Mount Stewart

Life is an adventure, but does it have to be the sort of adventure you would really rather skip?  Driving on the M2 when something under the van started banging around!  Bill pulled off the road (thank goodness it was the M2 as most roads have no shoulder) where we discovered one side of the cover plate for the muffler had rusted through, but was still attached on the other side.  We carefully drove on until we could get off the freeway; didn't wish to have the thing flying out from under the van into the vehicle behind us! 
On the smaller road, we drove until we found a parking area.  Bill gets out and looks at it again, then takes the tire iron and proceeds to beat the cover plate loose while lying on his back, using one arm.  I really should have taken a picture.

Back to the M2 onward to our destination: Mount Stewart House and Gardens, a National Trust Property.

The back of the house.

This is the first house or castle we have visited in Northern Ireland where we both have said, 'WOW!'  The place has been owned by the Stewart family, now known as the 9th Viscount of Londonderry, since the 1700's.  The grand daughter of the 7th Viscount still lives in the house.  The tour of the house was given by a delightful elderly gentleman with a twinkle in his eye at his humorous remarks.  No pictures were allowed.  There were 3 young girls on  the tour, who he tried to impress with the fact that they could have their wedding at Mount Stewart.  With the twinkle in his eye, he continued, 'Start saving your money now!'

While the family has had its share of soldiers, business magnates, and such, they seem to have been very successful breeding race horses.  The beautiful back gardens were built with the winnings from one horse!
The gardens are a wonderful example of the micro climates that exist in this part of Ireland.  They are full of plants that normally don't grow at this far northern latitude, 55*.  There are California redwoods, myrtles, assorted palms and orchids, just for starters.

Standing by an enormous fern tree, not what we expected in Northern Ireland.  Notice my short pants, the first time I felt warm enough to wear them.  It may be the last time, as it has been chilly and  raining every day since!

The Red Hand of Ulster, in flowers instead of blood.

An Irish Harp topiary set in a shamrock shaped garden.

The Spanish Garden, complete with scaffolding being used to prune the hedges.  The gardeners were on lunch break.

These sculptures were set around the garden.  Each is a different head with an orangutan sitting on top holding a pot.

The Dodo Garden, with Noah's ark and a wonderful assortment of animal sculptures both real and imaginary.  A very whimsical feeling place.

Mairi, Mairi, quite contrary how does your garden grow?  A wee garden fountain made for Mairi's Garden, the owner's young daughter. The sculpture caught her expression perfectly, as we saw the picture it was taken from on our tour of the house.  Mairi is the old  Irish Gaelic spelling of Mary. 

The woodland gardens include several acres of trees, lawn, a large lake with a walking path around it, and the family burial ground, known by it's old Irish name of  Tir N'an Og, meaning The Land of Eternal Youth.  Ones soul is carried to this place by a white stag.  This must be a spectacular place earlier in the year when all the rhododendrons are blooming.  We had to be satisfied with the beautiful hydrangias and wildflowers.

A pair of huge old trees in the woodland garden.

The lake.

Locals feeding the ducks.

The entrance to the burial grounds.

We had to peek through the gates see Tir N'an Og.

Oh the suffering; we had to be satified with hydrangeas.

The Viscount of Londonderry's formal coach, last used for the coronation of King George V, in 1937.

Still Crazy After All These Years.....

Today, July 18, Bill and I have been married 41 years. Surely has surprised a lot of folks, but not us!

Greyfriars Bobby, a statue taken from life, right before his death.

We head to the National Museum of Scotland, arriving before it opened. Guess what is directly across the street? The statue of Greyfiars Bobby! If you were a kid in the 60's in the US, on Sunday nights you watched The Wonderful World of Disney on NBC, where you would have seen the story of Greyfriars Bobby, the most loyal dog in the world. Now, who would have thought it was a true story? Or that 50 years later we would be in Edinburgh to see the grave and statue? We did learn something beside the Davey Crockett song from watching those shows.

The Lewis Chessmen, together again for a tour of The United Kingdom. 

The National Museum is in a very modern building. When they were working on the design, Prince Phillip was one of the main sponsors, but he didn't like the design, so he withdrew his sponsorship. They built it anyway. It's a wonderful building for a museum. Lots of curves and natural light filtering through, without damaging direct sun. The collection is all Scotland, starting with prehistory and continuing through the industrial age. Loved it!

