Lunsfords in Scotland and Ireland

Dublin, Ireland

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Dublin, capital of the Republic of Ireland, is on Ireland’s east coast at the mouth of the River Liffey. Its historic buildings include Dublin Castle, dating to the 13th century, and imposing St Patrick’s Cathedral, founded in 1191. City parks include landscaped St Stephen’s Green and huge Phoenix Park, containing Dublin Zoo. The National Museum of Ireland explores Irish heritage and culture. From a personal standpoint Dublin has a very cool vibe and is wonderfully progressive and diverse with many nationalities present. I loved this town!

We took off from Killarney on a long drive across south central Ireland toward Dublin. This photo was taken while in route. The Connemara Pony (Irish: Capaillín Chonamara) is a pony breed originating in Ireland. They are known for their athleticism, versatility and good disposition.

The next stop on our tour was Blarney Castle, home of the famed Blarney Stone. Legend has it that if one hangs upside down and kisses the stone they will receive the gift of gab.

Blarney Stone. I didn’t kiss it in the interest of hygiene and Covid 19 avoidance. Besides I’m not interested in being a chatterbox. Rhonda didn’t climb the 106 steps to view the stone. It was somewhat anticlimactic. I watched a oriental man and wife work through the process of him kissing the stone while she tried to operate her phone camera. It took three tries! Everyone around us was cracking up even though we couldn’t understand a word. Somethings are just universally funny!

View of the castle gardens from top of Blarney Castle.

Blarney Castle gardens

Blarney House. This is a private residence which we aren’t allowed to tour adjacent to the gardens area.

Rock of Cashel Set on a dramatic outcrop of limestone in the Golden Vale, the Rock of Cashel, iconic in its historic significance, possesses the most impressive cluster of medieval buildings in Ireland. Among the monuments to be found there is a round tower, a high cross, a Romanesque chapel, a Gothic cathedral, an abbey, the Hall of the Vicars Choral and a fifteenth-century Tower House. Originally the seat of the kings of Munster, according to legend St. Patrick himself came here to convert King Aenghus to Christianity. Brian Boru was crowned High King at Cashel in 978 and made it his capital. In 1101 the site was granted to the church and Cashel swiftly rose to prominence as one of the most significant centres of ecclesiastical power in the country. The surviving buildings are remarkable. Cormac’s Chapel, for example, contains the only surviving Romanesque frescoes in Ireland. The Rock of Cashel is one of Ireland’s most visited tourist attractions.

Soon we arrived In the very cool town of Dublin and I went exploring the Temple Bar area. Although there is a Temple Bar pub (pictured) the area is named for the family who once owned and operated the farm along the south bank of the Liffey River. It is now a very cool music and pub area with cobblestone streets.

Bar named for Sir Oliver St John who was an English judge and politician that sat in the House of Commons from 1640-53. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. Temple Bar area, Dublin Ireland

Temple Bar area, Dublin Ireland. Ate dinner at the Old Storehouse on the right. Live performer was good.

Benjamin Guinness statue in Dublin

After a volumous breakfast we went exploring Dublin with Patrick as our guide. This is Ha’penny pedestrian bridge over the Liffey River in Dublin. It rocks…literally.

Fascinating bullet hole in breast of a statue in Dublin from Easter Rising of 1916. Target practice?

Lion in window in Georgian section of Dublin. Georgian style is named for the time period during which the Kings George ruled England which by the way were German.

Beautiful St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin Ireland.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin Ireland

Our tour guide being demonstrative and typically funny in St. Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin Ireland.

Door of Reconciliation in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. See notepad.

The Boyle monument in St. Patrick’s Cathrdral. Robert Boyle was the author of Boyle’s Law which states: The absolute pressure exerted by a given mass of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to the volume it occupies if the temperature and amount of gas remain unchanged within a closed system.

We left St. Patrick’s Cathedral and continued on touring Dublin. Pictured is a section of the old Dublin wall.

Red deer in Phoenix Park. The park is twice as large as Central Park.

