Day Fourteen - Linlithgow Palace

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On Sunday morning at Dryburgh Arms, we had another fabulous breakfast, this time served by a woman we had seen a few times, who had to be the manager. She stopped by towards the end of our meal and sat & talked with us for an hour. She said she had a four-year degree in Hospitality.  

I had the sense that she was a language specialist because she was so at ease with our west coast USA slang, whatever it consists of.     

The staff never mentioned payment until we checked out, and paid in the diminutive pub. Dryburgh Arms had an abundance of charm and I was glad we'd booked this out-of-the-way gem for two nights.  

Before we left I saw the morning bartender just getting a fire going and realized he was lighting up a block of coal to keep the wood fire going all day, a labor saving approach. But when we stepped outside to drive away I noticed the coal burning odor coming from the bar chimney, whew, instantly irritating !           

Edinburgh was an hour's drive to the northwest and then we headed a little more west, on the freeway, arriving at Linlithgow around noon. We checked into our 3rd floor rooms at the Star & Garter Hotel. We found up to date accomodations & comfortable rooms, but alas, no lift.  

The Hotel is in the center of a small country town. Right behind it is a ScotRail station, and across the street is a shopping center, with a Tesco grocery and two competing coffee shops, next door to each other, one focused on donuts & the other on ambience & coffee drinks.  

Then we walked a few minutes to Linlithgow Palace. St. Michael's Kirk is the first historic attraction you come to, once inside the Palace gate.  

note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again.

	we stayed three nights		The Four Marys, restaurant, see note		near Linlithgow Palace		uphill to the Palace Gate
		St. Michael's Anglican Church		Kirk yard		terrific ceilings, continued
	fresh flowers		the altar		+expressive stained glass windows
				history of earliest head ministers

note - the Four Marys name refers to four women named Marie who were the longtime personal attendants to Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587) as she grew up in Paris and who accompanied her upon her return to Scotland, where she briefly resumed her role as Queen. The restaurant is near the palace entrance. 

Linlithgow Palace - A cold wind blew through the skeletal five-floor structure, with its 700 windows long gone, as well as original wood roofs. 

Once upon a time, these rooms resonated with political and/or personal importance, where Royal influence was the coin of the realm, and where Medieval status & grandeur were daily on display. Those rooms today are empty & regularly rained upon.  

It was great to climb circular stairs to the highest point and back. What remains here still has much grandeur. 

	Palace court yard w/ James V fountain		close up		a windswept Great Hall
		huge fireplace
	2nd floor passageway		circular stairs		apartment dwellers in a Royal Palace
		a fierce wind at the top of the Palace		good day for sailing on the Loch		the northeast 'turnpike', built by James VI
					Palace, Church, & town

We had dinner that night at the hotel, and it was pleasant to once again be the only overnight guests. The staff seemed glad to have visitors for a few nights.   

For the previous fourteen nights, we had stayed at very quiet & mostly country places, but here we were, in the center of town, with a traffic light outside, on the front side, and, a train station behind. 

On the street side, R & L were exposed to low-key traffic noise, which became louder upon opening a window for fresh air. Our room at the rear of the building faced the ScotRail station, maybe 100 ft. away. Electric trains came and went quietly, but the station itself seemed to hum like a high-voltage transformer. 

Fortunately for all of us, street & train sounds diminished around 11 pm, and we all slept well.  It was amazing that by our 2nd and 3rd nights there, those sounds were barely noticeable, so I guess we can quickly adapt to new environments.

One thing we could not adapt to was a bright green LED light, an emergency exit beacon located on the ceiling, just above the entry door, an amazingly effective sleep deterrent.   

Over breakfast the next morning we laughed when comparing notes on how we had each brought out tape or band aids to cover the dang thing, and you had to drag a chair over in order to stand on it and place them. 

I was fortunate to have some 2 x 4 inch bandages for potential hiking wounds in my safety kit, and just two of them defeated the alien green LED bulb.      

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