Ben and Jenn Cross the Pond - May 20, 2010

We have been excited to have another set of visitors this spring - Ben  and Jenn came for four days in May.  It was time to get out the sightseeing info again - and we did see some new things! 

What a wonderful sight - guests and luggage arriving as scheduled!  Ben and Jenn had been in London, then came by train to York and then to us.  Yay!

OK, before dark we made the, now traditional, pilgrimage to Cammo Estate.  It is close and gives a great relaxing walk-about close to home.  It is always pretty, but the rhododendrums are out in bloom now.  (Sorry no picture for you now.)

We joined Ben and Jenn after our archive work on Friday.  They had been in Edinburgh, and we joined them at the Castle.  The Castle is too big to get into a close-up photo.  This is a little bit of the old part of the structure.

Here we are at the entrance/exit.  To guard the castles, they only had one place to get in and out.  This is it for Edinburgh.

The next trip was south to the Scottish Boarders.  Here we are at Scott's View, perhap the famous author Sir Walter Scott's favorite view of Scotland.  And yes, that is a forest fire on the top of the mountain.  As wet as it is in Scotland, I don't think they have many forest fires.

Down the road a piece is what is left of Dryburgh Abbey.  Sir Walter Scott is buried here, but we came just to look at the old abbey.  It is so peaceful here and was one of the nicest abbeys built.  It was too close to the English border not to be ransacked several times.

More famous than Dryburgh is Melrose Abbey.  It was perhaps the most successful of all the abbeys, if you measure success in wealth and influence.  The monks didn't start it for those reasons, they wanted quiet contemplation and worship, but they were so successful at raising sheep and farming, that the others things came.

This is more of Sir Walter Scott.  He took the rewards from his novels and built this home, Abbotsford, on 181 acres rolling into the River Tweed.  It is a beautiful, well preserved home, that I would characterize as a palace.  Inside there are 9000 books in Scott's library still arranged in the order he placed them.  Also many other treasures such as a lock of Bonny Prince Charlie's hair and a writing book of Napoleon's.

Sunday we went to church in Edinburgh.  The church is the stake center and is right next to the mission home, which is pictured above.  There are those rhododendrums in bloom.  Our mission home serves as the residence of the mission president and his wife, plus two companionships of elders, as well as our mission office.  It is a beautiful old mansion.

What is a visit to Scotland without a trip to Loch Lomond?  We took a drive Sunday afternoon to see it.  That is Ben Lomond (Ben means mountain in Scottish) in the background.

   Scone Palace (prounounced "Scoon") is the place where all Scottish Kings were crowned.  They were crowned sitting on the "Stone of Destiny" in front of this little old church.  They have a copy of that stone where Ben is sitting.  He looks pretty Royal to me.

This picture is of Scone Palace, which is next to the little Church above.  An Earl and his family still live in a good part of this palace, but a significant part of the main floor is open for public viewing.  The guides in each room had such interesting details to share about the decor and furnishings in the palace and the grounds were magnificient. 

Stirling Castle is one of the "must dos" for a visit to Scotland.  It is pictured here on the top of the steep volcanic hill it is built on.  All castles are built on places that would be relatively easy to defend.  The area around Stirling Castle was a strategic place to defend as it had the first bridge most of the lowlanders would cross if they went to the highlands, and vice versa.  Major battles were fought to control the bridge and castle.

There is a good audio tour available at Stirling Castle- those are not ear muffs.  This was the coldest day of Ben's trip here, but he can't complain.  They had the warmest two days on Saturday and Sunday that Scotland has ever been recorded in May.  So sad that Dan and Autumn's and Grandma's trip was so cold, windy, and wet.  Ben and Jenn's was the total opposite.   

This is the William Wallace (as in Brave Heart) monument.  It is erected near Stirling to commemorate the battle in 1297 that Wallace led which stopped an English advance into the highlands at Stirling Bridge.  The bridge would only let two horsemen cross at a time.  When about 200 cavalry and 5400 foot soldiers had crossed, Wallace attacked. Their spears were effective against the cavalry and the Scottish troops carried the day.  Reinforcements could not be brought in over the narrow bridge and about 5000 foot soldiers and 100 calvery men of the English army were killed.  It was one of few major Scottish victories and still celebrated today.

What a blessing to share our mission life and this beautiful land with our family.  Our youngest boys and their wives met the other couples we serve with in the archives and have a better idea of how we spend our time each day imaging old Scottish records for family history.  They attended our ward, met other missionaries, attended our YSA Sunday School class and interacted with members and investigators.  It was hard to say goodbye a second time but with so many books to image and so many people to reactivate and help, it was easy to get back into the full missionary routine quickly.  And we have such  happy memories of sharing our mission and Scotland with them.