Scotland Revisited

Just one year ago we were wrapping up or Scotland visit! In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd post this picture Dale took last summer. The Chicago Tribune building features stones and rocks gathered from some of the most important and memorable structures on earth--including Edinburgh Castle. It's a little piece of Scotland right here in Chicago!

Spotlight: Edinburgh Castle

Visited by over one million people a year, Edinburgh Castle sits atop Edinburgh, at the top of the "Royal Mile" and offers a glimpse into the history of the country as well spectacular views of the city.

At the entrace are statues dedicated to two biggies in Scottish History: Robert the Bruce and William Wallace:

They guard the castle. For a brief historical primer on the castle click here! We saw the chapel (the oldest building on the grounds), the crown jewels, the one o'clock gun firing, the national war museum and tons more. A sampling of photos:


The Crown Square.

The Great Hall, built in 1510, displays a collection of armor and weapons as well as a famous Hammerbeam ceiling. It was spectacular.

On our way out of the castle, we stopped to check out the Royal Mile (what little we could see of it). Dale's gallery features more photos of the castle!

Spotlight: Brittania!

Our first stop in Scotland was at the Royal Brittania!

Our host, Ginni, is a fan of the royal family and she explained that occassionally the non-royal lovers demand the royal family appear less affluent. So they made their family yacht (the queen's ship--she's head of the Royal Navy, natch) a tourist attraction. Once the commonfolk saw it they were a little relieved--it's not a Donald Trump-esque ship! It's beautiful but classy and not ostentatious (in spite of being a yacht).

The Royal dining room! It took three hours to set the table! The used a ruler to measure each place setting. This is where Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip entertained many dignitaries, including Ron and Nancy Reagan.

When it is necessary for the Royals to come into shore from the Brittania, they would take this hot little number right here! Additionally, there is a vintage Rolls that is stowed away on the deck of the yacht. They would have to slide it in sideways into it's little garage make it fit--Queenie has to have proper transport, don'tcha know? They used a crane to get the Rolls on shore as necessary.

There were several bars on board, including this one. As I recall, this is the officer's bar. The royals had their own, of course, and then one for guests. But I might be getting confused. At any rate, excellent use of space. Ha!

This is a lounge area where guests would congregate. It's next to the long dining room. Corporations now rent out the yacht for private parties. I believe you can even rent it out for weddings and such.

For more on Brittania you can check out this link. Most Americans seem to like the fact that Princess Diana and Prince Charles took their honeymoon on the yacht. Famously, Diana broke royal protocol and, after a prolonged absence from her children, greeted them with motherly hugs and kisses in front of the press onboard Britannia and not the cool handshake usually reserved for royal children.

More Scotland

I forgot to post the link to Dale's photos from Scotland.

http://dale-murray.com/scotland/

Just to give you a basic rundown:
There are photos of:
the Royal Yacht Brittania--the Queen's ship, where Princess Di enjoyed her Honeymoon!
Edinburgh Castle--quite spectacular and more like a fort than you might expect.
St. Giles cathedral and the mini chapel within known as the Order of the Thistle--where the elite pray, I guess.
The Ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral, quaint fishing villages and the birthplace of golf as well as and some shots taken around Edinburgh.

Hope that helps explain some of the photos!

Photos from Edinburgh

I posted a bunch of the sillier photos from Edinburgh--these are from my camera so not so very pretty and exciting. But still! Scotland! Weee!

Click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/rkilbreath/RebeccaSEdinburghPhotos

Back from Edinburgh

Long time no blog! We're back from Scotland and still recovering from jetlag and general travel exhaustion. I took the snapshot above at Edinburgh castle. Will be posting a ton of pics, as well as a HUGE gallery of our photos in the coming weeks. We need time, people! We're tired!

Anyway, above is a photo taken of some famous stairs at Edinburgh Castle, which is actually more of a fort from my perspective. The castlefort overlooks a really nice Starbucks. But the damn coffee shop closes at 7 p.m. Crazy country! Everything is the same but just a little different. For example the Dollar Store is called Pound City. Seriously. I didn't believe my eyes at first but I saw several of them. Coke tastes more like Pepsi. The cars drive on the opposite of the road, as do the drivers. Heh.

Anyway, lots more to come, just wanted to post my favorite picture so far.