Entrance to Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. Arthur Guinness started brewing ales in 1759 at the St. James's Gate Brewery, Dublin. On 31 December 1759, he signed a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum for the unused brewery. Ten years later, on 19 May 1769, Guinness first exported his ale: he shipped six-and-a-half barrels to Great Britain. Arthur Guinness started selling the dark beer porter in 1778. The first Guinness beers to use the term were Single Stout and Double Stout in the 1840s. Throughout the bulk of its history, Guinness produced only three variations of a single beer type: porter or single stout, double or extra and foreign stout for export. "Stout" originally referred to a beer's strength, but eventually shifted meaning toward body and color. Porter was also referred to as "plain", as mentioned in the famous refrain of Flann O'Brien's poem "The Workman's Friend": "A pint of plain is your only man."

View of the Liffey River from the Ha’penny Bridge in Dublin.

Clarence Hotel owned by the band U2.

The evening brought us to our farewell dinner at the Harbour Master restaurant in Dublin. It is always bitter sweet to come to the end of a tour but we will have memories that we will carry for the rest of our lives.

Our tour group photo. Patrick is beside me and Gerald our bus driver is kneeling to my right. Early the next morning we began the final journey home.

Killarney, Ireland

Fri, 14 Apr 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Galway, Ireland

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Galway, a harbour city on Ireland’s west coast, sits where the River Corrib meets the Atlantic Ocean. The city’s hub is 18th-century Eyre Square, a popular meeting spot surrounded by shops and traditional pubs that often offer live Irish folk music. Nearby, stone-clad cafes, boutiques and art galleries line the winding lanes of the Latin Quarter, which retains portions of the medieval city walls. It is the home city of our tour guide Patrick King.

We left Derry and crossed over into the Republic of Ireland which is a member of the European Union and the Euro is the cash currency. Soon we were in the quaint town of Donegal with it’s triangular shaped town square. On the square is the shop Triona where we saw a demonstration of old school wool weaving while enjoying Irish coffee which is coffee with Irish whiskey. The store has some fine quality wool products and many of the group made purchases including us.

Wool weaving demonstration along with an Irish Coffee to set the mood on a cold and blustery day.

Donegal Castle near the town square.

Soon we arrived at the picturesque town of Sligo which unfortunately we couldn’t really explore due to the rain and 40 mph winds. I was able to get a few photos near the Garvoge River that was rushing. The walk back to the bus was challenging against the wind!

Lunch in Sligo at a hotel. It was quite good.

The pedestrian bridge across the Garvoge River in Sligo. After I boarded the bus as the last passenger which was a rare occurrence for me the bus left for the town of Knock. The town is known for a reported miracle sighting of the Virgin Mary and some of the apostles. It all looked quite touristy to me and I was not buying it. I took no pictures. Eventually we arrived at our hotel in Galway, had dinner and called it a day.

The next morning we headed in the direction of Connemara National Park. It is a collection of small mountains and lakes and is quite remote. Patrick, our tour director lived here briefly as a young teen and told a very funny story involving his father, two purchased sheep rams, and an old school mini cooper transporting them. It was hilarious! His father had inherited the land and tried to make a go of sheep farming. The Irish Government mercifully stepped in and purchased the land which is now in the national park boundaries. Pictured is the Connemara Heritage and History Center. It was a very pleasant stop.

Lake and surrounding hills in Connemara National Park near Clifden.

A glare filled photo of the Connemara National Park. You can get the sense of the remoteness and see the small mountains.

A nice photo Rhonda took near Letterfrack in route to the Kylemore Abbey.

Located just over one hour from Galway City, Kylemore Abbey is one of Ireland’s top tourist attractions. Kylemore Castle was built in the late 1800s by Mitchell Henry MP, a wealthy businessman, and liberal politician. Inspired by his love for his wife Margaret, and his hopes for his beloved Ireland, Henry created an estate boasting ‘all the innovations of the modern age’. An enlightened landlord and vocal advocate of the Irish people, Henry poured his life’s energy into creating an estate that would showcase what could be achieved in the remote wilds of Connemara. Today Kylemore Abbey is owned and run by the Benedictine community who have been in residence here since 1920.

