe called Clachaig Inn, which used to have a sign above its door that said “No Hawkers, No English, No Campbells.” Now it just says “No Hawkers and No Campbells.” Apparently, a few years back, a Campbell tried to pay for his meal with a credit card, and was simply told to leave the premises.

Queen Elizabeth Forest Park and Oban, Scotland

I love the mountains and living in Florida means I don’t see them nearly enough. When living in North Georgia and North Carolina, I would go and lose myself in the peacefulness of the Appalachian Mountains. Way...way....way back through the misty curtains of time, the mountains of the Appalachia and the Scottish Highlands were on the same piece of property.

It will to be difficult to find words to describe the extreme awe and emotion I felt at various times while in the Highlands. The continuous light rain or shower that we were experiencing throughout the trip did little to distract from the magnificence of the scene around us. It wasn’t just the mountains above, but the fact that most of them seemed to go straight down until they met a loch, and then one could only wonder to what depth they continued. Mountains and lochs were everywhere, and it seemed at times there wasn’t any flat land at all. Thinking about the differences in terrain between Florida and Scotland, flat is certainly relative.

Scotland was once covered in forest. Unfortunately like many places where humans set up housekeeping, it was over cut. There is an effort to replant, particularly native species like the Scots Pine, but there is a long way to go before the planting is complete. There are still beautiful forests though, and our first adventure took us to Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, a simply magical place.

I don’t recall any stories that Rab shared specific to this forest, but he did point out a section that looked as if it had a road at some point. That road led to the cabin that was occupied by Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

We got off the bus and took a little walk through the woods that eventually led us around a lake, through more woods and then back to the bus. It wasn’t raining at that point and the wind had died down to almost nothing. The walk was gentle and after my adventure at the Wallace Monument, I was quite happy indeed. With the exception of some very happy birds, the rustling and slurping of the leaves and mud on the path, there was silence. I lost myself in the moment.

There is a Quantum Physicist and Buddhist named Jeremy Hayward, who wrote a book called Letters to Vanessa: On Love, Science and Awareness in the Enchanted World. Dr. Hayward’s book is a collection of letters he wrote to his daughter, explaining his belief that the world around us is enchanted. There is magic all around, some of which we can see, most of which we simply cannot. Why? Because we are taught not to. In the beginning of the book he talks about how as kids, our imagination knew no bounds and things like unicorns, centaurs and fairies, may have been part of our lives. What if they weren’t our imagination? What if we saw them because as children, we were more open to the wonders of the world? What if as we grew older and were taught what was “real” and what was not, we became more jaded and could no longer see the enchanted world? It’s not that it stopped existing, but that our sense of wonder was stifled. According to Hayward, we stopped believing in the magic of the world around us.

I thought of that book as I walked along the path in the forest, I remember thinking it wouldn’t surprise me at all if a unicorn, centaur, or some other magical creature I imagined in my childhood, walked right out in front of me and reintroduced herself. This place brought back a sense of wonder about the world; something that I didn’t realize was gone. It’s hard to imagine what life would be like without obligation; the feeling there is always something that has to be done or accomplished. There in the quiet stillness of the forest, there was no obligation other than to be right there, in the moment, step by step. It was the most peaceful and content I had felt in a very long time. That is quite magical indeed.

I could have stayed in that forest for hours, but unfortunately we had to leave. We boarded the bus and headed once again toward Oban, Scotland.

I only remember one other stop between the forest and Oban, and that was at Doune Castle. Doune Castle can be seen in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (“I fart in your general direction”)

We arrived in Oban around 5:00 pm and settled into the hostel we would be staying at for the evening. Located on the western coast of Scotland, Oban looks like a fishing village. If I were to ever relocate to Scotland, I would definitely consider Oban.

The five of us, Julie, Jennifer, Mary Lee, Linda and I, went to a delightful restaurant, Cuan Mor, which had a view of Oban Bay.....except when a monstrous SUV was parked in front of the picture window. I’m sure you know by now, most dinners were accompanied by a local pint. Those dinners that were not, were followed up by a trip to the local pub....

We still had not heard much from Meg and Maureen, our stranded clan members, but I believe they were still at the Toronto Airport waiting with a million other people for a major snowstorm to pass. They were already 24 hours behind their original arrival.

