We expected Scotland to be cool, windy and raining. However today has been relatively warm and sunny with periods of cloud, but not a sign of rain.
The meals throughout the tour have been excellent, although we do miss our tube of Vegemite which was accidentally left at home.
Every place we visit has a shop, hoping to entice tourists to purchase gifts, mementoes, booklets, etc.
The castle where we stayed last night is said to be haunted by a ghost, because long ago a young girl threw herself from the turret because she did not want to marry her betrothed. At that time, children were considered to be adults when they were 5 years old, and girls were betrothed at age 7 for marriage at age 16.
The first stop today was at Hermitage Castle. It was originally a wooden castle, but after a fire it was reconstructed in stone as a family home which became an impenetrable "fortified museum".
At Abbotsford we visited the home of Sir Walter Scott, novelist, playwright and poet. He was born in Edinburgh but lived most of his life in the Abbotsford area. He built the very extravagent house which we inspected today as the fulfilment of a long-held vision. The cost of construction and embellishment was enormous and almost sent him bankrupt. He then arranged for the house to be established as a trust, on condition that he and his family could live there for life. The majority of his writing works were created here. The tour with headphones was excellent.
The final stop was at Rosslyn Chapel, which was built by the Normans. It seems that they ran out of cash before the buildings were completed, so the Knights Templar became involved during the crusades. These were the early (French) bankers, and the leader was eventually arrested and burnt at the stake. The movie of The Da Vinci Code was set here and the final Act shows the Chapel.
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