Edinburgh, Military Tattoo, St Andrew's and Culloden, Scotland
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After a night's rest at our hotel, The Thistle, we were all ready to go on our city tour with a local guide named Tom.
Our coach tour today was to visit the 200 year old "New Town". We had a lovely drive around, looking at the different styles of architecture
and Tom suggested there were three main streets to keep an eye out for. Princes Street, George Street and Rose Street for food. Good advice as later
in the day we headed for George Street to change some money at a good rate. After some time on the coach we left it and made
our way up The Royal Mile to explore Edinburgh Castle.
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This castle was built around 1130 by David 1 and it is built on an area of volcanic rock aptly named "Castle Rock". It has many buildings within
including St Margaret's Chapel (oldest in Europe), The Royal Palace, 15th Century Great Hall and The Scottish National War Museum. The noon day gun was on
view in the upper courtyard and is fired every day at noon. The famous Mons meg is here but is a little big to be in use today.We had a great view of the Tattoo
site that we were looking forward to visiting tonight.
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Next visit was to Holyrood Palace, the Official Residence of The Queen here in Scotland. It is located at the other end of
the Royal Mile so still very central to the main part of Edinburgh. The Palace was home to Mary, Queen of Scots,
who faced great trauma when her Secretary Rizzio, was killed in her private apartments by her jealous second
husband, Lord Darnley. The Palace itself was very large, quite dark and sparsely furnished but is used by the Royal Family for
official functions. The crown jewels were on display and the story of Sir walter Scott helping find them was a highlight to our day.
Interesting fact was that Bonnie Prince Charlie was in residence here in 1745 at the time of the uprising.
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After our tour some free time to explore The Grassmarket again where some musicians were entertaining the people
walking by as well as the historic pubs dotted along the street. Dinner here was really nice and then we ventured back walking
again up and down the busy end of the Royal Mile.
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At last it was time to go to the Military Tattoo and Trish wisely suggested we wait until close to 9pm to walk around to the Castle, as we already had our
tickets and the weather was not real good and the rain was threatening to fall anytime. We did rug up, weather up and as we gained our entry to the Tattoo, were asked if
we wanted to hire a cushion. Good idea! Our seats were in an excellent position, right in the centre of the long seating area,
and half way up the stand. The Tattoo began with everyone marching out of the castle, and there was much excitement with the music, the lighting and all the
colourful uniforms of the many bandsmen. As the show progressed so did the rain and even that could not spoil such a magnificent
event! There was so much to see and the images that were shown on the castle itself added to the exciting atmosphere that ony a Tattoo could present. A great night was had by all
and certainly a highlight of our wonderful trip...
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We bid a sad farewell to the lovely city of Edinburgh the next morning and on the way to St Andrew's passed the Forth Road Bridge. Arrived at the St
Andrew's Golf Course about 9.45 and were amazed at the course and the magnificent greens. This course is very famous and is renowned
for attracting world class players to its competitions. Of course we had to walk across it - albeit on a path that allows you to do so and from here could
admire the expanse of the course itself. It is built right on the sea and so a beach is quite nearby but given the strong winds here maybe not a favourite
swimming area.
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On the coach again and not long before we stopped at Braemar, a lovely Scottish village with a nice pub for resfreshments. The village itself is
very picturesque and has a monument erected to honour 8 Air Force personnel killed near here on the 10 January 1945. From here we drove through lots of mountainous country
with heather scattered all over the hills. The views were spectacular and it was lovely to see the countryside. It was not long before
we stopped at a small restaurant or roadside inn to have lunch - absolutely beautiful. When we resumed our journey Trish told us to look right as we
passed Balmoral Castle, the Queen's holiday residence and we could see she was there as the Royal flag was flying. We then continued on through
the Grampian Mountains to see more heather in full bloom. Next visit was to Culloden Visitor Centre and fields. This area was
home to a well bult building that explained lots of the history of the Battlefields. Outside the fields in time gone by were known to be flat and marshy...
There was a great battle fought on April 16, 1746 which determined the fate of The stuarts. The Jacobites wanted to reinstate the Stuarts on the throne
but it was not to be. Bonnie Prince saw himself as the new monarch however the battle proved him wrong and he was defeated and so went back to France. This
meant that the King or Queen of England ruled Scotland. Next stop was Inverness, where the statue of Flora McDonald stands as she was a stauch supporter
of Bonnie Prince Charlie. She has a dog at her feet and this indicates she was a very loyal person.
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