"Tam tint his reason a’ thegither, / And roars out, ‘Weel done, Cutty-sark!’"

Greenwich - sabbatical 2, week 5

Coming back to England, we chose to visit the Greenwich Observatory for our last full day in London.  We first boarded the Cutty Sark, a preserved tea fast-clipper named for a character in Robbie Burns's poem "Tam o'Shanter."  It is out of the water and has no sails, but otherwise complete, with a paint job that emphasizes the original braces in the hull and what was later added in restoration.  Craig chatted with the guide on deck, a grizzled old sailor who knew all about the Bluenose and her exploits - another ship renowned for her speed. (If you're interested, Cutty Sark means "short skirt", which is what the witch was wearing when she chased Tam o'Shanter.  The reason the boat is named for this witch is because she could run as fast as a horse, almost catching Tam and his trusty steed before they got to the bridge - like the Headless Horseman, Cutty Sark cannot cross running water.)

On the Prime Meridian

We then made our way through the very yellow grass up the hill to the Greenwich Observatory to stand on the Prime Meridian and to tour through the historical buildings.  They include the Royal Astronomer's residence and the observatory itself, which still contains the largest visible light telescope in the U.K.  The Royal Astronomer does not still live in the residence.

For the information of future travelers - it takes a long time to get out to the Observatory, with multiple train changes.  We also talked to 3 or 4 employees of the underground who all gave us different advice on how to travel.  As a result, the trip from our Heathrow hotel to Greenwich cost us £60 and took over 2.5 hours.  The trip back was £22 and took 90 minutes.  And we took all the same lines, just changed at different stations.

Scotland wrap-up

Inverness Castle

 Inverness - sabbatical 2, week 5

Some other miscellany about Inverness.  On one night Yolanda and Craig, and on the next night all 4 of us, took a stroll along the River Ness.  It has a very nice river walk, with a variety of sites like Inverness Castle, churches, pubs, guest houses, etc. in the downtown area.  Further down (which we saw on the bus tour) is the sport complex (pool, skating rink, etc. - yes, a skating rink!) and eventually the point where the River Ness joins Loch Ness, but we didn't get down that far.  Incidentally, in Gaelic the city's name is Inbhir Ness, which means "mouth of the Ness", i.e. where the river opens into the sea.  Thus, it has a sturdy population of ducks and seagulls (they grow them big here!) who appear to stay up all night yapping at each other.  There are boat tours for whale watching (bottlenose dolphins), and our landlady said she often sees otters at the estuary zone (just north of town) where the sea water and river water meet.

Andrew on bus, along the River Ness

We did not get the chance to see Inverness castle because it is closed for extensive restoration.  We also
did not see any otters.  Lots of ducks and seagulls though.

"All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor"

 Cawdor - sabbatical 2, week 4

Although Shakespearean Macbeth is awarded the title "Thane of Cawdor", the first recorded person with that title was a couple hundred years after Macbeth, and this castle wasn't built until 1454.  It was expanded through the 17th century to the structure that currently exists, with various improvements continuing on the inside and the grounds.  For example, a modern kitchen was installed in the 1990s, and there is a cabinet in the sitting room containing a television set.

One recent "famous" Thane of Cawdor was John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor, who led the British defense in the so-called Battle of Fishguard, when French revolutionary troops and their American commander landed an invasion force.  After a few days of maneuvering, Campbell demanded and received the French troops' unconditional surrender, without having to fight an actual battle.  Therefore, the last invasion of Britain occurred in 1797, over 50 years after the last battle in Britain at Culloden Moor.

The taxi from Inverness was a convenient way to get there.  The ticket price includes a tour of the castle (where the current dowager Lady Cawdor still lives 6 months of the year), multiple large gardens, picnic areas, and even a playground.  Green fees for the golf course are extra.

The '45

 Culloden - sabbatical 2, week 4

Another train ride took us to Inverness.  The hop-on-hop-off bus has two loops, the first out to Culloden Moor, site of the last "land battle" to take place on the island of Great Britain (but not, oddly, the last invasion of Britain - more on that next post!).  It took place in 1746, between the Jacobite forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the English forces under the Duke of Cumberland (and featuring a young officer named James Wolfe, who later won the Plains of Abraham).  It resulted in a rout of the Jacobite Highlanders and the start of years of oppression of Highland culture.  Craig had already visited (with brother Paul in 1993), but the visitor's centre is much expanded and improved since then.  There are plenty of artifacts and interpretive signs, and of course the moor/battlefield itself, with flags demarking the starting positions of the two armies.

Just down the road (or a 30-minute walk, which is what we did) from the moor are the Clava Cairns, 4000-year-old bronze age burial chambers.  There are also a number of standing stones on the site, which will look familiar to fans of the Outlander series (as Yolanda is), as the site of Claire Randall's time-traveling.

"I was feeling part of the scenery"

 Edinburgh - sabbatical 2, week 4

A 5-hour train ride took us from King's Cross (platform 5, not 9¾) to Edinburgh.  The train was packed because of a "problem elsewhere on the line", so only Andrew got to sit the whole way.  We were happy to get into the hotel (close to the station) and eat at the Conan Doyle pub.  Unfortunately the statue of Sherlock Holmes was removed for roadwork.

That's Edinburgh Castle in the background

We took a walk in the evening, wandering down to the pier where the Royal Yacht Britannia is on "permanent" display.

The next morning we took a walk through the Royal Mile in the old city then a hike up the Salisbury Crags (not the Solsbury Hill Peter Gabriel was singing about, but I still like the quote).  The day was clear and sunny, and the views out over the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the rest of Edinburgh were very fine.

THE Championships

 Wimbledon - Sabbatical 2, week 4

While the boys were enjoying the big air of the Eye, Yolanda attended quarterfinal Tuesday at Wimbledon.  She lucked out because the biggest match of the day - local boy Graham Norrie vs. David Goffin - was not at Centre Court but rather Court 1, for which she had tickets.  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were in attendance, having to sit with the unwashed commoners since there is no Royal Box at Court 1 (unlike Centre Court or, incidentally, the Eye).

Niemeier

She also saw Tatiana Marie defeat Jule Niemeier in one of the women's quarterfinals.

The lineup to get strawberries and cream was too long, so Yolanda settled for strawberry ice cream instead.

Reefie 2022

 London - sabbatical 2, week 4

No trip to a new city would be complete without a visit to the aquarium.  The Sea Life Centre is next to the London Eye (and Shrek's Adventure!) and is laid out similar to Toronto and Barcelona.  There are large tanks of reef sharks, clownfish, etc. etc.  In this case, the highlights were the especially large sea turtles and penguins.  Sorry, I mean penguins!  (how can you not put an exclamation mark there?)

From Andrew and David's point of view, though, the aquarium was merely to pass time before our appointment with the London Eye.  It is always busy but the operators still saw fit to prepare a Royal Pod for the Jubilee, which was full of flowers and royal bunting, but no passengers (perhaps because they were at Wimbledon - more on that later).  The view from the apex of the wheel was, of course, spectacular.