All posts by ramblintraveler

Passionate traveler kicking back and exploring the world one country at a time:)
Scotland

Isle of Skye

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The Isle of Skye is absolutely breathtaking!!  Turn after turn it’s just filled with so many beautiful wonders of nature that it’s almost just too much to take!!  I’m so glad that I had the chance to get there!!  The tour itself was so-so, but what it lacked was made up by the beautiful surroundings.  But I’m getting a tad ahead of myself…

I’ve already mentioned that I booked my ticket at the tourist info center in Inverness.  When asking the employee at the desk about this specific tour, a 12 hour tour by WOW Scotland that cost almost 70 pounds (about $118 US), she seemed very hesitant to say anything about it… It was really kind of odd.  I wasn’t sure if it was just her or if she  just didn’t want to say anything negative about the tour.  So because of her hesitation, I hesitated too.  Then she went on to explain that she had never been on this particular tour from WOW Scotland so she couldn’t say too much about it one way or another aside what was advertised on the brochure.  But she had taken others that she enjoyed from WOW Scotland (though again she wasn’t very enthusiastic in her descriptions).  Against all the other tours of the Isle of Skye, it covered much more of the Isle and seemed to take us to more places.  And the tour itself was longer than any of the others…

My largest concern though was that we would simply be in the bus all day being carted from one site to the next, only let out for little breaks and to snap some shots.  I wanted to be able to spend some amount of time at each place.  And though there were numerous stops listed on the itinerary, I figured “heck, we have 12 hours and the Isle isn’t all that big.  I’m sure we will get some good time at each place!”.  So despite the lack of salesmanship by the tourist office employee, I talked myself into buying the tour.  Later I went on TripAdvisor and was further assured by my decision to book the tour because of the 5 star rating the tour had received.  Fast forward to the day of the tour…

All started off well, we were picked up in front of the tourist info center (nice central and easy location!!) in a mini bus that was quite comfortable and suited for our needs.  There were about 20 of us in total.  Though he didn’t show up in a kilt (a comment that a fellow tour-goer made later in the day that she was kind of hoping to see since we were on a Scottish tour) our guide was a local, was friendly and humorous and all.  He was knowledgeable and had stories to tell about each area…

But here is the kicker… Perhaps it was simply that the tour was as long as it was.  Or because of “the event” that happened later in the tour that sort of unfortunately out-shown the rest of the tour (for the better in my book, lol!!).  Or perhaps though funny and witty the guide wasn’t THAT memorable in the way he presented the info.  Or perhaps the pure natural beauty of the Island simply made everything else about the trip null and void in my mind… I simply just don’t know… But what I’m getting at here is that again, while our guide did have lots of history and stories to tell, I can’t recall a single one of them aside from a little disturbing statistic about Loch Ness and that the leopard man lives on the Isle of Skye…

No, I wasn’t drunk… I wasn’t hung over… I was completely present and alert and aware and listening just as I had on every tour prior (and all those after) yet I just can’t recall any of the stories he told.

And honestly I was a bit disappointed by the amount of time that we were allotted at each spot.  The original itinerary only allotted on average 15 minutes at each place, except for our lunch spot- 1/2 hour- then we were supposed to have an hour in one of the little towns.  Mind you, the brochure never mentioned how much time would be spent in each place so it was unknown at the time of booking.  Personally I would have given the little town less time since we weren’t there for a town!!  We were there for the sights!!!  We didn’t even get out of the van to walk around or near Loch Ness!!  We simply drove by it and had to take pictures out of the van window!!  That was kinda disappointing!!  But luckily or unluckily, as fate would have it we ended up having almost 3 hours in one of our locations… More on “the event” in a bit!

I know I’m going back and forth on how the tour actually was… Sorry for that!  But I guess if I had to be pinned down I would say yes, the tour was worth it if only for the sights of the Isle of Skye alone.  And having basically a chauffeur to take us around was quite nice (until “the event”).  Had it not been for the sights and being chauffeured around, well I wouldn’t say I would have been that crazy about it.

Oh, but for anybody planning on doing the trip, one word of advice: eat your lunch IN the van!!!!  Don’t wait for the break!!!  The only reason I say this is because you may otherwise be sharing your lunch with the midges!!  Or rather will also be eating the midges as part of your lunch!  Not to mention, if you eat at the lunch spot you will get less time to walk around!