After dinner, we stopped at a local grocery to purchase some items for breakfast and then Julie, Jennifer and Linda headed for a pub, and Mary Lee and I, went back to the room. I couldn’t find anymore energy for the day. The next morning, we didn’t have much time to explore before we needed to be back on the bus. We ate breakfast and cleaned up our dishes quickly, and then went for a brief walk to try and get some pictures of this beautiful little town.

William Wallace and a Hairy Coo, March 10

The morning the bus tour was to begin, we were experiencing typical Scottish weather for March...wet and cold. Still, we were all excited to get started; the tour was the main reason why we came to Scotland. Haggis was the name of the company providing the Compass Buster Tour that we were taking. It was indeed a compass buster.

As we started out of Edinburgh our driver, Rab, asked us to introduce ourselves. Most of the group, outside of mine, were from Australia or New Zealand, with one from South Africa and another from the states. With the exception of wearing seat belts, Rab explained three rules for the week long bus tour. No smoking/drinking on the bus, no snoggin’ and please no farting.....

Our destination for the day was Oban, Scotland, but our first stop would be the Wallace Monument, in Stirling. Rab was an excellent storyteller, and when we were getting close to our destination, he would say something like: “and now, it’s time to go back through the misty curtains of time....”

On our way there Rab asked us to “go back through the misty curtains of time....” and proceeded to tell us a little about William Wallace. He was the subject of the Mel Gibson film “Braveheart” in which Gibson played Wallace. Wallace is one of Scotland’s greatest heroes and even though there was a movie made about him, there really isn’t much known about him, accept that he was apparently much taller than the average Scot in the 1200s.

As a movie, “Braveheart” is actually pretty good, but if you’re looking at it for historical information, well there are just a few things that are a bit off......

In the film, Wallace is shown wearing a kilt. Because William Wallace was the son of a lowly knight and a Lowlander, he would have worn armor in battle. The love scene at the Battle of Falkirk between Wallace and Isabella of France that resulted in a child....didn’t happen since Isabella was only 3 at the time.

There is a question as to whether William Wallace was the Braveheart, or if Robert the Bruce was. On his deathbed, Robert the Bruce asked that his heart be cut out upon his death and taken into battle against the “infidels” during the crusades. Strangely, it was not uncommon for a request like this to be made, and his request was granted.

It is told that during the battle, the soldiers were told not to fear for their king was with them. They lost the battle anyway. At one point the holder of the heart, Sir James, also known as the Black Douglas, threw Bruce’s heart at the enemy before he died. The heart was retrieved and is supposedly now buried in Melrose Abbey. The rest of Robert the Bruce’s body is buried in Dunfurmline. Ironically, while touring the Palace of Holyroodhouse, I noticed a skull with a placard next to it that claimed the skull to be that of Robert the Bruce.....again, the mind boggles.

We arrived at the William Wallace Monument and Rab told us the first thing we would see is a statue at the bottom of the hill placed there soon after the movie came out, to honor William Wallace. Never mind that the William Wallace monument at the top of the hill had been around since the 1800s; no, another statue was needed to REALLY honor William Wallace, especially since the movie Braveheart introduced the world to Wallace, and well.....you may find this hard to believe, but apparently William Wallace looked EXACTLY like Mel Gibson.....
We began to walk up the hill, which was paved but with very few switchbacks. While I reached my target heart rate in Edinburgh in about 2 minutes, I reached it in about 2 seconds walking this route. I thought I was going to die or at the very least, my knees were going to break. I also thought, if the rest of the walks on this adventure were anything like the first one, I was going to be crawling by the end of the tour.

Earlier, Julie had been talking about the last time she was at the monument, they climbed up the actual monument itself. The steps inside are very steep and narrow, much like the ones at the Camera Obscura. Apparently steps were intentionally built this way as a early security system. It’s very hard to run up steps when they are uneven and narrow. Anyway, at the top of the monument is a sword that is rumored to be the one that William Wallace used in the battles.

As I was walking up the hill, I remember thinking that even though I wanted to see the sword, I was actually kind of glad that we didn’t have enough time to climb the monument. I had to stop a couple of times....my walks in Florida while frequent, did little to prepare me for this jaunt. Julie was gracious enough keep with me....very gracious indeed, and did mention that the last time she was here, they took the shuttle up the hill.....LOL.

We.....I made it to the top....and even though my knees were screaming at me, the view was spectacular. Off in the distance, Stirling Castle could be seen. Lots of history that I don’t know about, happened there.....

