Trips

Sun., 6/19/16 – Where-ever to Edinburgh, Scotland
        Another full day in the coach.  The day started out sunny and then we had a constant drizzle and even some fog.  We did have a few stops and lunch along the way.
        As we approached Scotland I asked Liz if Hadrian’s Wall came this far west and then she said our first stop this morning would be at a section of Hadrian’s Wall.  We got off the bus at Birdoswald to look at the wall and the ruins of Birdoswald  Roman fort.  In 122 CE Hadrian ordered a wall to be built all the way across the narrowest part of what is now England.  It was to be defended to keep the Picts from coming south from Caledonia. Hadrian's wall would be the northern border of the Roman Empire.  The wall was to be 8 to 10 feet wide and 15 feet high.  There was to be a gate or castle every mile, two guard turrets between each gate, and 16 Roman forts along the 73 mile wall.  Later a valium, or ditch, was dug on the north side of the wall and tree trunk spikes placed in them.  We could see a long line of the 2,000-year-old wall that is unlike the dry stone walls in the pastures.  We also walked around the ruins of an associated fort.  Even though many of the building stones have been “recycled” in local churches and homes, the footprint of the fort remains.
        Since there was no WC at the wall, we stopped at Lanercost Priory for our comfort stop.  They have a small exhibition about the fort, which was interesting.  A finger post pointed to Rome as only 1149 miles away.  We splurged and shared an $8 mocha.           
        We are now in Border Country with rolling hills and valleys and more sheep and cows and small settlements of a few houses and more narrow country lanes.  Tam, our driver, has largely been able to stay off the big motor ways and let us see more of the country.

 

 

	Bridoswald Roman Fort
Bridoswald Roman Fort	Bridoswald Roman Fort
Hadrian's Wall	Hadrian's Wall
Another "we were there" photo - Hadrian's Wall	Our next stop was at Lockerbie.  In 1988 President Reagan and Moammar Khadafy were “at war” and in retaliation back and forth Khadafy instructed two of his Libyan government officers to bomb a US plane.  A bomb was placed in a suitcase on a Pan Am flight 103 and it exploded in the air over Lockerbie, Scotland.  There were 270 people on the plane from 21 nations and the falling debris killed 11 people on the ground.  The town of Lockerbie has created a memorial garden with the names of all on board on a memorial in their local cemetery.  Liz brought a bouquet of flowers for two of our group to lay on the memorial.
Lockerbie Memorial - Garden of Remembrance	We ate a typical English Sunday meal at the Annendale Hotel in Moffat, Scotland.  We had roast beef, Yorkshire pudding with a rich gravy, roasted potatoes, and family style vegetables.  Our table kept eating them as we debated what the vegetables were.  We asked and they were: mashed turnip and carrot, stewed cabbage and breaded and fried parsnips.  I had guessed all but the carrot.  I am sure that had many of our group known they were served turnips and parsnips they would not have even tasted them.  For dessert we had a really good, warm bread pudding with apple and raisins and a custard sauce.  Before our meal was served, the owner gave a lesson on Scotch whiskey and we all were offered a taste.  I had the non-alcoholic option of iron brew.  It tasted like carbonated, melted orange cream-cycle and was quite good.         I wandered a little in the cute town.  Liz said we should look at the statue of a ram in the square and see if we could notice what was missing on the statue.  It actually has no ears but my answer on the bus as we were driving away was, “It is missing you/ewe!”         There was a wonderful clothing shop and a candy store to die for in the little town.  I did not buy anything.
Town of Moffat, Scotland	Candy store - The Moffat Toffee Shop
Ewe with the missing ears	We checked into the Carlton Hotel on North Bridge Street in Edinburgh.  It is undergoing refurbishing.  There is scaffolding around the outside, there is no lobby or restaurant, but our rooms have all been newly redone and are large and comfortable.  We will see where they will feed us breakfast in the morning.  The hotel is ideally located a few steps from the Royal Mile.         Liz walked us to the corner and pointed out restaurants, shops, groceries, etc.  It was pouring rain.  I went to the grocery express and got some things to eat in the room.  It was raining too hard to want to go out and look for a restaurant.
Mon., 6/20/6 – Edinburgh         This morning we went with our group on the same bus tour and castle visit we have done at least twice before but with two differences: 1 – the sun was shining and 2 – our guide was a real comic.  Sheila came up with one quip after another.  I wrote some of them down: Woofies are what she calls Well Off and Over fifty; Part of Edinburgh is so old the Dead Sea wasn’t even sick yet; Niemen Marcus should be Needless Markup; Spend your money – there are no drawers in caskets; MSD refers to the Maximum Staggering Distance – distance from pub to hotel.         We went on the tour of Edinburgh Castle again because it was included in our tour.  We went through to see the story of and the actual Scottish Honors, the crown, sword, orb, coronation stone of Scotland, etc.  We looked in the War Memorial, the Great Hall, Queen Mary’s apartments, and St. Margaret’s Chapel.
