Yesterday was 4th of July. As you can imagine, they don't celebrate that here in the British Isles. Last year, I made quite a joke out of that to Son Henry, who was spending his first 4th of July in Scotland. And this year, I'm here with him. Anyone think that is an accident?
So yesterday Son took the day off and he, his drummer from Alaska, John Clark, Johns wife Marietta and I went to see some real Scottish castles!
The first one was a castle in ruins, Dunottar Castle. It was a lovely, huge place, accessable by a VERY long winding set of steps up and down from the main road. (Those of you who told me to bring sturdy shoes and prepare to do alot of walking were right on the money - I think I've walked more here in the last 7 days than I have in the last 6 months in Dallas!) The castle ruins are high on a cliff over looking the North Sea. Mel Gibson filmed "Hamlet" on the battlements here. You can see pictures and check out the castles history at www.VisitScotland.com
After that inspiring and beautiful but exhausting walk, we drove into the charming small fishing village up the road and had fish and chips on the patio facing the harbor of a great little pub. Now HERE'S a life I could get used to living!
After eating we proceeded by car to Drum Castle. The main tower of Drum Castle is believed to be among the oldest of structural remains in Scotland. The castle was built in sections, and today is part residence and part furnished and refurbished museum like tour (the last Laird lived in the family part of the castle until his death in 1975. The oldest part of the castle, the main tower, is mostly untouched, but visitable. Drum Castle is also surrounded by beautiful gardens. You can see more about it at www.drum-castle.org/uk
Everyone here is out doing thier own thing today, so I'm going to take a walk into downtown Aberdeen in search of a new pair of walking shoes - the brand new pair I bought for the trip have already started coming apart! Son's wife Carolina drew me a map last night and pointed out some sites of interest I will be in the vacinity of. Hopefully I can do a little gift shopping while I'm out.
And should I get lost, I'm sure I'll be able to find myself a cute and helpful Scotsman to help me find my way!
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