Ramblin' Woman

St. Paul’s

2005-08-17T22:33:00.000-04:00

The most important reason for our trip was our 6 day stint as choir-in-residence for St. Paul’s Cathedral's Evensong services. They take place daily at 5:00 (except, I think, for Sundays). The service lasts about 45 minutes and follows a prescribed pattern. Following the organ prelude, we processed in by twos, arms length apart (smartly, please!), hands clasped in front, and into the choir stalls, turning to face east and the high altar. After reverencing the altar, we turned to back to immediately begin the Preces. Following the Preces was the first (scripture) lesson, and then we sang the Psalm for the day. The second lesson was followed by the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for the day. Then came the Prayers and Responses, after which we sang the anthem for the day, and last came the day’s hymn. This is all from memory, but I think it’s right! We would reverence the altar before leaving, then recess in the same style as the procession. The clergy would always speak to us afterward and wish us a good evening. It became comfortable after a couple of days, but I never lost the feeling of vague unreality, as in “I can’t believe I’m singing in St. Paul’s cathedral!” The reverberation in that space was wonderful, although not as long as Ely, but we got to experience it for a whole week, and it never lost its delightfulness. It was sad to sing our last Evensong, although we were excited about continuing our trip, and I will never, ever forget the truly once-in-a-lifetime experience it was to sing in such an awe-inspiring space. And yet, my ministry every week at home, in good old Third Presbyterian Church, carries no less importance or meaning to God.

We toured the building on a gray, misty day, and my photos are not terribly good. We were also not allowed to take photographs in the cathedral, so I have none of the place where I sat every day to sing. But I took the intrepid climbers tour, and braved the 530 steps all the to the top, which is about the same height as the London Eye (keep reading for that!), although much more tiring! They wisely have an up and, separate, down route, as some passages were shoulder-rubbingly narrow, and one bit that was narrow, long and dark, incited claustrophobia in those who don’t normally have such issues (it made me a bit nervous!). There were spiral staircases and ladders, as well. The view from the top was amazing, and open air. I later tried to see people at the top from the ground, and couldn’t really make anyone out! We had a fascinating guide, Tom, I believe, and saw the room that holds the scale model of the current cathedral. The original was Norman, like Ely. Most of the windows have changed over the years, too, thanks to Hitler’s bombs and such. I think the ceilings were most incredible feature, and impossible to photograph, had we been allowed. You’ll just have to go there and see for yourself. We were gawking so much when we entered for rehearsal on the first day, it was mentioned to Peter so that he would make sure we didn’t do it during the service. But although we are an amateur choir, I know we would have behaved perfectly decorously without the warning!

Major cheating to create this photo, but the images and fiddling are 100% mine. You couldn't back up far enough to get it into one photo without getting run over by a double-decker or a taxi, anyway...

Here is part of our rehearsal space, in the crypt. Sounds creepy, but the crypt was actually very open, light, and inviting.

One of the spiral staircases we had to navigate for the tour to the top.

Taken by leaning over backwards over the railing, looking up at the highest part of the cathedral.

Photo taken leaning forwards over the railing, looking out from the highest level we could access. See the Eye in the mist?

One section of the ceiling from behind the scenes, but the part on the left is the cathedral proper. This part of the ceiling was open to both areas. I hope that made sense...

This was the best I could do of the interior, from the very front, above the entrance doors.

Taken on our Monday evening walkabout, probably from the Millenium Bridge, when the sun lit up the gilt "finials", and a gull obligingly flew by...

Here is where we stood to sing every day, in the Quire.

Kew Gardens/Water Taxi

2005-08-17T10:29:00.000-04:00

Warning: If you are looking for lovely garden photos, you may be disappointed, as much of the Gardens was well past peak.

Having said that, they had installed an exhibit of glassworks by Dale Chihuly, the premier glassblowing artist in the US. To me, this was a stroke of genius, as it would draw visitors at a time when the flowers had long since deserted, and visitors usually become scarce. It doesn’t hurt that I am fascinated by glassblowing, and have it on my list of things to try when I retire. I have one showpiece glass vase created by Michael Nourot, a marvelous glassblower who studied with Chihuly when he first started out.

I was charmed and fascinated by Chihuly's works, although I did not necessarily care for all of them. My favorites were the golden/reddish pieces and the “macchia”, which were gorgeous freeform bowls. The years and amount of work that had to have gone into the creation of this exhibit is truly astounding. I hope you enjoy my photos of this lovely exhibit and the surrounding gardens.

