Day 5, Wednesday, April 19, Edinburgh

Today we experienced our first rides on a tender to shore. Quite an adventure! We boarded the bus once ashore and proceeded to Broomhall, the home of the Bruce family, direct descendants of Robert the Bruce, the hero of the first war of Scottish Indepence from England. He was king in the 14th century. His family, the continuing Earls have had been a major force in Scottish and world history since. The current earl is 99 years old (his wife is 100!). Their son, was our tour guide. No pictures were allowed inside the house but the presentation was fabulous.

In the first room we were in we were surrounded by Greek antiquities. One of the previous Earls had spent his fortune bringing back the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon and plaster casts of these dating to the early 1800’s were on display. The British government declared them property of the Crown and gave him only about half of what it had cost him to bring them back. After that we went to the library, which had an astounding collection of books and letters. He had personal letters between a later Earl and, among other things, a promissory note from Andrew Carnegie for £35, and correspondence from him. Other famous names included Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other American notables. In other rooms, we saw a plaster cast of the skull of Robert the Bruce. A totally fascinating three hours with a man who knew an incredible amount of information about his ancestors.

We then went back to the ship, via the tender, and did laundry and I managed to get caught up on my blogs. In the evening we met the Ferrans in the bow of the ship as we headed out and then went to a lecture by the personal assistant to Princess Diana. Then dinner and bed.

We are about to land in the Orkney Islands for our next stop.