Legacy

Today was tour day. I paid for a small-group tour of the Scottish Borders, ruins of Melrose Abbey, Village of Melrose and Rosslyn Chapel, and Rosslyn Castle ruins.

To start, Gill (Gillian) was our guide/driver and so much fun! And she knows her history, when to be serious and when and how to be funny in her story-telling.

We started the day with a drive to Melrose, Scotland, which included a couple little stops along the way for a vista point for viewing the Eildon Hills and to see the William Wallace statue.

From there, it was only a 5-minute drive into Melrose where we had about 90 minutes to explore. Melrose Abbey ruins were definitely a must for me and we had just learned the history of Robert the Bruce and that his heart is buried at Melrose Abbey. Look up the story of why only his heart is buried there - it's quite interesting.

The ruins are...exactly that, ruins. However, it is easy to fall into imagination here. While walking around, it was easy to imagine what the entire structure looked like when in it's full glory. The grounds are impeccably maintained, but time has taken it's toll on the building and the cemetery headstones. Even so, I had no difficulty imagining what it looked like hundreds of years ago.

After touring the Abbey, I spent the rest of my allotted time walking through the little town/village. "Quaint" is the term that always comes to mind when in a town/village in Scotland. Even when in Edinburgh itself, I think of it as "quaint". But, I realize now that while this term is appropriate, another is appropriate as well; tranquil. I've mostly associated this term with being alone, but it's not. It means, 'free from disturbance', and these little villages seem to be just that. Oh, don't get me wrong, the people are friendly and warm, but they don't "intrude" or make a nuisance of themselves. They are respectful.

Anyway, on to Roslin! The views along the way are fantastic. The sun has come out, fully, shining on the leaves of the trees and making them almost sparkle! We arrive at Rosslyn Chapel and I'm amazed once again. The foundation was laid in 1446, it's design was supposed to be for a cathedral which would have been on par with St. Giles in Edinburgh, but Sir William (the man who commissioned it to be built) died before it's completion. Upon his death in 1484, his son had it finish at the size it was at that time and it was completed in 1486. This building was a Catholic Church before the reformation, at which time it was illegal to practice Catholicism and the altars were removed and destroyed. Over the years it has been used as a chapel, a prayer house, a stable and simply left abandoned. During all of this time, there had not been any windows added and as you can imagine with the Scottish weather, lots of rain made it to the interior. Long story short, Sir William was part of the St. Clair family and this family is still in ownership today. It has been restored and has also returned to being used as an Episcopalian Chapel with regular service times.

At the end of our journey through this tranquil land, I return to my hotel room thinking, "with all the history there is surrounding us, and all the history that is to come, we are only what we leave behind. Choose wisely what your legacy will be Libby."

Unexpected Walk

I stayed close to our hotel yesterday and didn't take any photos. That changed today.

After a night of little sleep, and a morning nap I headed out this afternoon for a walk, of course taking Minion with me.

Following the GPS to a pre-chosen location (for a specific Christmas gift), the walking commenced. Expecting a little less than a mile each way, there was no concern. After walking for a full mile, I realized...to my leg's dismay...I still had almost 1/2 mile to go. And then to walk back as well. Oh boy.

Found the shop (at this time, can't reveal what it is - for fear of revealing the gift), did a little shopping and had a short rest in the shop's cafe. Time for the trek back to the hotel - certainly not going anywhere else today (my sore legs just wouldn't take it).

On the return, I chose a different route, which turned out to be closer to a mile than the previous one and provided a walk through a lovely residential neighborhood, as well as through the university grounds. I love the architecture here! Here are a few pics of my return walk, enjoy.

Travel - the hard-knock life

Starting from the time we boarded the airplane, our journey began at 6:10pm on Sunday, October 2, 2016.  Seated together, in an exit row with lots of leg room (in very narrow seats), we're ready to go!