The main pond with "walla wallas", the floating merengue-like pieces, and the boat in the background. That was inspired by a glassblower in Norway who tossed small pieces in a river and children on skiffs collected them.

This is a chandelier, made up of "persians", wavy-edged plate/bowl forms.

This looked for the world like a cluster of mylar balloons, even in person!

Okay, here's a flower from a beautiful bed. Lovely colored canna lily.

This is a small building in the lovely Japanese garden. It had a beautiful raked stone garden in front of it with "waterfalls" and bridges.

One of my favorites, the "macchia", in the Temperate House.

I could have spent all day getting different angles and views...

My favorite piece of all. I was sorely tempted to stuff this one on my backpack...

This installation had it all: sight, aound and life. At the top is a koi pond with really big koi - about 2 feet long each! It gently gurgled as the water cascaded towards you...

This is "Sun", the largest and most elaborate installation, made up of hundreds and hundreds of individual pieces. Stunning.

Just one very small section of the sun, yet look how much there is in it!

On to the water taxi ride back to Westmister. The day was gorgeous and we enjoyed the hour long saunter down the Thames. This afforded the best views of all the usual photo spots that are on the river. I was sorry it didn't go further!

This lovely little church, right on the river, is apparently very popular for weddings.

The Thames, being a tidal river, offers some interesting views at low tide. This was my favorite.

Sorry, but I don't remember whose roof this is! I think it's on the Houses of Parliament, but not sure.

Houses of Parliament

St. Stephen's tower clockface.

The London Eye (best view, bar none!)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Night Tour

2005-08-16T20:54:00.000-04:00

One of my fellow singers wanted to see a show (there was practically every show known to man, somewhere!), and I was the only person who hadn't seen what she wanted to see (Mama Mia) and was willing to try to get tickets. So we took off to Leicester Square right after Evensong, searching for the official "official half price ticket" sellers. Still not sure if we found them, but we found one, anyway. The tickets to Mama Mia were 60 pounds or so, well over $100, and I just couldn't spring for that much. We looked into what other shows were available, and they had 2 I was willing to see for 30 pounds, "Sound of Music" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". Everything being equal, I would have chosen "Sound of Music", but those tickets were for seats that weren't very good, and I preferred to have better seats. So we bought the tickets, took off walking to the theatre, which ended up a bit farther than my companion wanted to walk, but we made it, grabbed some street-vendor chinese food, ate standing up, and went in. We had seats next to a woman with her 2 grandchildren and struck up a conversation. Turned out she'd been to the Rochester area, staying in a hotel there before visiting Niagara Falls, and had a very positive experience. I shared that we were seeing just the one show, and were a little nervous about getting back to the hotel late at night. She assured us we'd be safe in London. I asked how she'd come, and she said in her car. I jokingly asked if she'd give us a ride home, and she said "Absolutely!" When I said I was joking, she insisted that she wasn't, and she'd love to give us a night tour to see things lit up. The show was marvelous, great fun (and here I really missed my boys, knowing they would have loved the whole thing) and we left the theatre with them. She was parked right across the street from the theatre, and took us on a whirlwind tour including Buckingham Palace (not lit up), Harrod's, the Houses of Parliament and St. Stephen's tower and St. Paul's. She then dropped us off right at the front door of the hotel, with our grateful thanks. What a hoot!

This is Allyson, our tour guide/driver/friend.

These are her 2 grandchildren.

Just one of Harrod's Willy Wonka promo windows.

Now here are 2 photos I am willing to bet no one else on the tour got:

St. Stephen's tower (with "Big Ben" inside) at night. Beautiful, isn't it?

Harrod's at night. Wow!