Now, it was time to go back down the hill....a much quicker jaunt.....and back on the bus to continue the adventure.

Hamish the Highland Coo
This was our next adventure....this is Hamish....he’s a hairy cow. Kind of sexy, don’t you think?

Back on the bus......and to the Highlands....

Edinburgh, March 9, Mary King's Close

After the tour of the Palace, we walked down, or actually up the Royal Mile. We had seen some of the city from above, now it was time to see some of the city underneath. We were going on a tour of Mary King's Close.

I mentioned in an earlier post the closes were narrow winding streets between buildings. The buildings were typically at least 7 stories high and held apartments and shops. The picture to the right is of the Fleshmarket close. This close led to, as you may have already guessed, the market where animals were bought, sold and sometimes, slaughtered.

The area around Mary King's Close, apparently originally names Alexander King's Close (no relation to Mary), was a shopping area back in the day. Mary King moved there with her four kids after her husband's death. Through her work as a seamstress, Mary King became wealthy enough to become a burgess, a status that very few women held. Only burgesses had voting rights within the city.

In 1753, the burgh council decided to build the Royal Exchange in the Mary King Close area. The top floors of the buildings were knocked down with the bottom floors being used as a foundation. Mary King's Close was re-opened in 2003 and now offers an opportunity to see what life was like in the closes around the 1600s. It was not pretty and the poorer one was, the less pretty life was.

As mentioned, most of the tenements were 7 stories. The wealthiest people lived on the higher levels, and did not have to deal with as much shit, literally, as the poorer individuals below. On the lower floors it was not uncommon for a family of 10 to live in a room that was maybe 10x10. Because the buildings were so close together, it was difficult for sunlight to reach many of the apartments; the lower the level the less light, leaving the first floor in pitch blackness.

With that family of 10, there might have been a couple of animals thrown in just for good measure, making that 10x10 room a bit more crowded and odoriferous. There was no running water or sanitation, which leads to the question of where 10 people and maybe a couple of animals relieved themselves? Well, a small bucket in one of the corners of course, with the crap from the animals picked up and thrown right on top!

Okay, so what happened to the bucket when it was full? Why the shit was thrown out the window of course. Two times a day, perhaps 10 at night and 7 in the morning, a lot of shit came flying out of a lot of buildings, with a shout of “Garde Loo” to warn people to get the hell out of the way!

I can imagine that the smells in Edinburgh were quite unpleasant in the 1600s. I referred to the area in which the closes were located as Old Town. New Town did not begin to exist until the 1700s. Old town Edinburgh is situated on a hill, so the term, “the shit rolls downhill” was quite literal, and of course the closer to the bottom of the hill, the worse the stench became. At the bottom of the hill was Nor Loch where all the shit as well as other garbage from the city (remember the animal slaughtering....) ended up. In the 1820s, the Loch was drained and turned into a public garden known as Princes Street Gardens. It is no doubt, the greenest garden I have ever seen.

Now, back to the tour of the Real Mary King's Close.... It was very dark and eerie and when the plague hit in the 1600s it got even more so. There was a rumor that victims of the plague were simply walled up in their homes and starved to death, but this is not true. In fact, the ill were treated well despite the fear of the plague.

A story told by our tour guide:

There was a little girl whose name was Annie, who had already lost her parents and was ill herself. When she became ill, she was taken away and put into a room until her death. Not long ago, soon after the Close had been rediscovered, a medium was wandering around a particular section of the close and “felt a presence” of a little girl. The little girl, Annie, seemed to be very sad. The medium learned from the girl that she was sad because she lost her doll and had been looking for her for many years. A few days later, the medium brought another doll into the close, and felt that the Annie seemed more peaceful. Now, when in that particular part of the tour, one will see hundreds of toys in a pile where the little girl apparently died. These toys have been sent from all over the world. Money is sent too, in honor of Annie, and is donated to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children. Many tourists claim, when visiting that section of the close, they can still feel the presence of Annie.

A lot of death happened in those closes; natural and otherwise. I wouldn't be surprised if Annie wasn't alone....

Further down the close was a sawmaker's workshop, which was still in operation in the 19th Century. The family that worked and lived there, had one of the only toilets in the close, before it was finally shut down.

So ended the tour of Mary King's Close.