Midges… for those who don’t know they are itty bitty teeny tiny little gnat like flies that come in swarms and will bite the absolute life out of you!  Before I went to Scotland I was warned about them but had never encountered them until the Isle of Skye.  Though they thankfully never actually bit me, they were so darn annoying!!!  They would swarm all around your head and mouth and body and hands and basically anywhere where skin was exposed just buzzing!!  So needless to say, as I tried to eat my sandwich they swarmed all around it and me and I ended up eating more midges I think than sandwich!  Needless to say about half way through I lost my appetite… So yes, eat your lunch ON The van!!!

The sights included: Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle, Hairy Coos, Eilean Donan Castle, Strath Bran & Strath Carron, Slighachan, Faerie Glen, Quiraing (sight of “the event”), Kilt Rock, Trotternish Ridge & the Old Man of Storr, and finally Portree.

Yes, as mentioned before quite a bit was covered so perhaps I should have expected just a few minutes at each place and should stop complaining about the lack of time spent at each location…  Not to mention, the majority of tourists really aren’t into walking around much or hiking on tours.  Most are happier being taken around so they can snap their shots and say they’ve been there (not me obviously).  It’s unfair to expect everyone’s needs to be met so perhaps I shouldn’t take it out as a fault of the tour so much…

In any event, enjoy the pictures of each place and a story of “the event” via the below links:)  Oh one last little bit about the Isle of Skye in general: it was the first place where Gaelic became basically the prominent language.  Road signs turned to Gaelic only (some also had the original or “English” names as well)!!  And about 8% of the population of the Isle of Skye still speak Gaelic today!

Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle & Hairy Coos

Eilean Donan Castle, Slighachan & Faerie Glen

Quiraing (site of “the event”)

Kilt Rock, Trotternish Ridge, the Old Man of Storr & Portree

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Scotland

Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle & Hairy Coos

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The disturbing statistic I recalled from the tour about Loch Ness??  Simply that some very bored (or disturbed) person worked out that Loch Ness has so much water in it that every person on the planet could be drown in it 3 times over… The joy!!!

But now when I heard that, the analytical side of my mind couldn’t help but wonder… Technically a person can drown in only 3 inches of water… So did that person mean by the technical standards of a person drowning or that physically every body on the planet could fit in the space of Loch Ness 3 times over and drown by being immersed in water…??

Eh, as you ponder that, enjoy the picts as well!

On to Eilean Donan Castle, Slighachan & Faerie Glen

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Eilean Donan Castle, Slighachan & Faerie Glen

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The Eilean Donan Castle is apparently THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED castle in the WORLD!  Quite an impressive accomplishment!!  You MUST also check out the Faerie Glen picts!!!  By far my FAVORITE!!! 🙂  Slighachan was the site of the midges… Ick!

On to Quiraing (site of “the event”)

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Scotland

Quiraing (site of “the event”)

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Ah, the event!!!  Yes… So this happened just as we were approaching Quiraing.  So on the Isle of Skye, the majority of the roads leading from one picturesque place to another are VERY narrow… I mean to the point that it’s really only one lane wide!!  But since there are two ways of traffic, there are several spots along the road (probably every 200 meters or so) where a vehicle can pull over to let the oncoming car pass.

So on our way to Quiraing (thankfully only walking distance away) we came across a traffic jam along the single lane road.  The issue ahead of us was a car was head on with a camper (trying to come in our direction).  They weren’t able to pass each other because some tourist had parked their camper IN the pull-off zone designated only for vehicles to pass one another!!  With the parked camper in the way there was no way for anyone to pass each other on the road, unless they went off-roading…

So our driver got out and helped at least the car to get around the camper trying to come our way.  And he helped the camper squeeze as close to the side of the road as possible so that WE could possible squeeze along them to our destination…

As we attempted to pass the left side of our van went off the road and due to the recent wet weather just sunk into the land and that was it… We were stuck!!!  A very long story short, we weren’t pulled back out of the rut for almost 3 hours!!!  So at first we just had lots of time (YAY!!!) to wander around, which I took full advantage of!!  Our guide hitched a ride into town (just down the valley) to try and get someone to get us out of the rut (literally).  When no one came for hours, one of the church charity vans from town came and picked us up and took us into town so we could at least get some hot beverage while we waited for our rescue.  Of course it was a very frustrating situation for the guide, but he took it in stride as we all did.  We ended up not getting back to town until almost 11pm because of it, but we still got to hit all the hot spots on the list, so all was well that ended well!!