The flight was uneventful and smooth (which is high praise from a girl that doesn't like to fly), though uncomfortable. Dinner was tasty and service impeccable. While sleeping on airplanes has always been difficult, this one in particular was tough because of a new pain that I've not had to deal with when flying before. I guess it's sciatic, but not sure. What I am sure of is that it cause sitting to be very painful. Period. But, what do you do on an airplane? You sit. And sit. And sit some more. When I could, I would stand up and walk in place or at least bend enough to get some movement in my hip. Movement seemed to help a bit.

Finally, we arrive in London and then I got all (and more) the movement I could want! We walked, and walked and walked some more only to find out we had more walking to do to get to customs. BTW, London has this customs thing organized! The line was long, but it still only took about 20 minutes to get through it.

We then walked some more to get to baggage and out to locate our driver, ready to take us to the city and train station. This ride is normally about 45 minutes, except during the morning work commute. Monday, it took almost 90 minutes and yes, we did miss our scheduled train. However, in 10 minutes there is another one leaving for Edinburgh. Thinking we'd miss it and have to wait longer, we get in line to exchange our tickets and the agent just asked why we missed our scheduled one, added a statement to our tickets and sent us to get on the one leaving (at this point) in less than 5 minutes. We made it!

Wow. What a day already, right? It gets better. The train departs, on time, and we settle in for the next 5 hours. We'd both like to nap a little, but it proves almost as uncomfortable as the airplane. Though we doze a little, we can't sleep. Then about 2 1/2 hours into the journey, something magical happens: the terrain changes from flat farmland to rolling hills and lakes and then coastline with little villages dotting along and golf courses that reach right to cliff edges. Train bridges that are storybook beautiful and architecture straight out of Robin Hood stories. 

That last 90 minutes of the ride was the best 90 minutes of the entire travel experience to get to Edinburgh! And yes, I'd go through all of the discomfort to see those sights again! 

Here is a little taste of what we had the opportunity to see (which we wouldn't have seen had we taken a puddle-jumper flight from London-Edinburgh).

Day 1 - Edinburgh, Libby's View

Sunday's/Monday's travel was a little rough. Pain was a bit more intense, but made it through and today was beautiful, tiring and fun.

Edinburgh, Scotland. Cool, Gray, sunny, gray, sunny, breezy...repeat.

Our hotel includes full breakfast of cooked-to-order as well as buffet. We ate a little later this morning because I slept a total of 9, yes 9 hours last night! We have figured out the process that will help me sleep - travel!

After breakfast and a little unpacking and sorting, we headed out for a walk up Arthur's Seat. It's the main peak of the group of mountains in Edinburgh which form most of Holyrood Park. It is in the center of Edinburgh and rises about 822 feet above the city. Tim climbed to the top. I didn't make it to the top.

After this, we walked to the Royal Mile mostly because of our memories of our visit here last year. We only had one full day in Edinburgh and we were typical tourists and had a blast. So, we returned to it again. Still fun. We ate lunch Deacon Brodies pub

and enjoyed an afternoon break at Amber Whiskey bar, where I had a Smoky Hot Chocolate that was delicious.

We began our trek back to the hotel only to notice that we were passing a Nando's! If you don't remember or didn't know, Tim and I love Nando's chicken. So, though it was early for supper, we stopped in and picked up food for Take-away to eat later in the room before finishing our walk back. We also procured some beverage to keep in the room too.

One full day back in Scotland and we both feel almost at home. There are only a couple things keeping us from feeling fully at home here, and those reasons may surprise you. It isn't the opposite driving or language accent or money differences. It's simply that the rest of our family and some friends are not here with us. If we could bring them along, we wouldn't mind living here.

Once in a lifetime...

"I'm so excited for you. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

When people said this to me last year, I felt it to be true. Spending 4 weeks abroad was likely not an opportunity that would repeat itself. Until this year. We're doing it again and we leave in 4 days!

1st week - Edinburgh Scotland for both of us.
2nd week - Edinburgh Scotland and surrounding area for me and
                   Beijing, China for Tim.
3rd week - Budapest, Hungary for both of us.
4th week - Oxford and London, England for both of us.

