Day 3: Culross and St. Andrews
Culross
After heading out of Edinburgh across the Firth of Forth bridge, we made our first main stop at Culross and visited Culross Palace, the 17th century home of a local shipping legend. At the time, this was a very impressive home and was considered to be more of a palace than a common home. Scenes from the show Outlander were filmed here. It was pretty interesting to see how he added a wood interior, a vaulted ceiling and paint to the interior. He also painted the outside a vibrant yellow/gold color in order to be noticed. Unlike other rich people who lived higher in the hills, he lived by shore, so he could keep an eye on his business. He was also responsible for bringing the ceramic roof tiles to Scotland that can be seen on so many area homes. He used the tiles as ballast for his ship on return voyages after hauling coal to other countries.
Saint Andrews
St. Andrews was a really neat little town with a lot of character. We love golfing, so we had to visit the famous Old Course and take pictures on the 18th hole bridge. It was cool to see that famous location in person. We then walked up to the ruins of medieval Saint Andrews Cathedral at the end of town. Apparently, they had removed the roof, and the building quickly deteriorated after that. We then walked to Saint Andrews Castle which was in similar condition to the ruins but about half way back to the golf course. After a walk through the local university campus, we ate a light lunch and hit the information center to buy some golf souvenirs.
A group dinner in Kenmore
After a large group dinner, we were treated to the skills of a local bagpiper. This was a real highlight and history/cultural lesson for all of us. She was the first female bagpiper in her city band, and now she is a legend on the bag piping scene. All her kids play, and she has influenced many new pipers! She is a fabulous player and funny to boot. I even got a chance to squeeze and blow the pipes myself. That was cool! Apparently, I blew too hard and blew out the drone pipes. Oh well, at least she could play the melody while I blew it. At the end of the exhibition, Nigel brought out Haggis, a bunch of sheep bits and parts that are cooked in an intestine. It sounds gross (and it is kind of gross), but it actually tasted OK. After this, it seemed we saw Haggis in a lot of places throughout our Scottish travels.