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See the Photo Albums for this trip:
To London again and the end of the trip...September 30
So begins the routine of touring, up early, bags out, breakfast and on the coach. After all the kilts last night we were "treated" to the presence of a Welsh rugby team in the dining room at breakfast this morning. Does it matter if the sun isn't shining! LOL ! (Hey I'm single, why not ogle! Hahahaha!)Weather started out dark and cloudy with rain definitely threatening. First stop once out of Glasgow was Loch Lomond, a place where you could hire excursion boats. There was a pretty Victorian stone hotel nearby. Really there wasn't much to look at, just the lake. The clouds were dark and low and actually, the photo that Carole took came out quite interesting, as a friend said, "typical scottish weather". Back in the bus, down the narrow back roads up through Rannoch Moor and Glencoe, where the famous massacre of 1692 took place and another photo stop. This part of the country is the beginnings of the highlands and the scenery is really rugged. Weather is getting better and by the time we get to Fort William with a lunch break at a woolen mill shop, the sun is out. Peter, our guide, seems quite knowledgeable and has a dry sense of humour and I think he's going to be a winner.
Had a quick sandwich and a browse through the shops before setting out on the narrow winding road, The "Road to the Isles" past the Glenfinnan monument where Bonnie Prince Charlie returned to Scotland and raised his standard. Very pretty drive along here, with lochs and mountains, small cottages and sunshine. We are catching the ferry at Mallaig to the Isle of Skye. I love the little cottages and houses, whitewashed with a chimney at either end of the house. We will be seeing many many houses in that style of various sizes over the next week. I love houses and architecture and my next quest is to find a little ceramic Scottish cottage for my collection!
The ferry ride to Skye only takes about 20 minutes and the scenery of the mountains on Skye from across the water was heart stopping! I never realized Skye was mountainous and though the haze over the water the mountains were spectacular!
It was a very short drive to the Clan Donald Center from the Skye side where we are shown a short film on the history of the highland clans but because of the early morning and dark projection room, I'm afraid I nearly nodded off a few times! We glanced through the museum artifacts, just a small room or two, and went out into the gardens. There are acres of gardens on the property with a nice little visitor center and tea room and the ruins of Armadale Castle overlooking the water. We walked through a bit of the gardens and were astonished to see bushes that were alive with hundreds of butterflies! Carole had known that there were plants and bushes that are grown to attract butterflies but seeing them was something else! We both took quite a few pictures though only a few came out. See, the wings are flapping and in the photos you can't see them much because they would close their wings in a "flap" as the photo was taken. We did get a few close up using our longer lenses. It was an amazing thing to see! We parted ways for a bit, Carole heading up into the property more and I down to the castle ruins to take some photos and we met back up at the car park to go for tea.
The tea room is round and looks like a chapter house in a cathedral with high narrow pointed windows and a vaulted ceiling. All bamboo and wicker furniture and the chairs even had peaked backs. It was really pretty!
The drive to Broadford along the coast was about a half an hour, over hills full of peat bogs. We were hoping to be able to see the Eileen Donan Castle over on the mainland but guess we weren't in the right spot. Lots of sheep, crofters houses and the weather is now clouding over again.
The hotel, Dunollie, is a smallish hotel, just a few floors, no lift, no phones in the rooms. It's right on the water though, a very pretty spot. There are a few gift shops nearby but they were just closing when we got there. The rooms are each "named" with a plate with a brand of Scotch whiskey on it and are very pretty, decorated in seafoam greens and peaches and white painted furniture. Beds are comfy too! :) We had a bit of a walk up the road before dinner and caught the sun starting to go down, yes it's shown it's face again for the evening display! Had a drink in the lounge with some people and then went to dinner. Dinner was very good, the dining room looks over the bay as well. It's a nice peaceful little spot here.
Tomorrow we go to Inverewe Gardens and on to Inverness with a stop at Loch Ness I think.
Sunday October 1
Boy, 6 a.m. came early today! And dark! But I slept well and the bed was really soft and comfortable, a pleasure after the rock hard beds I've been suffering on! Breakfast was ok, had porridge but my eggs were runny even though I asked for them to be well cooked. I HATE runny eggs! We went outside after breakfast out the back of the hotel just as the sun was coming up over the mountains on the mainland. What a spectacular sunrise!!! Carole's photos turned out better than mine but I did take a pretty one of the main road through the village with the sky turning pink in the morning mist.On the bus, there was the usual morning confusion over the changing of the seats. That's what you do on a tour, you shift where you were sitting from the day before, two seats back/forward so that everyone gets a chance to sit at the front of the bus. Carole and I split up so we could each have a seat to ourselves and thus a window seat as there were a few spare. We drove across the new bridge to the mainland. I took a
quick photo of the ruins of Castle Moal back across the narrow channel on Skye and then we turned off that road and started climbing. We had a photo stop at a spot overlooking Loch Carron and that was beautiful! The sun was coming out and it was still only about 9 and the mountains, starting to be coloured in autumn colours were reflecting in the loch!
