A delightful breakfast began this terrific day. The B&B were staying at is so wonderful. It’s an older home that they’ve just recently remodeled. The kitchen was once 3 very small rooms and now it’s a bright, very modern kitchen. The doors are always open to the garden which is filled with flowers and birds. Fuchsia plants, I’ve learned, are actually bushes. There’s one in the backyard that’s over 12’ tall. It’s incredible to see so many blooms on a bush that big!
The food at breakfast was wonderful. The smoked mackerel was the best! And, there was a couple staying at the B&B from Holland. We talked with them for about an hour. That too was a nice addition to the start of the day.
We had the whole day planned out, but all of that changed in a minute. On the recommendation of our host, we headed east instead of south. First stop, and only 30 minutes away on a straight 4 lane highway!!, was an exhibit for the ship “Discovery” which went to the Antarctic in 1901. The ship was built in Dundee, the town we were in, using ten different kinds of wood. The ship walls were 26” thick. Supplies for 40 men for three years were needed. The “grocery list” was mind boggling. They had lots of canned fruit (as in canning in glass jars, not cans of fruit), but it wasn’t discovered until a few years later that scurry (a lack of vitamin C) was caused due to lack of fruit. They thought it was from meat that had gone bad. There were a number of mannequins in the ship and just about everyone of them startled me. You’d think I’d learn that they weren’t real people.
After a quick lunch, we went to St. Andrews which is located on the far eastern side of Scotland on the North Sea. There’s so much history there. It’s the first really old town that we’ve been in - with stone walls surrounding the old city, stone houses, huge stone gates (the Pends Gate is the oldest city gate in Scotland - 1350), and the “feel” that we haven’t experienced yet on this trip.
St. Andrews Castle was mostly a ruin, but it could be the best castle experience we’ve ever had. Headsets allowed us to listen to the history of the castle of a man “who lived there”. It really made everything come to life. The castle was built in the early 1200s, but suffered many attacks and therefore many rebuildings. In 1546, a catholic cardinal, Beaton, had George Wishort killed (by burning him alive) just because he was a Protestant. The spot is marked on the road where this happened. So George's friends killed Beaton and started the First Congregation of the Protestant Church. I won’t tell you what they did to him - too gruesome. George used to hang out with John Knox - one of the reformers. There was lifelike model of Knox preaching (fire and brimstone). I got a great picture of Dave standing under it with the best expression on his face. :)
One of the best parts of the castle was the underground tunnels. One was dug by the Catholics and one by the Protestants. It was an adventure going through them. What was really remarkable was how they dug these tunnels out of solid rock.
We had five minutes to get over to St. Andrews Cathedral (a massive ruin) and St. Rule Tower before they wouldn’t let anyone else in for the day. The cathedral must have been really something years ago. Built in the 1200s, it covers a huge area. From the top of the tower, we could see the castle ruins and part of the town - which is famous for its golf courses.
Next we walked along a pier with a brisk wind in our faces. The tide was out, as it always is. It would have been great to see the tide in with the water right up against the castle walls.
It was a warm and sunny day. However, we learned not to trust the weather. We didn’t take our umbrellas and needed them when it started to rain when we walked back to the car after supper.
We’ve decided to stay an extra night at our current B&B and only spend one night in and around Endiburgh - pronounced “ed in br u”. We’ve been corrected more than once on that. Our time is starting to wind down. Only three full days left and then the long journey home. (Four hour layover in New York.) It feels like we’ve been away for a long time - a”long” in good way. Thinking about going back to our tremendously busy lives is a bit daunting, but that doesn’t happen today!
Yesterday, I was going to attach a couple of pictures of the moors. (I learned that if I take pictures with the iPad, I can attach them to the blog.) Here they are. I wish I had of know this earlier, but carrying the iPad around to take pictures is cumbersome.
One thing I learned today: How horrible and violent the Protestant Reformation was. We generally only hear about how great it was.
One new thing I experienced today: Going up 160 spiral steps to get to the top of St. Rule Tower. Spiral staircases are not my friend!
Most powerful moment of the day: Being aboard the Discovery which went to the Antarctic and back.
One pleasurable experience: Having supper at a tiny table by a very old window with flowers exploding from a flower box with a view of an old street. Just delightful!
Sounds like yet another day of adventure.
ReplyDelete