May 15 - Is it real or not?

We’re at sea for our last day of this leg of my journey.  Tomorrow all but 88 of my shipmates will be leaving.  Most of my incredibly smart and successful trivia and name that tune team will be leaving.  Worst of all, I found out last night that I have to change cabins.  I thought I had the same one for the whole voyage, but it turns out I have to move three doors down the hall.  What a pain.

 

Yesterday I took a shore excursion to St. Andrews, Scotland.  Any golf fans know the name because St. Andrews is widely known as the home of golf. I don’t play nor did my husband, but he loved to watch it and somehow I felt it was an excursion he would have taken. So off I went with my able driver Kevin and delightful guide Sandra.

 

Before I get into the question of whether it’s real or not, I must write a little about St. Andrews.  It’s a town of close to 20,000 on the east coast of Fife, about 30 miles northeast of Edinburgh. While there have been inhabitants for thousands of years in the area, the present town was founded around the mid-8^th century with the establishment of an abbey which was reputed to contain relics of St. Andrew the Apostle.  As a matter of fact St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and the cross of St. Andrew is what is on the flag of Scotland, a white cross on a blue background. St. Andrew was crucified and supposedly before he was he said that he wasn’t worthy enough to be crucified on a cross like Christ’s so he was placed on an x-shaped cross instead. A town grew up around the monastery and it eventually became the seat of the Bishop of Alba.  In 1160 the cathedral of St. Andrews was completed and the town became an important center for pilgrimages for people seeking help from the relics of the saint. Because of the pilgrims St. Andrews became the ecclesiastic capital of Scotland. In 1413 the University of St. Andrews was founded making it the third oldest university in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge.

 

Flag of St. Andrews

While the exact origins of golf aren’t known, Scotland is pretty universally considered the “home of golf” and in one of the earliest surviving documents about the sport written in 1552 it speaks of “playing at golf” on links near the waters of Eden (referring to the nearby river Eden).

The town and cathedral (which is now in ruins) went into decline during the Scottish Reformation in the mid-16^thcentury. Scotland was greatly influenced by the teachings of Martin Luther and then by those of John Knox and broke with the Catholic Church.  Scotland is actually the birthplace of Presbyterianism. There was even consideration of moving the University of St. Andrews to the city of Perth not far away, but that didn’t happen.  (An interesting thing about the University is that it is the alma mater of William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, who met as students there.)

 

I confess I didn't take this photo of what's left of the cathedral. It was spitting rain when I passed it.

Now on to golf in St. Andrews.  There are seven courses in St. Andrews with the most famous being the Old Course. It dates back to medieval times and is one on which an Open Championship is played.  Next to the first tee of the Old Course is the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews which was founded in 1754.  Until 2004 the Club exercised legislative power over the game worldwide except in the USA and Mexico. It’s a private club whose membership is by invitation only and which only began admitting women in late 2014 with Princess Anne being one of the first female members.  The Old Course is known for being difficult because of the frequently prevailing stiff winds coming off the North Sea. Unlike the very manicured grounds around many of the American courses, the courses here are not.  The roughs look rough with tall native grasses.  Our guide around the course was a senior citizen who grew up here and started playing as a boy.  He told us that one of the sand traps along the course is known as “Hell” because it’s that hard to get out of. One thing I found interesting was that I saw no golf carts at all; everyone walks the courses and most people had no caddies. The courses are public and I think he said it costs around £355 to play a round.

 

The building on the left is the Royal and Ancient Golf Club

Our guide Robert

I have to confess that I wimped out and didn’t walk the whole course with the guide.  It was very cold and windy and occasionally spitting rain.  Another lady and I left partway through and went to the old hotel next to the Golf Club. It was in that hotel where our group was having lunch so we went to the pub there and drank some hot tea to warm up. In due course the rest of the group came and we had a lunch of fish and chips with mushy peas.  After lunch we had free time to wander around the little town and shop.  I think all the men, and many women, made beelines to golf shops to buy hats, shirts and anything else that said “St. Andrews” or “Old Course” on them.  The lady who wimped out with me let her husband go and shop for golf stuff while she and I browsed through several shops selling beautiful cashmere things and jewelry.

 

A street in the town of St. Andrews

It was on our bus ride back to the ship that the subject of “is it real or not” came up. Most of us have heard of the Stone of Scone (pronounced skoon).  It is an oblong block of red sandstone that weighs close to 350 pounds.  The Stone, whose alternative name is the Stone of Destiny, was used by the Scottish kings during their coronation until the late 13^thcentury.  During the coronation ceremony the king would actually sit on it.  The Stone was kept in Scone Abbey which is now in ruins.  During the first War of Scottish Independence Edward I of England seized the stone and took it to England where it remained until 1996 when it was returned to Scotland.  English kings and queens were crowned while sitting on the Stone itself until a wooden platform was added to the Coronation chair in the 17^th century.  The question of whether the stone is real or not arose with a legend that began to be told.  According to the legend when the monks in Scone Abbey learned that Edward was on his way to capture the stone they hid it and what they gave him was a fake stone, made of the same rock and the same in size, weight and shape.  No one knows for sure so it’s anyone’s guess if it’s the real thing or not.

 

The Stone of Scone - Is it the real thing or a 700 year old fake?

Just one more thing I wanted to mention.  This eastern part of Scotland is very different from the highlands I saw the other day.  As we drove along we passed through lush fields of canola and barley.  Can you guess what the barley is used for?  Of course, it’s used to make the scotch whiskey the country is famous for.

 

It was a nice and interesting day, but when I got back to the ship I was absolutely pooped.  I was quite achy too; I think because of the cold and wind.  I cleaned up a little and had a quick dinner by myself and then turned in very early for me.  We have one sea day left in this leg of my cruise and most of the people I’ve met are getting off.  I do have some old friends boarding in Dover on the 16^th and it will be nice seeing them.  For now that’s all.