There is a certain breed of cattle here in Scotland which is much beloved and sought after. Our guide, Cornelius, told us that we could stop the bus if anyone spotted a Highland cow (pronounced “coo”) and if there were a space for the bus to pull over.

Yesterday we visited Blair Castle where we saw several Highland cows kept near the remains of the “kirk” (church). Here are some photos a member of our group took (there are several people with telescopic lenses and professional cameras).

You can see how hairy they are, which protects them from the cold and wind.

As for being beloved, I learned from Wikipedia that in 1954, Queen Elizabeth II ordered Highland cows to be kept at Balmoral Castle where they are still kept today. In the gift shops we have seen stuffed animal Highland cows and I even bought Highland cow paper napkins for my collection.

I really enjoyed Blair Castle in spite of having “dead things on the walls” in every single room (!) as our tour director described it. The exterior was not gray but white. All the furnishings looked like they were brand new and even the tapestries were not as faded as many others I’ve seen. The dish gallery was one of the largest I’ve ever seen.

In the afternoon we toured the Lindors Abbey Scotch whiskey distillery on the grounds of a former monastery and checked into our Edinburgh hotel.

Even though our tour director discouraged people from attending the “Spirit of Scotland”dinner show as being too touristy, four of us went anyway. I would have enjoyed it a lot more if the decibel level of the music weren’t earsplitting. I even whipped out my decibel meter which showed the level was consistently at 80 db and occasionally touched 85 db!

85 decibels is considered to be the maximum level of noise we should expose ourselves to for longer than 8 hours at a time. That is if we want to protect our hearing and prevent hearing damage or hearing loss.

I did enjoy the dancing, though! And I survived eating my first haggis! (Don’t ask me what the ingredients are!!)