History of the World, Part One

I was told that my posts should have more history content in them, as people were wanting to learn the history we are experiencing. So, in honor of mine and my father’s history professor, Doug Skeen (Dad, from Decatur Baptist College, me from Dallas Baptist University), here’s my best shot.

When a mama planet and a daddy planet love each other very much, they have a baby planet. This baby planet was called Earth. As it grew and grew, many people lived and died and enjoyed breakfast sandwiches. As to why they had such affection for breakfast sandwiches, the answer is lost to time.

With deepest apologies, those responsible for the previous paragraph have been sacked. Let’s continue…

We started our day rather early, as we had to pack up and leave this lovely place. As we were just about to leave, Carrie noticed some highland coos near the fence, so,, of course, she had to get a few more pictures. Once we were all in the car, we added our destinations to the navigation, along with a stop for coffee, and headed out.

First on our agenda were the Kelpies statues. These are representations of Scottish mythical creatures who can take on many forms. One such form is the horse made from water. In legend, it was to lure people to the rivers, to their deaths. These particular statues also represent the agriculture of the area.

The consensus for a quick breakfast/coffee stop was a nearby McDonalds. This was partially a nod to Nana, as when she was with us in Scotland, she insisted we visit at least one Mickey-Dee’s, so, of course, we acquiesced. In this particular case, I made the mistake of using an American credit card to pay. As bitter a pill is it would be for the Ron Swansons of the world to admit, there are some things that Europe has over the US. One thing is the chip and pin credit card. We recently got the first part, but signing a receipt is so foreign to Scots that the poor cashier in the drive thru was practically speechless.

This process ended up taking forever, and I’m sure some Gaelic curses were being thrown about in cars behind us. Eventually, they figured out how to cancel the transcaction so that I could use Apple Pay, which didn’t require a signature, and we were able to receive our food and leave.

We headed off to Linlithgow Palace. When Carrie and I were here in 2018, the tours were led by high school students, who got special credit for doing this. Unfortunately, Covid killed another wonderful thing, and the tour was self-guided by poor technology.

Linlithgow Palace was the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots. It is a beautiful example of Renaissance architecture. As an adult, she came back to visit (she hadn’t been there since her childhood), and sent trumpeters in advance to proclaim her arrival. Even though it has seen better days, you can really get a feel of life back then. It also has a still-active church right next to the palace.

Carrie and Pat were in hyperdrive mode, and I hung back to make sure Walt and Rosanna survived the roughly-hewn stairs. We figured that Carrie and Pat had headed over to the church, so we went that way. Actually they had hiked up to the top of the palace, waaay up the crazy spiral stairs.

We eventually made contact, and let them know we were waiting in the car. The weather was nice and cool, and I actually enjoyed sitting in the breeze while they finished their tour. Then, we headed to Culross for the Abbey and Palace. After some tense moments of barely-single-lane roads and oncoming cars, we made it to the abbey. After a quick visit we went down the hill to see the palace.

Culross is a stuck-in-time town. It is so historically frozen, that it was heavily used in filming Outlander. We stopped in an art studio where we had previously visited, met the photographer, and bought my awesome Eliean Donan print. This time, there was a sad memorial to the photographer, Graham Harris Graham. He was such a nice guy to talk to. Apparently he had been out hiking and photographing, and was found dead by the highlands rescue teams. RIP Graham.

We then walked over to Culross Palace. It is a beautifully preserved historic mansion. The insides are a slice of history. Outlander used many rooms in its production, and you can really see why. It is so authentic and real. I must say people in the past lived in such dark environments. My favorite room is the painted chamber, with its intricately painted walls and ceilings.

At the rear of the palace are the exquisite gardens. There were lots of beautiful flowers, and many many happy pollinators. Carrie had a blast taking pictures of the bees and flowers. Afterward, we stopped at the cafe takeaway, and got some coffee, hot chocolate, scones, and a wonderful caramel shortbread. As we drove off, Pat divvied up the goodies, and we all shared a little snack.

Next on our list was Dunfermline Abbey. This is another very historic site. Robert the Bruce’s tomb is here, and his presence is inscribed in the top of the central tower. Inside the still-active church, we saw some beautiful stained glass, and an amazing pipe organ. They had a cast of Robert’s skull on display. We also found some great gifts for the kids there.

As we walked outside, Carrie was struck by the view. In one of her painting sessions, she had painted THIS view! It was really cool. We met back at the car to try and make it to our next stop, ST. Andrew’s castle and cathedral before the last entry at 4:45. We didn’t make it in time, so we walked around the outside and took some great pictures of the ruins, as well as the castle and nearby coast.

Back in the car, our next stop was our lodging for the night, Taypark House, in Dundee. We made it there, checked in, and the nice clerk brought our luggage up the stairs to us. We settled into our rooms, and Carrie and Pat explored a mysterious staircase leading up from the bathroom.

Apparently, we have a turret room. I guess it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, as our room is called “turret room”. There is a spiral staircase leading up to a turret, with windows all around, with nice views. There is, oddly, a big tub not in the bathroom, but right behind the sofa bed Pat is going to be sleeping on tonight. Walt asked if she was going to have to leave the room when Carrie and I take a bath (there is actually a shower in the bathroom), and she said, “They’re going to lock me in the turret.” (We made no such threats, at least publicly)

After relaxing a bit, we left for our dinner reservations at The Giddy Goose, a quirky restaurant. Tonight was £2 tacos. We all made our dinner choices, and when it came to me, I asked for the taco menu. Then, we all started adding tacos to our existing order. We had a feast. Everyone was pleased with their food tonight, and several of us stated how we should have eaten less.

We went back to our hotel, and got ready for photo importing and judging. I wrote the blog, and hope that the history content of today’s writing passes muster. Goodnight, and good luck.