On the bus heading to Loch Ness currently. This 3 day weekend trip has been great. But I guess I should tell you about the trip I had on Thursday to St. Andrews. You know the place where the British Open is being held this summer (it's golf for those who didn't know).
There is a ton of religious history is this city if anyone is interested. As the story goes it is the place where the magical bones of Saint Andrew ended up. I don't know much about St. Andrew but he is the reason for the Scottish flag to be designed with a big white X on it. You see St. Andrew was ordered to be crucified for some reason but he didn't want to be put on a cross because he felt that he wasn't on the same level as Jesus. So they nailed him up on an X. Apparently this is a big deal to the Scots so that is the meaning of their flag.
We went to these amazing ruins of a cathedral. The grounds of this cathedral is said to be haunted by the white lady. She is a friendly ghost who helps drunken people get home at night. There were plenty of more historic things in the city but none that were was awe inspiring as the ruins.
The rest was shopping. Not exciting. Then we did go to the beach and went into the North Sea. It was cold and beautiful.
Now on to my current trip to the Isle of Skye (the misty isle). It wasn't just the Isle but places everywhere in between. The Wallace Monument, Doune Castle (castle anthrax from Monty Python's Holy Grail), Hairy Highland Cow Farm, WWII Commando Monument, Eilean Donan Castle (the castle from Made of Honor, some base in a James Bond movie, and Highlander), Some Viking Princess who enjoyed flashing men's Castle, ocean and sea side cliffs (one where Stardust was filmed), tons of other history and myth stuff, and Loch Ness. It has been a lot so if there something specific you want me to blog about on this trip just Comment on this one and I will that thing later.
I want to talk about my tour guide and our hostel, and I use the term hostel very loosely. Danny was the tour guide and this is him.
Swears a lot, tells amazing stories, and knows so much about Scottish history. He is really funny, fully Scottish, and let me say it again swears A LOT. And he drinks a lot, so yeah he is a true Scotsman. Kilt and all.
The hostel, more like a bed and breakfast was really nice. All the people that went with the 4 of us from Stirling made a total of 20 and they were all funny and kind. Most from Australia, a few from Hong Kong, and two from Spain. We ate together and did dishes together, but the food was prepared for us. One night we had chicken stuffed with haggis and wrapped with ham. It was delicious. Haggis is tasty, it is just like stuffing. The whole house was really nice. Bathrooms, bedrooms, and living room were all great. Played Monopoly with 2 Australians and the 2 Spaniards and that was really fun. This was our room for the two nights.
There is a ton of religious history is this city if anyone is interested. As the story goes it is the place where the magical bones of Saint Andrew ended up. I don't know much about St. Andrew but he is the reason for the Scottish flag to be designed with a big white X on it. You see St. Andrew was ordered to be crucified for some reason but he didn't want to be put on a cross because he felt that he wasn't on the same level as Jesus. So they nailed him up on an X. Apparently this is a big deal to the Scots so that is the meaning of their flag.
We went to these amazing ruins of a cathedral. The grounds of this cathedral is said to be haunted by the white lady. She is a friendly ghost who helps drunken people get home at night. There were plenty of more historic things in the city but none that were was awe inspiring as the ruins.
The rest was shopping. Not exciting. Then we did go to the beach and went into the North Sea. It was cold and beautiful.
Now on to my current trip to the Isle of Skye (the misty isle). It wasn't just the Isle but places everywhere in between. The Wallace Monument, Doune Castle (castle anthrax from Monty Python's Holy Grail), Hairy Highland Cow Farm, WWII Commando Monument, Eilean Donan Castle (the castle from Made of Honor, some base in a James Bond movie, and Highlander), Some Viking Princess who enjoyed flashing men's Castle, ocean and sea side cliffs (one where Stardust was filmed), tons of other history and myth stuff, and Loch Ness. It has been a lot so if there something specific you want me to blog about on this trip just Comment on this one and I will that thing later.
I want to talk about my tour guide and our hostel, and I use the term hostel very loosely. Danny was the tour guide and this is him.
Swears a lot, tells amazing stories, and knows so much about Scottish history. He is really funny, fully Scottish, and let me say it again swears A LOT. And he drinks a lot, so yeah he is a true Scotsman. Kilt and all.
The hostel, more like a bed and breakfast was really nice. All the people that went with the 4 of us from Stirling made a total of 20 and they were all funny and kind. Most from Australia, a few from Hong Kong, and two from Spain. We ate together and did dishes together, but the food was prepared for us. One night we had chicken stuffed with haggis and wrapped with ham. It was delicious. Haggis is tasty, it is just like stuffing. The whole house was really nice. Bathrooms, bedrooms, and living room were all great. Played Monopoly with 2 Australians and the 2 Spaniards and that was really fun. This was our room for the two nights.
Don't know much else, but once again if you want to know more about a specific thing just comment on this post and I will let you know.
Here is an extra picture of Eilean Donan Castle.
Did you learn about William Wallace?
ReplyDeleteI will write up a wee post about the movie and real life, I don't know a lot so I will only talk about the stuff I remembered.
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't think it's strange I'm reading your blog, but I went to Scotland for a week or so my senior year of high school and I LOVED IT! One of my favorite places was actually the ruins at St. Andrews! Weird, right?
ReplyDeleteWell, now to make this relevant, if you ever find yourself in Edinburgh (and you must, it's my favorite city on Earth!) you NEED to visit The Elephant House, the cafe in which J.K. Rowling penned some of the first Harry Potter books! It's on George IV Bridge and has a wonderful view of Edinburgh Castle, which is rumored to have inspired Hogwarts. It's rather hard to miss with it's red storefront and it has a sign that says "The Birthplace of Harry Potter" (they also sell t-shirts saying the same thing, at least when I was there two years ago)
Anywho, if you have any appreciation at all for anything Harry Potter, you must visit this cafe!