Edinburgh from the top of Holyrood Park - Ski slope in the distance	Edinburgh from the top of Holyrood Park
Edinburgh Castle	Edinburgh from the Castle
The cannon at Edinburgh Castle	Stands set up at the Edinburgh Castle for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo to be held later in the summer
After we finished at the castle, we walked back to the hotel, stopping for a Subway sandwich to eat in our room.         After lunch we walked down the Royal Mile to tour Holyrood Palace. We have been here four times now and this is the first time the palace has been open to tourists.  It is still a royal residence and is used by the present Queen and for royal events.  Price Charles is coming tomorrow and it will be closed and secured then.	The Hub - the building with the spire that looks like a church
St. Giles Cathedral - Statue of the 5th Duke of Bucceleuch	Gale touching the toe of philosopher David Hume
A “Close” - small alleyway and courtyard in Edinburgh	Clever puppeteer
	Wonderful idea!
Holyrood means “holy cross” and was named by King David I who established an Abby on the grounds in 1128. Supposedly, he was riding a horse and was “set upon” by an angry stag.  Before he could kill it a white cross appeared between its antlers.  He removed the cross and set the stag free. The ruins of the Abby are adjacent to the palace.             Holyrood has been a royal residence for 500 years and has 650 acres of land.  King James IV lived there in 1501.  Mary Queen of Scots lived in the palace for six years (1561-1567) during which she debated John Knox (the Scottish reformer of the Church), married her first and second husbands, and witnessed the murder of her secretary, David Rizzio.  We walked through her bedchamber and secret staircase to her husband’s bedchamber.  It was there that her jealous first husband, Lord Darnley, restrained her when she was very pregnant while his henchmen stabbed and murdered Rizzio.             The palace tour is through the historic parts of the building.  We did not see where Charles would be in residence.  The Queen moves here every summer for several weeks.             We also walked in the garden and in the remains of the Abby.	Holyrood Palace
Holyrood Palace	Holyrood Palace
Holyrood Palace	Holyrood Palace
Holyrood Abbey ruins	Holyrood Abbey ruins
Holyrood Abbey ruins	Holyrood Abbey ruins
Holyrood Abbey ruins	Holyrood Abbey ruins
Holyrood Palace - gardens	Ruins on the grounds of Holyrood Palace
Holyrood Palace - Gate	We went out to find a pub to enjoy our last “dinner on our own” and ended up in No. 1 High Street.  It was decidedly a local pub right on the Royal Mile.  Marge had a Guinness draught with fish and chips and I had a steak and ale pie with new potatoes and garden vegetables.  Dinner was quite good.
Dinner at No. 1 High Street Steak and ale pie and Guinness	Dinner at No. 1 High Street Fish and chips
Tues., 6/21/16 – Edinburgh         This was a day on our own so we got up late and went to breakfast at 8:15, after the tour groups had left.  It was quiet and leisurely.  I ate Haggis with my cold fried egg!         We walked to the National Gallery of Scotland to admire their collection of Renaissance paintings.  Most of the rooms have a large, domed skylight that gives great natural light to the paintings. Many school children are brought in as classes.  Today they had art specialists working with little kids like first and second graders.  Each child had 8 or 10 pieces of art paper on a clipboard and a case of colored pencils.  They would sit on the floor and look at a painting the teacher was talking about and then draw their impression.  It was very well done and the kids were adorable and very well behaved.         Marge and I started with 1470 to 1550 Renaissance art and worked up to the late 1800s.  There were a few paintings by Raphael, Botticelli, da Vinci, Titian, Tintoretto, Bellini, El Greco, Rubens, 1600s Dutch and Flemish work we know little about, 1700 – 1815 Rococo to Revolution, Canaletto, Gainsborough, Van Gogh, Monet, late 1880s Impressionism, Pissarro, Gauguin, a Rodin sculpture, Degas, and Seurat.  There was one painting of “Niagara Falls from the American Side” (1867) by Frederic Edwin Church, an American.  I thought one of the interesting ones was “An Allegory of Old and New Testaments” (1526) by Holbein.  We had not seen anything like that one before.  The Gallery contained an excellent representation of art and artists without having “the most important” (read, expensive) works.  It was impressive.         Another nice thing about this gallery was the carpeted floor and fabric on the walls.  It gave a quiet, warm feeling.         Outside was a new exhibition – City Expo – with small structures by winning architects representing several cities.  It was unique and interesting.
