Hunting for Nessie

The last of our Scotland adventures took us to Inverness.It's not quite as old and not nearly as charming as Edinburgh but since we were there pretty much for Nessie that didn't matter so much.

River Ness

Inverness Castle

Saint Andrews Cathedral

We took an early morning train from Edinburgh and arrived in Inverness...or did we? It was so, so foggy that we could have arrived in Budapest and I don't think I'd have known the difference. Between the weather and my back the first day was a wash. We walked around a little bit and went to a Highland arts and crafts fair. My back had got so bad though that I was walking like a feeble, old person, moaning a little every few steps. The craft fair was a nightmare for me. The venue was really too narrow to shove as many stalls in it as they did and it was so crowded that I was getting bumped every other second causing me to emit increasingly less brief, piteous moans of pain. It was worth it though because that's were we found Damn Fine Cheese.

Thanks to the magically curative beds at Pitfaranne Guest House, I was virtually cured and ready to hunt down Nessie the next day.Pitfaranne Guest House, by the way, is a fantastic choice for your stay in Inverness. It's very central and everything is within walking distance. The beds are so comfortable, breakfast was great, and the owner, Pearl, was so lovely and helpful.

Me freezing on the Loch

Urquhart Castle from Loch Ness

Of course the real highlight of Inverness (aside from the cheddar) was the trip to Loch Ness.  We booked a tour that picked us up at the central bus station and brought us to a boat for our Loch Ness cruise, picked us up at Urquhart Castle, then took us to the Loch Ness visitors' center. The last, which chronicled the history of the lake and the monster was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. We also had a lovely guide who provided laughs and some fun an interesting information.

For example, no matter how cold it gets, Loch Ness never freezes. There is simply too much water. In fact, Loch Ness holds more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined. And at 755 ft (230m) deep and covering 22 square mi (56 square km), if it were to be emptied of water it could hold the world's entire population. Multiple times.

As much as I would love to be able to say that we saw shadows moving under the surface of the water or a head breaking the loch's surface...we didn't. We had fun freezing our butts off on the boat though and wandering around the ruins of Urquhart (pronounced: er-kit) Castle. Thankfully the weather was no where near as foggy as it was our first day; but there was still enough haze around to lend the loch and castle a sense of mystery and the promise that a monster could be lingering nearby. We learned all about the hoaxes people have perpetrated and the natural phenomena that could be mistaken for a monster. My favorite was the deer. Apparently the local deer like to swim across the loch, which I believe is a mile across. Deer where I'm from don't do that.

This is as close as I got to Nessie

Just because we did not spot Nessie did not make this a wasted trip. If nothing else, the excellent, comfortable beds at Pitfaranne cured my back injury. I really enjoyed this brief glimpse of the Highlands though. The Scottish country side is stunning. I didn't even mind the cold.

Thus ends my adventures in Scotland. I fell in love with the country; especially with Edinburgh. I feel very much about Edinburgh as I felt the first time I came to Istanbul. Unfortunately the UK dosn't hand out residency permits with the same sense of abandon as does Turkey so the chances of my up and moving to Edinburgh are pretty slim. Which is a pity. For the time being I will have to make do with more visits. So ta for now, Scotland!

Melrose Abbey

I'm getting married here. I can totally make that happen. Luckily for me, L was not only tolerant of my crazy fantasies but is also an enabler and helped me plot out where the tent for the reception would go (obviously not in the graveyard) and pointed out that some sort of temporary flooring would have to be put down over the gravel.

Established by the Cistercian order in 11-something or other, the surviving structure is actually from only the 16th Century. "Only".  Not only are the ruins of the abbey home to the graves of many Scottish nobles but the heart of Robert the Bruce is also said to be here. Our charming (which really is a needless descriptor as to be Scottish is to be charming) driver said that if we remember anything from our trip, let it be that Braveheart was a great movie-but without one iota of actual historical accuracy.

What remains of the abbey is hauntingly beautiful. I've talked before about some churches giving me the feeling of being out doors while inside; that is truly the case at Melrose where little of the roof remains. Exposed to the elements as it has been, the stonework is alive with lichens the same vivid green as the Scottish fields. The stone carvings in the windows seem all the more elegant for the lack of glass and the exposed arches and buttresses seem impossibly delicate to provide support for the heavy stone walls.

It is an architecturally interesting place; originally constructed in the form of Saint John's cross. Soaring fluted Doric columns support the towering roof under which groin (or rib; it was hard for me to tell which ) and barrel vaults share space.

Melrose Abbey as equally beautiful from without as within. And I, the strange lover of cemeteries (the older the better) felt the crumbling headstones added an additional layer of enchantment to an already magical place.