Due to delays in getting my passport renewed, I wasn't able to get a travel visa to China in time to go there with him. Well, technically I could still get it, but I'm unwilling to pay $500 for a rush to get it.

So, I've been searching around trying to decide what to do while spending a week alone. And, I've decided that this is where the once-in-a-lifetime really applies. How often will I have the opportunity to spend each day, for 7 days straight, exactly how I want to in Scotland?! Not very often.

I could take the Jacobite train ride (Harry Potter train), visit Isle of Skye, visit Loch Lomond or Loch Ness, Stirling Castle, Dunnottar Ruins (Tim and I might do this one together the first week), Leath harbor (oldest or one of the oldest in Scotland), haunted underground in Edinburgh or so many other options available to me.

You might think I'm excited to be separated from my husband for a week, believe me, I'm not. Any and all of these things would be much better with him. However, I refuse to allow the separation to keep me from enjoying the sights around me. I'll walk through Dean Village in the Fall. I'll shiver along the coastline of Leath and see the Forth of Firth bridge (without having to cross it) and stroll through a cemetery surrounded by trees of yellow, orange and red leaves. And I'll be grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Mackinac Island Annual

This past weekend, Tim and I traveled on our now annual adventure to Mackinac Island, MI with our dear friends, Steve and Bunny. This was our fourth trip there with them and no less great than the first one!

We have our spot on the retaining wall at the base of the park below the fort. Well, really it's Bunny's spot, but we all claim it now since we all sit there together after arrival and before departure and often during our stay.

The views are spectacular and the feel of the island is relaxed. There are no motorized vehicles (with the exception of emergency ones) on the island, unless they are doing road repair. They have horses, horses and carriages, and bicycles if you don't want to walk. We walk. We sit. We eat wonderful food and sometimes we shop.

 Where we stay (every time) is called The Inn on Mackinac. It's a beautiful Victorian B&B that's painted green with accents of purple and yellow and is fronted with a beautiful patio surrounded by a well-cared-for flower garden.

 The views from practically anywhere on the island are gorgeous. The weather this time round was perfection. Low 70's each day, a little rain one night and fluffy white clouds in a stunning blue sky during the day.

 There are a couple forts (Mackinac and Holmes) on the island, the Grand Hotel (where Somewhere in Time was filmed), many shops and eateries, a gold course, intriguing cemeteries, Arch Rock, Sugar Loaf and Devil's Kitchen to name a few things to see/do there.

While we have and do still take walks to see these thing, the best part of this trip is having time away from the stresses of work and every day life and to enjoy this time with friends. We laugh so much sometimes until we cry. We let go of the things bottled up. We are able to just be ourselves with no pretense or egg-shell walking. 

Tim and I were talking about how odd it is that we do this each year, because he and I generally want to see other parts of the world and even other areas in the states instead of return to the same place each year. However, this place with these friends has become so special to us, that we can't imagine not having this annual trip. 

In less than two weeks we'll have already arrived in Edinburgh Scotland for the start of our 4 week journey of 2016. I'm no longer stressing about it. This little annual get-away was just the thing I needed to get my mind back on track and in the right set, that now I'm fully excited for our next adventure together. My husband and I.

Raising my glass to another great year on Mackinac Island with great friends. Cheers!

Simply Remembering

I'm excited! I'm nervous. I'm excited! I'm stressed. And I'm excited!

The gambit of my emotional state as time draws close to departure for our month-long trip to UK, Hungary and China is unnerving. Mostly, I'm excited, but I'm also a little nervous and a little stressed. In an effort to ease some of this nervousness and stress, I decided to look back at some of our photos from previous trips and remember the excitement and calm that those experiences provided.

Here are some of those photos:

A Macaron welcome to St. Ermines - so delicious!

Is it Big Ben?

Tower Bridge

Christchurch Cathedral

Stonehenge

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh