To Float on the Wayward Wind

For my second day in Scotland I was off to the "Borders." The thing that was somewhat surprising to me about this was that a not insignificant part of the tour was actually back in England. Now I probably should have paid more attention to the "Borders Tour" name on the website, and I probably should have read more closely. Still, it did talk about the "Scottish Borders." Regardless, it was a great trip, with a lively guide who gave us an honest, legitimate, not always touristically propagandized version of Scottish history while still informing us about all the great details of legendary figure like Robert the Bruce. The first stop was Rosslyn Chapel, a very, very old chapel built by one of the great landlords of the region, William Sinclair. Unfortunately, as such things go, he died before it was completed and then the family ran out of money. Thus, it is much smaller than the original ambitious plan, as some of the seemingly random outside walls de...

Well, it's been a while since my trip to Scotland - things have been so busy! I've decided to break up my blog posts into smaller chunks. So the trip to Scotland will follow in Edinburgh, then the Borders tour I took, then the Highlands tour. First, my whirlwind trip through and around Edinburgh itself, a day that lasted many, many hours. My train schedule was really screwy. I was told when I booked that the only available way to go was up to Sterling, north of Edinburgh, and then back down via a train change that was set to happen around 4:00am. When I was on the train to Sterling we stopped at a station called Edinburgh Waverly. Because trains can have similar names to places they are near but not be the station for that place, I did not get off here. After rousting myself before 4:00 to make the train change, though (a very cold endeavor), I took the train back to Edinburgh... Edinburgh Waverly. Anyway, I got there and checked into the hostel where I was staying, but of...