Living the Castle Life

While touring the castles, we were staying in a castle!  Brodie Castle rents out the Laird's Wing, which is a section of the house renovated for the lord to live in after he donated the building and lands to the National Trust.  After he passed away, the National Trust uses this wing as vacation rental.

It was a great space for the twelve of us -- lots of bedrooms and baths and large dining room, kitchen and living room!  Despite the pretty constant rain, we had fun exploring the grounds, especially the pond where ducks and swans lived.

The kids en route to the pond

Hanging in Cormack's woods (real name)

Anna's fascinator, purchased in a charity shop in Glasgow

Coming for the bread

Brodie Castle from a distance

up close

Girls dressed for dinner (notice Anne has perfected the queen wave)

All in all, a great end to our Scottish adventures:  soggy weather, fun pals, castles 24/7!!

Macbeth Castle Tour

So, three families wandering around Scotland looking at castles connected with Macbeth -- here are the highlights and a group shot at each (though at least one person was always missing).

Scone Palace:  best tour guides -- older women who rotated though the rooms and answered your questions.  We loved them for their blatant admiration for the family who still lived in part of the house and willingness to tell us all about the family. The queen was having lunch at the Palace the day after we visited, so one tour guide filled us in on how the grandfather was in a wheelchair and living with his daughter nearby so it wasn't clear if he would come since he couldn't properly greet the queen from his chair, and how his son was extremely shy, so the speculation was that the grandson (aged 23) would act as host.  We wanted her to call us the next day and tell us what really happened!

Scone, also had the most extensive grounds, including an impressive hedge maze and adventure playground.  Scone made the least of its connections to Macbeth, probably due to its importance as a tourist site in its own right.

Glamis Castle:  most annoying tour guide -- we had a young, Italian woman leading our guided tour of the castle and it just felt wrong to hear about a Scottish castle from somebody with such a thick non-Scottish accent.  Of course, Jamie and I, as the teachers of teens, made the most fun of her.  She told a story about a page boy who died waiting for his "h'orders" which we of course heard as hoarders, so kept saying the word to each other for the rest of the tour confusing her as to why we kept laughing.  The true low moment was when she stuck to the script obviously written by someone else since she referred a photo of the Queen Mother (who was born at Scone) as a picture that shows "how we remember our Queen."  Okay, you're Italian; she's not your queen!

Glamis had lots of lions since that was on the family crest -- I think people must give them lion things as presents (note all the lion photos below).  Their gardens were under renovation, but there were lovely woods to walk in and a sweet pet cemetery.  This castle capitalized on their Macbeth connections, even claiming that one room in the castle was where Macbeth killed Duncan, but in the play he kills the king in Inverness.

McKenna declaring herself Queen!

Cawdor Castle:  best gardens.  Although all the castles still had families living there, this castle was the only one where the family lived in the same part that was open to the public, so there was  even more family photos spread about and probably explains why the gardens were so nice.

witches' cauldron with a model of the castle inside

Salvador Dali sketch that depicts Macbeth sitting in a chair while a whirlwind comes towards him

great knot gardens

saying "Macbeth" instead of cheese

We loved touring these castles:  helping McKenna decide which would be the best one for her future wedding, testing all the zip lines at each castle, Tanya timing the obstacle course challenge at Glamis, eating in the tea rooms, making fun of the guides, snooping into the current lords' families' lives, wandering the gardens, seeing the places mentioned in Macbeth.

All Hail Thee!!

As part of our grand finale in Scotland, we, along with our friends, are touring the Macbeth castles.  Now, Macbeth never lived in any of these nor did these titles even exist in the historic Macbeth's time, but Shakespeare played fast and loose with reality to create Macbeth.  And, we enjoyed visiting the places that come up in the play. Disclaimer:  this post is about Macbeth connections to the castles; another post will be about the castles as tourist destinations.

First stop:  Scone Palace, The Crowning Place of Scottish Kings

Here is where Macbeth is crowned after killing Duncan to get the throne

MACDUFF:  He is already named, and gone to Scone
To be invested.  (II, iv)

And where Malcolm is crowned after Macduff kills Macbeth in battle

MALCOLM:  So, thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.  (V, viii)

An imposing palace where the Queen was having lunch the day after we toured it (still following us around).

Second stop:  Glamis Castle

Macbeth, at the start of the play, is thane of Glamis, but he and his wife have their eyes on more!

FIRST WITCH:  All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis! (I, iii)

Now, the tour guide at Glamis showed us Duncan's chamber, a room where Macbeth killed King Duncan; however, in the play, even though Macbeth was thane of Glamis, he lived at Inverness Castle. At least according to Shakespeare, who has Duncan invite himself to visit Macbeth after the victory over Norway.

DUNCAN:   From hence to Inverness,

And bind us further to you.  (I, iv)

Third stop:  Cawdor Castle

When the witches promise Macbeth greater honors, the first is Thane of Cawdor.  Macbeth does not know that Duncan has already pledged to award him this title for his valour in the war against Norway, so when he finds out he wonders if the witches are also telling him the truth about becoming king.

SECOND WITCH:  All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!  (I, iii)

And this prophecy is the beginning of the end for Macbeth as it awakens his greed and ambition and sets Lady Macbeth down the path of evil and destruction hand and hand with Macbeth.


LADY MACBETH:  Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised  (I, v)

Extra Stop:  Forres

Macbeth and Duncan encounter the witches on their way to Forres, where they are to meet King Duncan.  We drove through the town of Forres after a very long ride through some beautiful mountains (the pace was slow then add in some carsick kids and the scenery started to pale), so these lines seemed very fitting.