Balmoral Hotel
	Outside the Scottish National Gallery The Cities Expo         The exhibition builds on the universal success of temporary pavilions and the popularity of present-day pop-ups. Architects have risen to the challenge of creating innovative and engaging pop-up designs that will capture the public’s imagination.
From the city of Dundee, Scotland	From the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands
From the city of Edinburgh	From the city of Bergen, Norway
From the city of Vilnius, Lithuania	After the National Gallery, we went to the House of Records across from the fancy Balmoral Hotel.  Gale asked about her Great-Uncle John Hunter and was given information about how to access Scottish records on the Internet.  They have records from 1840 on.  I’ll look into it at home.         We walked to Rose St., between Princes and George Streets, and found a pub, Auld Hundred, for a lunch of soup and sandwich.
St. Walter Scott monument	St. Walter Scott monument
Duke of Wellington with a sea gull on his head	Calton Hill
At our Farewell Dinner we found out the winner of the mileage guess.  We had traveled 1432 and one woman guessed 3 miles off of that!  I was 300 miles off.  But Marge and I did win the Exit Quiz.  We got all 20 questions correct and got as a prize a book by yesterday’s guide, Sheila Szatkowski, “Capital Caricatures.”  I have a feeling it will be humorous.         We had another “Dressing of the Haggis” by the same bagpiper, Andrew, who entertained us four weeks ago.  He remembered me and it was fun talking with him again.  Dinner was Scotch broth soup like Campbell’s used to make - which I love, haggis - Marge and I did eat it, steak pie or salmon with potatoes, garden vegetables, and a Scottish dessert – something in between two shortbread cookies. Wed., 6/22/16 – Edinburgh to Chicago to Denver to Estes Park – supposedly!         We had a late start to the day of travel.  A taxi picked us up at 9:15 AM and dropped us at Edinburgh Airport, a 45-minute drive through traffic.  A festival was being set up in the fields around the airport and the site is already jammed with cars.  We checked in, went to the gate, boarded, taxied, started accelerating on the runway but the pilot quickly cut the engines, hit the brakes, and rolled to a stop.  That is a first for us.  A red light had come on in the cockpit and a “computer had died.”  We taxied to a holding place and two hours later our baggage was off of the plane and they bused us to the terminal.  We collected our luggage and went to stand in line for three more hours to get re-ticketed for the next day on a United flight to Newark instead of Chicago.  Then we had to wait until United found us a hotel.  The nearest hotel, because of the festival, was in Glasgow.  While those arrangements were being made and taxies ordered to take us to Glasgow (45 miles west), our flight was changed again so we are now expecting to fly out of Glasgow to Newark and then on to Denver.         We had a scenic ride from Edinburgh to Glasgow and checked into a room at the Holiday Inn at the Glasgow Airport, ate dinner at the hotel, and had breakfast there in the morning (all on United).  We were given vouchers for $15 to use at the airport, and 600 Euros in compensation (the amount is mandated by the EU) for our being inconvenienced.  There was a lot of standing in lines and waiting but the three agents in Edinburgh, one supervisor and two assistants from United, kept smiling and were calm and pleasant.  Our plane with mechanical problems was the last of only two flights a day by United to the US, so the whole plane had to be compensated and re-ticketed. Thurs., 6/23/16 – Glasgow to Newark to Denver to Estes Park         Our seven-hour flight from Glasgow to Newark was smooth and on time.  United had us in Economy Plus and the extra room was wonderful.  Since we had a continental breakfast at the hotel, we used our 15 GBP vouchers at the airport at Starbucks (mocha, banana, muffin, and baguette) and for water and candy at a news-agency.  Waste not, want not.         Then the fun began again!  Our flight from Newark to Denver was to be delayed at least 4 ½ hours after our 3-hour intra-transit connection.  But, I remembered I had two passes to the United first class lounge!  We used them so we could have soft seats for the 7 hours. And they had free soup (delicious), salad and desserts, coffee, and evidently free bar drinks.  No wonder first class tickets are so expensive.  We don’t know where the thunderstorms were that were delaying all the flights, but the lounge became very full.         Eventually we flew to Denver and drove home, arriving at 1:15 AM a day later than planned.  It is great to be home in one piece even if the grass in the yard is 2-feet tall!
What happens to your yard when you are gone for 34 days in late May-June!	Knee deep!