My maternal side of the family came from the Stirling area and my paternal side came from the Kingdom of Fife. When we were children my Grandpa Thomson used to say that the reason there was no "p" in Thomson was because the Scottish are too frugal to use a letter they didn't pronounce. Well, I don't know if that is the true, but I found that when looking in the phone directories in Scotland there were virtually no names spelled Thompson. In 1997 the Chief of the Clan MacTavish/Thomson was re-established - long dormant since 1793 by his family. It was once thought that MacTavish was a sept of Campbell, but historical research has found that this is not the case. Clan MacTavish is one of the original 69 clans and the Chiefs badge has been officially changed to show the MacTavish the dominant with the design in 1st & 4th quarters instead of the old 2nd & 3rd. It is said that at the battle at the Culloden the MacTavish were not raised as a clan to fight simply because their Chief had been imprisioned so they had no official leader. It is an old and proud clan to be a descendent of!

I have to admit that Scotland has always been a fascination to me - I love the music, culture and beauty of the landscape (well, what I had seen in books up until my visit, that is). My library is full of books on Celtic Mythology and stories of the heros of Scotland (or Alba as they referred to it). The Celts were a lyrical people, who had a love of music, story and self. If you look at the history of the place you will understand. Heck, even my dogs have been Scottish. Before I was born my mom had a brindle Cairn Terrier named Angus, and then when I was a teenager we got another brindle Cairn named MacGregor Dundee. So, to follow my family tradition, my own first pup was a wheaton Cairn named Angus McGee. I am now owned by two West Highland White Terriers (Westies) named Diarmid MacThomson Mor and Alexander MacTavish Mor, both with very Scottish roots!

So, given our Scottish heritage, a few years back my parents, Dick and Jo'Anna, took my younger brother Rob, his wife Terri, and myself to Scotland for a couple of weeks. If you've never been there I would suggest you visit if you get the chance. The people are warm and friendly. There was not one place we went in the entire country where we weren't treated as if we were "friends" by everyone. The scenery is gorgeous and breathtaking at times. The heather on the hills is a sight to see (and I found out that depending on the season of the year there are different colors of heather - not just purple).

Saw much of the country by Scotrail when traveling between areas. We flew from the U.S. into Glasgow and went to a place called Culross (pronounced to those of us in America like, Coor - is). A lovely old town that the National Trust of Scotland has restored, old palace and all. It has quaint streets and a lovely view of the Firth of Forth (body of water).

Stayed there with a fantastic Scots couple Alan and Rose who are relatives of friends of my parents. While Alan and Rose both have a lovely Scottish burr, their son Keith has this very highland accent which at times was hard to understand. They aren't sure where he developed his accent, but it was a hoot to talk to him. Their home was gorgeous, sitting on a hill overlooking this 16th century town of Culross. They gave us quite the tour and made all five of us feel like family. They have since sold their business and their home and are currently residing in Spain until they decide where they want to go. They have travelled a lot during their years of marriage and lived all over the world, so no telling where they will end up.

While we were staying with them we got some interesting history of the region from them both. It seems that during the age of the black plaque they would wrap bodies in cloth and when the tide went out would stick them out in the natural breakwalls underwater so that they were away from the living. This worked fine until some time this century when they found skeletons washing up on the shoreline - that's when they found out about the mass underwater burials that were done back then - yuck

Culross is in the Kingdom of Fife where my father's family hails from. We used this as a base of travel for the first week and explored Fife and the surrounding areas. While traveling around by car (driving on the "wrong" side is definately strange) we took a trip to Stirling to visit a number of sites. The first stop on our tour was the William Wallace Monument. It is a large stone building with 246 stairs to reach the top. I loaded up on the motrin and slowly made my way to the top. Fortunately there are two levels where you can stop, check out some history, and rest before making your way upward. The stairway is winding with small triangular stairs. (Wasn't bad going up - but coming down made you sick if you looked down, and with my bad knees I had to look down for every step). The view from the top was breathtaking. The monument sits atop a high hill so you're quite high when looking out from the top. Could see Stirling Castle and the regions beyond from there. Terri is afraid of heights - the climb up was OK because we were inside. She could look out from the center of the top, but couldn't get near the edge. Got some nice shots - although the haar (fog) was rolling in from the Highlands by the time we were ready to leave.

