Scotland - Fort George

[Continuing to post about our two week trip to Scotland in Sept-Oct 2017.]

Our visit to Fort George, near Inverness, was another chance to use our Historic Scotland Explorer Passes.

The fort is huge - the walls around measure a mile.

I think this is a modern drawbridge over a moat.

Guard houses on the corners.

The interior has row upon row of these buildings.

Another view of that drawbridge once we went up on the wall.

Fort George was built after the final Jacobite Rising was crushed at Culloden in 1746.  It was to serve as a bulwark against future unrest but defenses have never been tested.

It's still an active fort housing the Highlanders Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

We walked the mile around the wall in a very stiff wind.

The chapel had a wedding on the day we visited.

The fort sits on the Moray Firth.

It was interesting to compare Fort George to two other forts we'd visited in recent travels:

Fort Morgan, Alabama

and

Suomenlinna - outside Helsinki, Finland

No Sign of the Loch Ness Monster

On our trip to Scotland in Sept/Oct of last year, we headed north one day to visit Loch Ness.

The major tourist spot is the Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness and since we'd purchased the 7 day Historic Scotland Explorer Pass we took advantage of it.

The castle is right on the banks of Loch Ness so there was no reason not to look for that monster.

We had a beautiful day too.

The castle and its site have witnessed some of the most dramatic chapters in Scottish history.

This is where St. Columba is said to have worked miracles in the 6th century.

The castle was sacked and rebuilt countless times.

In 1692 it was blown up to prevent the Jacobites from using it.

No monsters out there!

Here is a schematic of its history.

Now its just magnificent ruins.

Above is one of my favorite views in Scotland.  I am puzzled though by what the lines are in the forested hills.

Books Read in 2017

The books I read in 2017 numbered 66.

Not as great a number as in previous years and I'm not sure why.

If you are looking for some good reads for 2018 consider some of these:

#63 The Danish Girl 

by David Ebershoff

This was my book club's selection.  I never saw the movie but it is based on the life of a real person.

It gave me incredible insight into the transgender mindset and compassion for those who feel

they are a different gender inside than what is manifested outside.

#63 Thanks, Obama - My Hopey, Changey White House Years 

by David Litt

My husband read this one first, recommended to him by a friend.  He said I needed to read it.  He was right.  It gave me such a lift and laughs in these depressing Trump times.

#51 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society 

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This was the third time I read this book.  One of my all time favorites.  If you have never read it. please look for it.

#49 The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

Another book club choice and one I've read a long time ago before I even kept a list of what I read.  It was a disturbing story and generated so much discussion in our book club.

#33 Little Heathens - Hard Times & High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression 

by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

What a wonderful memoir!  What a story of survival in the Depression years.  A real history lesson too.

#18 Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk 

by Kathleen Rooney

A great story based on the life of a real advertising executive.  It was a quick and delightful read.

#14 The Last Painting of Sara de Vos 

by Dominic Smith

A story within a story in two differing time periods.  This book prompted my trip to see the Vermeer though many months later since our first planned trip was delayed by snow.

How many books did you read in 2017?