And honestly… the more I think about it… The more I think that this unexpected hitch kinda made the trip for me (along with the beauty of Skye of course!!).  I do enjoy unplanned events thrown into the mix!!  Strange, I know!

On to Kilt Rock, the Old Man of Storr & Portree

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Kilt Rock, the Old Man of Storr & Portree

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On to Oban

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Scotland

Inverness

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Inverness… Made most famous by Loch Ness where Nessie, the fabled (or real?!?!?) monster of the Loch lives!!  I actually really liked Inverness!  It was not too large a place, but also not too small.  As Goldilocks would say, it was just right:)

I got there on bus and of course started my day there by wandering around hostel after hostel trying to find somewhere to sleep for the night.  The hostel by the bus station was full, which was fine by me cause I got an odd feeling from the staff there when I arrived to inquire about availability.  So I wandered as always aimlessly toward what turned out to be the main shopping street and in general main street of Inverness: High Street.  Well, ok, maybe it isn’t the official main street, but it was pretty central to all things touristy (the castle, museums, tourist info center, and lots of shopping).  And perhaps another little thing to mention: High Street was closed off to traffic and was only available for foot traffic, which I quite enjoyed!!  Anyway, I found Highlander Hostel after a few other failed attempts just off High Street.  I booked a room for the night since it was the first place that I’d come across that had room… I was getting worried again that no space would be available elsewhere and I had better jump on this one!  I went to my room to settle in and was not at all impressed with the accommodations.  It just had the feeling of uncleanliness!!  Though there was a bathroom in the room itself, it was being shared by 9 others (10 including me) and just the sight of hair everywhere… Ick!!  I know that you get what you pay for and many times staying in hostels is an absolute gamble, but some places are MUCH more clean feeling and more welcoming than others…

Not really feeling that location (but being stuck there for the first night) and knowing that I wanted to stay in Inverness at least a few night (since I had to get to Loch Ness to see Nessie!!) I set out immediately to find a room for the next night at another hostel.  A little down the road from the Castle and just along the river I came across the Inverness Student Hostel.  From the second I walked in I knew this place would be great!!  And indeed it was!!  The vibe was just warm and welcoming, the place felt clean and safe, the staff were friendly and sane (at the other hostel the guy who checked me in, though there was a “no smoking inside” policy later lit one up in the check-in/common area just because no one was around… yeah… great example to set!).

The Inverness Student Hostel was all booked up for the night I arrived (I had half a mind to demand a refund from the other place and just stay there instead) but had a space available for the next two nights.  Perfect!!  That’s all I needed!!  I paid a little extra to be in a room with only 5 others, but it was worth it!!  I payed for my nights in advance to stay there the next few nights and on my way out noticed that they had affiliate hostels in Oban (pronounced by locals as “Oh-BIN” where I was planning to go next anyway).  Liking the feel of the place that much- I went ahead and booked in advance (what was wrong with me?!?! ;)) a room at the Oban hostel (called simply Oban Backpackers) for a few nights as well!!  I must admit that though the whole “find something when you get there” is fun and adventurous, also knowing that I had a place to stay for sure at the next location was quite comforting… Especially since the past few towns I had been in seemed to be short on places to stay!!

After securing my spot at the Inverness Student Hostel and the Oban Backpackers, I headed out to explore Inverness a bit more.  Since I was going to stay there for two full days, I figured a trip to the tourist info center would be wise.  There I found an all day tour (literally 12 hours long) for the Isle of Skye hosted by WOW Scotland! tours.  I won’t go into great detail here about the booking as I will save it for the Isle of Skye post I’m doing next, but needless to say I did book the tour.  The tour would not be until that Friday (2 days from my arrival date) however so I had a day in between to simply chill and explore Inverness at leisure.

At this point it was dinner time, so I wandered around for somewhere to eat.  On the opposite side of High Street there was an Italian Tapas restaurant.  And even though I was going to be in Italy soon, I really wasn’t hugely hungry so the idea of tapas really appealed to me.  Plus, I had heard that many of the immigrants to Scotland were from Italy, so I was pretty confident the food would be authentic and not disappointing!

