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Published: July 15th 2009
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We knew we were back in Scotland, as we followed the “Bonnie Banks” of Loch Lomond and made our first stop near Glencoe. Here in the Scottish Highlands we listened to a bagpiper play “Amazing Grace” and our new favorite song with a haunting story line “You take the High Road and I’ll take the Low Road”. It was a beautiful, crisp day and it turned out to be one of the highlight days of the trip. At a scenic lunch stop at Glenfinnan, we climbed to the top of the hill for a breathtaking view of the loch or lake, the monument and a famous railroad trestle (most recently seen in a Harry Potter film). Then it was on to Mallaig to board the ferry, coach and all, to the Isle of Skye and the Clan Donald Center with its 15th century Armadale Castle. After we returned to the mainland we were all thrilled to travel the 24 mile length of Loch Ness and to strain our eyes looking for “Nessie” the elusive Loch Ness monster. The next day we crossed the foggy Grampian Mountains, best known for the Royal Highland Games and stood on the 18th hole of St.
Andrews, home of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club founded in 1754. We finally ended our day with a drive over the elegant Forth Road Bridge into the center of Edinburgh where our hotel was located. We could have spent a week in this vibrant town with its Gothic architecture and many walking streets. An authentic Scottish show including the special Haggis ceremony, an early morning visit (before the crowds) to the Castle and the Crown Jewels, and a tour of the Royal Yacht Brittania where Charles and Diana honeymooned rounded out our 2 night stay. As we left Scotland and crossed back into England our tour guide appropriately played Auld Lang Syne. During our visit to Scotland we had learned about the controversial history of Mary Queen of Scots. Did you know that the word marmalade came from the French “Mary est malade” or “Mary is sick” when an orange jam substance was given to her for medicinal purposes. We also learned that the Scots had numerous inventions like the telephone, anesthesia, bicycles, tires, self adhesive stamps, TV, fax machines, radar, telegraph, penicillin, the decimal pt., color photographs, the hypodermic needle, lawn mowers, postcards, gas masks, thermometers, the thermos,
steam engines, video, buses, and the cloned sheep Dolly. This is quite a feat for a country with less than 5 million inhabitants. Our last 2 days on the road in England included whirlwind visits to Alnwick Gardens and Castle (setting for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter films), and York ( the site of the massive Minster Cathedral and Shambles, an ancient street mentioned in the Doomsday Book of William the Conqueror). We also visited Stratford- Upon- Avon taking a group photo in front of Anne Hathaway’s thatched cottage. We also toured the home where William Shakespeare was born. It was interesting to learn what a major contribution he had made to the English language which at the time was still considered a new language. Such phrases as “Wear his heart on his sleeve”, “Apple of my Eye”, “Eat me out of house and home”, “Dead as a door nail”, ‘If the truth were known”, “It’s Greek to me”, “Vanished into thin air”, “Tongue tied”, “Green eyed jealousy”, “In a pickle”, “Slept not one wink”, “Seen better days” and “It’s high time” were all first introduced in Shakespeare plays. As we made our way
back to London, it was a culture shock to travel on congested freeways, our first time in days. Back in London, it was only fitting to spend our last night at the musical “Billy Elliott” which had just swept the Tony Awards. This particular night due to illness and an injury we were privileged to see 3, yes 3, different Billy Elliotts perform. Because we were in the 3rd row and next to the conductor he confided in us that this was the 1st time this had ever happened. After 2000 miles on this UK land tour, many more on our Reykjavik to Southampton cruise and over 20,000 miles between American Airlines, Iceland Air, and British Airways we are still processing all that we have seen and experienced on our 30 day adventure. But one thing is for sure; we had a great time, enjoying old friends and making new ones and many, many highlight moments. Thanks for coming along on our journey!
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Sherry
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Great Trip
What a great trip you had. I really enjoyed the blog and the pictures.