Day 19 - Day trip to the Borders.

Today we took a day trip by train and bus to the Borders (the area that is the borders of England and Scotland). We rode around the Borders in a tour bus with a wonderful tour guide that knew everything about everything! We stopped to take in Hadrian's Wall, the wall that was built by the Romans to keep the Scottish "savages" out of England. There wasn't much left of the wall to see, thanks to people stealing the stones over time to build homes and walls of their own. It was more interesting to learn of the history behind the wall and even more interesting to learn about how long it was and how intricate the Romans had built it. To think the wall and the trenches and the fortresses were built long before mechanical tools! It still amazes me to think about this and the neolithic sites in Orkney.

We stopped at the battle site of Flodden where the English and the Scots fought and the English won. It was interesting to compare the site to that of Culloden and it's vast vistors center; Flodden had nothing of the sort. It was just a simple monument in a small town. We also stopped in Kelso and ran into a beautiful abbey. The architecture was stunning! So far that has been my favorite feature of Scotland - the only thing (besides the scenery) that has yet to disappoint me!

The rest of the trip included a nice long bus ride through the empty Borders area. The scenery is so breathtaking! I can't understand why nobody lives out here. I would in an instant! It was quite a few hours before we got back to Edinburgh.

Tonight we had to say goodbye to Ken. It wasn't very formal - thanks to dining in at Pizza Hut since no other restaurant hosted kids after a certain time nor could they hold all of us. I'm glad that I got to meet such an interesting person who brough much insight to our research and the rest of our trip. I look forward to seeing him again and hearing about everything he has to say about just about any topic you give him. I thank him for the vast amount of knowledge that he filled my head with.

Tomorrow: Mary King's Close: the underground Edinburgh, and our last night in Scotland!