Most of the morning was driving north through Wester Ross on narrow twisty roads along lochs and coastline. We must be fairly high up because the puffy clouds look incredibly low, sitting on the mountain tops that don't look to be all that far up! Other than sheep the population is getting sparser and sparser. Loch Maree was even more barren and rugged with even less and less living things on the hillsides other than bracken, heather and sheep. The road is single lane in most places, scalloped on one side with passing lay bys, every 20 or 30 feet. Very few tree "farms" where the trees are planted in patches and harvested later. These mountains are all volcanic remains and very unspoiled.
We come to Inverewe Gardens, on Loch Ewe. The gardens were started in Victorian times by Osgood MacKenzie. The latitude here is 57.8 degrees north, farther north than Moscow yet some plants that thrive here have to be grown under glass in the south of England! The Gulf Stream keeps this area of Scotland temperate and many exotic plants are grown here. The gardens are extensive, and the site is run by the National Trust. We decided to have lunch first and then look through the gardens to beat the rush. Three sisters from Australia, traveling with their mother were there too so we got acquainted.
The real star of the gardens is the sunken Walled Garden, flowers and vegetables. It's just so beautiful, walking through the paths with a stone wall along the perimeter and the Loch beyond shimmering in the sun. We spent a lot of time in there and later we split up, Carole to walk up by the house where the family that owned the site lives and I to go into the footpaths for a walk. There are a lot of paths and places to explore and you could be there for hours. But, as usual with a coach tour, you have limited time.
A bit further north along the coast which is even more bleak if possible. This really is wilderness, God forsaken country and probably pretty diabolical in winter but yet so majestic! There is a small island barely a stone's throw off the coast where, Peter told us, was the site of government experiments with biological germ warfare!!! It's supposed to be safe now but I don't think I'd want to be living within spitting distance of it. There's also a NATO refueling dock here. A photo and loo stop at Corrieshalloch
gorge, where there is a look off stop and little bridge over a gorge about 300 feet deep! By mid afternoon we are losing the blue sky and entering the Cairngorms as we loop back towards the Great Glen and Loch Ness.
The mountains turn into rolling hills, more farms, villages, vegetation and tourists. A photo stop at one end of Loch Ness where there was a requisite piper playing for tips. I only got off the bus to stretch my legs and try out my new 200 mm zoom telephoto lens for a shot down towards Urquhart Castle on the shores of the loch. When you've seen Loch Ness once, there's not much else to see.
Short drive to Inverness. Our hotel is a Jurys right on the river Ness downtown. Good view from our window over the river. But we waited almost 2 hours for our bags to be delivered. We called and nagged several times and even when they finally came, mine was in front of a room down the hall! We had wanted to go out and walk but didn't want to leave the cases out in the hall so we waited. By the time we got out it was past 5 and getting darker. The hotel is modern and caters to tour groups. Dinner is at 8 tonight so we did have time to go out exploring even though, it's Sunday and the shops are closed. We are only a few blocks from Inverness Castle which is just a Victorian heap of pink stones :) It's used for government offices but has a lovely statue of Flora MacDonald who aided and abetted Prince Charlie after Cullodden. We went up on the castle grounds and then down to the bridge across the river. We saw a Tesco supermarket still open so we went in and found a rack of cheap postcards and picked up some snacks, juice and a newspaper before they closed at 6.
Back up through the pedestrian shopping street and we found a pub and had a drink and a sit down. Watched some show on the telly there about two teams building a submarine out of scraps. Fascinating. Back to the hotel to wash out underwear and socks and watch corrie before dinner at 8. It was quite good, service was very prompt and we had enjoyable dinner companions with the Ontario couples. Cullodden tomorrow, the Glenlivet factory and on to Braemar.