The London Zoo

2005-08-16T11:36:00.000-04:00

We got a beautiful day for this outing, as we did for Kew Gardens and the boat ride. As usual, we did not have enough time to see everything, but what we did see was interesting, with most of the exhibits animal-friendly, but set up for good viewing. One exhibit impossible to photograph (but, of course, I did try!) was the Aye-aye, a fairly bizarre nocturnal creature with an elongated “finger” for picking insects out of logs. They had a blacked-out walk-through mimicking nighttime, and after about 5 minutes your eyes could adjust enough to see. I may have been able to get something using flash, but somehow that just seemed cruel, if not forbidden. We did see an Aye-aye moving about, and a few other nocturnal creatures in another enclosure. In other areas we saw a cerval with two kits, a very lazy male lion and two females, sleeping tigers, and some very entertaining meerkats, who used their dirt mound to post sentries, changing up every 10 minutes or so. They had 5 kits. The marine exhibits were also interesting, especially the seahorse tank and the coral tanks. Also seen: giraffes, black-capped monkeys in an open enclosure, Golden Lion Tamarins and a Komodo Dragon. I think two days would be the minimum to do the place justice. Maybe on another trip…

The marine tanks were fascinating and beautiful. This one has an eel, which would slide right back into the sandy bottom if nervous, and also some red hermit crabs.

The seahorse tank was about 15 feet long, and they kept me entranced for quite a while.

This was my favorite coral, the bubble coral. I never saw any like it snorkeling in Maui. It also shows well the Banggai Cardinal fish from Indonesia.

These poppies were sprinkled througout the zoo grounds.

We were very close to this gentle giant. Such a kind eye!

This is the cerval mom, taking a break from her 2 kits. We got along famously!

Hmmmmm, look who's sleeping. What a surpise, the male!

The meerkats during a changing of the guard.

This is one of my very favorite photos. Thanks to Katherine and Kat for their patience while I paused everywhere to take shots.

These black-capped monkeys must not be aggressive as they could drop right down on you if they wished in this large enclosure.

This is the beautiful Golden Lion Tamarin, from Brazil, and extremely endangered (96% of their habitat has been destroyed by logging).

The infamous Komodo Dragon. One bite and you're history! Not poisonous, but the bacteria in its mouth is deadly.

Typical cat, taking a nap. These tigers were gorgeous, even asleep.

I hope you enjoyed your little tour of the London Zoo. I would like to go back and see everything some day!

The British Museum

2005-08-15T20:03:00.000-04:00

This was a very short, spur of the moment excursion on the last day in London, right before our last evensong. I wanted to see the Rosetta stone one last time, as it may be headed back to its home country, although not if the UK can help it!

We took a look at things we didn’t have to pay extra for, and spent most of our time in the David Milne exhibition. He was a Canadian-born watercolor artist, and spent some time in the UK and US as well. In fact, he had two paintings of Big Moose and Dart’s lakes, both of which are in the Adirondacks. Dart’s Lake is the lake YMCA Camp Gorham is on, where I worked as a horse wrangler/counselor one summer! Small world…. His paintings were very interesting to see as a chronological group. If you walked along one side of the exhibit and then hopped over to the other, you could easily think the pieces were painted by two different artists, so much had his style changed.

There was also a sculptural exhibit scattered inside and out of pieces created from war debris, mostly into plants and animals. The outdoor exhibit was a walk-through garden. It was quite effective and even lovely.

Interestingly, on our tour of St. Giles (in Scotland) we saw two painted white tree sculptures, similar to the indoor tree, in one corner of the cathedral.

The text of the accompanying plaque is as follows:

The Tree of Life Project

A half-tonne sculpture made out of decommissioned weapons from Mozambique's civil war is currently being shown in the British Museum. The Tree of Life was jointly commissioned by the British Museum and Christian Aid to coincide with "Africa 2005", a major series of events in London.

Inspired by this, the City of Edinburgh Council, Children and Families Department, invited schools to create their own interpretation of the Tree of Life, as a way of looking at the G8 and Africa.

Caged Beastie, an Edinburgh-based arts agency, worked with groups of pupils from St' John's RC Primary and Craigmount High Schools using toy weapons to build these sculptures.

Executive Member for Children and Families says: "The Tree of Life is an extraordinary piece of work and I am thrilled that our schools have been involved in creating their own interpretation of this sculpture. Through their involvement with this project, our pupils have been engaged in stimulating discussions around many of the G8 issues including poverty, humanity and peace".

The trees will be returned to the schools at the beginning of the next term to support and enhance the curriculum around G8 issues.

At the base of the tree, looks like a lizard to me.

This ceiling went all the way around in a huge circle. Visually stunning.

Now on the outside, these are women -- look closely!

The outdoor tree, a huge woven piece.

I thought these flowers on a bush were lovely. Wish I could grow them, but I have no idea what they are!

