British Isles Cruise: Day 6--Glasgow Scotland and Military Tattoo

Wednesday, August 21

Today the ship ports in Glasgow, (Greenock) Scotland.  Our small Cruise Critic group departed the ship for Balmaha on the shore of Loch Lomond.  We pass Dumbarton Castle, which has a long and bloody history.  It has been attacked by Northumbrians, Vikings and home to the infant Mary, Queen of Scots before she was taken to France for her own safety.

We head north into the Trossachs known as “The Highlands in Miniature” as it is a region of craggy hills and sparkling lochs and the meeting place of lowland and highland Scotland.  Writers including Sir Walter Scott have been inspired here and the area is associated with Scotland’s folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor, who was portrayed in the movie “Rob Roy” by Liam Neeson.

Lunch is in a small town named Aberfoyle.  It’s known for The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott in 1810.  We enjoyed a pub meal with 2 other cruise critic members.

Leaving Aberfoyle we stop and see “Hamish” – the famous and much photographed Highland Cow!  Looks like he owns a woolen mill. 

Next stop is Stirling Castle, a great symbol of Scottish Independence and a source of national pride.  The castle’s long, turbulent history is associated with great figures from Scotland’s past, such as William Wallace and Mary Queen of Scots.  “He who holds Stirling, holds Scotland”.  These fateful words have proven to be true.  Stirling Castle’s strategic position high over the River Forth, has long been the key to Scotland.  

This castle of the Stuart kings is one of Scotland’s most historic and popular.  We certainly enjoyed touring this castle.  It’s unique in that there are six apartments done up as they might have looked in the mid-16^th century.  Costumed performers play the role of palace attendants, and they love to chat about castle life. 

The Great Hall is Scotland’s biggest medieval banqueting hall.  It was built by the great Renaissance king James IV. 

The Stirling Heads was a wonderful exhibit by the image makers of the king.  It included wood carvings of heads depicting all classes of castle life from the kings and queens to the court jesters.  Painted versions decorated the ceiling in one of the castle rooms.

Painted versions of the heads on ceiling

Close up of painted version

In the Great Kitchens, mannequin cooks oversee medieval recipes.  It was very interesting to see what life was like centuries ago.

Our final destination is Edinburgh where we had a typical Scottish dinner (even tasted haggis—look it up!)  at the Hub Café and then entered the castle grounds for the Military Tattoo.  Thousands of spectators gather to experience Scotland’s most popular attraction that feature military precision drills with massed bands, bagpipes, and drums, all representing various international Scottish Regiments.  There is traditional Scottish dancing and enactments of historical events. 

These were kids...the youngest was 6 years old!

We thoroughly enjoyed the performances.  We had always heard that if you are in Edinburgh, Scotland in August, you must not miss the Tattoo.  We had 2 energetic cruise critic rollcall members volunteer to take care of obtaining tickets to the Tattoo (they sell out fast), make the dinner reservations at a restaurant  at the base of the castle, and arrange the transportation bus/driver from the ship to include a day of siteseeing.  They did a great job and saved us a lot of money since we didn’t have to book through the cruise ship, but this all does come with a little stress….

After the show, it was back on the bus for a 2-hour drive back to Glasgow and our ship. We left Edinburgh at about 10:30 pm and shortly into our ride the van experienced some engine trouble.  We heard the driver calling his office to report that we had an “emergency and needed a replacement van”.  Our poor cruise critic tour organizer, Jo, just about had a meltdown as she was sure we were going to miss the ship.  After the phone call, the driver assured us that we would be fine continuing on in the van, but we would be driving slower.  It was a tense ride until we actually arrived at the port about 1 am.  We knew we were ahead of the Princess excursion buses so that was good.  The ship sailed at 2 am and we collapsed in bed after a very busy but enjoyable day.

British Isles Cruise: Day 5--Liverpool, England

Tuesday, August 20

Today we are in Liverpool, England and we are out and about on our own today taking in a little bit of the Beatles, the Titanic, the Blitz of WWII and a little bit of the Angell family history.

From the Cruise Critic website, I found a suggested walking tour posted by a gentleman who lives in Liverpool and is very proud to share his city with us cruisers.  We start our walking tour in front of the “Three Graces”, the magnificent buildings adorning the World Heritage site that is the Liverpool waterfront.  On top of the Liver Building are Liver birds.

Legend says that if they fly away then a great catastrophe will befall the city.  They’re still there despite Hitler’s best efforts.

We then looked for a Plaque built into wall on Pier Head.  It commemorates more than a million American soldiers who passed through the port during the WWII on their way to Europe.  We couldn’t find the plaque until returning to the ship later in the day.  Access was blocked to it as there was construction going on.

This memorial on Liverpool’s waterfront is dedicated to the 233 engineers that lost their lives in the disaster as they remained in the ship supplying the sticken liner with electricity and other amenities for as long as possible.  The monument is notable as the first monument in the UK to depict The Working Man.

We walked up away from the port and found the Albion House, which was the headquarters of the White Star Line at the time of the Titanic disaster in 1912.

The Titanic was registered in Liverpool, the home of the White Star Line.  And this is where all of the relatives of passengers and crew waited on that very corner for news of their loved ones.

Continuing on up the street we reach the Queen Victoria Monument.  I found a photo on the internet taken from this location after 8 nights of bombing during the Blitz in May, 1941 and then took a photo today. 

Then it was on to Beatle Land in the Cavern Quarter.  We found the Cavern Club—not the original but a faithful reproduction of the one the Beatles played at. 

Eleanor Rigby statue is nearby, dedicated to “All the lonely people.”

And my friend, John Lennon still hangs out on Mathew Street.

Back down to the pier, we bought tickets for a “return” (roundtrip) ride on the Mersey Ferry.  It cruised the Mersey River with narration of what we were seeing and by the end of the cruise, everyone was singing the Beatles song referencing “ferry ‘cross the Mersey”…..

The Liverpool Museum

At the Maritime Museum on the waterfront we explored the Titanic exhibition.  It was an interesting exhibit with the real-life stories of those who sailed on the Titanic, in their own words.  The Titanic was registered in Liverpool and carried the city’s name on her stern.  133 of Titanic’s passengers and crew were Liverpool-born or had connections with the city.  We saw many artifacts, including the only existing first class ticket and a Spode china saucer, which is one of only nine in existence.

Ticket price comparisons for the Titanic.

Terry’s great grandfather sailed from Liverpool in 1856 on the Yorkshire to start a new life in the USA.  We explored the museums and found photos of what the port looked like in the mid-1800’s.  The port has changed dramatically since that time and we learned that the area where the “Three Graces” buildings stand is actually where the docks were back in the 1850’s. 

 

The Three Graces Buildings

It’s likely that Great-grandpa James arrived in Liverpool from the Cambridge area by train at this train station.

Millions of people have immigrated to the US and Canada from the Liverpool port.  We have traced 3 ships carrying Terry’s ancestors from Liverpool, and we learned from our museum visits that if your ancestors came from Scandinavia (like mine did), there’s a very good chance that they, too, sailed from Liverpool.  Cool, I’ll be checking into that.

It was a great day exploring Liverpool and we felt we covered everything that we set out to see. 

Next up…..Scotland!!