Day 8 (Part 1)
We said our "good-byes" to the tour group the night before. They got up very early Saturday morning and left for Ireland. We, on the other hand, slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, and then took a taxi to the Edinburgh Airport where we picked up our rental car for another three days of "drive on the left, drive on the left" and roundabouts. (Thank goodness for the GPS.)
Random pictures from our drive as we left Edinburgh and headed north to Aberdeen:
Our guidebook of Scotland listed a castle between Edinburgh and Aberdeen that was still lived in and offered guided tours inside the older part of it. Because most of the castles we had visited (with the exception of Edinburgh Castle) were ruins, we thought it would be fun to see one that had been taken care of.
The entrance to Glamis Castle:
We drove around back to park and were really excited to find some beautiful Highland cows (pronounced "heeland coos"). There were actually two Highland cows at one of the other hotels we stayed in, but they were pretty old and not near as impressive as this bunch.
Don't you think he is pretty impressive?
We paid our fee and took the tour. It was really fun, but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. According to the tour guide (and the book we bought), here's why Glamis Castle is famous.......Glamis Castle is "reputedly the Castle where Macbeth brutally murdered King Duncan in Shakespeare's play", "considered the most haunted castle in Scotland", and "The Castle is perhaps best known as the childhood home of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. It is also the birthplace of her daughter, Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret." The castle has been home to the Earls of Strathmore for over 600 years and has been a Royal residence since 1372. Here's the link to Glamis Castle if you want to look it up.
The Castle from the back near where we parked our car:
As we were going in for the tour, this couple was on their way to a wedding..............
After the tour, we were just in time to catch the after-wedding pictures.....
Taking a walk around the grounds...................
Scottish thistle in Utah is a weed................
In Scotland, it is the national flower and part of the landscaping!
Do you think they'll let him in?
2 comments:
Very cool! I loved touring all of the huge mansions over in the UK- we just don't have anything like that over here.
I love Scotland and I loved that castle. Maybe it's because everything here is still so dead and the green's look sooo green over there. But I love it!
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