Day 13- October 26th

Today we are leaving the Highlands and heading to Edinburgh. I have to admit I'm sad to be leaving the Highlands. I know I have to come back here again someday; I just didn't have enough time here. At first the scenery is still stunning as we drive through the Cairngorm Mountains. The glare is not too bad through the windows, the sun is in just the right place, and I snap some pictures. Parts of mountains looks like patchwork quilts. I learn this is because of grouse hunting, which is an important part of the economy of the area. To encourage the grouse to the area, in the winter strips of heather are burned. Grouse like to feed on new heather. Shortly after learning this we passed by a few grouse, but I was unable to get a photo that was blurry. Next we passed by the River Spey as we drive through the Lecht, a natural pass through the mountains. After this we drove through the valley of the River Don. This is a very picturesque area. Our next stop was to see a beautiful view of Forbes Castle, which is really a tower house. It is surrounded by a defensive wall shaped like a star. We continue on through the valley of the River Dee, also called the Royal Deeside as this was a favorite area of Queen Victoria. We passed by Balmoral Castle but were unable to see it behind the trees. I did, however, pick up a postcard with a photo of Balmoral Castle at our next stop in the town of Braemar. This was a pretty little town and I was able to get a gorgeous photo of the River Dee, which runs through it. It was pretty cold and drizzly here so I hid out in the shops and ended up buying a Celtic knot ring. Back on the bus to our next stop- St. Andrews. We were dropped off right outside the 18th Hole of the Old Course. It was interesting to learn that the Old Course is actually a public course. You have to pay to play, but anyone is free to walk around on it. I took a few shots of the 18th Hole and then Audrey and I took off again on our hunt for photos. We took the long route to the ruined Cathedral that passed along the water. It was fairly overcast and constantly threatening to rain outside. As we walked along the coast we came up to the Martyrs Monument and ruined castle. Finally we made it to the ruined cathedral and abbey. Of all the ruined cathedrals and abbeys we stopped at on the tour, this one would remain my favorite. It was beautiful and I was very happy that we, once again, chose to forgo lunch in favor of walking the town. It was a pretty big place with many walls still intact. They had found some graves here that were pretty interesting as well. We walked through the actual town on our way back to the meeting point. I got some take-away chips that weren't very good, but I was kinda hungry so I ate them anyway. The place I got them from will apparently fry anything and the couple in line ahead of me got deep friend snickers. We passed by a barber shop that had a sign in the window advertising free whiskey with every haircut. I took a picture for my friend Justin as he is a great lover of whiskey. We walked back to the Old Course and looked through the Golf Museum's gift shop. Neither Audrey nor myself are great fans of gold and didn't choose to pay to get into the museum. Before getting back on the bus we had to use the restroom. It was a public restroom across from the golf course. It was the first time on the trip, and the only time, that I had to pay to use the toilet- 30 pence. Once back on the bus I dozed off and woke up as we were driving across the Firth of Forth. The bridge we were on was built in the 1960's and until then you still had to ferry across. To our left was the rail bridge that was built in the 1880's. Andy convinced Doug to stop for a photo stop. While we were outside, Andy told Marcia and I that the rail bridge is so long that they are constantly repainting it. Once they finish one end, it took them so long that they have to start repainting again at the other end. Doug must have thought we were taking too long b/c he sat in Andy's seat pretending to drive away without us. We all had a good laugh and then got back on the bus for the drive into Edinburgh. Doug said he wasn't going to tell us anything about Edinburgh as we were to have a city guide and orientation tomorrow. I'm rooming with Jeanette for the next two nights. I met Jane, Audrey, and Terry for dinner. We are on our own for dinner tonight and not terribly close to the city so we chose to eat in the hotel. The bar menu looked better than the restaurant menu so we sat in the bar. We ordered a sampling from the Tapas menu. We were able to choose 4 items for £10.95. We got prawns in garlic butter, squid with onion rings, chicken croquettes, and potatoes. It was pretty tasty. We hung out in the bar for awhile and when I went up to the bar to order more drinks, Doug was there and updated me on the happenings of the World Series. Then, off to bed.

Hotel: Best Western Capital Hotel. Our room was down some stairs, down a hall, down some more stairs, down the hall...I was happy to have a normal hotel room, actually. Two double beds, bathroom, very much like American hotel rooms. Our room opened onto the patio. The only bad thing I have to say about the hotel is that about 3 am the fire alarm went off. I was disoriented and didn't know what was going on. Jeanette actually picked up the phone thinking it was the wake up call. The alarm lasted about 30 seconds and then went off. We weren't sure if we should be evacuating or not, and I peered into the hallway and no one was leaving their rooms so we stayed. Just as we got back into bed the alarm went off again, this time not quite as long. There never was a fire, just a stupid fire alarm.




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