Monday October 2
Weather is chilly and looks overcast somewhat. We stopped at the James Pringle woolen mill that had a bit of an exhibit and someone to tell you about tartan making which I didn't stay to listen to. Tours are taken to factories and part of it is local interest. But you have to realize that the tour guide is going to get a percentage of sales as well, it's part of how they make their money. Also realize that the guide gets a percentage from any "optional" excursions that you purchase. But a good tour guide or factory will not pressure you into buying anything you don't want to and I've been lucky on the tours so far. I have found some factory visits to be very interesting but usually the prices are higher than you might pay elsewhere. This James Pringle factory, however, was very good and the prices seemed very reasonable, better on some gift ware like Caithness glass than you might see in other places in Scotland and certainly cheaper than in the cities. We didn't go to Caithness in the north so can't say how it compared to that.I did buy a couple of small things and then went outside to get some air before we had to be back on the bus. The factory is outside the city and sits on the River Ness, a very pretty view. Across on the other side of the river was a man fly fishing in the cool morning air. By the time everyone got done we were about 15 minutes late leaving, thus arriving at Cullodden 15 minutes later than expected. The weather is clearing up and by the time we got to Cullodden the sky was blue and it was gorgeous. We were scheduled for a 20 minute film on the history and battle of the last Jacobite uprising, the fall of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his supporters in April 1746. Once the film was done, because we were on a schedule, we only had 20 minutes too wander on the battlefield, not nearly enough time unfortunately. But fortunately I had been here before so I decided to have a look into a small stone thatched roof cottage, called Leanoch cottage. It was a reproduction of one that might have been there and used as a first aid station for wounded British soldiers after the battle. Wounded Jacobites were killed.
On my first visit here in 1993, the weather was overcast and gloomy and lent an eerie air to the battlefield and the clan graves but today the sun was shining. Just the same, I find this place a bit spooky. I went down by the graves to pay my respects and walking back I thought I heard a scream, twice. Now it was probably a tourist or a bird but your imagination takes flight in a place like this after hearing about the doomed crusade and the slaughter. I'm sure the wee ghosties still walk here.
On to the Glenlivet whiskey factory. Last time I was here it was August and the place was not in production. So this time on the tour I actually got to see whiskey being made in the huge vats and storage barns. We had our wee dram after the tour, hoo boy that hits hard! There is a lunch room there so we all grabbed a bite. This tour seemed not to have any organized lunch stops so you pretty much took the opportunity to eat when you got it and there was always a stop at someplace that had a cafeteria or tea room around lunch time. Carole and I walked down the driveway to get a closer look at the highland cattle penned across the road. They are shaggy and horned and so unusual looking from what we are all used to. They are specially bred for the cold north of Scotland.
No sooner did we get back on the bus to leave then the clouds gathered in for a shower. It rained for the next hour or so as we drove through the Grampians, up and down narrow roads through the mist and rain along the pretty Spey Valley. There was a windy photo stop on the hill above Corgarf Castle and a brief visit to Crathie church near Balmoral. After July 31, tours are not allowed to visit the castle. The Queen is in residence and then they close to the public for the winter. The church is a nice little stone church, a couple hundred years old and quite elaborately decorated, more than usual as it's a Presbyterian church but various Royal family members have donated things to it over the years. The Royal Family have traditionally come here to service of a Sunday if they are in residence.
It wasn't far to the hotel from there, in Braemar. What a lovely hotel! It's a large turreted Victorian heap and looks like a castle from the outside! It's only a few storeys tall and no lift though there is an old fashioned one in it. I don't thing it works. There are large sitting lounges and several bars and a big dining room with fireplaces and soaring ceilings. The rooms are tucked away in all sorts of corners and warren like hallways and ours was really pretty, with inlay wood on the closet doors and desk and fabric covered padded headboards with pretty sprigged wall paper and matching chair covers. The wash basin is outside the bathroom by the little window which looks out across a field and you can just see Braemar Castle in the distance.
We signed up for only one optional excursion, the evening trip tonight. It goes to Braemar Castle and on to the town of Ballater to see the numerous Royal Warrants on the shops and then for a few social drinks at a pub before returning for a late dinner. Our bags were delivered to our room in record speed and we decided to go into the village for a browse before our evening event. Braemar is a pretty village with the River Dee running through it , lots of stone houses which all seem to have such lovely flower gardens around them. We looked in a couple of the stores still open and I finally found a little ceramic house, made by the Lilliput Lane company, that looked like the typical Scottish houses I am seeing everywhere with the two chimneys!!!
