Off and Running in Scotland

 

Today we slept in, then set out for a cup of coffee and a quick walk around Edinburgh in the daylight. 

Bob is happy to have his familiar Starbuck's coffee

 

One of my favorite stops was a visit to the Writer’s Museum where there was an interesting display about Robert Louis Stevenson.  As a child, I loved my RLS book, “A Child’s Garden of Verses”, and there was a small display about this book.  It seems that Stevenson in his later works, the most famous of which was  Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, was struggling with the concept of evil surmounting good in humanity, and many of his works had themes of the triumph of evil over good, which did not earn him many points with the church at the time these things were written. 

Outside the Writer's Museum there are quotes of Scottish authors stamped into the ground.  This one:

And yet, and yet the New Road will Some Day be the Old Road too

Robert Burns:  For Man to Man the World O'er Shall Brothers be for a' that

 

I love the focus on art when civic infrastructure is built.  This cobblestone heart was built into the sidewalk on the Royal Mile.

One of the embelishments on a statue - it was raining outside so the picture is a bit gray but you get the idea.

Edinburgh Castle in the daylight.  Huge and impressive. We were too lazy to take the tour, though. 

One of the many funny pub signs in this country!
 

Adam Smith, founder of capitalism.  I had to have a picture!

 

 We picked up a phone to replace the one we’d lost at Heathrow and then set off to Stirling Castle and the William Wallace (i.e., Braveheart) monument for some sightseeing.  Despite the rain, the countryside was beautiful, and the cool weather made the cup of tea at lunchtime taste even better.  We thoroughly enjoyed a peaceful walk through the woods to the base of the monument and then up a billion spiraling stone stairs to the top of the Wallace Memorial.   

Robert the Bruce looks surprisingly like my friend Dan Ellecamp

William Wallace Monument

 

After visiting Stirling Castle, we noticed the tire damage on our rental car and that pretty much set the course of the rest of our day.  We left Stirling at about 5 PM, drove an hour to Glasgow Airport to pick up another car, and then headed south to our friend’s home in Moffat. 

One thing about the Scottish highway ministry --- they are fixated on safety.  Having had our share of terror trying to drive on the “wrong” side of the road, we could understand this.  There were lighted signs every few miles on the roadway, offering helpful advice:

“Tiredness can kill -- take a break!”  This sign was conveniently stationed just before a roadside stop where you could indulge in a “KFC Welcome Break” – yep, the Colonel is alive and well in Scotland.

“Don’t set your sat/nav while driving” followed by “Don’t talk on your mobile while driving!”  OK, sensible enough.  But I loved the next two -  “Drive Courteously” and “Drive Efficiently”-- What does “Drive Efficiently” mean anyway???

The only sign which was missing, but was sorely needed, was “Look out for foreign drivers – they don’t know what the hell they are doing or where the hell they are going, and they are likely to mow you down on the wrong side of the road with little or no warning!”

One day, when rambling through the countryside with Gordon and Sharon, we left the town of Leadville (yes, that’s right, as in Lead, the toxic mineral- it was an old mining town), and we entered South Lanarkshire, with its town motto of “Thriving on Safe Driving”.  I wonder if they had issues with the driving habits of the lead-intoxicated residents of the neighboring town. which resulted in the extra special need to pay attention to their driving safety?  The next day, another small town boasted “We Pride Ourselves on Roadside Safety” although judging from the condition of this town’s pothole-ridden, very, very narrow and winding roads, I am thinking this was more wishful thinking than statement of fact. 

All the emphasis on automobile safety served its purpose of making us completely paranoid about our driving, and we were happy to arrive at the Corsie’s warm and inviting home on Saturday night, to enjoy a delicious dinner of homemade minestrone soup and fresh bread, along with a very nice bottle of wine. 

Gordon and Sharon greet us when we finally arrive!