The Final Class, Exploring the Hidden Rooms, an Exclusive Scotch Club

On Wednesday night, I took my students to an organ recital at St. Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile.  It was a great way to end the module.  The performer was excellent, and the acoustics in the church were fabulous!  We followed that up with listening to traditional Scottish music at Edinburgh's oldest pub (over 500 years old).

Today (Thursday), we had our final exam and wrapped up the fast-paced module.  Here are my two favorite college students in our classroom.

After lunch we went on a tour of the attic.  It is huge with many, many rooms.  The servants would have all had bedrooms up there.  In later years it was used to house POW's after the world wars.  It has been basically untouched since then.

We also took a tour of the sub-basement.  We saw the old dungeons and the guard's room.  We also saw the old 'priest hole,' where the local priest could be hidden away in a secret room when necessary during the Scottish Reformation.  Here's Aidan peaking his head out.

To end the day, we were invited by some friends to the Scotch Whisky Society for dinner and a wee nip.  It is housed in 'The Chambers,' a building that dates to the 15th Century and was used to house casks of wine, and whisky that came in by boat.  We had a blast.

Grounds Tour

After a lunch of haggis, neeps, and tatties, this afternoon a group of us went on a tour of the palace grounds with Cameron the grounds keeper.  I went on one last fall when I was here and was blown away with how splendid Cameron is.  He seems to know something about most everything.  Anyway, today we looked at the stables and Aidan and Emma got to got up to the second level where the stable boys used to live.  It also held POW's during and after WWII.  Here are a few of the horse stalls built in the 18th Century.

After the stables, we went to the old oak forest to see the pigs.  Here's Cameron with a big, old boar.

The kids and Cameron after the walk.  The bloke about to get his throat cut is one of the other faculty member's sons.  He and his sister keep Aidan and Emma busy in their spare time.

St. Andrews, Highland Games, and Accordion Music

The kids and I got up early on Sunday morning and took a bus into Edinburgh so we could go to Mass at the cathedral there.  After Mass, we went to the bus station and caught a bus to St. Andrew's in the region of Fife.  It took a couple of hours to get there, so we relaxed and did some reading as well as watched the beautiful countryside go by.

At St. Andrew's we were able to walk on the historic 'Old Course' golf course (no golfing there on Sundays).

We also looked at the ruins of the cathedral there, once the hub of Christianity in Scotland and place for pilgrims to come and pray at the relics of St. Andrew and other saints.  This picture was taken from "inside" the church and you can see the pillar bases leading to the front where the high alter would have been.  It was absolutely huge.

We also walked through parts of the campus of St. Andrew's University, the oldest university in Scotland (founded in 1415).

Finally, we attended the highland games that were being held in St. Andrews.  We had a blast, getting to see Scottish dance competitions (thinking of our own Scottish dancers, Felicity, Gianna and Veronica), caber toss, hammer throw, and tug-of-war, as well as foot races and bike races.

We came back to the palace that night, weary from an exciting and fun-filled weekend.

On Monday, we had class as usual in the morning.  In the afternoon we had the pleasure of a guest musician and lecturer who came and talked with us about traditional Scottish music.  It was a real honor, because Iain MacPhail is an excellent musician, influential in the Scottish dance scene, and a kind and charming man to boot.  He travels all over the world performing and recording, is a composer, and plays two dances annually for the queen...not a bad gig.

Hadrian's Wall

Today we took a bus trip to see Hadrian's Wall in Northern England.  Our drive took us across some beautiful country and pastureland.  Did I mention how popular sheep are on this island?  They are everywhere.  Given my family history with raising sheep, or sheering sheep, I have a natural affinity for the animal.  I also happen to love wool and eating lamb, so Bob's your uncle.  ;)

Our first stop was at a small town called Jedburgh.  It is home to an amazingly well preserved abbey ruin.  Now you, my dear reader, may being getting weary of seeing and hearing about abbey ruins, but I assure you that I am still quite keen on them!

After a stop that was much too short, we continued on our way to see the wall.  Like I said the scenery along the wall was stunning.

Hadrian's Wall was built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the second century AD.  It was occupied for a little under 300 years and marked the end of civilized Roman Britton, and the begging of a land dominated by the Pictish barbarians to the north.

I'm not sure what the Viking was doing there on such a hot day.  He looked fierce, but judging by his stature and heavy clothing and armor, we figured that if he was hostile, we'd have no problem outrunning him.

Though it wasn't as spectacular as some of the things we've seen, knowing that it was two stories high, ran from coast to coast and is 1800 years old, it was quite impressive!

Did I mention that Emma liked the sheep as well?  That may have to been our next farmyard animal.

Alnwick Castle

Today, we took a bus to Alnwick with other students and faculty from the palace.  Alnwich is a quaint little town in northern England (Northumbria) with a spectacular castle that is still lived in six months out of the year by the Duke of Northumbria.  Here we are crossing the border into England.

The castle is spectacular and has been used for a setting for many movies including Harry Potter, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, and Becket.

Though I could not take any pictures of them, the state rooms within, which were redesigned in the middle of the 19th Century, were absolutely opulent.  Gilded ceilings, marble carved fireplaces, the most beautiful library I've ever seen, and great paintings by the likes of Titian, Van Dyck, and Velasquez.  Amazing.  There is also a spectacular garden on the grounds.  Here are Aidan and Emma in a labyrinth of bamboo.

Here are some other views of the gardens.

Emma contemplating the surface tension of water.

Here I am trying to process all of the amazing things we saw today.

A mid-week treat

After a couple of days of classes, Wednesday I took the class on an all-day field trip to Inchcolm Island on the Firth of Forth.  We took off from Queensferry, a quaint and historic village just under the beautiful railroad bridge going over the Forth.