I was right about my instincts- the food was very good!!  I had a tapas gnocchi dish with a glass of prosecco.  Now mind you, when I would go out for lunch or dinner I would only bring a certain amount of cash with me.  This was mainly so I wouldn’t go nuts on drinking too much, because lord knows if I had brought my card I could have just had my dinner and a drink, then another, then another… To my surprise, this is exactly what had ended up happening anyway!!

I was simply sitting at a table for one, enjoying my gnocchi and glass of prosecco when I noticed 3 guys sitting at the bar.  Just something about them made me think that they, or at least one of them owned the place.  Just the way they looked around and looked at things and moved around every now and again.  They had the aura of being invested.  I basically finished my meal and sat enjoying my prosecco.  One of the three guys came and stood by my table looking out to the street, then asked if I had enjoyed my meal.  I replied that I did and to satisfy my curiosity on whether I was right about whether he was an owner, I asked if he was.  And indeed, he replied yes.  One question led to another and he ended up sitting down with me (a true Italian!  Always inviting and entertaining) and asked if I wanted another prosecco.  Though I said no, I eventually said yes and was brought another glass.  I won’t drone on with every detail but basically what ended up happening was I was introduced to his cousins (the other 2 at the bar) and a nephew and after a BOTTLE of prosecco and a shot of limoncello I was invited to stay for the after party (apparently it was the owners birthday) to which I stayed for a piece of cake and WATER to sober up a bit, lol!!  I was also invited to the after, after party at someone’s house but declined vehemently and made my way back to the hostel at some point shorty after.  It was a great and unexpected time!!  Italians certainly know how to make people feel welcome!!  It was also quite entertaining because the owner was Italian but spoke English in a Scottish accent.  His cousins only spoke Italian.  I spoke English and some Spanish and even less of Italian, but could understand all 3… The bartender was from Guatemala and spoke English and Spanish, so conversations between everyone was just about the most interesting and entertaining thing!!  Between one language and another and trying to say one thing then having to interrupt someone during their conversation so they could translate something for you, it was just a mad house of languages!!  Lots of fun though!! 🙂

In any event, after stumbling home I went to sleep then left the next morning for the Inverness Student Hostel.  The next day wasn’t the best of weather so I mainly just did indoor things like a Natural History museum and caught up on emailing, etc.  I was supposed to go back that evening for dinner with one of the cousins, but felt not very social (dang hangovers!!) that day sadly.  Plus, I had an early tour the next day and wanted to be 100% for it!!  I kinda felt bad about not showing for dinner, but such is life!  You can’t please everyone.  But I am very grateful nonetheless for their hospitality and the great time that was had the night before:)

On to Isle of Skye

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Scotland

Huntly

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It wasn’t terribly far, nor a bad bus ride over to Huntly.  To my disappointment later I realized that Huntly wasn’t technically inside the Highland area at all, but rather about half way between the highlands and the coast…  There was another place I was looking to go to -Tomintoul- that I know for SURE was in the Highlands, but it was only accessible by bus on Tuesdays and that would have meant about a week killing time in other areas nearby.  Tomintoul sounded appealing simply because first it was in the Highlands and second it’s the highest point of the Highlands… Getting there is half the battle though!!  In any event, Huntly was a simple quiet and quaint little place.  When I arrived however the weather was not quite cooperating as it had been so far.  It was wet and cold and simply dreary!!  Very Scottish normal weather I’m sure, just not what I had been used to thus far.

When I arrived I was dropped in town center square.  Since I of course didn’t have a planned place to stay for the night, I wandered toward the tourist information center in the square… It happened to be closed and looked as if it would only be open when whomever worked there decided to show (I love small towns!!).  There was a little map in the window however that marked a few spots for B&Bs/hotels.  I made a mental note of them and started heading in their direction.

Mind you, there was a hotel in the town square itself called Gordon Arms, but I figured being THAT close to the center square, it would probably be too expensive!  So I wandered off down the road in the cold and the mist and found the first place of interest.  No vacancy, but the nice woman did refer me to another potential place.  So off I went back down the road, down the side street, straight on till morning, and found the next lovely place.  No vacancy… Hmmm… I really didn’t take Huntly to be THAT popular a destination, especially since there was no one on the streets or no other signs of life really aside from the Hotel owners/workers and some shop employees along the way!

