Long before we decided to move we had planned a trip to Scottland and Ireland in mid May, into June. As we were planning we had the mindset that if we are going to take the time to fly all the way there, we might as well stay there and explore, so we arranged for two tours. The first tour was a trip around the Scottish Isles aboard a small ship, Le Champlain by Ponant. We were so busy at home we really didn't want to go, but we could not get our deposits back. So...what choice did we have? We went through with our plans and hopped aboard the plane for Europe. Here are pictures from our Scotland journey:
Once we were there, we loved it and thought the trip was fabulous. We enjoyed amazing weather for this area and this time of year. Even the locals in both Dublin and Edinburgh were remarking about the weather. They all sported smiles on their somewhat sun burned faces! Here are some pictures of our first tour:
Edinburgh
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| Welcome reception and dinner aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia |
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| Queen Elizabeth's cabin. I was tickled to see Corgis placed in many of the ship's rooms. |
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| The Tron Church along the Royal Mile. Many places of worship have lost so many parishioners that the buildings are now used for alternative purposes. This one is a the Hub. It is an event center. |
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| The site of the Edinburgh Castle has been occupied for centuries, perhaps beginning as early as the Bronze or Iron Ages when wandering peoples built small huts atop the ridge overlooking the river. It has had fortifications on it, some burnt or torn down, with each conquerer building anew, or fortifying existing structures. |
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| The pet cemetery at the castle of Edinburgh. |
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| A busker on the Royal Mile playing a Stroh violin. It has a trumpet-like bell for amplification. His dog never moved! There were many bag pipe players, adding to the ambiance of this historic city, |
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| Rosslyn Chapel, built in the 15th century |
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| The National Museum of Scotland has an eclectic collection. It was thoroughly enjoyable to check out displays on technology, clothing, art, music and more. |
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| The Millennium Clock is a highlight of the museum. This amazing clock was built, collaboratively, to represent the last thousand years. with many moving parts of symbols representing events, animals, and stories. Every hour it turns on and I found myself staring at the clock, trying to take in all of the action. |
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| Greyfriar's Bobby faithfully lay on his owner's grave in Edinburgh for 14 years. The town buried Bobby next to his owner. A statue near the graveyard depicts Bobby. Visitors rub his nose for good luck, hence it is so shiny! |
Aboard Le Champlain
The ship was beautiful! It has only 92 staterooms, and they are modern and bright, and all have balconies. However, it was a tad bit chilly so we rarely ventured onto our balcony, except to take a picture or two!
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The Captain had an "open door" policy on the bridge most days. It was interesting to see all of the equipment. At least one member of the crew never took eyes off of the sea while we were sailing. no matter how many people were asking questions.
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Shetland Islands - Windy & Chilly
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| Only a few trees on the open land |
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| Lerwick Harbor |
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| I've always been captivated by the narrow streets of ancient towns. |
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| Of course I'd find a shop that not only sells wool from the Island's sheep, but one that had some quilting cotton as well! |
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| A small harbor in Scalloway |
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| A delightful mackerel fisherman. He explained how he catches and brings up mackerel |
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Cuddling a Shetland pony. I wanted to take him home with me!
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| We learned about Shetland sheep. They are a bit smaller than other breeds and are often crossbred with stock that produces a better quality wool. The Shetland sheep require less supervision for lambing than other breeds, so are well suited for life on the hills. We enjoyed a great demonstration of the steps in training sheepdogs. |
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| We were treated to potato soup, seasoned with lamb at a local hotel. It was welcome after being out in the cold wind watching the demonstration. My wee little sheep admired the bread that accompanied the soup. |
Orkney Islands
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This is an Italian Chapel, built by Italian prisoners during WWII who were brought to the island to build "Churchill Barriers". They claimed they couldn't do work to support the Scottish war efforts, but they agreed that they could work to build causeways among the islands!
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| The chapel was built from quonset huts. |
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All of the "tile work" was created with paint
Lewis Island - The Hebrides |
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| An ancient Broch, or shelter structure. The buildings were tall silo-like structures that houses families and their animals on several floors. |
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| Stairs were built into the inside wall of the brochs. |
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| A home in Gearranan Blackhouse village house, originally inhabited in the 1850's. The primitive homes were still being used up until 1974. |
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| The structures were long rectangular buildings with a sloping floor that permitted rain leaking from the roof to drain to the end of the building. Animals were housed in the lower end. Originally, peat fires were burned in fire pits in the center of the open room. |
Isle of Lewis
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| Our ship is under the rainbow, on the far right |
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The view from a croft on Isle of Skye
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| One of two wolf hybrids owned by Yasmin, the crofter. |
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| A Hebridean ewe. |
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| Highland cattle |
Isle of Mull
We disembarked our beautiful ship and boarded a bus for Glasgow. We had a tour of the city and spent some time at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and the cathedral. It was raining heavily most of the day, perfectly matching my mood as our tour was coming to an end.
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