I spent the last day of my trip taking a wee tour of sights outside Edinburgh.  Gillian, our guide, entertained us with delightful Scottish music, historical overviews and cultural commentary.  One of the most interesting things I learned from her is that Scotland set a goal of meeting 100% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020 and is on track to meet that goal.

We spent most of the day in the beautiful Scottish Borders, an area of softly rolling hills between Scotland and England.  This beautiful view of the Eildon Hills is where Sir Walter Scott, one of Scotland’s most famous writers, would go for inspiration when he had writer’s block.

We visited the ruins of Melrose Abbey, where the heart of Robert the Bruce, generally considered to be Scotland’s greatest hero, is buried.

The final stop of the day was Rosslyn Chapel, made famous in the movie The Da Vinci Code. Prior to the release of the movie, 36,000 people visited the small chapel in one year. In the year after the release of the movie, 176,000 visitors came to the chapel.

It was a great trip to three beautiful countries, and I am sure I will be back.

My first major stop of the day was the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of Queen Elizabeth when she is in Scotland and where the Royal Family carries out official engagements.   It was also the home of Mary, Queen of Scots.

A great audio guide provided information about the history of the palace and how it is used now.  A video showed clips from official events at the palace, and it was fun to imagine the empty rooms filled with all the pagentry.  Attached to the palace are the ruins of a 12th-century Abbey which was abandoned in 1768 when the roof collapsed.

A walk through the beautiful Royal Gardens concluded the tour.

In the afternoon I experienced Edinburgh in a different time and place when I went to Mary King’s Close.  Edinburgh is built on lava.  The Royal Mile, the main thoroughfare of the oldest part of Edinburgh, is like a spine sloping downward from Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse.  In the 17th century, closes or narrow lanes sloped sharply downward off each side of the Royal Mile.  Houses and businesses were built along these closes.  In time,  Edinburgh cut off the tops of the buildings to provide a larger area of level land for building, and the closes were covered up. But Mary King’s Close was preserved, and now it is possible see how people in Edinburgh lived in the 17th century.

Life was tough.  I am going to have a hard time getting the images of sanitation practices and plague treatments out of my mind.  Our tour guide explained how the church started the ghost culture in Edinburgh.  After the plague, many people were afraid to leave their homes and church attendance was down.  The church created  and spread ghost stories so people would be motivated to come to church.  And it worked.

On my walk home I saw at least five cricket games in progress.  Players in each game stake out a big circle with yellow discs.  That must be the boundaries for the game.  I don’t know anything about cricket; I had to ask someone if that was what I was watching.

I also walked through a pitch-and-putt golf course.  Golfers share the course with walkers, dogs and anyone else who wants to be there. Although they are not hitting the ball long or hard, it still amazes me that no one gets hit.

I ended my day with a lovely dinner at a little Thai restaurant around the corner from my B and B.  They gave me the table by the window I asked about when I made my reservation, and the food was wonderful.  It is not always easy eating dinner by yourself, and I appreciated their warm welcome and gracious service.

I started my day with a delightful breakfast at my B and B.  A woman and her niece who were traveling to Edinburgh and Paris for the first time joined me.  The woman does something with quality medicine for Johns Hopkins in Saudi Arabia and is taking advantage of her time there to do a lot of traveling.  In September she is going to be in Florence for a week by herself.  Since Paul and I are going to be in Florence for the month of September, I gave her my email so we could connect while she is there.

My B and B hosts gave me a map and directions for taking the shortcut through the park to get to the city center today.  It looked pretty easy, but I soon doubted I was heading the right way.  When I asked a man for directions, he escorted me to the correct path and gave me a little history lesson about the park along the way.  As we walked through a lower area of the lawn, he told me that Edinburgh used Bruntsfield Links where we were walking to burn and bury the bodies of people who had died of the plague in the 17th century.  Houses were never built there because people were afraid ghosts would haunt them.

This is the path I should not have taken at the beginning of my walk.

I might be a bit directionally challenged because about twenty minutes later I needed help again.  The woman who helped me this time saw me a little later after she had helped me and flagged me down to make sure I was headed in the right direction.  Thank goodness for kind strangers.  When I need to ask for help, I look for people who are not wearing earbuds, talking on the phone, walking quickly or scowling.  I do learn quickly though; the walk home was much faster and easier.

Admiring the scenery on my walk this morning, I noticed how interesting the juxtaposition of old and new is in Edinburgh.  It is not uncommon to see a modern building right next to a medieval one.