Pollacapall Lough on which Kylemore Abbey resides.

Beautiful fireplace inside Kylemore Abbey

Opulent dining room in Kylemore Abbey. The Henry’s were influential people and would entertain powerful guests like the 5th Earl of Spencer, ancestor to Princess Diana.

Gothic Church near Kylemore Abbey

Soon we were back in Galway with time to explore and experience the ambience of the town. We are pictured here on Quay (pronounced ‘kee’) Street near Eyre Square in the Latin Quarter. Live music performers (buskers) were everywhere.

Cool bar facade in Eyre Square in Galway

Darcy’s Bar Eyre Square Galway

Kings Head restaurant in Galway. The story is that the original owner of the bar came in possession King Charles I head and sold it for a tidy sum. He subsequently purchased the property and constructed the bar. We ate an excellent burger here. The menu has some darkly amusing names. Rhonda’s drink was the Executioner’s Desert, a coffee liquor. There is a beer that they say never loses its head, unlike a certain king…

Galway Girl statue. She is celebrated in a song.

Statue of Oscar Wilde and unknown companion in Eyre Square. It was a gift to the city from Estonia.

The rushing waters of the River Corrib in a hurry to meet Galway Bay. We flagged down a taxi near here who took us to our hotel which wasn’t too far away. Afterward we turned in for the night.

Londonderry, United Kingdom

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Derry/Londonderry has two names and is called by whichever political side one supports. Londonderry for the loyalists to the UK and Derry for those supporting the Republic of Ireland. The town centre is small and is surrounded by a substantial stone wall 1-1/4 mile in circumference. The town is attractive and is close to the border of the Republic of Ireland. It is also the site of Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday, or the Bogside Massacre, was a massacre on 30 January 1972 when British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland. Fourteen people died: thirteen were killed outright, while the death of another man four months later was attributed to his injuries. Many of the victims were shot while fleeing from the soldiers, and some were shot while trying to help the wounded. Other protesters were injured by shrapnel, rubber bullets, or batons, two were run down by British Army vehicles, and some were beaten. All of those shot were Catholics. Our local guide Terry was present on that day and suffers PTSD from the event. It is why he gives tours about it in an effort to cope with the memories.

The next morning we left a secured Belfast and headed in the direction of Derry/Londonderry Northern Ireland. On the way we stopped at the Giant’s Causeway, a natural outcropping of basalt into the Irish Sea from an ancient volcanic eruption. Pictured is me with the beautiful Causeway Coast behind me.

Beautiful view of the inlet at the Giants Causeway with gorse in the foreground.

Rhonda standing in front of a basalt column at Giant’s Causeway.

Looking up slope from the center of the causeway.

Looking seaward from the middle of the basalt causeway the extends into the Irish Sea in the general direction of Scotland. Legend has it the Irish giant Finn McCool apparently walked this causeway to Scotland to fight the giant Benandonner, commonly known as the Red Man, only to see he was much bigger. He rushed back home and had his wife hide him, pretending he was a baby. When the Scottish giant saw this 6’-6” baby he surmised that the father must be huge and ran back to Scotland.

View up the city wall of Derry. It is very well built and a pleasant walk around the circumference. There are nice city views as well as views of the “Bogside” where Bloody Sunday occurred.

Derry/Londonderry Guild Hall view from top of the city wall. Very nice and inviting structure. There is a nice museum inside.

Statue of Queen Victoria in the Guild Hall missing a few fingers which were casualties of “The Troubles”.

St. Augustine’s Church in Derry as seen from the city wall promenade.

The Bloody Sunday Memorial in the Bogside of Derry. Our local guide Terry was personally acquainted with two of the 14 names on the memorial. He still suffers PTSD and became a local guide to help cope by telling people about what happened.

View from the window of our hotel room in Derry. Very quiet outside. With the Biden visit there is some tension in the area.

This is an excellent Irish lager and was my favorite of the trip. We enjoyed dinner at the hotel and turned in early.

