Last Saturday, we drove over to Glasgow to see the World’s Pipe Band Competition. The one day event is held annually and some 250 Pipe Bands from around the world come and compete in five different grades. We had tickets to watch the Grade 1 competition from the portable bleachers and were thankful for them. The event drew about 40,000 visitors, and a lot of them crowded around the edge of the competition ring standing about 20 rows deeps to listen to the performances. The band from Simon Frazer University in Vancouver ended up winning the event for the second year running, but all of the 14 bands in the Grade 1 Competition were great. I have a new appreciation for how difficult judging such an event would be. We were not impressed with what we saw of Glasgow – it was dirty and ugly. To be fair we only saw a bit of the area around where the competition was held, but we have no desire to go back and look for a nicer area of the city.
On Sunday, the kids “vegged” out while Chris and I spent a couple of hours touring the Scone Castle. This Castle, which is located just outside Perth is the where the Stone of Scone is from upon which the Scottish Kings prior to 1296 and the English Kings and Queens ever since have been coronated on. King Edward stole the stone and took it back to Westminster Abbey and placed it under the chair used in coronations. Queen Elizabeth II just recently returned to stone to Scotland, where it resides in Edinburgh Castle. She did so upon the condition that it be returned to Westminster Abbey every time a new King or Queen is crowned. The grounds at the Castle were vast; they even had a hedge maze that kids would have enjoyed if they weren’t being couch potatoes.
On Monday, we drove the short 45 minute drive into Edinburgh. Our friend, the GPS, guided us to a parking space just below the Castle. We spent the afternoon dodging rain showers by popping into some of the popular tourist attractions along the Royal Mile. We saw St. Giles Cathedral, the Camera Obscura (rooms filled with different optical illusions), and Starbucks. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival was on, and while we were waiting for a table at Starbuck we were given free tickets to attend a one-man comedy show. The comedian did “improv” and turned out to be really funny. For us, the main attraction was the Military Tattoo held just in front of the Edinburgh Castle. The Tattoo started at 9:00 p.m. and was non-stop entertainment for the next 90 minutes. Lots of bands, some singers, dancers and even a modern “shoot-‘em up” display put on the Medical Evac Unit of the British Air Force kept us entertained.
Tuesday was a quiet day. We tried to fish some more in the river at our place with no success. Chris and I went out for Indian food again. Wednesday we headed north to Pitlochry and to see a bit of the Scottish Highlands before leaving. The town is nestled in the hills and is picturesque. We had a quick tour of a hydro-electric dam and power plant where they have a fish ladder so the salmon can make their way past the dam. We also visited the smallest Scotch Whiskey Distillery "Edradour" and picked up a bottle of Single Malt that we can’t get back in Canada. The drive back took us through some of the highlands, and the hills were filled with sheep and were purple with the blooming heather.
As we leave Scotland for The Netherlands in a couple of hours, this will be my final entry from Scotland. We have enjoyed our time here, and Perth turned out to be a good location for exploring this country. Our visit would have been more enjoyable if the sun had shone more, but this is Scotland, and near constant rain in part of the life here. My only real disappointment was the slow speed of the Internet. We get so used to having fast Broadband access, when we aren’t able to find it, we are at a loss. When I get to our next place, I will upload the pictures of Scotland that I have been unable to do so from here.
We are home in two weeks from today – not that anyone is counting!
Cheers
Ian
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| Scotland - Day 13 |
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