The National Museum of Scotland entertained me most of the day.  It is the most beautifully conceived and executed museum I have ever visited.  A docent-led tour helped me appreciate how the museum is structured.  Two buildings are joined to make one museum.  The old  Victorian building houses exhibits about nature, world cultures and science and technology.  The modern building, designed to look like a castle, houses exhibits about Scotland.

There were so many interesting exhibits; I think a person could spend days there and not see it all.  One interesting display was a piece of Hadrian’s Wall.  The guide said the purpose of the wall was to keep out the barbarians from the north (that would be the Scots).  Paul and I hiked part of Hadrian’s Wall in England earlier in our trip and had read the the exact purpose was unknown.  It is interesting to think about what might influence different interpretations of history.

I finished my day with a visit to the National Gallery, a stroll around Princes Street Gardens, and a little street music.

After a lovely breakfast with Connie and Cathie, I took the Aircoach to the Dublin airport for my flight back to Edinburgh.  Going through security, I set off the beeper, and the TSA agent gave me a most thorough pat down.  She even ran her hands inside the waistband of my jeans.  They thought my neck scarf was a risk and sent it back through the scanner.  My scarf and I passed, and I was on my way.  There was enough time for lunch before I boarded, so I treated myself to a lovely meal at a champagne bar that was a peaceful oasis in the midst of the busy terminal.

When I arrived in Edinburgh, I took the tram to the city center and then walked about thirty minutes to my B and B.  After walking up a steep hill, I arrived at my home for the next three days.

This is the view out my window.

After unpacking, I explored the neighborhood a bit, ate dinner at a charming Italian restaurant, and returned to my room to plan tomorrow’s adventures.

This morning Connie, Cathie and I took the train about nine miles north of Dublin to the lovely little village of Howth.  On the shores of Dublin Bay, Howth is known for fishing, birdwathching, sailing and seafood.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, perfect for exploring the area.

After walking out on the pier, we hiked to the town center and on up the hill.  At the top of the hill, we found this welcoming inn, a perfect spot for a drink and a little break in the sunshine.

We took a different path down the hill and the views from the hill were beautiful.

Taking a little stroll after we returned to Dublin, we noticed a large group of police down one of the streets and went to investigate.  A couple told us there was going to be a protest about the new water charge outside of the building where the Parliament was meeting.

This week Paul begins his annual UK golf week, playing some of Scotland’s finest courses, and I will spend time in Dublin and Edinburgh.   On Monday we picked up a friend who will be golfing and showed him around Edinburgh.  Then early Tuesday, I flew to Dublin to meet friends.

While waiting for my friends to arrive, I strolled along Grafton Street and was delighted to see that Dublin still has great street performers.

It was wonderful to connect with Minnesota friends Connie, Mary and Cathy who had just finished a week-long bike tour of Ireland.

While strolling around Trinity College, the oldest college in Ireland, we saw a small group of people surrounded by men in suits looking around and talking into their lapels.  Of course, we had to investigate.  We learned that the President of Germany was at the center of the group.  It was so interesting that he was just standing around the college square talking with people.

Attending the opening night performance of the Tony-award-winning musical Once was the highlight of the day.  We got our tickets two hours before the start of the play.  The Olympia Theatre has a section of unreserved seats in the balcony that you access through a separate door.  The very helpful man at the ticket office advised us when to arrive and where to sit.  It was especially fun to see this play in Dublin because it is set in Dublin.   The back part of the set was a bar and before the play started, people from the audience were on stage, drinking beer and listening to muscians who were part of the play.

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We celebrated our last night in England dining and sleeping in a castle built more than six hundred years ago.  It was a lovely way to end this part of our trip.  I love this country where people greet you with “Hiya” and “Luv”, and the dogs are so well-mannered that they drag their leashes behind them, not needing a human to keep them in line.

Our final stop in England was Hadrian’s Wall for a little hike.  Built by the Romans in 122 AD and running coast to coast across northern England, no one knows its original purpose for sure. Maybe it protected the Roman Brits from invaders or maybe it controlled the Brits’ movements or maybe it just kept the Roman soldiers occupied.  Some people, like the young man we met in York, hike the entire seventy-three miles of the wall in four to ten days.  We just hiked a four-mile stretch of the wall.

Our hike began and ended at Housetead’s Roman Fort, the best-preserved segment of the wall.  Construction of the the wall began at this site.  Castles were built every mile along the wall, and towers were built between the castles.  Before beginning our hike, we explored the first fort the Romans built.

