Scotland-
Day 1- Highland Games-Luss, Scotland-on the western shore of
Loch Lomand
Day 2- Edinburgh-a revisit
Day 3- Robert Burns-the national bard of Scotland
We decided to take a trip to the birthplace of Robert Burns
as he is so important to the Scottish people but it was also because the trip
would take us to the southeast area of Scotland where Rick’s ancestors hail
from. We haven’t been able to find any evidence of the Hoggs or McClungs but we
know they were there!
The Robert Burns
site was a lovely area including the thatch roofed cottage where he was born.
The area around the Robert Burns center included the Brig O'Doon bridge that
was part of his famous poem Tam o’ Shanter. The story says that the witches can’t
follow him over a body of water so he crossed the Brig O'Doon bridge to escape
them.
I prefer to remember the musical
with Gene Kelly and Bing Crosby with the magical village of Brig O'Doon that
only appears every 100 years.
The
monument to Robert Burns included a spectacular garden with the most luscious
roses and the bridge was like something out of the movie!!
The drive along the coast was also beautiful.
That coupled with a sandwich made with local smoked salmon made it a great day!
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| Birthplace of Robert Burns-Scotland's national poet |
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| Burns Monument |
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| Tina and Rick at the bridge to Brig O'Doon |
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| The bridge |
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| Where are Rick and Tina-Have they disappeared in Brig O'Doon????? |
Day 4-Glasgow
Rick got a cold and decided it was best to stay on ship, get
some work done and nurse his cold. This meant that I was tasked with going to
Glasgow and taking pictures of the famous Buchanan Street, a pedestrian
shopping street that he needed pictures of for his lecture on Glasgow. Hard
work but someone has to do it. I think Rick would rather have had a cold than
go shopping!! I went with a friend from
the ship and his family and we embarked on a day of seeing the sights of
Glasgow.
This started with lunch/tea at the Willow Tea Room that was
designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh whose architecture looks very similar to
that of Frank Lloyd Wright. The tea was
one of those things straight out of Downton Abbey and was just amazing.
Sandwiches on one level, scones (softball sized!) with clotted cream and jam on
the next level and then the cake of your choice on the top. I chose a Victoria
Sponge which was a lovely vanilla cake with a layer of whipped clotted cream
and jam. There was a pot of honey almond tea to wash it all down and lots of
pictures to document that we actually ate it all! We then went to take a tour of the city chambers
that was just a spectacular building but the tickets were not available. We had
to be content with the pictures of the interior which were just amazing
On to Buchanan Street shopping area. Your basic upscale
shopping street with lots of street performers, shop keepers giving out samples
of tea, going into Lush for lotions and potions and lots of pictures for Rick.
I nearly bought a pair of shoes until I saw the price-will be glad to be back
on Euros in Ireland with an exchange rate that is better than the sterling
pound!! We saw lots of squares with lots
of sculptures (some with traffic cone hats just to be quirky!) and evidence of
the preparations for the upcoming Commonwealth games to be held in Glasgow.
This is second only to the Olympics but just for the UK and their former
colonies.
Back to the ship to sail to Ireland!
Dublin-Welcome to Ireland!!!
Unfortunately the first thing the ship did upon docking in
Dublin was to turn off the internet service for the duration of the time in
port-L
We felt stymied in our attempts to communicate with family and research things
to do in Dublin!
However-Rick could smell the Guiness and as part of our City
Orientation tour we did indeed go to the Guiness Storehouse where we attended
the “how to build a stout” pouring session and we now have official
certificates that show that we know how to use a tap to pour a proper pint of
stout. We then went took our perfectly poured pints to the Gravity Lounge at
the top of the brewery that has 360 degree views of the city of Dublin which
was pretty spectacular-and the views were good as well! On to St. Patrick’s Cathedral that was
beautiful and we learned a lot about
Robert Louis Stevenson who was actually a Deacon of the church for many years.
On to Trinity College where we learned about the history of
the college and found where to go the next day to see the library and the Book
of Kells-not to be missed!
A little shopping on Grafton Street-another pedestrian
shopping street but one where they have many ‘buskers”-street performers-as
well as live sculptures who are perfectly still until you do something and they
respond to you!! What fun!
Then in typical Irish fashion the clouds rolled in and we
got drenched because we had left our “brolleys” (umbrellas) and raincoats on
the bus while we had a quick look around
on what had been a beautiful day! Back to the ship to dry off, warm up and have
a quiet evening on the ship.
Days 3&4-The Roots of Irish Music
We left early in the morning to drive from Dublin to the
Cliffs of Moher (the spectacular cliffs that adorn every tourist publication
from Ireland) which, due to the predictably unpredictable weather in Ireland,
we were standing just feet from and couldn’t see anything due to the fog that
had rolled in with the rain and gale force winds!! What are you going to do? There was an
interpretive center that had lots of information with a gift shop where I
bought a pen with a puffin on top of it as that was the closest that I would
get to seeing the puffins that hang out at the cliffs! Rick said that instead
of seeing the Cliffs of Moher we saw the Cliffs of Less!
We then drove to a small village called Ennis located in
County Clare which is apparently one of the prime locations for traditional
Irish music-it just seems to be in their souls. Here we had a lovely lunch with fish chowder
with brown bread and the beginning or our 2 days of music. We spent the
afternoon with our own private session with 3 musicians. There was one man on a
bouzouki (I know-how strange is it that a Greek instrument has found it’s way
into the Irish music culture!), one woman with a fiddle and one woman with an
concertina who could also play the fiddle. They played for us, educated us
about traditional Irish music, the protocol for the “sessions” that are played
in the pubs nightly and encouraged everyone on the trip to play with them, sing
with the songs and even dance along with the music. It was pretty awesome. Then
there was dinner at our hotel that was just delicious and then came the evening
of roaming the pubs to hear the type of Irish music that is common to this
area. In one pub there was a group of men on the fiddle, uilleann pipes, a
cousin of the bag pipes that sound much better although they are a little
strange looking. Rick describes them as looking like the radiator of a 57
Chevy! Very strange looking but they have a hauntingly beautiful sound. Another man on the accordion and one on the
bodhran (Irish drum) which Rick plays. On to another pub to hear the women that
we had the session with earlier in the day and ending up in the pub of our
hotel where the younger musicians played with a concertina, fiddle and guitar.
Just as we were heading to bed a woman sat down with the group and they carried
in her harp to play-a really harp- and it was great!! Each pub was accompanied with a pint of beer
so we were ready for bed!!! The next day we headed for Galway to see the
“buskers” (street performers) which is a music tradition in Ireland. There are
some lovely pedestrian streets with shops and cafes (I am seeing a pattern
here!) with performers up and down the streets. Just lovely!!
On the way to Galway we passed through an area of Ireland
called The Burren, a geological feature where the landscape changes from the green
rolling hills to what looks like a moonscape. The pictures can show what this
is like. This area was formed from glacial movement and is very striking.
Back
to the ship to sail to Norway!!