Ely Cathedral

2005-08-14T16:19:00.000-04:00

We took a day trip to Ely Cathedral, about an hour drive north of London, to give a morning concert in the Lady Chapel, a space renowned for its 7 second reverberation, something very uncommon and unforgettable. Most of us also took a tour of the cathedral, as per usual. The chapel was quite chilly, but that did not affect our sound (I don’t think!) The cathedral itself is a huge Norman building with a unique octagon tower. Their concerts are normally given later in the day, but we had to be back to London to sing at St. Paul’s, so ours was earlier, and sparsely attended as a result. It didn’t really matter, though, as our brave (they had to get up very early in order to come) entourage appreciated the incredible sound. I look forward to hearing the recording (as well as our St. Paul’s and St. Giles recordings) as it is hard to know what the group sounds like to the hearers from within the singers. We were taken to Mastings for a buffet lunch before leaving for London. Although most of us trekked around London fearlessly, using the “Tube” without hesitation, the fact that the day we went to Ely was the 3rd Thursday after the bombings and the 1st after the attempted bombings was a bit of relief. Fortunately, nothing happened in London while we were gone, and nothing since.

Ely is so huge we had to get far back to get most of it in one picture. You can't do this at St. Paul's without getting run over, and you can't do it at St. Giles at all, at least not from the front, and the side view is obscured with scaffolding at the moment.

This is most of Ely, with the Lady Chapel visible on the left side.

The exterior of the octagonal tower.

This is the altar, and some beautiful wondows behind it.

View of the window in the Lady Chapel.

The Lady of the chapel.

An interior shot of the octagonal tower.

Cambridge Knebworth

2005-08-14T15:43:00.000-04:00

I didn't see anything of Cambridge, except for the hotel with the worst bed I slept in the whole trip. I don’t hold that against Cambridge, though, it’s just that I've visited Cambridge before, and punted on the Cam and all, and preferred to spend some time with my cousin and his family, as I'd been invited and had never been there before. They treated me like a queen, cooked me a delicious dinner, complete with a Pimm's, took me to a real English afternoon party at Lesley's mother's house (don't get me started on the homemade desserts alone!) and then drove me to Cambridge in their new SUV. They have 2 rescued Greyhounds, Victor and Archie, both very sweet. They will be coming here to visit at the end of August, and it will be great fun!

Here I am halfway through to Platform 9 3/4 (for Harry Potter fans) at King's Cross station.

This is the little town of Knebworth. Many of the houses, like my cousin's, are over 100 years old, refurbished inside to current code. Many were built as housing for railroad workers, and provide the basis for this bedroom community. My cousin easily commutes into London every day by walking to the train station (5 minutes) and taking the train (30 minutes) to King's Cross.

This is part of their long, narrow garden. There is a small patio and he grows some herbs and veggies, too.

My aunt Jill in the kitchen, enjoying her Pimm's.

This is a glass of Pimm's, a yummy combination of Pimm's (sorry, not sure what it is, but it's 50 proof and fruity) with British lemonade (it's clear, like Sprite; can't remember if it's carbonated) and sliced fruit served over ice.

Victor and Archie, resting on their beds.

My cousin St. John (pronounced "sin-jin") getting a little help from "the boys".

St. John's wife, Lesley, with her son, Jordan.

York

2005-08-13T22:01:00.000-04:00

York was an overnight stop, with most of one day and half of the next to spend; money, that is! I found York to be the most tourist-oriented place we had visited so far. Edinburgh was about equal, but I didn't know that yet... In one corner of the Walled City, however, you can find an amazingly beautiful cathedral, standing larger than life as the famous York Minster. Most of us took a guided tour, in three smaller groups, and mine was led by a delightful woman. There was too much to see in just an hour, or even two or three, but we got an overall impression with quite a few interesting details and stories.

We had an important reason for stopping in York, and that was to meet, and have a workshop with, Andrew Carter. We spent about 2 hours listening, questioning, singing, responding and learning. He was extremely personable and enjoyable, and it was so interesting getting to know someone whose music we have been singing for years. As a surprise, he asked Richard Shephard to stop in, which he did, and he led us in his own Preces and Responses, which we had memorized singing in St. Paul's three of the six evenings. After the workshop he graciously spent quite a bit of time signing CD inserts from his recordings, and even complimented me by recalling I was "that terrific alto in the front row ..." :0)

Statue inside the Richard the 3rd shop.

Interesting walls and rooflines were everywhere in York.

The Minster from behind, taken from atop the old wall.

