We made it to Scotland!

We are taking things very slow these first few days. The jet lag has not affected me much, other than sleeping in a bit later than usual. Tony, on the other hand, has been getting up earlier than he normally does at my nudge to get going and enjoy the day). We have had a lovely first few days in Scotland. We have toured Dunfermline , Edinburgh, and Culross.


We are staying at Tony’s cousin Lorna’s home called “The Gardener’s Cottage.” Many homes in the UK have names such as this. The house next door is called “The Witches Tower” :) To get to the Gardener’s Cottage you wind down a long one-lane road that runs along the Firth of Fourth. The cottage sits right on the estuary lending to breathtaking views from the house and the bedroom where we are staying.


The Gardener’s Cottage is suitably named. Tony’s Aunt Uschi was a botanist who turned the remnants of an old run down garden into a remarkable creation that can’t be explained in words; however I will try anyway. The garden consists of models of natural vegetation patterns (native plants growing and intermingling together symbiotically, the way they do in their natural habitats). The parts of the garden all represent various ecosystems with the NE corner representing South Africa, the NW representing Australia, SW as South America, SE corner as the miscellaneous garden, and the center as native species of New Zealand. Lorna says she is going to weed South Africa tomorrow. I told her I thought this sounded like a big job:) There are streams and pools that trickle throughout the landscape of the garden. Closer to the house there are herbs and vegetables, a chicken coup Tony called a “Chicken Castle.” Lorna said that it has also has been referred to as “Hen City.” Anyway, you get the point: it is HUGE! These chickens have it made. We have been eating their eggs all week and they are DELICIOUS!!  There is also an outdoor fireplace and a greenhouse which is the home to a variety of pitcher plants. The entire garden is surrounded by a tall stone wall and behind the wall there are tree-houses with bridges that sweep and wind through the trees. It is a magical place!

Dunfermline is the closest large town to Tony’s cousin Lorna’s house where we are staying. In Dunfermline, there is a lovely Abbey and everything has the name Carnegie, as this is where Andrew Carnegie was born. There is even a Carnegie Hall here.  Maybe Tony will have a chance to play there before we leave :)




 
Edinburgh is a beautiful city, rich with history and amazing architecture. The Fringe Festival is going on right now so the streets are filled with performers of all kinds, including some traditional bagpipe musicians. We visited the Camera Obscura and had a fun time. It is a very interesting place. Visitors stand in a dark room which is the inside of a large camera.  Above, a mirror controlled by a long stick is angled around Edinburgh, and light is reflected through a lens that projects a moving, live image of the city on a wooden table below. From the rooftop of the Camera Obscura we had landscape views of the entire city. Remarkable! Following the Camera Obscura, we had a lovely dinner of fresh Scottish mussels from the Isle of Mull and topped it off by going to a few Scottish pubs. We loved Edinburgh and found it pretty easy to get around despite driving on the left-hand side of the road. I keep reminding Tony to veer right as he instinctively keeps hugging the left side of the road. He is out with Lorna right now and I have to say I’m a wee bit nervous about the left side of the car.

Culross is the quaintest place I have ever been. We went to tour the castle which was more like an old home than a castle really; however the tours weren’t happening on the day we were there. We were just as happy to wander through the ancient rooms, admiring the sites of old wine barrels and tools from the 17th century. The highlight of the day was the garden at the castle. Lorna described it perfectly when she said it was a beautiful mess of a garden. The garden was a different style than the garden where we have been staying. Everything appeared on the verge of wild; blackberry and currant bushes lined stone walls surrounding a collage of vegetables and flowers of various species. In the middle of the garden were some Scott’s Dumpies, an ancient breed of Scottish chickens named so because of their dumpy short-legs. They had several adorable chicks. Is there anything cuter than a chick, really? We proceeded to walk around the rest of the town of Culross, one of the only places left in Scottland with real cobblestone streets. We wandered up the cobblestone streets to the beautiful remains of an old Abbey.

Tomorrow, we are setting out for the Isle of Sky. At 9pm this evening we realized that we are going to the Isle of Sky tomorrow with no plan as to what we will do or where we will stay when we get there. In doing a bit of research, we have found several hikes that look amazing as well as a campground, so we should be set. Now we need to go get all of our gear together, and need prepare for VERY chilly weather as I have been wearing all of my Smartwool even in the lowlands here.

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Gardener's Cottage

Dunfermline

Edinburgh 

Culross