As I mentioned above, the particular day in Edinburgh was my favorite. I could feel the history of the city the moment we walked into the Old Town two days earlier, but the tour of the Palace and the Close allowed the history to permeate my skin. There were times when I found myself thinking about some current events; realizing somethings haven't really changed. There are still governments that use bloodshed and treachery to "govern" and the shit continues to roll down hill.

We headed back the hostel to get ready for dinner and hopefully meet up with the final two Canadian adventurers who were joining the clan. Unfortunately, bad weather had once again hit Canada and Meg and Mo's flight was delayed. There was no indication as to how long it would be delayed. This was particularly troublesome, because the next day we were to check out of the hostel, and begin our adventure into the Scottish Highlands.

Edinburgh, March 9 Holyrood Palace

This day in Edinburgh was probably my most favorite day by far in the city.

After breakfast, we hopped onto the tour bus, after walking uphill to catch it of course, and headed to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The palace is at the lower end of the Royal Mile with Edinburgh Castle being at the higher end. Yes, we walked up the hill to catch the bus that took us down the hill. It made sense at the time.

Holyroodhouse was first built approximately 900 years ago as an abbey. It was also a sanctuary for those who were having troubles with the law. Those granted sanctuary could roam freely about the palace, which included small markets and shops at that time. They also received papers that allowed them to leave the sanctuary on Sundays so they could go to the city. Apparently, arresting people on Sunday was not allowed. The sanctuary status has apparently not been officially removed from the palace, so if you find yourself in trouble with the law in Scotland, remember the Palace is at the lower end of the Royal Mile.

The Abbey later became the home to various monarchs with many of the rooms and buildings added on by James V. Although most of the original abbey is gone; parts of it can still be seen between the palace and the Queen's gardens. The Palace at Holyroodhouse is a working palace to this day, with the Queen residing there during the months of June and July. This was one of the reasons why pictures were not allowed in the palace. Another reason was that fact that many of the tapestries and some furniture had been there almost as long as the palace itself.

The first thing we saw upon entering the palace was an elegant staircase, which took us to a series of rooms each more grand than the one before. The grander the room, the closer one was to having court with the King/Queen. You were gold if you made it to the final room in which the king held court, and strangely enough, it looked like a bedroom. In fact, it was a bedroom, but probably not the bedroom in which the king slept. Meeting subjects in the bedroom meant that one was worthy enough, I guess, to be in such an intimate place with the monarch.

The dining room was also part of the tour and was partially set to show what it would look like if the Queen were there having a dinner party, or other queenly functions.

The highlight of the tour for me, were the suites occupied by Mary, Queen of Scots who, because of her tumultuous life, is probably one of the best known of the Scottish Royalty.

We entered the suite of rooms, one of which held a bed on which Mary slept. It had the orginal bed covers and tapestries and the entire thing was enclosed in glass to protect it from the elements. There was a side room in which Mary would take tea and on at least one particular occasion had audience with her secretary and close friend David Rizzio. Mary's husband at the time was Lord Darnley, very suspicious character who believed that the Queen and Rizzio were having an affair. Entering into a secret conspiracy with other nobles, which also included the overthrow of the Queen, Darnley murdered Rizzio in front of Mary's eyes. Rizzio was dragged from the small room into an outer chamber and stabbed somewhere between 54 and 57 times. They wanted to make sure he was really dead and stabbing Rizzio 50 times was apparently not adequate.

There is a brass plaque in the room near the floor marking the spot where Rizzio's body laid. Even though this murder happened over 400 years ago, it is still quite possible to see a blood stain on the solid wood floors. By the way....Darnley was killed from an apparent assassination not to long after his murdering of Rizzio.....Bloodshed and Treachery....

For more of the conspiracies and intrigue of Mary Queen of Scots' life, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_Scotland

From the suites we were led back outside to the ruins of the original abbey. Unfortunately, the Queen's Gardens were not open to the public during that time of year.

Edinburgh, March 8

Julie, Jennifer and I pulled ourselves out of bed, had a brief conversation about how we all snore and went for a bite to eat. Then it was off to catch the tour bus. The tour was cool because the ticket was good for 24 hours and passengers were allowed to get off and on at any place the bus stopped. Our intention was to do the hour-long tour first and then hop off at Edinburgh Castle to poke around.