One of many beautiful stones in the old wall. The plaque is clearly dated, and was placed to thank the people who made restorations possible.

Another back view of the Minster. Believe me, I had to work to get photos with no scaffolding in view!

A portion of the old wall.

The gorgeous organ of the Minster.

Detail showing the whimsy of the carvers. The cat on the left looks pretty hungry, so the mouse on the right better keep going!

I'm always on the lookout for dragons, and there is quite a large one in the Minster. Interestingly, they are not sure what it's purpose was, although they seemed sure that it was used for something, not simply ornamental. The explanation we got, based on bracing and supports behind the walls, is that it was a hook of sorts, used to raise something heavy from the floor, or not far off. The guess is that it was an extremely ornate baptismal font lid. This made sense to me, as I've seen some in England which are absolutely huge, 6 to 8 feet tall.

A portion of the ceiling.

The south transcept windows. The ceiling of this transcept served as Andrew Carter's inspiration for "Benedicite", a work we presented in Third Presbyterian Church, that included the Junior Choir (3-6 graders), Glorious Things (1-2 graders) and other children. The ceiling burned in 1983 (I think that was the year) and was rebuilt, including bosses (decorative pieces placed at beam intersections) created by children, and having the theme of all creation praising God.

Andrew Carter in our workshop (most of my time, and card space, was taken up with movies of his talks).

The Military Tattoo

2005-08-12T21:21:00.000-04:00

The final night of our very short stay in Scotland was an awesome and spectacular way to say good-bye to the UK. It allowed us to witness something visually and musically splendid, and end the evening on an upbeat, excited note. The photos don't even come close to conveying the essence of the Tattoo, but I offer them to give a slight flavor if nothing else.

What is a "Tattoo"? The word is derived from the old Dutch term [alteration of Dutch taptoe, tap-shut (closing time for taverns), tattoo : tap, spigot, tap (from Middle Dutch tappe) + toe, shut (from Middle Dutch).] that described the scene when a military band and drums would parade through a garrison town to alert the taverns that it was curfew for the soldiers, the beer taps should be cut off, and the soldiers should return to their barracks. Over the centuries this has evolved into a dazzling display of military band precision, bagpipe glory and emotion, and drum drama that is the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Some of the TPCCC tour bunch at my end of the rows, waiting for the excitement to begin!

This is a panorama I created from the view off the southeast wall of the outer castle before the performance. It was a wonderful view, and, romantically, it was what you saw waiting in line for the loo!

Looking just to my left from my seat, as the sun was going down.

This is a small portion of the massed bagpipes. I felt there wasn't enough bagpipe music, but I know many who would disagree. I don't care; I LOVE bagpipes!

The Russian dancers were wonderful and I got this nice, close shot of a pair twirling.

The castle was lit up at various times in various colors. I couldn't detect any particular significance for the colors, but it was striking. They also scrolled graphics up the walls of the castle, which was very effective.

The Scottish Seabird Centre

2005-08-12T10:29:00.000-04:00

This side trip was on our last full day in Scotland, before the Tattoo that evening. I was lucky to have had Katherine put up with me on several jaunts, including the London Zoo and this one. We took a short train ride, 30 minutes, tops, to North Berwick, home of the Centre. It was a short walk to the Ferth (Ferth of Forth, the tidal river that runs through Edinburgh), and you could actually see the open ocean as NB is on the very end. The birds were plentiful, but maostly gulls and terns. The big draw is the puffins, and wouldn't you know, they were done breeding and mostly gone. But we did see some floating on the water, and I accidentally captured one in a photo of a flying tern. Good luck spotting it, and I will give a prize to the first person who emails me with the location in the photo!

Can YOU spot the puffin?

The day we were there, Friday August 5th, they were holding the finals of the Solo UK National Championship & Nations Cup, so there were more boat watchers than bird watchers!

This is David Lumbard returning. I had a nice chat with his wife Jean, and their lovely Sheltie, as I sat on the wall enjoying the sun and sea air. The wind was very, very brisk that day, and I doubt I would have ventured out on my Sunfish!

This is the lovely sandy beach in the morning, with few visitors, but lovely none the less.

And I'll leave you with this image of a young bather delighted in the sun and warm temperatures, which are evidently not all that common....

St. Giles

2005-08-11T22:52:00.000-04:00

My tour of the Highlands was the first thing I did in Scotland, all day August 3rd (Bruno's birthday, incidentally -- thanks to Jean, Tom, Shawn and Doug for making the surprise birthday visit I planned before I left!). The next day we gave a concert in St. Giles cathedral, the only Presbyterian cathedral we sang in. It was also the smallest and seemed to have more restoration work going on than any other, although it is ongoing in any cathedral. Scaffolding was being erected the day we sang, which added incredibly loud and inharmonious punctuation to our (attempted) rehearsal. Peter bravely ignored (by pausing every few minutes, which was how often we were interrupted!) the cacophony and got us prepared to sing together for the first time in many days. The space was lovely to sing in, and made for a memorable conclusion to our singing "duties" on the tour.

This handmade banner shows a profile of St Giles' lovely arched "dome" which is open and airy.

You may tire of all the stained glass window photos I'll end up having, but they were really the only satisfying thing to photograph as everything was usually too high up, far away and dark to get a decent shot. They are lovely, though, and I include this one because it has a unicorn, and I like unicorns.

Okay, you just KNEW I'd have at least one exception, and I do have a few. This one is a lovely portion of ceiling which was close enough to several windows to give a chance of a successful photograph. It is in a fairly new section of the cathedral, but I wasn't writing things down, so from memory (Lord help me.....) it was the chapel of the Knights of the Thistle. The space was small but packed with significance, and with special places for important people, such as the Queen.

A natural light interior shot.

Here's one I'll bet not many people saw, as you had to look up, over top of all the plastic wrap on the outside of the building, to notice this just above the entrance door. It is truly beautiful, and saddening in that it points up what we couldn't, and wouldn't, see.

This is the dome at night, taken from my hotel room, and doctored a bit in PhotoShop. I love my Kodak 6490 DX, but it is not very good in low light. Having said that, I think the photo is pretty good for all the darkness and it being about at least a mile away. The views from my hotel room were spectacular and ever-changing with the light and weather.

Choir tour trip to the UK - Intro and Scottish Highlands (yes, it's backwards... why do the expected? ;0)

2005-08-09T20:06:00.000-04:00

I've decided to begin a blog, although I will not be keeping it up very well after a few weeks as I will have little free time, but I thought I would share some of my favorite photos from my incredible trip to England and Scotland with my church choir (Third Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY). We were there to serve as choir-in-residence for St. Paul's cathedral for the week of July 25-30. During that time we also gave a concert at the Ely cathedral's Lady Chapel, an incredible singing space in an incredible cathedral. We later traveled to Cambridge, although I skipped out to spend time with my wonderful cousin and his adorable wife and son in nearby Knebworth. The next stop was York, with touring the Minster and a workshop with the jovial composer Andrew Carter, which was great fun. The last leg was to Scotland with an awesome tour of the Highlands and Loch Ness and singing in St. Giles cathedral, plus the wonderful Military Tattoo. I will update with photos as I have time to resize and upload. Please feel free to comment as you feel moved..... :0)

Incredibly, Loch Ness looks like the big sister of our finger lake here at home, Canandaigua. Makes sense, though, as they are both glacial. Ness, however, is MUCH deeper at 1000+ feet, as opposed to 300 or so for Canadaigua. Taken from the tour boat.

Lucky shot out the bus window, while moving (did you ever stop, Graeme?!?) with very cool lighting. Probably taken on the way back from the Highlands of Scotland, but maybe on the way.

Taken out the bus window (Graeme HAD to stop - red light) looking north in the northernmost place I visited, Inverness.

Just liked the clouds in this one, taken from a tour boat on Loch Ness (no bus window this time!)

Okay, Graeme, here's your little moment of fame...

He was both the driver and the guide, and really did Grayline Tours proud with his font of information, good-hearted kidding and wonderful bus handling. Thanks, Graeme (pronounced as Graham...)!

One last photo of the Highlands tour, and then I will begin a new post with St. Giles, the Scottish Seabird Centre and the spectacular Military Tattoo.

A panorama of Urquhart castle on the shore of Loch Ness. We were not able to go into the ruins due to time constraints, but it was neat to see it from our vantage point.

As you can tell from the photos, we went through all types of weather, from (mostly) clear skies to heavy downpours (only while we were driving, fortunately!). The boat tour was blessed with beautifully partly cloudy skies for the entire hour. It was a lot of time on a bus after a long drive up from York, but it was most definitely worth it, and I'd do it again in heartbeat!