Monday, August 25
Today we arrived in Scotland. The road trip begins!
Our first stop was Rosslyn Chapel about a half-hour drive from the airport. The Chapel is known for its intricate stone carvings including over a dozen different leaves and plants. Legend holds that one of the plants depicted is supposedly Indian corn from the New World. However, this legend would place Prince Henry of Orkney, the grandfather of the founder of the Chapel, in the New World 100 years before Columbus.
Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside the Chapel where the plants, some decorated columns and other interesting stone carvings are located. As shown above, we did get some pictures of stoneworks on the outside of the Chapel including a musical Angel, a demon, a gargoyle waterspout and a camel.
Then we moved on to Melrose and spent the night at the Dryburgh Abbey Hotel.
We took a walk around the hotel grounds and looked over at the Dryburgh Abbey that we will visit in the morning. We also found a classic red telephone booth and a mail box just outside the grounds.