Scotland - Day 1 and 2

For the last two weeks I’ve been in Scotland, England and Amsterdam.  The trip happened through the Reynolds Lead academy with 19 other pastors from the Western North Carolina Conference.

I thought I would blog the hi-lights of the trip over the next week or so.

We flew out on Tuesday, August 27th and arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland the next morning. We hopped right on the bus for a full day of touring.

Day One

The first stop was Hollyrood Palace which is a palace the queen still uses for events and hosting other dignitaries.

Next we toured St. Giles Cathedral and Edinburgh castle.

William Wallace and Robert the Bruce guard the entrance to the castle:

In a parking lot behind St. Giles cathedral lies the grave of the Scottish pastor, scholar, reformer and founder of the Presbyterian church in Scotland John Knox.  Someone literally parks on his grave today.  Knox believed everyone should be able to read the Bible in their own language which was radical at the time.  Seeing his grave in a parking lot was a great reminder of the truth that greatness in life isn’t about us, it’s about the Kingdom.

Day Two 

Our second day in Scotland was a free day.  Seven of us decided to rent a van and drive into the Northern highlands of Scotland.  We stopped a couple of places along the way for pics and eventually got to a need little town called Oban. We ate at local pub/restaurant and had fish and chips and tried haggis for the first time.  The fish n chips were good, I wasn’t a fan of haggis.

We spent about an hour just walking around and enjoying our time.  We headed back a different route so we could experience Glen Coe.  It was a beautiful area.  We stopped several times for pics and found an amazing Sunset over a lake with a castle in the background.  It was beautiful.  The pictures don’t do it justice.