Braemar castle has a long history and belongs to the Erskine family, the Earls of Mar. We heard all about the history by the caretaker and then were allowed to wander through the areas open to the public. The castle is tall and not very big, with a star shaped wall around it. There are turrets in the corners and a narrow spiral staircase up the middle with only a few rooms on each level. The family lived here until about 15 years ago. There were about a dozen rooms to see including a photo display in the lower level. There were so many wonderful antiques and the rooms were a delight to see. You couldn't go right in, as they were roped off but could go in and see. There was a particularly beautiful inlaid marquetry chest in the salon that I particularly loved.
We drove to Ballater to see the Royal Warrants, which are coats of arms of various Royals who patronize the shops or services. This town has the highest concentration of warrants anywhere. Harrods had quite a few up until the last year or two when it was stripped of most of them due to it's owner, Al Fayed, making a lot of negative publicity about insinuations about conspiracies over the death of his son and Diana, Princess of Wales. Not particularly interesting to me, but there was a pretty little church there that I would have liked to have seen more of. We walked round the corner and all had free drinks and snacks and sat and had a lovely chat and a few laughs with our new friends.
Back to the hotel for dinner in the elegant dining room. We sat with the mother and three daughters from Australian and Susan from Tennessee. I really enjoyed their company. We retired to the lounge for our coffee and tea and had a few more giggles. Carole had come upstairs earlier to have her shower tonight and I came up about 9 to sort out my clothes for tomorrow. Tomorrow is a later start then a tour of Glamis Castle. On to St. Andrews and ending in Edinburgh.
Tuesday October 3
Oh dear! Randy and Kim had their camera stolen last night at the pub. They left it hanging on the chair and left without it but it wasn't there when they went back! They asked me if I would have extra prints done up and send to them, they do have a video camera but lost their print camera. We'll be in Edinburgh tomorrow for the day so I will get the three films from this tour developed there with an extra set of prints for them. Luckily I had used the Boots brand film so I know which ones are the right ones and they weren't the prepaid processing included ones so they wont' have to wait for them!
We had a bit of a lie in this morning, we didn't have to be to breakfast until 8 and we left at 9 for Glamis castle which didn't open until I think 10 or 10:30. Weather is as usual, light rain and heavy mist and fog on the hills.
Glamis is quite old though some was rebuilt after a fire in the 1800's. It's the ancestral home of the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne, today the Bowes-Lyon family. Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (UK) is the youngest member of the 14th (or 15th?) Earl. The oldest part of the castle is from 1427 and the castle is still lived in by the family. The family was "Lyon" but the 9th Earl in 1765 married a very rich heiress who's family insisted on the condition of the marriage, that he change his family name to hers, "Bowes". The Queen Mother's parents added the hyphenated version at the turn of this century.
We had a guided tour of the public rooms which spanned various eras, the grand dining room with a table that can seat 35 and a huge silver ship as center piece, given to the Queen Mother's grandparents by the estate workers (blimey, they were paid well then?) There was an old stone walled room filled with armour (Victorian replicas) and stag heards and game antlers. Some of the rooms had fireplaces so large you could move in ! There was a nice private chapel with the walls and ceiling full of painted panels and is said to be haunted. The private apartments built for Elizabeth and George, Duke of York (before he was king) was really nice, very warm and cozy and everyone agreed very live-in-able! All the rooms were filled with paintings, mostly portraits and lovely old wood furniture.
We had lunch in the café which is in the old kitchens. The big wall oven was still there and there were copper pans hanging and buzzers/lights on the wall that would summon a servant to one of the rooms.
Off again, the rain has stopped but it's still not looking too promising but there was finally a patch of blue here and there by the time we reached St. Andrews. It didn't last! Not being interested in golf, for which St. Andrews is famous, Carole and I walked down the street that parallels the cliff along the harbour, through the ancient university campus to the ruins of St. Andrews castle. We paid the £2.50 to go into the castle grounds and climbed around the ruins for a bit. The castle has been in ruins for about 400 years and seems to have been several hundred years old by the time it was dispatched. There are explanatory signs around and diagrams and it was kind of interesting. We didn't spend much time in the accompanying visitor center, and walked back to the bus meeting point. We thought it was kind of odd that, though university was in session, there weren't many students around the campus buildings. Some of the old buildings were really lovely, one had little square instead of round turrets and was being used as the Moral Philosophy department. Kind of appropriate for a building that
had little flights of fancy in its architecture like that!
We almost got out of the city but had to turn back as someone left their camera in a public washroom and since we had the time, Peter and Alec kindly turned the bus around. Miracles do happen, it was still there!