The Castle was the first stop the bus made and our tour guide suggested that if we wanted to see the castle then we should do it then. It was Saturday, and would probably be very busy. So, we decided to go ahead and take a look.

While climbing up the hill (did I mention that everything was up hill both ways?), we experienced some true Scotland weather. It started to rain and since it was March, the rain was very chilly. It also started getting very windy with gusts that almost knocked me down a couple of times. Aside from Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh Castle is the highest point of the city and so the wind was even fiercer. Still, I managed to make it to the top and wandered over to the edge to get a better view of the city. The cold wind gusts and rain that made me feel a bit wimpy, but the rain only lasted a couple of minutes and then it was sunny…then it was simultaneously rainy and sunny. The wind however, was constant.

The rock on which the castle stands has had some sort of settlement on it for about 2000 years. An actual castle began to emerge around 1093 AD and one of the structures of that initial building, St. Margaret’s Chapel, is still standing and is considered the oldest part of the castle.

After standing outside for about 5 seconds, it was time to try and find a warm place inside to stand.

As huge as the castle looks from the outside the rooms are rather small and the hallways and stairways, rather narrow. We did find ourselves in the Great Hall, which was where the king received his court. The fireplace took up almost an entire wall and there were swords, shields and armor lining the other walls.

The engraving above the fireplace was in tribute to King James VI and I, King of Scotland, Britian, Ireland and France. He was referred to James VI in Scotland because he was the 6th James, but I in England because he was the first James, a crown he inherited after Queen Elizabeth died childless. The intricate genealogical weave of monarchs between France, Scotland, and England just baffles the mind. Additionally, the amount of treachery and bloodshed that went on is just astounding. Being a king/queen of anything during that time essentially meant that no one could be trusted.

We went through some other rooms of the castle, one of which was the room where Mary, Queen of Scots, birthed James the 6th, whom she was later forced to abdicate the thrown to.

We also made our way down to the room that held the Honours, crowned jewels of Scotland, and the Stone of Destiny on which the kings were crowned. I don't believe that picture taking was allowed in that area.

Our tour of the castle was cut a bit short because of the weather and our inclination not to be in it. We went for a cup of tea and then off to the next adventure.

Next on our list of things to see was Edinburgh's Camera Obscura.

For more information on Camera Obscuras, click here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura#History

That was pretty much the end of the second day. We had to meet two more of our clan, Linda and Mary Lee, at the hostel, then off to dinner which of course included another pint. That evening, we ate at a vegetarian restaurant called Henderson's. Yum!!! I had the Moroccan stew and a local organic brew....Double Yum!!!

Edinburgh March 7

I arrived in Edinburgh at around 7:30 am, Scotland time, on March 7, 2008. My flights were uneventful, much to my delight, since I'm a real newbie at traveling overseas.

Julie and her friend Jennifer were supposed to arrive from Canada, via Amsterdam, at around 10:30, but Canada was having some really bad weather, and their first flight was late in departing. Almost as soon as I arrived in Edinburgh, I received a message from Frank, Julie's husband, telling that they missed their connecting flight in Amsterdam and wouldn't be arriving until around 1:30 pm. Och aye!

I was faced with a choice of either trying to get transportation to the hostel we were staying at or waiting at the airport for another 3 hours. I got information from one of the service reps at the desk, on the best way to get to the hostel. I was trying to remember an e-mail that Julie had sent me earlier, and what the service rep told me and what I remembered from the e-mail did not seem to click. Since, I was feeling rather brain dead anyway, I decided that waiting at the airport might be a better, safer thing to do.

It worked out fine and Julie and Jennifer did arrive at 1:30. We got on the shuttle that Julie wrote about in her e-mail and made our way to the hostel. Because of the time change, we wanted to try and stay vertical as long as possible and so we headed out again. First things first....learning to look right first before you cross the street. This is really important and apparently forgotten enough by tourists, that “look right” is spray painted at every cross walk….unless of course, one needs to look left first.

My first real experience with using the British Pound was at an Italian restaurant we stopped at for dinner. Things are really expensive in Scotland and with the exchange rate between the British Pound and US Dollar, I finally had to force myself to stop calculating how much stuff was costing. Otherwise, it was going to be a very depressing trip.

After dinner, we headed out again and stopped at a tourist information site. It was decided that we would take an hour long bus tour around the city the next day to try to get an idea of where things were.

After that it was a bit more walking. Okay, “a bit more walking” is a slight under-exaggeration….we walked almost everywhere, with the exception of the shuttle to and from the airports and the tour buses, everything was done on foot. Everything was uphill too….both ways. The first couple of times I walked up the hill to where Old Town Edinburgh (pre-1700s) began, I reached my target heart rate in about 2 minutes. Edinburgh is a bit hillier than Florida, and, oh yeah, a bit colder, and maybe even rainier.

We decided to walk up, one of the many Closes that are part of Old Town Edinburgh. Closes are narrow winding streets with a series of multi-leveled apartment houses, usually 7 stories high, on either side. More on those later.....

That particular walk ended in the Malt Shovel Pub, where of course, we had a pint. We were, after all, in Scotland and if you like beer and/or whiskey, Scotland is the place to be.

With a 7 hour flight and a 5 hour time difference, one pint did us in for the day. We walked back to the hostel, and crashed.

As I go through my adventure, I will occasionally add a link to a google map that I created with the entire route from Edinburgh, through the Scottish Highlands, back to Edinburgh. It's an exceptionally cool tool! The route will contain markers for places that we visited and hopefully a few pictures as well. I hope you enjoy this blog. Scotland is really very beautiful!

My Scotland Trip March, 2008

This particular post, and a few more after this, will be about my first trip to Scotland....actually, my first trip to Europe.

My sister Julie, who turned 50 last year, decided that she wanted to celebrate in a most extraordinary way. She wanted to go to Scotland...and....she wanted to go with her good friends, and 2 sisters.

Julie had been there before and fell in love with the country. Going to Scotland had always been a dream of mine as well, so I readily agreed to the adventure.

There were times when financially it didn't look like it was going to happen; for instance, when my house kept flooding because of a tree root obstruction that took forever to diagnose. It did happen, and I had an absolute blast, in my calm, soft spoken, dry sense of humor kind of way. I have fallen in love with Scotland as well.

Getting ready for the trip proved to be a minor adventure itself mainly because of the dramatic change of weather that Scotland is famous for. We were planning our trip for March just before "spring" was to officially begin. Julie sent me the BBC weather website, with the Portree, Scotland area highlighted. Portree is located on the Isle of Skye in just about the northern most tip.

According to the weather site at that time, within a 24 hour period on a typical day in March in Portree, the area was forecasted to receive light rain, some sun, heavy showers, perhaps a little more sun, light snow, heavy rain, maybe some sun mixed with light showers.....

As one who still tries to figure out what Florida weather people mean between partly sunny and party cloudy, I was having a difficult time trying to figure out what the difference was between a light shower and a light rain, or a heavy shower and a heavy rain. "The mind boggles," as my sister said. One thing was for sure; it was going to be wet at some point....at many points on our trip. Oh yeah, and cold. Much different than the weather I was leaving in sunny Florida.

The trip was getting closer and I had done all that I could do, except get on the plane and actually go. This included the purchasing of British pounds. Egads, that was an eye-opening reality check. Things were going to be really expensive in Scotland. The money sure looked cool though!

Finally, March 6, 2008 arrived; it was time for me to start my adventure. Of the group that was going, I was the only one leaving from the states, which means I would be taking my first adventure to Europe by myself. The rest of the group would be coming in pairs at various times, from Canada. I would be the first to arrive. Me, the newbie traveler. For some people that might not be a big deal, but for a somewhat introverted individual with a hearing disability...(um that would be me) it was.

My first flight took me to New Jersey and my next flight didn't leave until around 7:30, which meant we probably wouldn't be served dinner until 8:30 or 9. That, coupled with the fact that airline food is less than tasty, I took some time to grab a bite to eat.

While eating, I was joined by a very pleasant man, who was on his way back from Europe, heading to Wisconsin. I told him where I was heading, and a huge smile lit up his face. Scotland was one of his favorite places ever. It turns out, he worked with a golfing industry, and since Scotland is well known for being the "home of golf", he knew the country well. When looking at a map to determine how far it was from the Edinburgh airport to the hostel we were going to stay at, I couldn't help but notice the very high number of golf courses there were in the 10 mile distance. Listening to Mr. Wisconsin dude talk about Scotland, just made me more excited...if that were even possible. For my Packers fans, Mr. Wisconsin was very, very upset indeed that Brett Favre retired.

It was time to get on a plane again. Next stop, Edinburgh, Scotland.