From the Wallace Monument we went on to tour Stirling Castle (mom's famliy comes from this area). It had lovely gardens and a great view. The main entrance had a number of different levels of stone on it as they rasied the height of the wall above the gate over the centuries. You could tell that as weapons became larger and more accurate they had to increase the height of the wall to maintain their safety. There had been some excavation done about 15 years ago which unearlthed the original kitchens (located underground). They restored them and then used figurines and items to recreate it for the people to see. Seems that at one point in history they decided that the excavated kitchens posed a threat to safety since they created a weakness in the natural walls, so they filled it full of dirt. Was interesting to walk through and look at the size of the ovens they used to cook and bake with.

Another place we visited was called Rosslyn Chapel. This chapel is extremely old and was originally carved out by master masons. The stonework is so ornate. The building was undergoing restoration while we were there and they had erected a steel and aluminium roof over the building so that the stone roof could be removed. They were doing this to allow the inside to dry out (all that stone over hundreds and hundreds of years gets a bit wet). There are two pillars of note - the Master Pillar and the Apprentice Pillar. It is said that the Master, when seeing the more ornate and beautiful work of his apprentice, murdered him and was then executed himself. It is absolutely amazing that people could carve out this structure so ornately so long ago.

After leaving Alan and Rose's company we travelled on to Edinburgh for short stay. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland having the "Royal Mile" span the center of the old towne. It's one mile from Edinburgh Castle at the top of the hill, to Holyrude Castle and the bottom. Edinburgh Castle is still a working castle with soldiers still barracked there. It was a marvelous place to visit. Saw the ancient royal crown and stone upon which ancient kings were crowned, and the original sceptur which are on display (under very tight security). We left he castle and headed down the Royal Mile past the Cannon Gate Kirk where some of my father's ancestors were married. It is the Royal Church when they are in town, having the front row pew boxes marked for the Queen and her Prince Consort. Lots of people buried with my family's last names everywhere.

To add to the fun of the trip Dad and Mom had booked us on a sleeper train to London where we disembarked and changed stations to pick up the Chunnel Train to Paris. It's rather odd, you never actually see the English Channel since the train starts going underground before you get there and comes up on the other side. What you get is 20 minutes of complete darkness - but it makes nice short work of the trip!

Toured Paris down the River Seine, checking out the scenery. The Eiffel Tower, various monuments and bridges, the Louvre, and Notre Dame. Terri got a bit creeped out over all the "dead people" buried in the walls and floors of the cathedral. Felt odd to walk across stone floors you knew were tombstones for people. Dad lit a candle at one of the altars for Nancy - she would have loved to have seen something like that (besides, she was the catholic after all). It is very dark inside so much is difficult to see. The bridges and various monuments scattered around town held more interest for me. They also have ornate carousels scattered around town - why exactly I don't know, but they are lovely.

From Paris we took the Chunnel back to London and then boarded another sleeper train for Edinburgh. There we collected the rest of our luggage and took the train to York, England. We toured Yorkminster (again, a lot of dead people buried in the floors and walls). They had done some excavation in order to shore up one of the turrets after a fire years ago and came across old crypt and below that artifacts and parts of the original Norman church that had sat ont he site a thousand years ago. Below that they found parts of a wall from the Roman garrison that was also once located on that site. It was a bit of history to touch and see. Amazing.

Now that my knees have been replaced I hope to visit Scotland again in the near future. We have been told by friends with family still living in Scotland that there has been an influx of non-Scots (middle & eastern Europeans) into the country which has changed the face of the lowlands. English & gaelic are not the only languages spoken and much of the "Scottishness" is gone. We are told that the Highlands are still "true Scotland" which is good since that's where we want to go anyhow. Hopefully the government of Scotland will have the good sense not to allow their country to be completely overrun and changed with demands of schooling, etc. to be in their own individual languages. Scotland is not a melting pot country like the United States, but even we have our own problems over this as we were settled as an English speaking country and constantly have people demanding to be taught in their own languages. If I moved to their countries of origin I would be expected to conform to their ways, so why then do they demand everyone else change for them - they made the choice to move there. Ah well, as you can see this is one of my pet peeves! Robert, Terri & I will be visiting the Highland again in 2005!