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Published: October 20th 2009
Today was amazing! We took a tour of Loch Ness (not the amazing part) and went to Urquhart Castle where we are getting married (that's the amazing part). It is everything I hoped it would be. I'm so excited to be getting married there even if I don't know exactly where cause it doesn't matter. It is all so cool.
Ok, here's the history part which everyone who knows me knows that is what makes this place so amazing, so if you find history boring, skip on down. The ruins of the castle date from the 13th century and the last castle occupants were the Grant clan during the Jacobite rising when the blew up the castle to keep it out of English hands. However, the castle was built on the site of the ancient fortification of one the Pict kings . Here is where the Loch Ness monster comes in. St. Columba came over from Ireland to convert the Picts to catholism. While here in 565, in Inverness, he witnessed a 'monster' (as recorded by his secretary at the time) in the Ness river chasing his servant swimming across the river. He went to the river bank, raised his 
Victorian Market
oldest market place in town; indoor mall with lots of quaint little shops(some quirky)hands and commanded the monster to go back to where he came. It apparently did and the servant survived. A couple of decades later, St.Columba was back converting Picts again and came to the king that resided where Urquhart is now. The king was dying when St. Columba got there, and the king, knowing of the story of the monster in Inverness, converted to catholism on his deathbed because St. Columba asked. That allowed St. Columba to make more converts using the king's name.
Tonight we went on a walking tour with the Man in the Kilt, as he titles himself. Not a ghost tour but we went to the sites of several hangings and beheadings but also heard lots of other tidbits of Inverness history. This area is very steeped in history, not just from the 1700's, but back more than a thousand years with the Picts, and even more with the pre-historic tribes.
Tomorrow we go to Culloden Battlefiield to learn more about the Jacobite rising and battle here in 1746 that effectively secured the Hanover line for the British monarchy that still exists today.
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Sherie
non-member comment
Coooooooool! So glad it is all you wanted it to be!