The drive through Fife and Dundee was not all that interesting. We arrived in Edinburgh in good time and are staying at a Jury's which is right off the Royal Mile. Can't get much more central! The room is a good size and the hotel is quite new. The bathroom is small with a corner shower stall but at least it has glass doors, not a flighty curtain! Tonight's "excursion" I think was the Scottish night out with highland dancing and haggis. We declined to join so had to find a place for dinner ourselves. Up the Royal mile we went, checking out menus and decided on a small narrow Italian restaurant after passing by a number of pubs and places that were either too crowded or too smoky. This one was called Gordon's Trattoria and had really good wood fired pizza , we had the veggie version. The Royal Mile at night is very quiet, quite a contrast to the daytime when it's busy with traffic and tourists. There were a few groups of young people, some younger than university age or so it seemed although the uni isn't very far from the RM. I think University age is a bit younger in Britain than it is here though.
Tomorrow we have a city tour with a local guide and though I was thinking of skipping it because I've done it before, I would like another look inside the castle grounds to see some of the things I missed last time.
Wednesday October 4
EdinburghAnother sunny morning! Breakfast was, as Peter warned us, somewhat controlled but utter chaos. It was crowded and noisy and there must have been 4 tour busses of people there. Not the way I like to start my day. The extremely long line up did at least move smoothly but you felt really rushed. We later decided we'd find someplace to buy some rolls and stuff and have breakfast in our room tomorrow morning.
The morning had a rather unusual start. As we were crossing the road to the bus, our local guide, Tom, was trying to hold up traffic so we could cross safely. Only one guy had no intention of stopping and came through anyway, running over Tom's toe. So
Tom kicked the car and a piece of the chrome trim fell off! Next thing we knew, the driver of the car was out, brandishing the fallen piece like a weapon and the two men were hollering at each other and we really did think blood was going to fly! Peter and Alec managed to keep the peace in the end so nobody got thumped and Tom apologized profusely for the incident several times even though the driver was initially at fault for not stopping. Tom shouldn't have kicked the car and he knew it.
Anyway we were finally off, driving from the new town to the old and back and forth. We stopped in the Grassmarket area to take a photo of the South face of Edinburgh castle where the Royal Palace is, not the view you normally see of it. The grassmarket was the market area though it grew unused and unsavory for quite awhile. It's been redone with shops and pubs now and is a tourist attraction. Eventually we got to the castle and to the top up the inclines. Of course we are on a schedule so rather than go through the exhibition to the Crown Jewels which, I remembered, takes a fair bit of time, I went to see the things I didn't have time to see last time. I wanted to see the Royal Apartments and the Great Hall and St. Margaret's chapel. The apartments are nicely decorated but unfurnished. The plaster ceiling was really nice. The Great Hall dates from the early 16th century though there are new decorations and artifacts in it. There's also a painting of a man named Ewart who captured the French Standard at Waterloo.
I went to the tiny St. Margaret's chapel, dating from 1093. It's very plain inside, with a few benches parallel to the walls and a tiny stained glass window behind the altar which has fresh flowers on it. The light inside is very warm and yellow and it's very peaceful. The chapel is still used by the regiment that lives at the castle and can be booked for weddings for anyone associated with the castle, even the guides! After a few photos from the walls including one of the Soldier's Dog Cemetery that you can see just down over the wall at a lower level, I went down the "Lang" stairs in to the shop and then to the loo. I was first one back at the bus on the Esplanade where the workers are still dismantling the scaffolding that held the bleacher seats for the Edinburgh Tattoo in August every year. A spectacle not to be missed if you're there! I saw it last time and was impressed.
Down at Holyrood, we walked through the public rooms into the old part where Mary Queen of Scots had her private apartments and saw a little exhibition of artifacts, mostly from her era, pistols, letters, miniature paintings, lace, needlework, medals and a christening robe.
Back to the hotel at lunchtime. We had a cuppa in our room and rested for a bit. This afternoon and evening is free time and we are not doing the evening outing to see the Royal Yacht Britannia, docked at nearby Leith so again, will find somewhere for dinner on our own. We need to visit Boots, first, to drop off films and get some cards for the tips for Peter and Alec and we want to find a bakery.
