Farewell to the UK and Ireland!

Anne and I flew to Krakow from London Friday morning, and we're now with Thom and Perun in Osturna, Slovakia.  Here's what we did during our last week on the tour:

On Monday we made our way to St. Andrew's,  Scotland, which is the home of golf.  We visited the ruins of the Roman Catholic cathedral, where St. Andrew's remains were buried, and the castle (in ruins since 1656).  Catholicism was outlawed in the mid-16th century by the Scottish Reformation.  This is a university town, and Prince William and Kate attended school here. 

We cross the Firth of Forth entering grand Edinburgh, founded prior to 1100 AD, the capital of Scotland since 1350.  Peter took us on a small city tour at night, when we visit Greyfriar Bobby's memorial and the adjoining cemetery where his master is buried.  We learn that J K Rowling wrote here in this town and found names for her characters in this cemetery.  Peter told us haunted tales in this cemetery, and we rub Bobby's bronze nose as we leave.  On Tuesday we take a city tour with Bob Black in his kilt and learn Edinburgh is built on 7 hills (as are Rome, Prague, Moscow, Mecca, Jerusalem and others), and the impressive castle is built on an extinct volcano.  In 1513 the walled city was established.  We move on to Roslin, the town where Dolly the sheep was cloned, and Rosslyn Chapel, which you might know from The DaVinci Code.  The carving of the stone, begun in 1456, both inside and out is unbelievably detailed.

On Wednesday we see green fields as we drive south on the Cumberland Coastal Road.  In the city of Alnwick we see from a distance the castle which, with the help of some CGI, becomes Hogwart's School.  We visit the maze of delightful streets of York, where we see scaffolding high up on its Cathedral.  The saying is it will return to Catholicism when the work is completed on the building, so the scaffolding remains there.  That evening we drive to the elegant country home of Vivien and Jeremy Cassel for a delicious dinner and scrumptious dark chocolate truffles.  The Cassels are listed in The Peerage (The Peerage is a legal system comprising both hereditary and lifetime titles in the UK and elsewhere in a Europe) and there is a relationship to the Barclay family.  

We visit Stratford-on-Avon on Thursday, and we visit Shakespeare's birthplace and Anne Hathaway's (his wife) home.  We continue on to London,  and we ride on the huge London Eye to see the sun set with Mary Lou from Arizona.  We say goodbye to our fellow travelers.

We thank Peter Lewis and Trafalgar/Brendan Tours for all we've seen and learned during these three weeks.  Phil and Craig were excellent coach drivers, managing to get our bus through the tiny roads we traveled.  Now, on to more adventures...