Belfast, United Kingdom

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland and is quite modern. Progress in the city has been stymied by the “Troubles” but seems to have had a renaissance of sorts since the peace agreement was signed with the IRA in 1998. There are still physical boundary walls erected between the Catholic and Protestant sides of the city but are being slowly removed. Both sides must agree to remove the wall before it is taken down. Only 12 walls remain.

Today we leave Scotland on a ferry to Belfast Northern Ireland. On the way we saw Ailsa Craig. It is an island of 99 ha (240 acres) in the outer Firth of Clyde, 16 km (8+1⁄2 nmi) west of mainland Scotland, upon which microgranite has long been quarried to make curling stones.

Belted Galloway Cows. Some people refer to them as “oreo cows”. Lol!

The very faint land mass behind Ailsa Craig Island is the Mull of Kintyre on which Paul McCartney lives and wrote a song about. It lies halfway between Scotland and Ireland and it quite remote. I suppose that is why Sir Paul chose it.

Our ferry to Belfast. It is quite large with multiple decks. Interestingly they only accept Euros cash currency since it is a Scandinavian ship in addition to accepting credit cards. Scotland and Northern Ireland use the British Pound Sterling.

Stern of the ferry on route to Belfast.

We eventually arrived in Belfast Northern Ireland and went to the excellent Titanic museum. The exterior of the museum is designed to match the height of the promenade deck of the famed ship.

Pictured is the actual location where Titanic and Olympic were constructed.

SS Nomadic is a former tender of the White Star Line, launched on 25 April 1911 in Belfast now on display in Belfast's Titanic Quarter. She was built to transfer passengers and mail to and from RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic. She is the only surviving vessel designed by Thomas Andrews who also designed those two ocean liners, and the last White Star Line vessel in existence today.

Belfast City Hall. Very majestic!

The Titanic Memorial at Belfast City Hall

Peace Wall between Loyalist (Protestant) and Republican (Catholic) areas in Belfast. Peace agreement has been in place for 25 years. Only 12 of these walls still are erected. Both sides need to agree to remove the walls.

View from the window of our hotel in Belfast. During our time there Joe Biden visited so several of the local roads were blocked off for security measures. We had an included dinner which was good as usual and retired for the night.

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Sat, 08 Apr 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Glasgow is a large city in the south of Scotland with a lively City Centre. It is a nice mix of the historic older buildings and newer modern. Glasgow is a port city on the River Clyde in Scotland's western Lowlands. It's famed for its Victorian and art nouveau architecture, a rich legacy of the city's 18th–20th-century prosperity due to trade and shipbuilding. Today it's a national cultural hub, home to institutions including the Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet and National Theatre of Scotland, as well as acclaimed museums and a thriving music scene.

We left Aviemore for a ride through the Scottish highlands. Here is a pretty photo I took from the bus while in route.

Highland cow pronounced “heelund coo”. These long haired cows are exclusive to the Scottish highlands.

Scottish highlands.

Ben Nevis, highest mountain in the UK at 4413 ft elevation lies on the western slope of the Scottish highlands.

Glencoe, location of McDonald massacre by a militia comprised of mostly Campbell Clan members. The Campbells had been guests of the McDonalds for weeks until getting directions from England to destroy them. Approximately 20 were killed in their beds while another 20 women and children fled into the winter surroundings and froze to death. The location is hauntingly beautiful.

Glencoe

Bagpiper at Glencoe provided the appropriate mournful music for the location.

We took a boat ride on the beautiful Loch Lomond. It is the largest lake in the UK by surface area. We also heard some of the legend of Rob Roy McGregor that hid from the British in a cave above the lake. The cave still exists but is taken over by wild goats.

Ben Loman above Loch Lomond.

Glasgow has a very cool City Centre with Buchanan St. being the main draw. It is pedestrian only and very spacious, full of shopping and bars.

The main square in Glasgow is George Square named after British King George III who apparently fell out of favor with the local Glaswegians before his statue was erected. The statue in the center is Sir Walter Scott. George Square opened in 1787 and there was going to be a statue of the king in the centre of the square, but after America declared independence from Britain in 1776, and Glasgow's tobacco trade was lost, the plan was quietly dropped.