We wandered in and out of shops from the Royal Mile and along Prince's street, including the lovely department store, Jenners. I found a gold Luckenbooth ring for 60 pounds which I am quite pleased with. Jenners is a privately owned store and the older part is several floors around a large center open "court". The store has expanded into the building next door and we really loved it, especially the china and linen departments! There is a small food hall as well so we were able to buy some rolls, jam for breakfast tomorrow. We had a scone and tea in one of the tea rooms there as well. It was sunny when we went into Jenners but starting to spit rain when we came out. We walked down Rose Street looking for an internet point that I thought I had seen advertised but we must have gone the wrong direction. We looked around some more shops on Prince's street, working out way back up toward the North Bridge and went into the underground Waverly shopping center by the train station as well. Picked up our photos at Boots and went back to our room for another tea break and to sort out the photos. We decided to watch Corrie and then just eat in the hotel dining room, too tired to walk any further. Dinner was ok, but the service was very slow getting out starters. At least the entrée was a buffet at the carvery. My throat has been sore for the last few days so I didn't really enjoy it much. I gargled with salt water as a last resort, should have done that all along. Tomorrow is the last day of the tour and then back to London.
Thursday October 5
Throat actually feels a bit better today, salt has done the trick! The day startes out sunny though there are clouds in the distance. It took awhile to get out of the city but then it got green and hilly with lots of farms as we crossed the center of Scotland. Our first stop was supposed to be at the base of Stirling Castle after hearing all about Robert the Bruce and William Wallace. Except we drove into a heavy Scottish mist that laid fairly thick on the ground and couldn’t see a thing. Peter assured us there really was a castle there! Bit of a disappointment. LOL but that's Scottish weather for you.Our next stop was the Scottish Wool Center in Aberfoyle where we are scheduled to see some sort of presentation on sheep. I was skeptical, sending a boring lecture and a sales pitch and of course the whole center is a big shop. Pleasantly surprised in the end though, the presentation was interesting and amusing, all about the history of sheep in the British Isles. Yes, that doesn’t sound brilliant does it but they also had live sheep, representing the various evolutions of the sheep and several of them were actually the same as the sheep bred 2000 years ago! One little fellow had four horns on his head. These sheep had been isolated over the centuries and not cross bred with bigger or newer species. There was a man that would dress up as a Roman centurion and a Viking when that part of the history was told and the man doing the presentation was excellent. Later on outside in the paddock, he brought out a little sheep dog, a border collie, for a demonstration on how they train them to round up sheep with of course, actual sheep to be rounded up by the dog, commanded by specific words. They also train them to whistles as well for up in the hills where they will often be too far away to hear a man call.
We had a browse in the shop and a quick sandwich. The weather has cleared up but no, we weren't going to double back to Stirling to see the castle. Shame, that. I gave Randy and Kim the photos and they were really pleased. It wasn't a long drive into Glasgow from Aberfoyle, our destination being the Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum though the Transport Museum was close by and some of us went there in addition or instead of. We went to the Art Gallery to look at the paintings but there was an exhibition of armour that was interesting and there is a natural history section as well that we saw some of. Particulaly liked the rooms with had costumes and artifacts from various cultures around the world, Japanese, Maori, North American Native, India. We had a bit of a drive around Glasgow which was nice. Though Carole and I had done the tour last week, this time we got to see it under blue sky! The photos I took today, when compared to the same buildings I took photos in the rain last week, you would hardly recognize as the same buildings!
The hotel, the Forte Posthouse, is central, only a few blocks from the train stations in Glasgow. The luggage was already in our rooms when we got there because Alec had taken the bus to the hotel while we were in the gallery. The room is small but comfortable. We are all meeting in the lounge for 7 for a group photo though not a professional one as you normally see on tours. Seems they were not able to get a photographer to do it at a reasonable price. IN the mean time Carole and I walked down by the train station. I had wanted to go to the internet café and she wanted to do a bit of shopping at St. Enoch's center.As it turned out, we weren't able to set up for one, really no room but Carole took photos of most of the people we have spent the week with. We chatted and talked to Peter and Alec and later went in to dinner. We gave Peter and Alec their tips in the cards we had bought earlier and a lot of people were doing it at this time, before dinner. That's customary to tip the guide and driver and though the brochures suggest 3-5 US dollars a day per person per guide/driver, you really can just tip what you think. I think we decided on 20 pounds per man for the week's tour, about 6 dollars Canadian which was middle of the suggested range.
I sat at dinner with Randy and Kim so I could help identify the photos which elicited a lot of compliments from people they showed them to. The dinner was a buffet and quite good though I didn't eat a lot as my throat is still tender. The party broke up after dinner with hugs for everyone. Alec and Peter had disappeared before dinner and we didn’t see them again. Tomorrow we need to be at the train station by 9:30 for the 4 1/2 hour journey to London.
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