BANQUO:  How far is't call'd to Forres?

It was great fun to seek out these Macbeth connections!  Next, I'll give you the run down of how these castles compared!!  Off to celebrate Cormac's 14th birthday and my and Liam's wedding anniversary.

Travelling with a Gang of Twelve

July 4: A quick trip through the Botanics, while the drivers get the rental cars.  Final glimpses of the orchids!

Then, six adults and six kids; ten suitcases; uncountable number of tote bags, backpacks, purses, laptops, etc, and three UK-sized rental cars -- somehow it all fit and we set off in a caravan towards Perth.

En route, we went to the Falkirk Wheel.  An advantage of traveling with others -- we never would have stopped to see an engineering marvel, but it was very cool.  Boats first go through a regular lock, then the wheel lifts them 80 feet from the Forth and Clyde Canal to the Union Canal.

Of course, there was some strange activity our kids had to indulge in -- children in bubbles set afloat.

Cormac's bubble getting inflated

Cormac celebrates standing up

Crawling was easier as Declan, Connor and Claire show

Connor takes out Mckenna

A very successful first mass outing!

Then, we came to Perth and there was less success.  We drove around and around Perth's confusing one-way streets trying to find the flats we had rented which were on a pedestrian street adding to our inability to find our way.  But, we all finally made it there and a great dinner at Paco's, chosen for its ability to take large groups and promised menu selection that would please everyone, both which came true.  The mispronunciation of fajitas aside (phonetically spelled out to pronounce as fah-geetas), the food was good, and there was plenty of room for a party of twelve.

We survived our first day on the move with a full dozen people!

The Queen is Following Us

Sorry for the gap in postings, but we've been internet-less for the past two days.  However, the catch-up posts will have to wait because BIG news today!

Earlier in the week I tried to take our pals to the Glasgow Cathedral, but it was inexplicably closed.  Later we found out that the Queen was going to attend mass there, so the public was not allowed in.  Then, we found out that she was going to Perth, the next stop on our itinerary.  Then, we found out that she was receiving the keys to the city two blocks from where we were staying.  Well, it seemed destiny -- we had to see the Queen.  And, here she is!!

The British sure know how to do pomp -- for the Queen's visit to Perth, she was preceded by a pipe and drum band (the best part of the whole thing),

four soldiers on horseback flanked her car,

and local officials lined the street.

on one side, members of the Royal Constables (retired and current police)

and on the other, war veterans (we loved the guy on the left with his many medals)

It was a great convergence of being in the right time and the right place -- now we can see we saw the Queen!!

After, we headed to Glamis Castle which was the current queen's mother's family home, so we spent the day immersed with queens.  More later!

Language Barriers

So, after traveling to countries where they don't speak English, I'm grateful that we chose an English speaking country to settle for six months.  One of the hardest part of not speaking the language, besides feeling like a toddler (how much that?), is the inability to make small talk.  You can't pass the time with shopkeepers, discuss the weather with waitstaff, etc.  It adds another layer of separateness which for a longer period could be quite isolating.  Of course, when I returned to Glasgow, I found I had lost a little of my ear for the accent so can't really understand what they're saying here either, then I thanked the bookstore cashier with "Danke."

Call me shallow, but I did appreciate people coming up to me on the streeet and speaking French or German to me.  Felt like I did not appear like an ugly American tourist if people were talking to me in the native language.  Of course, any attempt at being cool and local immediately dissipated when I had to say, "Je ne parle pas francais."  But at least in France I could make basic interactions -- ask for three croissants and a baguette -- while in Germany, I did not understand anything.  It feels a little rude to not be able to even begin a request in the local language.  But Germans have excellent English skills, so we didn't suffer too much, except for our pride.

Now, we're showing our friends the Thompson-Dickersons and the Baker-Heans around Glasgow for a couple of days before heading up to the Highlands for a castle tour.  Let's hope we can understand the northern Scots!

Bikes and Bunnies

Our last couple of days in Europe we spent in Munster, which is the bike capital of Germany!  It's the only place I've been where I was seriously worried about being taken out by a cyclist.  They are everywhere, and pedestrians need to watch where they walk.

red line indicates bike lane

waiting at an intersection

bikes were parked on every sidewalk

cyclists get their own traffic lights

Also, bunnies were proliferating in this town -- no natural predators, maybe?

close enough for a photo, but not to catch as the boys attempted

hanging out on a traffic rotary island

Munster also has great outdoor recreation space, where we sought the shade.  Living in Glasgow has left us ill-suited to temps in the high 80s.

manmade lake, the Aasee

Botanic Gardens

outdoor dance space with beer wagon (note the disco ball)

Also, great cafes.  We loved the lighting and couches in this one.

And, although my boys prefer French baguettes, I was wowed by the wholegrain options -- German bread was amazing to me!

Finally, in Paris we saw these bike locks on bridges and couldn't figure them out.  In Munster, we saw them again, but these had commemorative words or initials written or etched on them, so we figured it's some way to memorialize a person or event.

pretty, huh?

We're back in Glasgow now!  We had a great time on our brief European tour, but it felt good to be home, even though it's not quite home-home as our kids call Bangor.  Toady, we are celebrating Liam's birthday and beginning our packing in preparation for moving out of the apartment and going to the Highlands with our friends from the States -- the first family arrives tonight.  It will be a whirlwind finale to our time in Scotland.  Can't believe we're leaving in 12 days!!