Friday -- Rosslyn and Scotch

We started out the day today at Rosslyn Chapel, also known as the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew. It's also now famous for its role in the Dan Brown book Da Vinci Code, although the tour guide pointed out Brown never came here and much of what he says about Rosslyn Chapel is “rubbish.” She said that they also pointed out to the film makers that some of their model of Rosslyn was incorrect, but “they didn't want to change it.” The film however did get the part right about the “grail stone” in the center of the chapel. The term is used because it's the stone that holds up the structure, but located under it, scans show that there is a vast room, as deep as the chapel is tall, with honey comb like storage areas. What's buried in there will forever be unknown though, because they don't have permission to go in there. Some speculate that at the time of reformation, when the church was forced to get rid of all their figures of idolatry (statutes) that they buried the statues under there, while others speculate it houses anything from the holy grail, to Jesus or Mary's remains... maybe even Elvis. If you stand under the grail stone, some say they feel warmth and have been cured of diseases. As you wander through the chapel, you see all the amazing detail of the carvings on the walls and windows and pillars, and even the ceiling. The grandest pillar is the Apprentice's pillar.. the apprentice was killed because the Master was jealous of his work. Now the Master's face is carved in the wall facing the Apprentice's pillar, so he must spend eternity looking at it. The stone carvings also contain an ancient symbol called the Green Man, a circle faced little man with vines coming out of his mouth, a pagan symbol for fertility. Nate bought a couple of Green Men souvenirs. Because the chapel is carved out of sand stone, the Scottish rainy weather has taken its toll on the chapel, and is literally breaking the stone back down into sand, so there's a big metal canopy over the roof, to keep the rain off and help the stone dry out naturally. They thought they would have to keep the canopy up for another couple of years... so it would be nice to come back after the drying process and many other renovations are complete. The nice thing about the canopy being there is it gave us a chance to walk up and look at the detail of the carvings on the outside of the chapel. There are a series of pyramid type structures on top of the church, and every one is uniquely carved, no two are the same. There was also a pretty view of the valley and the Rosslyn Castle ruins in the distance.

Next we had a little bit of a long drive up towards the highlands, but we knew Nate would enjoy Edradour Scotch Distillery. It's claim to fame is it's the smallest Scotch distillery in Scotland, only producing 15 barrels of Whiskey a week. Because it's so small, their aim is to make the best whiskey with the most traditional distilling process, and it really was fascinating. And you can tell how rich and smooth the flavor is when they give you a sample at the beginning of the tour. The guide explained that the origin of the word whiskey is from the Gaelic Iske, meaning water (the full phrase meant water of life) and after several glasses of Iske, it sounded more and more like “whiskey.” (insert chuckles here.)

We were running a little behind schedule because there was a lot of campers and tourist traffic heading up to the highlands, so I guess Easter weekend is a big outdoors holiday for the Scots. But as we headed back south to Sterling Castle, the traffic was fine on our side, and even more backed up than earlier on the northbound lanes. Nate seemed to think it was a little chilly for camping, but I guess that just shows he's not a native Scotsman.

Then we got to Sterling Castle, which has a lot of history in Scotland. Mary Queen of Scots was crowned Queen at 9 months old there. The good thing is that it's not a ruin, so there's a lot of castle left there, but the bad thing is there isn't much to see because the place was turned into an Army barracks at a certain time. So much of the historical furnishings are gone, but the castle itself is still in tact. We enjoyed wandering around there and then spent way too much money at the Book Store/Whiskey Shop (mostly on Whiskey though.)

They kicked us out of the castle at 6pm sharp and then we headed back to Dalkeith and stopped at a neighborhood pub for some grub. Dad had some haggis, which Nate is refusing to try (spoil sport.) Now we're hanging out in mom and dad's flat drinking wine, catching up on the journal, and hopefully I will convince them to play hearts with my brand new “Queens and Kings of England” playing cards that I bought at Westminster.