The spring travel plans were
three weeks in Scotland and Ireland, hoping to arrive before the onslaught of
tourists. Not so. We were amazed at the throng of tourists strolling
the Royal Mile of Edinburgh, Scotland on a Monday in May. This Royal Mile was
used by Kings to travel between the Edinburgh Castle and their residence at the
Holyroodhouse Palace. This is the palace used when the U.K. royalty visit Scotland
thus, not used often.
Our stroll to
the castle was luckily timed with the daily 1:00 cannon firing with the changing
of the two Royal Guards. What a boring job, standing at attention, an hour at a
time. Why do they shoot the cannon at 1:00, not noon? Those smart Scots are
budget-wise spending only one cannon ball daily, not a dozen.
The impressive
castle, and Scotland’s main tourist attraction, sits high atop an ancient
volcano. It looks quite ominous and foreboding. Armies have stormed it since
the 1st century up until 1745. Prisoners of war have been held in
its dungeons until their rate of escape became too great. The crown jewels of
Scotland, a crown, sword and sceptre, are on view. Kings have been born here
including James VI born to Mary Queen of Scots. Mary was held prisoner in this
castle until she escaped to her cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England. Jealous
Elizabeth later had Mary be-headed. What a family rivalry!
A new word learned was “close” meaning
the narrow alleyways in cities among the tenement buildings. Due to
over-crowding, the apartment buildings were raised to upwards of six stories,
skyscrapers of the time. Until the 18th century, there was no
plumbing but plenty of disease and death due to the unsanitary conditions. Each
apartment, which housed about a dozen family members, collected their daily
waste in a bucket. The waste included human excrement, dead pets and other
disease causing organisms. So, to get the smelly bucket out of the apartment,
no one wanted to walk the sloshing bucket down the steps so the ingenious
solution was to toss the contents out the window onto the narrow alleyway
below. Thank God it rains a lot (265 days a year) in Scotland! Oh, and what did
they do with the supposed “witches” that weren’t burned at the stake in the
main courtyard? Toss them into the loch (lake) at the edge of the village which
also served as their drinking water. Thus, disease followed by death was a
handy means of population control in a very crowded space.
Little did I
know that Scotland is one of the youngest countries in our world? A 1997
referendum evolved into a Scottish parliament of 105 members. Amongst the
beautiful historical architecture of ancient buildings sits a marvelously
contemporary group of parliament buildings. A visit into their modern
parliament meeting room revealed contemporary desks looking to be of
Scandinavian design. It’s quite the contrast to the rest of Old Town.
It is a sad era
when one can associate a country visited to the most recent suicide bombing.
For this country it was the Manchester, England bombing at the Ariel Grande
concert. Walking by the flower bouquets laid at the Sir Walter Scott monument
at our arrival in Glasgow was a sobering reminder.
Glasgow is a
city for culture and food but our favorite activity was the 35 mile bicycle
trip we took along the path beside the Clyde River. Scotland is cycle friendly
with marked paths throughout the country. Soon we were in the bucolic
country-side with the baby geese, small boats and spring flowers.
Via a 12 hour
charter tour and an excellent tour guide who told us stories all along the way
while he drove the van, we did a day trip north to the Highlands. We passed Ben
Nevis, the highest mountain in the U.K. at 4,000’. A 30 minute boat ride on
Loch (lake) Ness and there was nary a spotting of Nessie. Stopping along the
way at villages for ice cream, an ancient castle and a stunning view with a
bagpipe player blowing his heart out, I thought he might have a heart attack.
The Scots and Brits certainly had many a bloody fight over the centuries.
Watching the movie Braveheart starring Mel Gibson is only the tip of their
stories of torture, pillaging and massacres.
Ironically today, the police do not carry guns and it is illegal for
citizens to own a gun. The Scots train police departments for many countries,
U.S. included, on how to disarm conflicts without a gun.
Food and
travel; what is the must-try food of Scotland? Haggis with Nips and Tatties.
Although eating the innards (heart, liver, kidneys, intestines) of lamb, or
venison, sounds quite nasty, it is actually quite tasty. With plenty of spices and crumbled over mashed potatoes
and turnips, it makes a fine main course. Or, roll it into balls with bread crumbs
and you have haggis balls. Let’s talk
about the liquid journey through Scotland, a mecca for Scottish whisky and gin.
So many flavors to choose from based upon the region or the flavorings added.
Tastings were a plenty and an even better sampler was ordering a flight of gin.
Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment