A whirlwind tour of Britain

I am finally getting around to posting pictures from Brian's family's visit. They came for two weeks in the beginning of September, and together we took well over 1,000 pictures. I had plenty to choose from for this post! It was great to see them, and the time went all too quickly, but we made memories that will last a lifetime. While they were here we visited Brighton, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Loch Ness, the Lake District, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Oxford!

On the first day they arrived we enjoyed a full English breakfast and walked up to the village of Falmer.

Walking in the country is great because it is always a little different every time. There were blackberries to pick and enjoy this time.



On Sunday they visited our church and had lunch there and then in the evening we took a short walk around Brighton and enjoyed dinner with our friends Lizzie and Sophie.

On Monday morning we left to begin our trip north. We stopped at Duxford Imperial War Museum, which was a real Battle of Britain airfield. They have quite an extensive collection of planes.



After that we stopped in Cambridge for dinner. Here's Kathryn in front of King's College.

The next day we headed further north to Scotland. Here we are on a little rest stop. There was a little creek and a path through the woods.

Our interesting sight for the day was Hadrian's wall. There are a lot of stone walls in this part of the country, and we keep getting excited.

"Is that it?"
"No, it's only three feet high."
"Maybe it fell down? Wait, is that it?"

We did find it eventually! The Romans were smart and dug a ditch along the outside of the wall to make it even taller. It stretched from coast to coast in its day, but of course a lot of it has detoriated or been torn down since then.




We stopped and saw the wall at a barracks. There wasn't much left, but it was really awesome to so see it and imagine Romans encamped there. It's a long way from Rome!

We made it to our cottage in Linlithgow that night.


The next day we toured Linlithgow Palace, which is the castle that Mary, Queen of Scots was born in. It was really powerful to imagine her pregnant mother waiting to hear news of the Battle of Solway. How quickly life changed for her here! James V lost the battle with England, she gave birth to a daughter, and six days later her husband was dead, and her newborn child was Queen.

This the view from many of Linlithgow's windows.

Here is the fireplace! Unbelieveablely huge.


After exploring the empty echoing halls of the ruined palace, we were off to see bustling Edinburgh.
Our first stop was Edinburgh castle. Here is Brian posing with a monster cannon called Mons Meg. It was a wedding present to James II. Congratulations on your marriage. Here's a toaster and a cannon. Times have certainly changed. Brian could (and did) fit inside the cannon.

The castle is built on a huge piece of volcanic rock that stood firm when a glacier came through the countyside, flattening everything else. We climbed up the hill and into the castle and scrambling around inside there too. Grandpapa kindly stayed with Iain while we explored the castle a bit. We got to see the Scottish crown jewels and the Stone of Scone.


After the castle, we strolled down the Royal Mile. There were so many old and historic buildings along the way that we didn't have time to stop at. You could spend a week on the Mile alone if you were a history buff. We did pop into St. Giles Cathedral. Here is Brian chilling with his homeboy, John Knox.


Knox preached at St. Giles and his house is on the Royal Mile. It is the oldest home still standing in Edinburgh. The window that Brian is sitting next to was the inspiration for Knox Seminary's logo.

We were lucky enough to catch Knox at home, deep in thought.

Being interested in Mary, Queen of Scots, I was very eager to see the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which was her main residence as Queen. It was here that she married her ill chosen husband, Lord Darnley and here that her husband murdered her private sectary in her presence. These events eventually led to Mary losing her throne, her son, and her life. I don't have many pictures because they don't allow photography in the palace, which is Queen Elizabeth's residence when she is in Edinburgh.

Here is the now ruined abbey where Mary married Darnley. How happy and triumphant she must have felt on that day, defying Knox and her advisors to marry her cousin. Yet what a tragedy awaited her.


The next day we headed north towards Aberdeen, which is the part of Scotland where Thomas Reid spent his early life. On our way to his birthplace at Strachan (pronounced strawn) we drove through Cairngorms National Park. It was absolutely, amazingly beautiful. The heather was in full bloom and there were sheep everywhere and hardly any other cars or people. We stopped by a stream to have a picnic lunch.





