The Niecko Alaska: Scotland Part 2

For those of you who have been anxiously awaiting the second addition, here it is! With later blogs I will further detail the long delay, many changes and events have kept me from the hours of picture uploading. Remember, here in the bush, Internet is shotty at best therefore creating the magnificence of this blog (haha) can take hours, even days.

So here it is Scotland part 2. We restart our journey with one of the highlights, the National Wallace Monument and Bannockburn, the place of the most spectacular battle of the Scottish Wars of Independence. If Robert the Bruce or William Wallace need explanation, go watch Bravehart.

Proudly, though, somewhere in my ancestry (thanks to my Mom, Karen Wallace) we are related to William Wallace or his descendants. Here is my mom at the National Wallace Monument, proudly claiming her history.

Battle of Bannockburn

They believe this to be William's actual sword.

The National Wallace Monument in Stirling, Scotland

Next up was a journey to St. Andrews Divinity School, not only work place to the great scholar NT Wright (one of Ian's favorites) but also the meeting location of Prince William and Duchess Catherine. Although I joke that we went there to find remnants of William and Kate, really, it was for Ian to meet some of the professors at the Divinity school. He has been thinking of getting his PhD and possibly attending there.

Regardless, it did not disappoint. It's rich history and ruins were just beautiful.

We continued our journey to Edinburgh castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse (the official residence in Scotland of Her Majesty the Queen) and then to the famous Rosslyn Chapel, probably best known from the movie The Divinci Code and the secretive Knights Templar.

Rosslyn Chapel. You cannot take pictures of the inside, but believe me when I say that it was impressively and extremely intricate in detail. The outside was under preservative reconstruction so these pictures do not do it justice. I really enjoyed just sitting in the pews and admiring inch for inch of the mason's handiwork.

Holyroodhouse

Ferry ride over to the Holy Island known as Lindisfarne. The parish church was built in 1066. Here they have old ruins of the priory and nunnery.

Lindsfarne ruins

Lindsifarn Castle. Built in 1550

Glasgow Cathedral

I thought that this was so cool. Every morning, in Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, our bed and breakfast, the couple would get fresh eggs and milk. There is a big push in Scotland to buy and support locally, something Ian and I are going to try harder at doing as well.