Cool iron peacock on this building on Buchanan St. at the entrance to Princes Square, a multi-story shopping mall.

I entered Glasgow’s Central Station and walked around. It is a nice train station and very well organized. After that I returned to our hotel room for the night. We were staying at the very nice Hilton near St. Vincent St. close to the main highway.

The next morning we met a local guide for a tour of Glasgow. In the photo our local guide Colin is standing in front of the newest castle in England. It was rebuilt per records from the original construction. It was destroyed during the reformation. When the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, Henry Stuart (Lord Darnley) was being treated by the monks she stayed in a dwelling across from the castle which by that time had been demolished.

Pictured is St. Mungo’s Cathedral. St. Mungo is said to have performed four miracles enabling him to become a saint. In the first, he is said to have restored life to the pet robin of St Serf. In the second he used branches of a tree to restart a fire at St Serf's monastery that had gone out because Mungo had fallen asleep while he was meant to be watching it. The third relates to a miraculous bell he brought back with him from Rome. And the fourth involved the story of Queen Languoreth of Strathclyde being accused of infidelity by her husband, King Riderich, who alleged she had given her wedding ring to her lover when, in reality, the king had himself thrown it into the river. Facing execution, the Queen appealed to St Mungo, who ordered a servant to catch a fish from the river. When the fish was cut open, the ring was found inside, demonstrating the Queen's innocence. Today the bird, tree, bell and fish form the four elements of the crest of Glasgow City Council.

St. Mungo’s Cathedral. The lower elevation is the oldest section of the cathedral and holds the tomb of St. Mungo. This is where the scenes from Outlander were filmed when in the show Claire nearly died after having a miscarriage.

Glasgow City Chambers George Square

The tour guide took us to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens which were quite nice, especially on a cold day like this Easter Sunday.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is beautiful inside and out.

Saint Mungo’s statue on Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Beautiful ceiling of Kelvingrove

Hanging in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery is Christ of St. John of the Cross by Salvador Dali, a very famous painting.

We continued on our Glasgow city tour and passed Cameron Memorial Fountain referred to as the “Leaning Tower of Glasgow”. The support underneath had been undermined due to construction cause if to lean.

After departing with local guide Colin, part of the tour group toured Sterling Castle. On the way we saw Sterling Bridge, the first non wooden bridge over the river at Stirling after the wooden one was destroyed by the English at the battle of Sterling Bridge, a victory for William Wallace and the Scots.

View from a high point on Sterling Castle. Stirling Castle was the key to the kingdom of Scotland, dominating a vast volcanic rock above the river Forth at the meeting point between Lowlands and Highlands. Royal building projects like the Great Hall, the Chapel Royal and the Palace of James V, marked it out as one of the most important places in all Scotland. Infamous deeds took place here, like the murder of the earl of Douglas by James II. It was also a childhood home of some of the most famous people in Scottish and British history, such as Mary Queen of Scots and James VI and I.

Sterling Castle cannons

Sterling Castle interior buildings. The gold coloring on the buildings represents Royalty.

Great hall in Sterling Castle

Site of the Battle of Bannockburn, a victory for Robert The Bruce and the Scots essentially guaranteeing Scottish independence from England.

Statue of Robert The Bruce at Bannockburn. The statue was commissioned by the Earl of Elgin in 1964 to commemorate the 650th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn. It was sculpted by Pilkington Jackson using the measurements of Bruce's skull, re-discovered at Dunfermline Abbey in 1818. The statue was unveiled by the Queen.

I finished out the evening with a nice St. Mungo Lager and dinner and retired to our room.

Morning view from our hotel room in Glasgow.

Aviemore, United Kingdom

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Our next destination on the tour was the Scottish Highlands with a hotel stop location in Aviemore. The town is ideally suited for highland sightseeing and is adjacent to Cairngorms National Park.

We reluctantly left Edinburgh on the tour bus for a full day of sightseeing in route to the Scottish Highlands. Our first stop on the route was a tour of a scotch whiskey distillery called Lindores Abbey. It is the oldest and “newest” scotch whisky producer in Scotland. The earliest record of scotch whisky in the exchequer roll for 1494 is a payment from King James IV to Friar John Cor of Lindores Abbey for about "eight bols of malt" or 580 kg of aquavitae as it was then known. The abbey was sacked by a mob from Dundee in 1543, and again by John Knox and his supporters in 1559 at which time the distillery ceased operation until reopening in 2017 making it the oldest and newest distillery in Scotland.

Looking out the window of Lindores toward the ruins and original gate of the old abbey.

A better view of the original Lindores Abbey gate.

The next destination on our tour was St. Andrews, the origin of golf so I took an obligatory picture of the golf course which is right on the ocean. St. Andrews also has an esteemed university which both Prince William and his now wife Kate Middleton both attended and met each other. There are ruins of a once large cathedral which is now largely a graveyard. It was destroyed during the reformation. The town itself is quite walkable and has a certain charm to it.

St. Andrews looking away from the golf course toward town.

St. Andrews Cathedral ruins.

View out to the North Sea at St. Andrews

Our lunch location in St. Andrews. It was quite good. We ate well on this trip!

St. Andrews town view

We continued our journey and went through the town of Dundee. We drove past the original ship Discovery. The RRS Discovery is a barque-rigged (3 masted sails) auxiliary steamship built in Dundee, Scotland for Antarctic research. Launched in 1901, she was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in the United Kingdom. Now dry docked and a tourist attraction. It’s sister ship Endurance piloted by Ernest Shackleton sits at the bottom of the Antarctic Ocean.

Our tour continued on and soon we arrived at Scone (pronounced scoon) Palace. This palace is historically the location where Scottish kings were coronated. The “Stone of Destiny” which kings or queens sit on while being coronated resides here normally but currently resides at Edinburgh Castle. It will be used on May 6 with the coronation of King Charles III.

Chapel at Scone Palace. The grounds at the palace are extensive.

Perth Cathedral

Our journey continued toward Perth, a pretty city on the banks of the River Tay. The River Tay was the location of a train disaster. The Tay Bridge disaster occurred during a violent storm on Sunday 28 December 1879, when the first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed as a North British Railway passenger train on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen Line from Burntisland bound for its final destination of Dundee passed over it, killing all 75 passengers and crew aboard. Only 59 bodies were found.

Our tour continued in the direction of Aviemore. On the way we passed the Dalwhinnie Distillery. Eventually we reached our destination at Aviemore and had a nice dinner at the hotel and subsequently retired for the evening,

The next morning we had an early start. This cool railroad bridge was near Inverness.

The town of Inverness gets it’s name from the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean and Loch Ness.

We had a rest stop in the Highlands at a restaurant named Carron Restaurant near Strathcarron where we received homemade shortbread. The owner passed out the recipe. Very good. We were also treated to a bit of Scottish storytelling from a seasoned gentleman who included a little singing along with the Scottish lilt. It was great!

Beautiful Loch Carron in the Scottish Highlands.

We entered Isle of Skye across the Skye Bridge.

We continued on The Isle of Skye and came to Armadale which is historically the McDonald Castle. A very cool place.

Armadale stables

Weighted thatched roof home on Isle of Skye. The winds can be destructive to the point of roofs flying off! The wind was calm when we visited thankfully.

We left Isle of Skye after really only seeing a fraction of it and came upon Eilean Donan Castle. The castle is one of the most photographed in Scotland. It was constructed in the 13th century and at one time encompassed the entire island. It was destroyed by British naval troops in the early 18th century during the Jacobite rebellion. For the best part of 200 years, the stark ruins of Eilean Donan lay neglected, abandoned and open to the elements, until Lt Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap bought the island in 1911. Along with his Clerk of Works, Farquar Macrae, he dedicated the next 20 years of his life to the reconstruction of Eilean Donan, restoring her to her former glory. The castle was rebuilt according to the surviving ground plan of earlier phases and was formally completed in the July of 1932. It is open to the public for tours and weddings, etc…

We came upon the deep blue waters of Loch Ness, a gorgeous lake formed by a fault line running through the center. The lake is 745 feet deep and is the largest by volume in the UK. It is famous for the Loch Ness monster sightings affectionately called “Nessie”. The earliest report of a monster in the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the Life of St. Columba by Adomnán, written in the sixth century AD. Irish monk St. Columba was staying in the land of the Picts with his companion follower and had him swim across the river Ness to lure the creature. The beast approached him, but Columba made the sign of the cross and said: "Go no further. Do not touch the man. Go back at once." The creature stopped and fled and Columba's men and the Picts gave thanks for what they perceived as a miracle. Modern day reported sightings were documented with the famous “surgeon’s photo” in 1933 which has been confirmed to be a hoax. Despite numerous scientific searches no monster has been found.

Toward the end of our day we were approaching Aviemore and I took this photo from the bus of the highlands in view in Cairngorms National Park with snow on the peaks. Interestingly the peaks in the highlands of Scotland are not very high in elevation but the country has a northern latitude in line with Newfoundland in North America making the timberline much lower in elevation than for example Colorado’s 11,000 feet, in fact as low as 1600 ft. Long term efforts are underway to increase forestation in Scotland and now approximately 10% of the highlands are forested up from a low of 3% right after WWII. Our evening was our own in Aviemore so we ate dinner in the hotel restaurant which is quite good and retired for the night.

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 11:00:00 +0100

On April 3 we left NYC from JFK airport to the beautiful and historic capital of Scotland, Edinburgh. The flight took us overnight to Amsterdam for a short layover and then on to Edinburgh. The city center including the castle, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Mile between is gorgeous! There is so much to see and do in this historic jewel of a town. We met our Gate 1 tour director and had a welcome dinner at the hotel. Our director is from Galway Ireland but was born in Massachusetts. His name is Patrick King and he would prove to be outstanding!

Amsterdam’s airport was spotless. We had a quick layover here in route to Edinburgh.

The hotel allowed us to check in straight away. I’m always anxious to start sightseeing when we arrive at new locations and soon enough we were out exploring. We had limited time since we had to attend the welcome dinner around 7:00 pm so we made the best of that window of time.

Duke of Wellington statue. We used this guy to keep us oriented on where our hotel was. Though you can’t see it in the photo he even is pointing in the direction of the hotel!

Balmoral Hotel on Princes St. in Edinburgh. J.K. Rowling would stay here for serenity when writing the Harry Potter novels.

The Scott Monument in Edinburgh. Amazing gothic styling with a statue of Sir Water Scott at the base. A bagpiper serenaded us while viewing the monument. Very cool!

Looking up the Royal Mile in Edinburgh toward the castle.

National Museum of Scotland. This was a very nice modern museum celebrating all things Scottish. We walked through somewhat quickly but still saw many interesting things.

Replica of the original sarcophagus of Mary Queens of Scots. The original is in Westminster Abbey, Peterborough Cathedral. This was just one of the many interesting displays at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Our Gate 1 tour director Patrick King always posted a similar document at each hotel we stayed at keeping us informed. I can’t express strongly enough how good a tour director he was. He was so organized and informative and interesting as well as funny. He was like the best teacher you ever had at school. We felt lucky to have him. Our first day ended with a welcome dinner where we met our fellow travelers. So excited to continue this journey!

Our second day in Edinburgh began with local guide named Sheila showing us around the city on our tour bus. One of the locations was Holyrood Palace which we unfortunately couldn’t tour being closed for the Easter holidays. This palace anchors the lower portion of the Royal Mile with Edinburgh Castle on the upper end. It is the Royal residence when the King is in town.

View of the North Sea from top of Holyrood Park.

Former residence of Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island.

Pretty view of Edinburgh from the top of Holyrood Park with gorse in bloom in the foreground.

Pretty view of Grassmarket Street in Old Town Edinburgh

Sheila ended her portion of the tour by leading us into the Edinburgh Castle. She spoke to us through our “whispers” which are receivers for hearing her while she speaks through a transmitter with a mic. The next few hours were ours to explore the castle and the Royal Mile further.

William Wallace statue beside the entrance to Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle facade. It is built quite solidly into a natural basalt uplift making it an ideal location for a medieval castle. This castle has the dubious honor of being sieged a recorded 26 times in it’s history. Once gunpowder was invented castles became obsolete.

Edinburgh Castle solidly constructed on a basalt hill.

Royal Palace inside Edinburgh Castle

The Great Hall in Edinburgh Castle

St. Margaret’s Chapel is the oldest section of Edinburgh Castle dating back to the 12th century. It is constructed on the highest point of Castle Rock and is the oldest standing building in Edinburgh. Margaret was queen of Scotland from about 1047-1093.

Top of castle view toward Edinburgh

Interior of St. Margaret’s Chapel

Once we left Edinburgh Castle we walked down the Royal Mile and visited St. Giles Cathedral. Very pretty.

St. Giles Cathedral Edinburgh

St. Giles Cathedral

We left St. Giles and continued down the Royal Mile in the general direction of our hotel. Saw the iconic Tron Kirk along the way. The Tron Kirk is a former principal parish church in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a well-known landmark on the Royal Mile. It was built in the 17th century and closed as a church in 1952. Having stood empty for over fifty years, it was used as a tourist information centre for several years in the mid 2000's and, more recently, was the site of the Edinburgh World Heritage Exhibition and John Kay’s book and gift shop.

After going back to our hotel with help from the “Duke” pointing the way we rested for a while. I decided I wanted a pint at the Conan Doyle Pub but discovered they required reservations. The pub is located near where the famous Sherlock Holmes author once lived. Unfortunately we had to make other dinner arrangements so ended up at a fish and chips place which was less that stellar. Afterwards we returned to our hotel room for an early turn in.

New York, United States

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 08:20:00 -0400

Arrived in NYC March 31. Staying at the Kixby Hotel in midtown Manhattan, 45 W. 35th St. We like the location since it is close to the Herald Square metro station and within walking distance of several iconic NYC locations including the Empire State Building.

Day 1 started with an early flight to NYC. Took an Uber to the Kixby Hotel in midtown Manhattan. The hotel is one block from the Empire State Building so naturally that is the first place we went. It is a beautiful and well maintained building.

Saturday April 1 was a bucket list filled day which included a visit to Liberty Island, Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge, and the 911 Memorial. The weather initially was rainy but turned off nice and warm and sunny in the afternoon. The 911 Memorial was a sobering reminder of how fragile peace and security is in America.

Ellis Island main entry hall. Massive!

Brooklyn Bridge.

Location of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The 911 Memorial is very well done. The scale of the collapse is unimaginable.

Sunday April 2 was a cool and windy day in NYC so we decided to ride the Big Bus to see much of Manhattan without freezing. After a voluminous breakfast at Andrews NYC Diner we strolled north until we reached the Big Bus stop and purchased two one day tickets. We saw a lot of sites including the charging bull near Wall Street, Battery Park, the multiple piers along the Hudson including the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier. We also saw multiple iconic buildings and Central Park near Madison Avenue. Interestingly 5th Avenue divides Manhattan defining east and west. For example our hotel is on W. 35th St. because it is west of 5th Avenue.

Colorful Times Square

April 2 was cool and breezy in NYC but in the afternoon was pleasant in the sun. Adjacent to the iconic main branch of the NYC Public Library is a beautiful green space, Bryant Park. Pictured is me enjoying the warm sun and in the background is the top of the Empire State Building. Very cool!

Oakland

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 08:20:00 -0500

Preparations are underway for a epic trip to New York City and then join a Gate 1 tour of Scotland and Ireland. This is our second time to visit Europe in six months and we are very excited to see these beautiful and fascinating places. Both of us have large checked bags approaching the weight limits. It remains to be seen if that will be a mistake versus the pack light option we endorsed on our prior trip. We are hoping for mostly dry weather. April is supposed to be one of the driest months in Scotland. Time will tell but dry or wet it should a awesome trip!