Sunday, June 7, 2009

Inverness

The next day dawned bright and sunny and we were looking forward to our drive to Inverness and seeing more of the countryside.


We boarded the bus (everyone was in their places this morning!) and headed north. This is some of the scenery we saw on our way to St. Andrews. Lots of porridge fields (oats!)

St. Andrews was a beautiful place and I think we all would have liked more time there. We had an hour and while most people stayed at the 18th hole and the gift shop, Ken, Donna, Glen & I walked down the coast a bit and saw the castle (from the outside only-no time for tour), the cathedral ruins and graveyard and the university buildings.

The famous 18th hole. Golf was invented here and did you know that GOLF is an acronym meaning, Gentleman Only, Ladies Forbidden?!

St. Andrews Castle



Cathedral ruins

And the graveyard that isn't nearly so scary in the bright morning sunshine!

Cool buildings near the university

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This is the RRS Discovery (as seen from the bus at a stop light). It was built in Dundee and sailed in 1901 to the Antarctic.
The River of Tay.

Next we moved on to Blair Castle. This was a guided tour and since it was our first, it was very interesting. We enjoyed lunch in the sunshine and wandering the grounds a bit. Oh, and tasting whiskey in the gift shop!


But soon it was 'back to the bus' and on to the next sight.



All of us tried many times to get photos from the bus of the fields of sheep we saw but most of them look like this - white dots on green!

Our next stop was Culloden - a battlefield where many Scottish clans were essentially slaughtered in a battle with the English.








It was breezy here but it was nice to get out of the bus and walk around a bit. Basically, it was a big field with a nice visitor center. (Can you tell I'm not much into battlefields?)

Next was a stop at a whiskey distillery (I was more excited about this! :) but unfortunately we didn't get a tour; only a wee taste in the gift shop!




Here are all the non-shoppers waiting around outside the gift shop.

Finally, we got to Inverness. Inver means the 'beginning of' and Ness refers to the river, Ness. Once settling into our hotel, we took a walk through the town and along the river, Ness.

This was our hotel, the Royal Highlander. Our guide said it was a dump (and it was old) but it wasn't that bad.

It was said the most famous thing about the hotel was the staircase that inspired the one you see in the movie, "The Titantic."


An old clock tower...and satellite dish.
The River Ness

Donna & Ken still in love.


Grandma Flora posing with the statue of Flora MacDonald.

There were lots of things with the name Glen in them but I especially liked this one! All the road signs in Inverness were written in English and Gaelic.

We ended this day with dinner in the hotel and were in our twin beds early that night. Off to the Isle of Skye next...

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