Good morning, everyone. Sorry about the blog-blink you experienced yesterday. Our tour was a little over twelve hours, beginning at 8:00 yesterday morning and arriving back in Edinburgh at 8:15 last night. We had a 9:00pm reservation at Restaurant (Restroom)Number One, so the day was very long.
The tour was great, though, and the twelve hours were broken up with photo opportunities and restroom (and restaurant) stops and then the grand finale, The Urqhuart Castle. Obviously our bus driver had attended and graduated from the "Mike Watkins School of Driving a Bus around Mountain Curves." In fact, if you look closely in the picture, you will see (for those who know him) that he looks like Mike with a kilt and long hair. We started the trip listening to the bus rules and then held on tight as we wound our way up through the highlands—exactly like a trip with Mike.
The scenery was magnificent and our guide did a great job telling us about Scottish history. He pointed out what we knew about the kilt-wearing Mel Gibson and added that the movie is about 75% accurate, which he felt was quite good. However, the movie with Liam Neeson, Rob Rory, was 100% inaccurate. Oh well, it was still a good movie.
We also passed by the castle Madonna and Guy Ritchie have now left behind. It’s for sale for a measly $17,000,000. We passed it, as it sits, across a beautiful lake and even at a good distance from it, it still looked incredibly huge. I got a picture, through the bus window, going about 80 miles an hour. I don’t think People magazine will pay me much for it.
In any case, from what I’ve seen over here, you might have to hate your family to ask them to live in a castle. They seem to be destined to despair. The Urqhuart Castle was no different. You can see from the photo that it sits majestically and peacefully over the Loch Ness (Loch means Lake) where the famous Loch Ness monster lives. But, like the many other castles we’ve seen, this one saw its share of bloodshed as control of land seems to be quite a worthy cause to fight for. “Castle remains” would best describe Urqhuart Castle today, but the tourist organization did a fantastic job of reenacting the time period when it was in its glory in an eight minute video, so by the time we walked down to the castle, we could visualize grand dinners as well as everyday life being lived. The picture you’re seeing is looking down at the castle from the visitor center. At one time around 100 people lived in the castle-fortress, as it took many to care for the Lord and Lady and each other. Bakers, cooks, seamstresses, stewards, horse handlers, doctors, and many more servants were required to keep up day to day castle life. As I stood at one end of it, it reminded me of life at camp—a self-contained village where people lived and, most certainly, loved each other. The inhabitants of this magnificant castle saw several hundreds of years where life was uneventful, when it must have been glorious to live in Urqhuart Castle, but then war would break out and destroy all that the previous generations had worked for. The last battle was in 1689 when the supporters of William and Mary fought off the Jacobite force. They won the battle, but decided to destroy the castle themselves and leave it to its destined future—a tourist attraction. I’m sure they didn’t think of that on their way out the door.
Today, it is a popular tourist attraction for another reason. It is the home of Nessie, the Loch Ness monster. The 700 feet deep water that surrounds the castle makes it perfect for Nessie to roam freely, but we did not spot her yesterday. We did see a very long-haired wool-y cow named Hammie as you can see from the other photo.
Well, better go. Another full day ahead, but a bit more relaxed as we'll walk and look for more castles to explore. I’ll get back on the blogging schedule tomorrow.
One last point. 2 papa and I both noticed that when man builds and destroys their own property, it will sit for hundreds of years, but when man destroys what God has built, it will rebuilt itself with great beauty. What man destroys, God can redeem.
“He forgives your sins—everyone. He heals your diseases—everyone. He redeems you from hell—saves your life! He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown. He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal. He renews your youth—you're always young in his presence.” Psalm 103:3
The tour was great, though, and the twelve hours were broken up with photo opportunities and restroom (and restaurant) stops and then the grand finale, The Urqhuart Castle. Obviously our bus driver had attended and graduated from the "Mike Watkins School of Driving a Bus around Mountain Curves." In fact, if you look closely in the picture, you will see (for those who know him) that he looks like Mike with a kilt and long hair. We started the trip listening to the bus rules and then held on tight as we wound our way up through the highlands—exactly like a trip with Mike.
The scenery was magnificent and our guide did a great job telling us about Scottish history. He pointed out what we knew about the kilt-wearing Mel Gibson and added that the movie is about 75% accurate, which he felt was quite good. However, the movie with Liam Neeson, Rob Rory, was 100% inaccurate. Oh well, it was still a good movie.
We also passed by the castle Madonna and Guy Ritchie have now left behind. It’s for sale for a measly $17,000,000. We passed it, as it sits, across a beautiful lake and even at a good distance from it, it still looked incredibly huge. I got a picture, through the bus window, going about 80 miles an hour. I don’t think People magazine will pay me much for it.
In any case, from what I’ve seen over here, you might have to hate your family to ask them to live in a castle. They seem to be destined to despair. The Urqhuart Castle was no different. You can see from the photo that it sits majestically and peacefully over the Loch Ness (Loch means Lake) where the famous Loch Ness monster lives. But, like the many other castles we’ve seen, this one saw its share of bloodshed as control of land seems to be quite a worthy cause to fight for. “Castle remains” would best describe Urqhuart Castle today, but the tourist organization did a fantastic job of reenacting the time period when it was in its glory in an eight minute video, so by the time we walked down to the castle, we could visualize grand dinners as well as everyday life being lived. The picture you’re seeing is looking down at the castle from the visitor center. At one time around 100 people lived in the castle-fortress, as it took many to care for the Lord and Lady and each other. Bakers, cooks, seamstresses, stewards, horse handlers, doctors, and many more servants were required to keep up day to day castle life. As I stood at one end of it, it reminded me of life at camp—a self-contained village where people lived and, most certainly, loved each other. The inhabitants of this magnificant castle saw several hundreds of years where life was uneventful, when it must have been glorious to live in Urqhuart Castle, but then war would break out and destroy all that the previous generations had worked for. The last battle was in 1689 when the supporters of William and Mary fought off the Jacobite force. They won the battle, but decided to destroy the castle themselves and leave it to its destined future—a tourist attraction. I’m sure they didn’t think of that on their way out the door.
Today, it is a popular tourist attraction for another reason. It is the home of Nessie, the Loch Ness monster. The 700 feet deep water that surrounds the castle makes it perfect for Nessie to roam freely, but we did not spot her yesterday. We did see a very long-haired wool-y cow named Hammie as you can see from the other photo.
Well, better go. Another full day ahead, but a bit more relaxed as we'll walk and look for more castles to explore. I’ll get back on the blogging schedule tomorrow.
One last point. 2 papa and I both noticed that when man builds and destroys their own property, it will sit for hundreds of years, but when man destroys what God has built, it will rebuilt itself with great beauty. What man destroys, God can redeem.
“He forgives your sins—everyone. He heals your diseases—everyone. He redeems you from hell—saves your life! He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown. He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal. He renews your youth—you're always young in his presence.” Psalm 103:3
Love you all.
Hugs, 2 mama
I'm enjoying hearing about everything, even mundane things about the apartment! Love, love, love the picture of the castle!
ReplyDeleteSusan Kellett