I told our friend Bob I would keep an eye out for his relatives, but instead I found one of mine in the National Museum.  John Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence, President of Princeton, and my many Great Grandfather on my paternal Grandmother's family.

Sir Jackie Stewart's winning Grand Prix car; not everything in this museum is ancient.

Leaving the museum, we walked back to the Royal Mile where Bill wanted to take a few more pictures.  I looked in a shop, but eveything is still made out of wool!  A building caught out attention.  Upon inspection, it was The Bank of Scotland.  Big! Impressive! The seal looks like Miss Piggy!

Miss Piggy on the seal of the Bank of Scotland.

Street musicians on the Royal Mile.  They were playing what can only be discribed as Scottish Bluegrass.

We wandered on down, literally, past the Portrait Gallery, to the park with a tower in honor of Sir Walter Scott.  Popped into the train station to check schedules for the train out of town.  Found ourselves in the theatre district, so stopped for a beer at the Theatre Pub, in their outdoor seating.  Bill came back with two local lagers, but they weren't very tasty, and being luke warm didn't help.

Edinburgh is a very hilly city.

Back to Pollock Halls, then off to dinner at Trattoria Positano.  Our waiter, the owner, took our picture.  When we ordered bubbly, and told him what the occasion was, he offered us a fresh seabass, caught just that day, served with a beautiful sauce.  For starters we shared Tagliatela Positano, added a bottle of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, then finish with lovely desserts.

Edinburgh's theatre district with giraffes.

Leaving the trattoria, we decided to find a good vantage point to take pictures of Salisbury Crags, where King Arthur was crowned at Arthur's Seat.  We ended up wandering through a housing development, finding a set of stairs up to a park.  Great location!  Beautiful views!

This has been a wonderful anniversary weekend visiting Edinburgh!  Even if there was a crazy woman in the park.

Storming the Castle!

Breakfast at Pollock Halls is quite the experience.  The place is full of folks speaking in several different languages.  Some are here as tourists, some as students, and some for the golf being played at St Andrews.
We, of course, are the tourists. 

The stage and seating as seen from the ramparts of the castle.

Edinburgh Castle is built on top of an ancient volcanic core.  Splendid location, but at the moment the front area is a giant stage with grandstand seating.  Rod Stewart played last night, with someone else tonight.  Then the Tatoo is in August.  On either side of the main gate is a statue, one of William Wallace and the other, Robert the Bruce, both very sacred to Scots and their independence.   There is a piper who plays at the top of the walls every hour.  He has quite the repertoire.

Robert the Bruce.  Or is this William Wallace?  Not really sure and they didn't have a sign!

The Piper.

The weather is co-operative for our visit.  When it does start to rain, we just pop into one of the buildings  until the squall blows over.  The castle houses the Scottish Crown Jewels, which, unlike the British, were hidden from Cromwell's goons, who destroyed so very much.    The National War museum is also here.  We particularly enjoyed this, as all the items were personal, with the owner not only attributed, but also introduced as to what he did in the military.  Some were Victoria Cross recepients, but most were just common solders and sailors.  The Museum of the Highland Regements had music playing that was recorded in Baghra, Iraq, as the Regement is currently stationed there.  The CD won several awards.

The Doggie Graveyard, where dogs of the Regements have been buried since Queen Victoria was on the throne.

Where American prisioners of war were kept during the Revolution.

Took us most of 4 hours to see everything in the castle.  By this time we were tired of shuffle walking.  Leaving the castle, we strolled the Royal Mile, down Princes St.  Statues of Sir Walter Scott, John Knox, Lord Hume and others line the street which is over run with shops selling souveniers, kilts, all things made of wool, and pubs.  We finally stop at a pub with outdoor seating, as the weather is beautiful, by Scottish standards.  There is nothing that says 'I'm on holiday' as much as sitting outside with a pint watching the world stroll by!

This is a big fireplace, which they need, since if it's this cold in July what's it like in January?!?

Weapons on loan from the Tower of London.

Dinner is at a small Italian trattoria, Positano.  Since we don't have a reservation, they say we have to be finished by 8, but no problem, as we are famished and it's only 6:15!  The food and service are brilliant!  We may have to come here tomorrow, as well.  We stopped by the pub from last night to sample a pair of Scotch Whiskys.

Need to make a call?  Phone booths are available!

How much is that Doggie in the window?  He was the owner of a Whisky Shop!

Back at Pollock Halls, we decide it is too early to stay in for the evening, so we head for the bar.  The place is busy with mainly the tourist crowd.  We visit with a woman from Italy who had come for the Rod Stewart concert last night!  A 40+ year old groupie!   Then we strike up a conversation with the man in a kilt who has sat next to us.  He is a native Scot, now living in Oslo working for the military there until he can retire back to Edinburgh.  Very interesting....  I asked him what he carried in his sporan.  He laughed!  'My wallet, there are no pockets on a kilt!'

The Bar at Pollock Halls.  The older couple were here for the British Open at St Andrew's.

Which way to Edinburgh?

We hadn't planned on going to Edinburgh, but Stena Lines runs a ferry from Belfast to Stranraer, Scotland, from where you can take RailScot onward.  Their summer special is 50 pounds, round trip, so we took it!  The ferry is huge.  It started out into the  bay, but just when we should have been picking up speed at the end of the no wake zone, we stopped.  The captain told us there was a problem with the propulsion system. They either hoped to fix it or at least be able to return to the dock.  We drifted into the wind for about an hour, when, ZOOM!  the propulsion was fixed and we were headed to Scotland at the highest speed they could manage.

Bill on the ferry.  We sat at the front so we could watch where we were going.

This was the quite lounge, but it didn't really work that way, as folks kept walking and little one running aroung on the wooden flooring.

This was the mark we kept looking at while the ferry was not running.

Wasn't fast enough, though,  we missed our train. No worries, they had busses ready to take us on to Ayr to catch the train.  We walked into the train station.  I went to pee and when I returned our train had arrived!  We had to change stations in Glasgow, but the shuttle bus was right there, and when we walked into Queen Street station, the train was waiting.  Even after arriving in Stranraer an hour late, we still made it to Edinburgh on the original train! 

Instead of a B&B, we decided to stay at Pollock Halls on the University of Edinburgh.  It is a large group of dorms centered on a restaurant, meeting hall, bar and shop.  The original buildings are from the 1800, with the new ones being very modern in design.  Gives you mind a tweek!

Our room is very comfortable, looking out on a garden area.  Every door is accessed with our room key card, and there are lots of doors, with each hall way having fire doors at either end and in the middle.  Hope they all open if there is a fire and the electricity goes off!

The  restaurant serves only buffet style, so we walk off campus.  A very short stroll brings us to a street with lots of restaurants, bars, pubs, and shops.  We read menues and decide on one which not only looks good on paper, but is busy with locals, as well.  The Reverie.  Bill has fish and chips, I opt for the meat pie, both washed down with Tennent lager.  Sticky toffee trifle and brownies for dessert.  YUM!

The Whisky Bar at Reverie.

Locals.

This weekend is off to a great start!

The Real Ireland

We went for a drive, only to be caught in a rain storm before the heavy fog set in.  No pictures, there wasn't enough light to make photos.  When we arrived back at the house,  'We saw the real Ireland today.'  says I.  'Oh, fog and rain?', says she.

July 12 with Anne

12 July is the day celebrating the victory of William of Orange, King of England, a protestant, over James III, King of Ireland, a catholic, at the Battle of Boyne in 1690.  Every year the Loyal Orangemen Lodges, LOL, have parades marking the occasion.  This year, Portrush hosted the big district parade for the first time in 20 years.  We were invited by Anne to attend the parade and receive a guided tour of Portrush, where she was raised.  It was an enjoyable day.

The beach and promenade at Portrush.

Boats at anchor in the harbor.

Families enjoying the beautiful weather.  Some complaints were heard about the  70* heat.

Waiting for the parade to start.  The police goofed and forgot to stop traffic, so cars were double parked along the parade route.

Pauline, Anne's sister,  Mary and Anne in Pauline's front yard waiting for the parade. There is a lot of tea drinking that goes here, I opted for water.

 A few of The Loyal Orangemen.

There were flute and drum bands.

There were fife and drum bands.

There were bagpipe and drum bands.

But the one we thought was the most original, something never seen by us before, a truly amazing sight and sound......

The marching accordians and drum bands.