I asked once again about any other place potentially open, but sadly no.  So I wandered back to the square and in the opposite direction from where I went before and found another place. No answer… At this point it looked like I could be running out of options… So I wandered into the Gordon Arms hotel holding my breath at the potentially huge sum of money I would have to pay for the night.  The hotel clerk greeted me but asked me to hold for a minute.  When he arrived ready to check me in, he asked “Are you staying at the hostel?”??

The HOSTEL????  You have a HOSTEL here???  Sure enough, just around the corner not a stone throw away was the Highlander Bunkhouse!!!  A hostel for all the crazy cheap backpackers like myself:)  Yay!!!  Oh and best part too of the hostel, only a few steps from the pub!  Double yay!!!  So I paid for a night and settled in to my room.  I was the only one in my room, which was great, so it was like having a private though there were several other people staying in the hostel.  At this point I really wasn’t sure how long I would stay in Huntly.  There was certainly much to do there- several castles to hike to, lots of whiskey distilleries to tour, etc, etc. But with the weather being as it was… Well, let’s just say that it just didn’t inspire much of any sort of effort on my part!!  So if the next day had the same weather, then I would go.  But if it cleared up or showed some promise of clearing up, then I would stay!

In any event, after settling in it just happened to be about beer o’clock… So I headed into the pub for a pint!  Now, K and I have had a few chats before about how great pubs are just from the perspective of being able to meet locals fast and chat them up on things to do in their town!  This pub was… well… a tiny bit different, but not at all in a bad way!!  I wandered in and at the bar were 6 men.  Literally as I walked in it was like the room silenced and all heads turned to see who was coming in… I wasn’t sure if that meant that the regulars were all already there so they simply weren’t expecting anyone else to come in, or if they were an unfriendly type, or what really…!!

I sheepishly walked over to the side of the bar (trying my very BEST to seem confident and not sheepish at all!!) sat down and asked the bar maid, who suddenly appeared from around the corner for a beer.  And that was basically all it took!  Within a few minutes it was like I was just part of the gang.  They asked questions of me, I of them, and it we were all best of buds in no time!  Everyone was buying everyone else drinks and the festivities just went on like this for hours!  As the evening went on, more and more people came and went, which really gave me the distinct feeling that this pub was probably one of the only ones in town as well!!  Funnily enough, the 6 original guys who were in the bar (and then another 3 that came in later) weren’t locals at all.  They were simply contracted workers who were staying in Huntly to work on wind turbine projects near Huntly.  So they weren’t able to give me much information about the area and what to do (nor could the barmaid as she had just recently moved there too) but after a few drinks, I lost interest in that kind of information anyway!

I will say that at least I did behave myself!!  I cut myself off at a point, got some food and went to bed so I wouldn’t be hung over the next day!  Generally, well, I do like to drink and have quite a hard time moderating myself… But I guess as I get older it gets a little easier as the impending thought of the hangover is enough to make me stop with the booze and start with water!!

I bid farewell and thanks to my fellow bar mates for the night and headed to my hostel.  The next day unfortunately had the same dreary and cold weather as the day before.  So true to my word I packed up and headed to Inverness.

On to Inverness

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Scotland

Aberdeen

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While it was time to take off and travel more of Scotland, I really was quite reluctant about it because it meant having to leave K&E!!  I still miss hanging out with them for a beer (or 20 in the case of K & I, lol!! AND whiskey on occasion!!) or for a delicious home cooked meal!  I had my first Cullen Skink there, and though I’m not at all a fish fan, the soup was VERY delicious and had no fishy taste to it at all!!  I miss the lean event we did together on the garage, driving around town in style, being shown all the exclusive and local parts of the area, the awesome conversation and company, and Sunday night burritos!!  Yea, I wasn’t looking forward to leaving, but it was time…

When looking up where to go next, I settled on Aberdeen then on to the Highlands, which are in central Scotland.  I was first thinking to keep going north from Aberdeen along the coast, but it would have been trickier to get around since I didn’t have a car and only relied on buses and trains.  Which brings me to a point… Scotland visitors would definitely benefit from renting a car!!!  There are sooooooo many nooks and crannies to see in Scotland that aren’t possible to see because the buses don’t go there, or they only go there on Tuesdays, etc, etc.!!  So if you really want to get into Scotland, rent a car!!  Or a car AND a chauffeur, which is how it would have to be in my case because they drive on the “wrong” side of the road and I could totally see myself killing myself within the first few minutes of attempting to drive alone!!

