The Honors of Scotland

I think probably the most interesting part of the tour of Edinburg castle was being able to see the Honors of Scotland, which are Scotland's version of the crown jewels - consisting of a crown, a sceptre, a sword.

After Scotland unified with England (Union Act, I think), they actually locked the honors up, since basically there was no longer a need for them, and would probably just be a reminder to everyone that Scotland used to be its own country.

There is also a stone called the Stone of Scone in the Crown Room, which was used as a throne for the crowning of the earliest Scottish Kings. Funny thing is that it's been under the throne of England until only a couple of years ago.

Scotch Whiskey

OK, Scotch whiskey is a bit different than the stuff we had in Ireland.

First of all they have about 150 different varities than the Irish, and they also have people in the store we went that I think has tried every single one of them. This is the shot of the main board of the Scottish Whiskey Heritage Center, which is just down the road from Edinburgh Castle.

It was really amazing to walk into the store, tell the guy which kind of Scotch you've liked in the past, and he can suggest 5 varities that we might like. Similar to french cheese, unless you absolutely hate the consistency of all things cheese, you are bound to find a cheese you'll love in France. Same thing in Scotland with Scotch - unless you absolutely hate the taste of alcohol, you'll eventually find a Scotch that you can love.

We love Joan

Alas, I need to have Linda send us a picture of her mother, but I couldn't talk about our trip to Scotland without sending a big thanks to Linda, her sister Susan, and her mother Joan.

The first night we were there we had an amazing Scottish dinner at Joan's house. For the veg, there was a really really good Mac and Cheese (the secret is in the mustard apparently). Joan also helped snag a great hotel for super cheap, which we will n doubt return to on our next visit to Scotland.

Edinburgh Castle

There are probably better pictures of Edinburgh Castle, but I couldn't seem to take any.

The Castle was basically a huge collection of buildings sitting on top of the hill, so it was more than just a simple feudal castle. The audio tour was worth the extra poundage. And this is where they keep the Honors of Scotland (which is another entry).

This is also the place where they launch the fireworks for Hogmanay, so we were basically at the foot of it during the celebrations.

Rosslyn Chapel

For those of you have have read the DaVinci Code, you might be familiar with Rosslyn Chapel (it's the last Chapel in the book, when they search for the Holy Grail). I was one of those things, since we had all read the book that we were too close not to go (it's about 20 minutes from Edinburgh).

The first picture is one taken of the ceiling - the chapel is famous for all its stone carvings.

We couldn't remember the significance from the DaVini Code to go check things out ourselves, but there were tons of carvings and interesting legends. For more information I found this website (but there are tons more): Rosslyn Chapel

William Wallace Memorial

William Wallace, otherwise known as Braveheart/Mel Gibson, has his own memorial in Sterling - site of a famous battle where he defeated the more powerful english army. Turned out to be a losing cause and he lost the war in the end, but it makes a great story. He's also a symbol for Scottish independence.

There's basically a huge tower overlooking the lowlands and the highlands of Scotland, and this is the statue that is at the base of the hill. Yes, it looks like Mel Gibson, but that's basically because the guy who created it was inspired to do it after seeing the movie - it's all kind of weird and caused a bit of controversy.

It was a bit cold after climbing to the top of the tower (really nothing to break the wind). In fact, I don't think I've ever been this cold in my life - taking about another four hours to warm up once we got back to heat.

Thank God for fireplaces

The same day we went to the William Wallace memorial we also went to Stirling castle (post is later, I believe). This is a picture of us sitting in front of the most populat fireplace n the grand hall.

Stirling Castle

Here's a picture of Linda and me in front of Stirling Castle. Mary, Queen of Scots, was baptized here and was the seat of Scottish power for quite some time. I actually liked this castle better than Edinburgh's Castle.

The tour was great, but again, it was a bit cold that day as you can see from my shaking in the picture.

Seeing Linda

Good dear friend Linda and I standing on top of Stirling Castle.

Linda and I first met when she was working in the US on the global design of GBIP (six years ago). She originally is from Whitier?, and then ended up working for Lilly in Speke. After she was done with her US assignment (she milked that bad boy as long as she could), she went to Basingstoke, where she still is today.

Joe wears scarf !!!

Alas, the impossible has happened. Joe Moeddel, the man who couldn't understand why people wore anything but jeans and a sweatshirt outside, has gone over to the dark side and now is the proud owner of a scarf (and a Hugo Boss Cashmere one at that). . . which (as you can see) he proudly wears.

Now with the primary challenge complete, look for Jim Weber to wear a non-oxford blue shirt and khaki pants to work (he promised).

Granted Joe is still not off the hook . . . Jen Oleksiew has some expectation about a Louis Vuitton purchase, but I was just confused by the whole thing. Suffice it to say, we will take a break from harassing the poor man in the month of January, only to pick it up again in February to increase the variety of his wardrobe (and maybe even get him to use product).