What happened in scotland

Well a quick update on what i’ve been up to in the last few days!  The details are already getting sketchy days blur together.. Apologies for the hasty writing style. This is following on from the previous entry on scotland… 

Went the next day through edinburgh castle which was bloody windy – had a tour which was good (although the tour guide kept making me the but of all his jokes). Saw the crown jewels of scotland and the stone of destiny. Wont go through the history of these objects but they’ve got a long and interesting history. Although the stone of destiny is just a hunk of sandstone with two rusty metal rings attached. It looks suspiciously like a medieval toilet cover.(conspiracy theorists say it IS a toilet seat cover and the real stone of destiny is hidden somewhere) But this is what the kings and queens of england and scotland are coronated on.  Then went for a tour of the edinburgh underground. Some streets in edinbugh were literally built over the top with new streets! So you can acces the subteranian streets which run in a different direction to the streets above. It’s very cooltour with guides dressed and speaking like scots from the era of these underground buildings.

Next day I went p to loch ness to go hunting for nessie and took a number of detours along the way – checking out the highest mountain in scotland (ben nevis), the hill where william wallace defeated the english (the inspiration for the braveheart movie) , glencoe – the valley of woe, and also where rob roy lived (story appropriated in another hollywood movie). Also went up through gorgeous highland scenery on the way and got aqquainted with the sexiest animal in scotland (as voted by scots) the hairy coo. No not cow, – coo Checked out a few castles including castle anthrax (monty python fans). Ended up having dinner with an intelligent american girl called dana (she’s a graphic artist and here is her website – which has some of her illustrations). Next day went out and researched my scottish ancestry which actually goes backto the MacKenzie clan. Which we didn’t actually know so thats interesting geneology for my mums side of the family. Also checked out the parliament, and a few museums in edinburgh before heading to glasgow the next day and wondering through the streets there. Very different to edinburgh, checked out some modern art there which i acrtually didn’t mind and also the architecture of charles mackintosh – who was ahead of his time and pioneered architectural styles but i don’t like his stuff. Cruised through glasgow at night and then back to edinburgh which was my base.

 

 Next day went out to Rossalyn chapel. All davinci code readers should be familiar with rossalyn chapel. Its the place where the remains of christ or acording to the book proof that he had a child and family tree. It’s also reputedly linked to the secret order of the knights templar as well as the reputed hiding place of the real ‘stone of destiny’, and the head of christ. Although beautiful inside – they’ve put a tin roof over the top whilst doing repairs – rossalyn currently appears to me as an aluuring and mysterious lady – who has been fitted with a medieval jaw brace.Well i’ll tell you it was interesting going there and seeing templar graves and symbolism all through the place. Things that really made me wonder. Some of the masonary contains pictures of plants that only existed in America at that time – but it was completed 50 years before columbus discovered america! This has led to very plausible theories that it was actually the knights templar who discovered america. Actually there are heaps of conspiracy theories concerning Rossalyn and the knights templar – not all implausible. Rossalyn is also known as a ‘thin place’ where the supernatural world and are world are suppsedly close and strange things are known to happen. I gotta say it did feel just a little weird in there, and the crypt in Rossalyn i felt strange. But the biggest trip out was seeing a kangaroo in the stain glass windows! But only for a secound becuase it was a modern stain glass window. But still – what the heck is a kangaroo doing in a stain glass window in one of the most holy and sensational chapels in scotland? That night had a friendly local called rebecca show me around a number of very cool bars around central edinburgh, and sampled a number of the local brews.

 

Then up in the morning and flew back to london for a follow up on the drug trial. I’m now staying with alex which is very kind of him especially considering i zipped his jumper over his head up and posted the photo’s on this blog. 🙂 But great news is that yesterday i managed to scam a flight to egypt and it didn’t cost me a dime. Convinced the airline that because i don’t want to fly into new orleans because of the hurricane to give me a flight to egypt. Also returned my scotland guide to the bookshop and exchanged it for the egypt one. So i’ll be there in just a few days which will be really interesting. I haven’t really been to a islamic country before and so it should be quite different from what i’ve been experiencing so far. I’ve bought a book on islam to read up as i really don’t know enough about this prevalent and topical religion. Also a chance to see the wonders of ancient egypt. Also hopefully i’ll be doing some scuba diving at one one of the best sites in the world – the Red Sea down at Sharm el-Sheik. So looking forward to that. Also went out today and did a few touristy things in london, Oxford Street, Picadilly circus, leicester square but main thing was getting my cheque for the drug trial. 1700 pounds in the bank. So now i’m all cashed up and ready to go on the next leg of my trip!