One Year Ago Today--May 2nd.

Exactly one year ago today.....

I was here:

                                   INCHCOLM ISLAND!

Absolutely, definitely, indubitably, this one of my two favorite days in Scotland. (The day at Stirling Castle being the other one...)

We left early and drove to Queensferry....












....where we waited for a while for the ferry to come. We hung out at a gift shop, bought a few things, and went for lunch. Amy attempted to write a postcard, but the table was a little wobbly, and I just couldn't resist jiggling it while she tried to write. Mwahahaha. We got chips (For Americans, we call them french fries...really yummy french fries.) to tide us over, and took a few pictures:

We left to catch the ferry and were chased by the restaurant owner, who was waving our (very expensive) camera at us and informing us that "We just left it sitting." Ahem. We did that a lot. True story.


We made it to the ferry and took more pictures:

We found this picture to be hilarious, and anyone who has watched Star Trek, particularly the Original Series, will get why. I mean.... dilithium crystals? And a main impulse engine?
USSS ENTERPRISE!?

And then....(*drumrolllllllllll*) We arrived.

     Inchcolm is a small island is just off the coast of Scotland, where, at one time, an Augustinian Abbey stood, until the 1500’s when it was destroyed and abandoned during Scottish Reformation. It was also used as a line of defense during the first and second World Wars, and bunkers from WWII are still standing to be explored.

I love, love, love exploring ruins. They are awesome. And it's really nice not to have those horrible signs that say, "No entry" or "Employees only beyond this point." (is it just me, or do those signs invariably make me want to surreptitiously look both ways and leap?)

                                                     Grin.

view from a window. :)

The Abbey had loads of little crevices in which to hide.

And tiny little rooms......

THEY WERE SO HAPPY TO BE THERE!!!!

Evil stairs that just kept twisting... And kept getting smaller, so that by the top, they were probably about two feet wide. Tops.

we haz a giggle.

We were higher than the seagulls at one point.

We went up to the anti-aircraft unit which was used during WWII.....

Shhhhh. We iz exploring.....

The haunted tunnel. It was much, much darker in real life. It got so dark in the middle of it that I couldn't see my feet.

We figured out how to set the timer on the camera and got a group shot.... I was standing in nettles. I hurted.










We caught the ferry back and managed to sneak in a visit to Linlithgow Castle....

     ......where King James and Mary Queen of Scots were born...

We got there right before closing time, so we had to literally run through it to see it all. I think we did a pretty good job.

This fireplace awed me.

I therefore proceeded to parade through it several times. =)

                 I went inside the wall, and I found it most delightful.

I couldn't resist putting this picture up. The flag looks so awesome.

What you can't see in this picture is the enormous chasm which was between the camera and us.











We like stairs.

A nice security guard let Amy unlock the giant door with the very heavy giant key. She was quite pleased.

I miss Scotland.








RANDOM FACT: I have a terrible fear of heights, but the only time I got vertigo when I was way up high was when I was climbing the twisty stairs that didn't seem to end. It was distressingly high up.


Until tomorrow then, pepes! Cheers.