Perth on to St. Andrews

This morning we said "good bye" to our home  since Saturday and headed to Perth. The highlands were beautiful and we enjoyed such lovely weather. We could easily stay another week - we missed so much. We would have loved to have made it to Ayshire district, seen an island or two (Iona was the one we originally planned), Isle of Skye and traveled the coast down to Aberdeen. As it was, our goal was the Reformation Trail and that we did! So, the other sites will have to wait for a later trip.

Perth was a walled city, allowing the Scots protection from the French. We toured St. John's Kirk where John Knox preached, rallying the reformers. The high wall also protected the reformers from the Queen Regent. Interestingly, the volunteers at St. John's were a little more of the opinion that John Knox was good for Scotland. We have found most people, especially women, to be fairly negative and others neutral. The three started that when, but when pressed by Paul felt he was more an "instrument for good than ill."

The drive to St. Andrews was beautiful. The coast of Scotland is really gorgeous. Despite the sunshine, it was still chilly due to the strong breeze. St. Andrews may be my favorite place yet, although it's hard to pick just one. The Reformation history is strong and at long last not portrayed as much from some liberal agenda. The Castle was Knox heard his call, preached/taught, endured the Bottle Dungeon and was then taken as a slave for the French boats  is there. In front of the Castle you see the spot where George Wishart was martyred. If you like fiction, I highly recommend the book by Douglas Bond which gives lots of details on the history.

From there it's a short walk to the Cathedral. The ruins are beautiful but it easy to see why the mobs joined the reformers to bring down the indulgent wealth of the Catholic Church as the men were evil, immoral and not helping those they took vows to minister to, the poor. Unfortunately, the plagues give the wrong impression the the Cathedral was destroyed by the Reformers. They did attack and destroy idols inside the Cathedral but the actual building had already undergone much repair during various battles. Even the steeple was destroyed winds while being built and was never redone.  In the background is the first golf course sprawled along the coast. It is all really something to see.

In St. Andrews, we spent time at Trinity Church, where Knox also preached/pastored. This is where the fateful sermon on idols was preached.After which the priest attempted to administer mass, a young lad spoke out against the rite and the priest slapped him.... The "rascal mob" went a bit wild, casting down all idols and rushing to the monasteries and destroying idols. It was then that much of the interior of the Cathedral was destroyed and the priests spoils given to the poor.

 Touring St. Andrews University a school celebrating 600 years! Amazing. In front of the Chapel you see the marking of where Patrick Hamilton was martyred for his beliefs - the first martyr of the Reformation. St. Salvator houses John Knox's pulpit. There is some controversy whether it is the actual one.The older part is attached to wood that does look less aged - perhaps 1700- early 1800s. I choose to believe that the old broken one whose indeed the pulpit where Scotland's lead Reformer thundered his fiery messages.

I feel I am missing stuff, but when home and inserting the photos will no doubt add to the saga! We wanted to get to Edinburgh before 5pm because we hoped to visit Banner of Truth Trust there. Ian Murray was not available:),but the editor was extremely gracious in giving us much historical information and showing us around. Begun in London in 1970s, there is now an office in PA where most of the books we order come through. The pictures the Edinburgh office housed were amazing - an original of Spurgeon among others.

We stayed too long... so after a late and last night dinner at the White Lady Pub (appropriate!) it was on to cram every thing into our small carry-ons (yes, we tried to travel light) for a next morning departure at 7am.

Which brings me fairly up to date.The flight from Edinburgh was nice, similar to Fresno to San Diego. The airplane was larger though. We sat by Muhammad  from Qartar. Landing in London we'll killing  the time drinking Starbucks, checking emails (missed wifi over here) and Paul is chatting with some gals from Kingsburg who a big wrestlers....


My wifi is almost up - so later!