Moving on… I happened to find a train ticket to Aberdeen in first class for only 3 pounds more than the 2nd class ticket.  Having never traveled any mode of transportation in first class before, I thought heck, why not?!  And man oh man was it ever worth it!!!  Free food!  Free booze!!  Free WiFi!!!  Comfy seats!!!  I can’t say that I would have paid much more than 10 pounds more than the 2nd class seat to get a 1st class seat, but then again… Now that I know all the perks of 1st class, well it certainly made me want to always go that way!!  But I’m too cheap to do that!!  Or rather, the more I spend in one way means the less I can spend in traveling!!  So being thrifty always wins out!!

Aberdeen is an interesting mix of a place.  It is modern yet built in an old style.  The whole city is quite grey due to the granite they use on many of the buildings, both old and modern.  It is a very industrious town and has lots of oil business there and ship yards for various tasks such as fishing, oil, etc.  Funnily enough I learned that Aberdeen is where my sister’s place of work is based out of!  It’s definitely just a business place, with some character in the old buildings and the cemetery in the center of town, but that was about it.

Luckily I had only planned to simply get there, spend a few hours walking around (which I almost got lost at one point, lol!!) and then head out via the bus to Huntly.  And that’s what I stuck to doing.  I checked my luggage into the storage facility at the train station, walked around, then gathered my luggage and waited for my bus.

On to Huntly

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Scotland

The Real Mary King’s Close

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The second guided tour I took in Edinburgh was for the Real Mary King’s Close.  The tour office was located on the street level just off the Royal Mile, not far from the Castle.  But the tour itself went through homes, found not terribly long ago, beneath the current streets and homes….

Of course way back then the homes we walked through were at ground level.  But as people started to build more, instead of scraping old places and starting new, they simply lopped off the roofs of the old homes, built a new “ground floor” and simply built new homes or buildings on top of the old ones.  But this practice of building homes was forgotten about until some workers of the City came along and rediscovered all the homes (now underground) and turned them into a tourist attraction!

The tour was quite fun but for those who have any claustrophobic tendencies, they may want to skip it… The way down was a bit tight, but once in the rooms I didn’t think it was too bad.  But then again, E said she really didn’t enjoy the tour because she felt claustrophobic.  So be warned people!!

Anyway, our guide from start to finish played the part of a young man who lived way back when and sadly died at 23 from some horrid plague.  He told great stories of how the people lived (Gardy Loo!!) and the various plagues that afflited that age.  He was humerous and witty and played his role well!  We went through spaces that looked like a single room but were told it was a whole house for several families!!  Other areas were for animals and others still for the rich.  Each room was recreated to reflect the kind of people that would have lived in each room… But perhaps the most interesting of all the rooms… That of a little girl ghost…

When the spaces along Mary King’s Close were rediscovered, several measures were taken to make sure the spaces would be safe for tourists to travel through.  During projects of reinforcement, some workers would describe strange things or sightings of a little girl quite often in one area of the rooms… So one day, a psychic was invited to go through the rooms.  She didn’t pick anything up of note…  Had no strange feelings or pulls of any sort… She couldn’t find a single odd feeling anywhere… At this point she was in the room most known for sightings but still, nothing.

She was getting ready to leave when all of a sudden she turned around and saw a little girl in the corner of the room.  Now, mind you, at this point of the story we are all in the room itself and the “corner” where the girl was spotted standing was RIGHT BESIDE ME!!!  Yea, I got a little chill for sure when he pointed only a few inches from me!!  Anyway- the little girl was crying so the psychic asked her what was wrong.  The little girl said that she was sad because her parents had died and that she was also sad because she could not find her favorite toy to keep her company and comfort her!  The psychic was so moved by this that she left the rooms, went shopping for a doll, returned to the room where the young girl was crying and left the doll in there.  From then on, none of the workers ever reported any further sightings or disturbances.