You can totally see me getting married here, right? It was decommissioned in 16-somethingorother but I'm sure arrangements could be made for resanctification.

Rosslyn Chapel

Rosslyn Chapel in Roslin, just outside of Edinburgh, is one of the finest examples of carved stonework in the United Kingdom. However I have no pictures of it because the rather greedy Sinclair family charges an 11 GBP entrance fee but doesn't allow pictures inside so that you buy their picture DVDs in the gift shop.

It's still absolutely worth the visit though. L and I went on a day tour our of Edinburgh visiting Rosslyn Chapel, Melrose Abbey (up next!) and a Scotch distillery. I also have no pictures of the distillery because apparently picture taking could cause an explosion. *crickets* I still wonder if that's true or if it's like 'your battery powered electronics will interfere with airplane instruments; which even airlines now admit was a bunch of hokum.

Anyway, Rosslyn Chapel has a pretty interesting history. Built in the 15th Century as, of course a Catholic church, it was supposed to be much larger than it is now. However the Sinclair patriarch who commissioned the church died mid construction and his sin, not so gung-ho about the project, halted construction where it was and fairly literally just slapped a wall on the open end.

The stonework inside is done, I think our guide said, in limestone which is very soft and easy to carve but it also means that the centuries have done their best to eradicate the finer details of many of the carvings. Those that remain though are beautiful. Pillars are topped with angels playing instruments, including one playing bagpipes, and there are over 110 'green men', faces with vines and leaves growing out of the mouth and around the head, all around the chapel.

The chapel was closed in 1560 during the Scottish Reformation though the Sinclair family remained Catholic until they caved in 1861, converted to Church of Scotland, and reopened the chapel for worship. Since then rumor and fame of all sorts have touched the church. The Holy Grail, among other relics, is rumored to be in the crypt below the church which hasn't been opened since the 19th century. The chapel is also featured in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code which is really what made tourists come in droves. Historian Louise Yeoman apparently criticized the Sinclairs for cashing in on the popularity of the book/movie and I gotta agree with her as, prior to the movie's release and popularity, video and photography were not forbidden.

The church also has a giant cat which is friendly as can be; which they have also commercialized. You can buy all sorts of things in the gift shop made with his image.

Nearby are the remains of the Roslin Castle. We didn't have a lot of time before our bus departed so we hurried there, snapped a few pictures, then scurried back to the bus. While it didn't look overly impressive from our view on the bridge by which one accesses the castle; I believe the ruins actually go down several stories and part of the remains have been refurbished into a guest house.  Originally built sometime in the late 14th Century, the castle was a working castle meant to hold off the British. And that's worked out really well.

Roslin Castle

We left Roslin for Melrose which gets its own post soon, and on the way to the explodable distillery we stopped to take in the view at an area called Scott's View. Evidently this was a favorite viewpoint of one of Scotland's favorite sons; Sir Walter Scott. It is a rather lovely view.

Scott's View

Edinburgh's Cemeteries

I love cemeteries, really I do. A lot of people find that strange but mostly my friends understand. Which is likely why they're my friends. So when I spotted several old cemeteries during our wandering I was quite happily that L enthusiastically followed me into them.

We found the Lincoln memorial quite interesting

I grew up not too far from a fairly old cemetery. There were a handful of burials from the mid-late 20th century but most of them were much older. My siblings and I would bike there during the summer and speculate over what killed everyone; especially the family plots that have five and more people all dying within a year of each other. Given that, it's probably not a huge surprise that I seek out cemeteries in new cities. The Jewish and Orthodox/mixed cemeteries in Belgrade have long been favorites. I have always believed that if you want to know the history of a city a cemetery is a good place to start; and so it is with Edinburgh's. The fallen tombs and lichen covered monuments only add to the beauty and ancientness of the city.

Calton Hill from the cemetery

Edinburgh Castle from a cemetery

Cemeteries are so peaceful; more so the older they are but even the new ones carry a sense of ease. I don't believe in vengeful ghosts and despite my great devotion to all things Joss Whedon, I'm also not terribly concerned that I'll be attacked by monsters in a cemetery (although thank you to Whedon in that, should that unlikely event occur, I believe I am well-schooled in knowing how to deal with the situation). I also don't think there's bad luck attached to cemeteries. Luckily neither do my parents who bought their plots during a buy one get one half off sale (seriously, this is true) when the Saint Michael's parish in my home town was first established; thereby leaving me with one less thing to worry about when they die. Fun fact: vaults are required in Michigan cemeteries so you can actually put anything in said vault. My brother and I have been after our dad for years to make old-timey coffins for him an my mom; something from which even my ever practical and happy to save money however he can dad seems to shy away.

Up next, churches! Specifically Saint Giles. The cemeteries seemed to be a nice segue.