Iain was not happy. He pretty much cried through lunch. So much for serenity! He wouldn't eat his pear, but he didn't want to let go of it either. Brian dubbed it Iain's Safety Pear. Iain held onto it until he fell asleep in the car!



Heather.


We drove to Strachan and tried to find the church that Reid's father pastored. We think we found it, but it has been purchased and is being turned into a private home. We spoke to some of the oldest residents of the village, but none of them had heard of Reid at all, and much of the village has been redeveloped. Brian and I got to play History Detectives for awhile, but unfortunately, we turned up nothing!

Then we drove to Newmacher where Reid pastored his first church. Again, the building was there, but it had been renovated and we weren't able to find the graves of the children that he lost while living there.

The next day Iain and I stayed at the cottage in Linlithgow while everyone else drove to Loch Ness. I would have liked to have seen Loch Ness, but Iain really needed a break from the car and I did too. We took a long walk and he followed his normal routine of meals and naps with plenty of playtime.


I believe it was the next day that we visited the Falkirk Wheel, Stirling, and Glasgow, but I may be getting confused. At any rate, this is where I'm putting the pictures!

The Falkirk Wheel was pretty cool. The government decided to re-open the canal system, but a road had been built through an area that had previously held the nine locks necessary to climb the hillside. The Falkirk Wheel is the solution that the engineers came up with. It rotates and lifts the boats up to the upper level of the canal.


Then we headed off to see Stirling castle. Here's Robert the Bruce.


Here is the church of the the Hold Rood in Stirling. This is where Mary's baby son James was crowned as James VI. He later became James I of England as well after Elizabeth I died. He is the King James of King James Bible fame.

Continuing our journey into Thomas Reid: A Life Paved Over, we visited the University of Glasgow to find that the commemorative plaque marking his life and death was nowhere to be found. It was supposed to be in the chapel, which we had quite a bit of trouble getting into, but the chapel had been... you guessed it... renovated.


Reid was cremated, so he has no actual grave. His ashes were spread on the grounds of the University of Glasgow. So Brian and I laid on the grass and contemplated the fraility of life. This is the closest we got to ol' Reid. (In case you are wondering why we are so interested in him, Brian is doing his PhD on the theology of Reid.)

The next morning we bid farewell to our lovely little Scottish cottage and headed south again. We stopped in the town of Douglas and roamed around for a bit. Here we all are in front of the parish church, in which lies James the Black Douglas. He was probably the most famous Douglas, a violent supporter of Robert the Bruce.


We drove to the site of Douglas Castle, which is now a public park. This is not part of Douglas Castle, but rather the remenant of Castle Dangerous, a victorian era folly. It was nice to have something to take a picture of to remember the spot.
We drove further south through the Lake District, which was even prettier and much more hilly than I'd imagined. The next day we stopped in Stratford-upon-Avon and at antique car museum.


The river Avon (below).


Shhakespeare's birthplace. This was very interesting, with lots of good information about Shakespeare. I was afraid that it wouldn't be worth the money, but the exhibits really made it worth it.



We made it back to Brighton that night and headed off to the Seven Sisters the next morning. The Seven Sisters and Beachy Head are two of my favorite places near our home here.

This swan was hoping that Kathryn would feed him. When she didn't, he growled at her! I never knew a swan could growl. But they can.



Playing with the pebbles on the beach.





The next two days were spent in London. Iain loved the open top bus ride!



At Abbey Road.


221B Baker Streer.

The view from our Thames River Cruise.



Snuggles with Nana!


Big Ben.

The Houses of Parliment.

Westminister Abbey.

Trafalgar Square.


Buckingham Palace.

Piccadilly Circus.
On the last day of their visit, we drove to Arundel and had a relaxing day strolling around the town and poking into shops. We found a tricycle for Iain at a charity shop for £5. He adores it.


It was a really great trip and it was so nice to see everyone. We made some wonderful memories.