Starting in 1947, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival has grown from 8 theater companies into a month long event that is the world’s largest performing arts festival. There is a 400 page program guide of everything that is in a venue. Everything else is in the streets and squares.
Members of the US Army “Old Guard” visiting for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tatoo
An irreverent treatment of the statue of David Hume. He was a Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist. You can see that many people rub the toes of his right foot for luck…
But best of all, we enjoyed the Festival with our friends Chris and Rod who recently moved to the UK. The previous 2 shots and this photo are of the monument to Sir Walter Scott – by far the most prominent memorial in Edinburgh. It seems fitting to end with this quotation about Edinburgh by Sir Walter Scott.
“Piled deep and massy, close and high; mine own romantic town.”
While in Inverness we stayed at the Royal Highland Hotel built in 1856.
The Battle of Culloden Moor in 1746 was the battle that ended the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. The first Scottish War of Independence was in 1227 led by William Wallace. Perhaps you’ve seen the film Braveheart starring Mel Gibson. Here is a video showing the monument to Wallace that can be seen from Stirling Castle. The Battle itself was at Stirling Bridge on the River Forth.
The next video shows Culloden Moor battlefield as it stands today. The stone farmhouse is Old Leanach Cottage which was used as a field hospital for the British troops.
And here is Stirling Castle built in the early 12th century, home to Scottish Kings James IV, V, and VI. Mary Queen of Scots was crowned there in 1524.
The wind makes the narration hard to hear – What we want to tell you is that legend has it that at this bridge, immersing your face in the water for 7 seconds and then letting it air dry will guarantee eternal youth. We decided to pass, although one young woman on our tour bus was quite enthusiastic about trying it!
Highland Cow – “Hairy Coo” in Scottish dialect.
Next week – Stirling Castle and Culloden Battlefield. Two weeks from now, Edinburgh and the Fringe Festival.
Visiting the Lancashire region of England and the towns of Clitheroe and Barley were a big reason for this trip. We knew about the Quaker history of this area but didn’t realize that most tourists talk about the witches of Pendle Hill (1612), rather than George Fox’s walk up Pendle Hill (1652) where he had the vision that led him to form the Religious Society of Friends/Quakers.
Like most Quaker meetings, this one is small. About 8 people attended today. Here is a picture of Chris with her new Friends, Elliot, Dottie, and Pamela.
Elliot and Rachel (you’ll meet her in a video soon) kindly helped us get to Pendle Hill and walked it with us.
Here is Downham, a town along the way that is so picturesque that it served as the location for making a movie called Whistle Down the Wind starring Hayley Mills. For the video below, click on the photo to get it started.
We followed Elliot, his dog Suzie, and Rachel up the hill.
If you are interested in learning more about this Google “Witches of Pendle Hill”
Hello, all! This will be the first of 3 parts for our blog about our recent trip to the UK. Some of you have shared with us that a favorite TV show is “All Creatures Great and Small”. About half of the photos here are filming locations from that show. This includes the original BBC version, the film, and the current PBS series.
Part 2 will be Lancashire. We climbed Pendle Hill with our new Quaker friends, Rachel and Elliot.
Part 3 will be Stirling Castle and Edinburgh including the Fringe Festival.
Next up – into the city of York on the river Ouse for some delicious Yorkshire pudding!
We’re trying a new format this week. A while back a photographer friend of ours, Brooks Jensen, suggested we do more videos in which we are speaking to you. We hope you enjoy this new “slice of life” approach (pun intended).
Don’t miss the little Maltese Cross embellishment to the left of the pie
We returned from USA on June 28 and welcomed niece Christine, her husband Seth, 11 year old Joey (Josephine) and 10 year old Benno (Benjamin) on July 20. We packed a lot into 5 days.
Because of the heat wave the first stops were the beach, the National Aquarium, and a water park with sea water for everything.
Here Benno and Joey are looking at the natural salt pans on the limestone beach just outside our home.
We found a shady spot on the beach!
As you recall, we have a promenade along the beach just outside our door. This month there are about 15 enormous murals painted by various artists (using spray paint!). Here are our fovorites.
The next day we visited Valletta and saw, among other things, the Grandmaster’s Palace and the armoury of the Knights of St John.
Gozo is a “must see” for anyone visiting Malta! We stayed overnight in an air b&b in Ix-Xaghra (fun fact – in Maltese all “x” letters are pronounced like “sh”) and walked to the town square for dinner.
We enjoy seeing the over the top ornate baroque carvings and paintings in the churches here but the the real treat at this chrurch was seeing the dust being vacuumed off by a worker on a very high scaffold.
Contrast this with the 5600 year old Ggantija neolithic temples we visited the next day in Xaghra. We blogged about this a few months ago but it is well worth a second look.
At the end of the long day we took the ferry back to Valletta and had dinner on the waterfront during a festival.
Next stop (next day) – Mdina – the silent city. You’ve seen it in other blogs, but here are a few more images.
Last stop is Marsaxlokk – the quaint fishing village with GREAT seafood restaurants. We happened to be there during their Saint Day feast.
These brightly colored boats are called luzzus. They have eyes painted on the bow. The eyes are part of the traditional folklore for safety and good luck in fishing.
We decided to celebrate our 20th anniversary as a couple with an impromptu trip to Rome and Sicily. We flew to Rome and after a few days, we took a train that was eventually loaded onto a ferry to Sicily, After two days in Cantania, Sicily, we traveled by bus to another Sicilian port for a 2 hour ride on an enormous ferry back to Malta (no train on THAT boat!)
Our photos of Rome progress from the Trevi Fountain, to the Spanish Steps, Fort St. Angelo, the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum.
We hired our own guide for a three hour tour of the Vatican. The crowds are so dense that you really need guidance. This first photo is of St Peter’s square.
We are now in the Vatican Museum. Our guide explained to us that it is the art collection amassed by many of the Popes over the centuries.
This is one of the galleries on the way to the Sistine Chapel. Photography is not allowed in the Sistine Chapel.
Here is the alter inside St. Peter’s Basilica.
This is the public facing side of St Peter’s where the faithful gather to see and here the Pope.
It is wonderful to wander around Rome. Here a few shots from our favorite stroll.
When you get tired of antiquity there are a couple of excellent museums of modern art.
Arrivederci, Roma! We’re ready to take the overnight train to Sicily. The video below shows the tracks on the ship that carries the train over the Straits of Messina. It takes only 15 minutes for the crossing. Chris stayed in the train during the crossing but Dick went up on deck for the view.
We got off the train in Catania so we could go to nearby Mt Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe.
The flag of Sicily has three legs because Sicily has a triangular shape.
These beautiful Jacaranda trees are in Piazza Bellini in Catania, a short walk from our Air BnB.
We took a 5 hour tour of Mount Etna with a group of 6 people. And there it is…
If you look carefully at this video, you can see the smoke coming out of the volcano.
In the photograph below, notice the snow beside the black stone resulting from lava floes in the twentieth century in 1910, 1911, 1918, 1923, 1928,1942, 1947, 1949, 1950-51, and 1971.
The next two photos are the remains of a two story house that was in the path of a lava floe.
Dick hiked up to one of the rock formations from the lava floes.
Most caves you are familiar with are formed from water erosion but here the caves are formed by “bubbles” of air trapped inside the lava floes.
Welcome back to Catania. We head home the next day.
As our ferry came into Valletta Harbor we passed the largest cruise sailboat in the world.
We’re back in Sliema for only 4 days. Watch out! We will be back in the USA to visit friends and family for the next month – not sure when we will post another blog.