We enjoyed a nice ferry ride to the island.

Inchcolm Island is home to the best-preserved abbey ruins in Scotland. Because it is situated on an isolated island, its stones could never be re-purposed, thus much of it stands to this day.  It was also where the only extant example of Celtic plainchant was composed (which we studied in class).  The ruins were truly magnificent!

Here is Aidan sitting on the Abbot's chair (carved into the wall) in the chapter room (or main meeting room) of the Augustinian monks.  The acoustics in that room were absolutely spectacular and I couldn't help myself, so spent a little bit of time chanting in there.  Amazing!

 Abbey view as we were leaving.

On the way back, we saw seals basking in the sun on buoys.

After we landed back in Queensferry, Aidan and Emma and I met with a knife maker who specializes in making skain dubhs (the Scottish 'black' knife, or small knife kept in the stocking).  He was a marvelous chap and makes great knives as well as cuts hair in the same shop.  We had a great time and left the shop with two skain dubhs.

When we got back to Dalkeith, I treated the kids to a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant.  We ordered a pizza (that was great), and I suggested that we have an appetizer as well.  I was recommending mushrooms, when Aidan said that he really wanted to try the mussels!  So, we had mussel in marinara sauce and they were excellent.  The kids tolerated the mussels pretty well.  I was really proud of Aidan for being so adventuresome.  For dessert, the kids had ice cream.  It was a great day!

Today (Thursday), after lunch, we met up with a local lady and her 10 year-old daughter at a BBQ held at the big town park.  She is a friend of a colleague of mine.  Anyway, we had a nice time and got to meet and mingle with a lot of locals.  We then took her daughter back to the palace to look around and then for a hike to the 900 year-old oak forest.  It was a beautiful day for a walk.

My students are doing well and are a joy to teach.  I love small classes!!!  The classroom that we meet in was one of the main and nicest guest rooms.  In fact, Queen Victoria stayed in that room for a couple of weeks.  What history!

Weekend Trip to England

Rather spontaneously, we decided to take the train to the northernmost town in England, Berwick-upon-Tweed.  This was on the list of places I wanted to go due to proximity to the Holy Island of Lindesfarne, where a monastery was founded in the 7th century by none other than St. Aidan.  Though we had no clue what we were doing, we shortly found ourselves on a train headed south to Berwick.  Berwick-upon-Tweed is a beautiful walled city with great history.  It has a very interesting past, having changed hands between the English and the Scots 13 times!  It is also quite picturesque, with three beautiful bridges, all built in very different eras, and spanning the river Tweed.

After inquiring at the tourist information center about busses going to Holy Island, we found out that there were none going out that day, but there would be one the next day (Saturday).  We then decided to try to get a room and spend the day and night in Berwick.  We found a room at a nice little B&B and spent the rest of the day walking around the shops and Elizabethan defenses, and eating things like mince and mash, and fish and chips.

The next morning, we put on the same clothes and ate a wonderful English breakfast (English sausage, egg, beans, toast, grilled mushrooms, and Ayeshire bacon...kinda like ham).  We spend the morning in the town and then caught a bus around midday to the island.  Here is Aidan in front of the monastic ruins:

The island was beautiful, albeit foggy.  We did get to see some English Morris dancers perform in the town square to a consort of accordions and fiddle.

Finally we visited the castle on the island.  It was built 500 years ago with many of the stones pilfered from the monastery.

It was a wonderful and unforgettable trip, but we are all happy to be 'home' at the palace in Dalkeith! Tomorrow should be a low-key day for us, just going to church and staying in Dalkeith preparing for the next week of classes.

Stone Carving, Castle Ruins, Gunpowder Mill

After passing their first college quiz, the kids were ready for an afternoon adventure.  We went to Rosslyn Chapel to view the exquisite stone carvings.

We then took a small path to some castle ruins.  The weathering on the sandstone blocks of the castle left beautiful designs!

After exploring the ruins, we took a long walk through the woods to an old gunpowder mill that was in use back to the Napoleonic Wars.  We saw some great ruins along the beautiful River Esk.  Emma, of course, had to go wading and Aidan skipped rocks, and we all enjoyed a nice sunny Scottish day.

Class followed by a museum trip

After a morning of talking about music, we took the class to the National Museum for a musical instrument scavenger hunt.  While the students were looking for the instruments that Aidan, Emma, and I had found last week, the three of us discovered another part of the museum...Scotland treasures.

Mary, Queen of Scots' Clarsach (Harp)

Emma got to see authentic and historical dirks!

With dinner, I drank a nice IPA and thought of my dad!

Finally, I found out that my Goddaughter was born!  Margaret Jane Sims!  Congrats to Lee and Katie!

First Day of Class

Well, it had to happen...
It turns out that I actually do have to teach while I'm here, not just play tourist.  :)  Today was the first day of class, and all went well.  Here are Aidan and Emma on their first day of college.

After a 'grueling' morning of class, the kids and I had lunch and then took a tour of a mysterious underground labyrinth of unknown origin, but was hand carved into the sandstone at least 300 years ago.

Local Adventure and Mass in Edinburgh

On Saturday (yesterday), there was an agricultural fair held on the grounds of the palace.  We got to see everything from rides, to tractor demonstrations, to traditional British horsemanship, to a bagpipe band and even a Japanese Taiko Ensemble.  We talked with several craftsmen and women and ate Yorkshire pudding.  Quite a lovely day.  I got to meet with my students in the evening (oh yeah, I am here to teach actually).

This morning (Sunday), we attended Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh.  It is a beautiful cathedral and houses two first-class relics of St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland.  Following Mass, we climbed a hill to the National Monument (a partial copy of the Parthenon), and Lord Nelson's monument, which offered a great view of Edinburgh.  Class begins tomorrow morning, and I'm excited!