Even now, people from all over having heard of and knowing of this story in advance bring the little girl gifts and toys to play with!  In the room today there is a stack of hundreds and hundreds of little toys and trinkets!  So many are brought in fact that the staff has to sometimes clear toys out to make room for others!!  The original is still there though:)

Needless to say, I would recommend this tour for sure!  Though it was a little on the pricey side for the one hour, it’s definitely worth the fun!!  Oh and sorry for the lack of pictures here… I can’t recall if they weren’t allowed at all, or if I was just too engrossed in the tour to care to take picts…

On to Aberdeen

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Scotland

Stone of Destiny & Edinburgh Castle

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After the tour of the Royal Mile, our guide took us up to the castle and shared lots of fun facts with us about it… My personal favorite is about the Stone of Destiny…

Ironically enough, before going to Scotland I was visiting with my horse trainer, who is like a second family to me, and she was telling me about a movie she saw called the Stone of Destiny.  It took place in Scotland and it is based on the true story about a group of Scottish student nationalists.  The Stone, which was where Scottish Kings were traditionally crowned was stolen by King Edward I of England in 1296 and placed under the throne at Westminster Abbey.  In the 1950’s the group of Scottish student nationalists succeeded in stealing the Stone back from Westminster Abbey and returning it to it’s righful place: Edinburgh castle!!  Quite a fun story to say the least!!  So while I had heard about the Stone of Destiny before I ever went to Scotland, I had of course forgotten exactly where the Stone was…  So needless to say I was quite tickled when I heard that it was indeed in the Edinburgh Castle!!  The Stone, to say the least is quite large and heavy looking and is currently encased in a glass display next to the Crown Jewels.  No pictures were allowed to be taken of it sadly, but it was really cool to at least see it!!

In the pictures below you will see a few of the inside of parts of the castle, and one where there is a plaque in honor of Queen Elizabeth… You will also note the date however that it was in 1993… Why is it that there is a plaque in honor of Queen Elizabeth (seemingly the first Queen Elizabeth since there isn’t a II on the plaque) dated 1993??  It is in fact in honor of Queen Elizabeth II, however, since Scotland never recognized Queen Elizabeth I as their queen, to them, Queen Elizabeth is their first Queen, hence no “II” on the plaque…

The one o’clock gun… I already mentioned this bit in the section of Calton Hill, so I won’t drone on it again… However in this section you can see the pictures of the original cannon that was used to mark 1 o’clock, as well as the cannon used today (shoots blanks) to mark 1 o’clock:)

Ugh!!  And I’m absolutely going to muck this up…  But there was an interesting legend that revolved around St. Margaret… Basically it was a love story…  As the tale goes (hoping I recall it right!) St. Margaret (originally from Hungary) was very much in love with her husband and had earned the respect and adoration as a kind Queen from many of the Scottish people.  However, there was some fallout with some of the Scottish countrymen over religion… She was of one religion (Protestant???) and they another, and well, you know how those religious disputes tend to end in not so great a light… Anyway, St. Margaret was basically shunned over the religious disputes and it got so bad that she wasn’t able to leave the Castle.

While in the castle she got news that her husband died in battle and was to be buried.  Loving her husband as much as she did, she requested that when she died that she be buried along side him.  When she did pass away (not long after he died apparently) those still “on her side” wanted to grant her last wish of being buried by her husband, but those against her refused.  Her body stayed in the chapel of the castle for three days until some people “for” St. Margaret in the middle of the night, snuck her body out of the chapel and to her husbands gravesite where they buried her.  The townspeople “against” St. Margaret heard what had happened and got furious.  They went to the gravesite to dig St. Margaret up, but to their astonishment were unable to actually lift her out of the gravesite!  Her body had somehow become so heavy they were unable to get her back out!  So they had to leave her, despite their best efforts.  So as the legend goes, the townspeople were unable to move her body because her love for her husband was too strong, even in death, to allow them to take her away from him.  Awww…!!!! 🙂

But seriously people, don’t quote me word-for-word on the above legend as I’m sure some bits aren’t quite correct!!  And if any of you happen to hear the legend yourselves, do tell me how it’s supposed to be!  Lol!!

On to The Real Mary King’s Close

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