50th Birthday Rocks!

Happy 50th Birthday to me! Lots of people dread their big 5-0 but not this gal! I feel good, I'm an active participant in life, I love my family, I love my work. My life is so blessed & so rich with love, friendships, contentment, enriching hobbies-I love life! 50 is great! Leann surprised me with a Hostess cupcake, complete with a candle, a nice card, sweets from the WI State Fair & my very own birthday sash & tiara! How amazingly thoughtful! I wore it to breakfast & got some friendly well-wishes. I even tried the haggis! Shock-a-roo for me! I don't eat weird stuff so this is rare. Haggis is ground up organ meat & spices. It actually wasn't too bad.

We set out this morning to tour Rosslyn Chapel. It's a gorgeous church founded in 1446 by Sir William St. Clair that took 40 years to build. We could only take pictures of the outside but that is extremely impressive! Inside, it is small but completely covered in elaborate stone carvings! There is something different to see every where you look. I took some interior pics off the internet.

It has ties with the Knights Templar & the Holy Grail. It was also used in the film, The Da Vinci Code. Tons of tourists flocked to this chapel since. There's an interesting story about 2 pillars inside. A professional stonemason carved one pillar, which is beautiful, then in his absence, his apprentice carved a much more elaborate, impressive pillar. When the stonemason returned, he flew into a jealous rage, hitting the apprentice on the head & killing him.

There's also so much symbology in the carvings, including some pagan references like the "green man". It was all so impressive for such a little church. It's still used as a functioning church today!

We then took a drive through Edinburgh, past the Holyrood House, where the British royalty come to stay when they visit. I wish we had more time to explore here! It looked gorgeous from the drive by.

Then we walked up the hill to Edinburgh Castle- more on that in the next post!

Edinburgh Adventures Day 1

Leann & I decided to take the city bus from the airport into town & walk to the hotel. We didn't want to wait 2 hours for the next shuttle or spend a lot on a taxi. The guy at the bus stand was very nice & gave us a map & showed us where to get off & where our hotel is. It wasn't too terrible pulling our luggage through the streets. We were really enjoying the sights! The Edinburgh Castle on the hill looked spectacular!

We got to the hotel around 11am & met Michelle, our tour manager. She gave us luggage tags & we put our bags in a holding room since our rooms weren't ready. We then got a taxi to take us to the Ginger Twist yarn shop! We looked up at home that there were 3 yarn stores in town. 2 out of 3 were closed! So we really wanted to seek this one out. The owner is also Jess, with flaming red hair. The shop was super duper tiny but we still managed to plunk down a chunk of change! I got some thick Scottish wool & beautifully hand dyed squishy yarns that Jess dyes herself. Then we stopped at a cafe & I got a yummy blueberry tart as we walked to where we were taking our purse workshop.

We went to the Islander Experience on Candlemaker Row to make our own Harris Tweed purses! We saw the idea posted on Facebook in a Scotland Travel Tip group. I wanted to buy one of these purses anyway so we thought it was super cool to make one ourselves. I've known about Harris Tweed for a while. It's a gorgeous quality woven wool plaid fabric. I thought it was named that for a guy who invented it but nope- it is made from the wool on the island of Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. 8 of us went upstairs in the shop where our teacher, Chris, had us pick out our purse base, tweed fabric, straps,etc. Then he showed us how to screw everything together. He was such a personable, fun guy! I love the colors we chose & how they came out. A unique experience!

Right near the store is the Greyfriars "Bobby" statue/monument. This little pup laid on his owner's grave day after day for years in the 1800's. The locals thought it was endearing & loved having him around. Somehow, tourists seemed to think rubbing his nose brings good luck. All it does is wear down the finish to the point where it had to be repaired 2x!

Our tour group met at 5pm for a bus ride down town to a restaurant called the Tolbooth Tavern. We sat with a super nice couple from Michigan, Yvonne & Mark. I had such a headache, I was feeling very yucky. I kept rubbing my head, doing acupressure & breathing. I wasn't very good company! Too much stimulation & not enough sleep over 2 days of travel. I got fish & chips, which was very yummy, but couldn't eat much. No peas for me! Fruit for dessert felt good & I felt a little better. Leann suggested when we get back that we sit in the hot tub & watch a movie in the room. I said, " I love you"! That totally hit the spot & I felt much better. Time for a good night's sleep!