Scotland Day 2... June 5th

Day 11…

Started off phenomenal!!! We received free breakfast at our hostel and I actually tried the nutella (can you believe I sort of had a sandwich!) Benae and I left for the train to Dundee at 9 and we were able to sleep for an extra hour on it J When we arrived in Dundee it was almost completely deserted! We had no one to really ask for directions so we had to guess where the bus stop was at, and when we finally got there, the signs told us we had to have exact change! Now that was a bit of a problem sense not one place we were next to was open!!! Fortunately we met a man here, John, and he told us the bus drivers were extremely nice and would hopefully have change for us. Luckily they did.





On the bus ride to Glamis it was beautiful rolling hills one right after the other. Tons of sheep and cows grazing in the meadows with cottage type houses in the back ground, and then when we went over a larger hill we saw the Glamis Castle.



Glamis Castle isn’t like other castles, its down in a valley setting with many fields surrounding it. We took a tour of the castle and it took about an hour. There were no pictures aloud but I decided I was going to break a few rules and take a few with my phone… I was so stunning I couldn’t help it! The castle had a lot of the original stone work and ceiling carvings. Spiral staircases led to the upper turrets and a large central stair case led down to the lower cellar or dungeon.  We went up the side stair case into the billiard room. The pool table is larger than a normal one but the carvings along the side of it are extremely detailed. They had a replica of the Discovery ship at the end next to this beautiful yellow living room set (definitely chairs I will eventually want in my house.) The bedroom is very simple, with just a bed in it and in the corner the queen had her bed (which didn’t belong, but if she stayed she only wanted to sleep in Her bed). Throughout the entire castle there were stuffed ducks or birds of some kind lining the stair coves or the edges of rooms.



Guard Station at Glamis Castle



When we were done with our tour inside, we looked around the garden a bit outside… Now because it was a little chilly outside and of course I didn’t bring a jacket because I wanted to have a cute outfit on for any pictures I was in… but the gardens were beautiful! We took pictures by the guard’s tower, which looked like a mini castle, and walked through part of the Italian garden, which reminded me of a small version of Hampton Courts side garden.

Glamis Castle

We went back to the ticket stand to wait for our bus and we were a bit early, so the ticket men, Bryan and John, talked to us about the castle and why we chose this one and what we were in Scotland for, etc… These were the friendliest old men, and they made me wish I was staying longer in Scotland to go see all these other castles that sound amazing. So I will eventually be coming back and staying in Scotland for at least 2 weeks!!! But once Bryan realized that we were interior design students he asked us if we wanted to go see the rest of the castle (normally if they would have known a day sooner that we were coming, then he could have guaranteed it) and we of course said yes so he went and asked his manage Mark if he had time to take us up. And when Mark came over and talked to us and told us he would be happy to once he has a second between his duties he would!!!! I was so excited I could hardly handle it… we ended up missing our bus in order to stay later in order to go up to the top, so we just sat along the side of the ticket booth Benae is sketching while I write this.



Benae and I on our private tour
of Glamis Castle



On top of Glamis Castle



Fortunately we didn’t wait that long. We went all the way to the top of the castle. We went into about 20 rooms, even into the turrets. They were not refurbished yet but the floors were still in tack and they are larger than I expected, especially after seeing the rooms on the tour... The original wall paper was still on the walls, barely there but we did get a sense of what it looked like. The wood I am sure was original sense they did not only look extremely used but in a few places it even looked thin. The round stair case we went up in order to get to each level has wide treads, but extremely tall risers, about a foot tall and the standard is around 7. When we finally made it to the roof top, the door was on the smaller side, but we went out and had by far the best view of the land and top of the castle.



We ended up talking the Bryan and John again for another hour while we waited for the bus and it was by far some of the most entertaining conversations I have ever had. They loved our accents, heck I didn’t think we hardly even had one but to them we most definitely do. Our bus ride back wasn’t too bad, but we were trying to hurry because we were wanted to view the Discovery, which was the boat that the castle had a replica of in the billiard room. We basically ran to see it so we didn’t miss our 6:38 train back to Edinburgh and when we got there they were closing, but Benae batted her eyes and the guy at the ticket stand told us to hurry through the museum and get outside, we didn’t really get to actually read about the ship but we did get to see it!



The Discovery Ship



When we got onto the ship we were actually aloud to walk anywhere we wanted, There we no workers standing there telling us no, and they had hardly any boundaries, although how far can you really go on a ship? But we saw every inch of what was available. There were mannequins dressed as the people working the ship, a few of them too realistic because I jumped, but it did help give a sense of what it was like while at sea. The state rooms for the captain and first mate were much bigger than any rooms for the others. They all had wood paneling and hardly any colors. But the conference room was more exquisite and had a detailed carved into the wood cabinets and table as well.



Captain of The Discovery



We went out and talked to the man that let us run through, literally we only took like 30 minutes, but he talked to us along with his boss and one of the people that help maintain the ship, and we learned all about the different accents and words of people from Scotland, yes they do have their own language mixed in with English. The older man asked us for our names so he could find us on facebook and send us some more of the words and there meaning J



We got on our train to go back to Edinburgh and it was packed! Benae caught this guy’s eye and was totally flirting with him on till the first stop, where almost no one got off. So we ended up sitting right behind him and his friends. They kept finding any reason possible to get up, shift or just completely turn around and look at us. Benae was going to write on the one guys arm without him noticing but I stopped her because I didn’t want them to follow us or start talking to us… however they ended up getting off on the same stop as us…



We got back to Edinburgh and we really wanted a kilt, scarf, or tartan corset, so we stopped in a little shop on the way back and of course they were extremely expensive!!!  The guy that helped us was kind of creepy and somehow managed to talk me into buying a cashmere and wool scarf, although I do love it so I can’t complain.

~Loving Scotland~

Elyse