Jersey

The isle of Jersey sits 14 miles off the coast of France. It was occupied by Germans for 5 years during WWII.  The island has 45 square miles with old German military bunkers, towers, etc scattered throughout. The War Tunnels were built to be a hospital to treat wounded soldiers if the allies attacked Jersey.  It was built largely by Russian slaves. The tunnels are immense.

The Jersey War Tunnels

Elizabeth Castle is the only castle I've seen that was refitted by Germans to be a military post in modern days.  The flag is the St Helier Flag, but it is on a German gun tower. It was really eerie to see how much the Germans accomplished on this island during their occupation. We walked on a causeway during low tide to get to the castle.  At other times a person has to take a ferry.

Elizabeth Castle looks like a normal 16th century castle.

Other than becoming depressed over WWII, we found Jersey to be a lovely island with lots of sunny bays.

And good seafood.

Whirlwind

The last three days have been a whirlwind.  If we weren't struggling with jet lag, the days would have probably seemed like normal tourist days. As it is, all we've seen and experienced have the potential to become a blur.

Edinburgh is not the largest city we've visited, but it certainly has a huge variety of sights to see.  Friday, July 10, we explored New Town (developed in the 1700s) and went back to Old Town (built in the 1100s) to see St Giles Cathedral.

However, the highlight of the day for me was the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden.

We had a guided tour from a wonderful man who taught us so many things about plants, soils, climate, etc....that we came away with our heads spinning in a pleasant way. One of the most interesting things he taught us was that in a botanic garden, each individual bed is like a library bookshelf, and each flower is a book.  The organization, like that of a library, is key.


Individual plants were intriguing.

Mistakes made by professionals make me feel good. This swath of meadow flowers were supposed to be red poppies to commemorate WWI and the red poppy fields of Flanders.  However, the seed company sold the garden the wrong seeds and the red statement turned out to be blue cornflowers and mostly yellow blossoms of some sort. It's so nice to know that experts aren't perfect.

This meadow was supposed to be the red poppy fields of Flanders.

Saturday, July 11, we met up with a small tour group and drove to St Andrews, the home of golf.  On the way, we stopped at the charming fishing village of Anstruthers where we had fish and chips worthy of the queen.  We were told she orders take away from the same shop when she's at Balmoral.

Fish and Chips worthy of the Queen.

Fish and Chips worthy of Taylor - only in Anstruthers.

We found many surprises at St Andrews.  The Open starts any day now so we didn't see much of the the golf course. Preparations for huge crowds are under way.  Since we aren't golfers we didn't care.  Instead, we enjoyed a lovely walk along the coast path, stopping to admire St Andrews Castle.

St Andrews Castle.

St Andrews Castle.

Further down the coast, we were able to walk among the ruins of St Andrews Cathedral, which was once the largest cathedral in Europe.  Cromwell had it sacked, so we only saw the remains.

St Andrews Cathedral.

Unexpectedly, when we stopped for a tea break, I saw "bread and butter pudding, with a proper custard" on the menu.  I've sworn off bread pudding in restaurants because it's usually quite nasty, but this one was worth every calorie.  As you can see, it was beautiful as well as delicious

Bread pudding worthy of Jamar.

The final stop of the day was Falkland Castle.  It is the hunting cabin of some member of royalty.   They can't afford to keep it up, so they charge people like us to come admire it.  I especially enjoyed the grounds. As you all know, I'm the happiest when I'm in a lovely garden.

This castle was really more beautiful on the outside than it was indoors.

A garden worthy of Jamar.

Next stop, Oban and the Isle of Iona.

Dazed and Confused in Edinburgh

Here we are, in Edinburgh.  We left PDX at 6 a.m. July 8, and arrived here at 6:45 a.m. July 9.  Do I need to say we are dazed and confused?  Our innkeeper at Ard-Na-Said (which means top of the arrow) let us stow our bags and gave us coffee.

Ard-Na-Said, our home away from home in Edinburgh.

We kept our sightseeing to a minimum today:

The main thoroughfare going in and out of Edinburgh Castle.

There are lots of charming nooks and crannies at the castle

A stroll down the Royal Mile

At the end of the day, we strolled over to the Salisbury Arms, where we had our first Edinburgh pint.

Cheers!

A Proper Castle

A few days ago, when we were eating breakfast in York, I discovered that Castle Howard was only 15 minutes away. Upon further research I learned that while it wasn't directly on the way to Keswick, it would be a reasonable side trip for the next part of our journey.  Our hostess and another guest assured us that Castle Howard shouldn't be missed.  So, off we went.

Before leaving Portland I looked into visiting Highclere Castle, the location of Downtown Abbey.  I found that tours of that great estate are booked for a full year.  But, Castle Howard - the location for both versions of Brideshead Revisited - should be a fabulous alternative.

And Castle Howard is stunning from every angle.

I recognized the fountain at once, from Brideshead Revisited.

It is fabulous inside...............

.......and it is fabulous outside.

This estate is a fine example of what lengths a wealthy, landed family will go to keep their estate: they rent the house out for movie productions, weddings and tourists in general.  I was disappointed to only see a handful of rooms especially decorated for public viewing.  It wasn't the Upstairs, Downstairs tour that I was hoping for.

Then, we drove on to Conwy, North Wales.

Finally, a proper castle.

There are no fancy furnishings, and some walls are missing, but it's got all the necessary parts - turrets, a mote, a chapel, fireplaces, a dungeon, skinny slits for shooting arrows, and much, much more.

Now, I know the difference between a fine estate home, and a proper castle.