Then it was on to North Berwick, one of my favorite places in Scotland.  The Scottish Open golf tournament finished today at Gullane, a few miles down the road from North Berwick.  As we were walking in to dinner, we spotted Matt Kutcher, who placed second in the tournament, sitting at a table outside.

Before leaving the beautiful little town of Keswick this morning, we strolled the Saturday market and did laundry at the nicest lauderette I have ever used.  Washing clothes was almost fun.

Arriving in Durham, we discovered the annual Durham Miners Gala was today.  Although no deep coal mines remain in the Durham area, a record 150,000 people came to celebrate the area’s coal mining heritage. Festive people packed the street.  A journalist covering the event gave us a great overview of what was going on.

Brass bands and marchers carrying banners representing the different colliers (mines) paraded through the street.  The crowd cheered each new song and sang along to their favorites.  Nine to Five was especially popular. First held in 1871, the Durham Miners Gala is now the largest trade union event in Europe.

We left the crowded streets and walked a few blocks to the serenity of the Durham Cathedral.  Founded in 1093, it houses the Shrine of St. Cuthbert, the patron saint of northern England and three copies of the Magna Carta.

In the Middle Ages the church provided refuge for fugitives.  They could knock on the door and the church would let them stay for 37 days while they organized their affairs.

I am in love-with the beautiful little town of Keswick in the northern part of the Lake District.  A Scottish friend recommended it for the Lake District part of our trip, and it is perfect.  The town is walkable; no destination is more than ten minutes from the center of the city.  Every other shop in the city center is a British version of REI, and at least half of the remaining shops sell homemade ice cream.  The views are magnificent, the buildings are quaint and flowers grow everywhere.

We started our day with a full English breakfast.  Eggs here are always accompanied by a broiled tomato and the little round dish on the front of the plate is black pudding.

Our hearty breakfast served us well today on our three hikes totalling eighteen miles.  We got wonderfully detailed hiking maps from the TI and only got slightly lost one time.  We didn’t have time for three long hikes, but we wanted to see Derwentwater, so we started with a wee hike along the shores of the beautiful lake.  On our second hike we walked more into the countryside.

We walked through farmland, but the sheep never seemed to mind our presence.

We walked up steep mountain paths and other times on flat walkways by old stone walls.

Mid-way through this walk we came to the Castlerigg Stone Circle.  The stone circle dates from late-Neolithic times (3,000-2,500 BC), 1,000 years older than Stonehenge.  It was interesting to see something so old and mysterious, but I didn’t feel  any of the magic promised by the hiking map.

Our final walk of the day was the best and the steepest and the longest.  From the top of Latrigg, we had a beautiful view of Keswick and the Fells (the mountain range.)

Hauling our roller bags and Paul’s big golf bag, we hiked a half mile from our hotel to get our rental car this morning.  Unlike our hike from the train station two days earlier, the sun was shining and the sidewalks were pretty empty.  After we got our rental car, and Paul felt acclimated to driving on the left side of the road, we headed to the Lake District, an area of England that has always seemed romantic and mystical to me.

Our first stop was the Wordsworth Museum and Dove Cottage, poet William Wordsworth’s home for the nine most productive years of his career.  Ever since he became my favorite poet in college ( I even named my English setter after him), I have dreamed of going to the Lake District and spending time where Wordsworth lived and worked.  We waited for our scheduled tour in his little cottage garden.

It was hard for me to believe that I was actually walking through his home and seeing the furniture he used.   Although some of the other buildings  around Dove Cottage were contructed later, during the Victorian era, we enjoyed strolling the grounds and experiencing the cozy settlement.

I wondered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o’er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of dancing Daffodils;
… I gazed – and gazed – but little thought
What wealth the shew to me had brought:
For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood.
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

From there we drove about thirty minutes to Hawkshead, the home of Beatrix Potter, creator of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.  We took a few wrong turns on the very narrow, curvy roads, so we only had time to stroll around the quaint village.

Paul did a fabulous job driving on the little roads framed by old stone walls.  One time we came nose to nose with a tour bus on a road that was not wide enough for both of us.  The courteous bus driver backed up a bit, and we were able to squeeze by.  I was pretty amazed to see how many people bike these narrow roads.  There are no bike lanes or even shoulders; there is barely enough room for two cars to pass.  The bikers must really trust that the car drivers are watching out for them.

With the wonderful assistance of google maps, we arrived at our B and B in Keswick.  Our front window gives us a great view of a little golf course, the hills and the lake.  After our tiny room in York, we are looking forward to having a bit more space.