Shallowford Presbyterian Youth: Castles, Cathedrals, and Celiedhs

Yesterday on our way from Inverness to Aberdeen, we decided to take a detour from the four lane motorway where we might accidentally run into the Olympic torch, and instead we took perhaps the narrowest, curviest, hilliest road in all of Scotland. Somehow we only managed to make three people sick in the process, but another ten minutes and I think we could have tipped the scales.

All this took us to Balmoral Castle which is the Royal Families version of Camp David. It was an impressive compound with wonderful gardens, river walks, stables, etc. We couldn't see too much of the inside but we did walk through the ballroom, and see some of the queens former dresses. As we arrived, two rather official looking helicopters flew overhead. Come to find out, Prince Charles and Camilla arrived just as we did in preparation for the Olympic torch ceremony at the castle. Needless to say, we left just before the torch arrived.

After Balmoral, it was off to Aberdeen and Dyce Parish for a concert, dinner, and ceilidh. In one of the smaller spaces we have sung in, the choir did great. Despite making some adaptations and changes to accommodate the space, the almost capacity crowd loved every minute of it. Afterwards, we were treated to another ceilidh. This time was slightly different than the first, but they did a wonderful job of teaching all of the dances and everyone had a great time. If nothing else, it was a chance for some of our newly budding romances to have an excuse to dance with each other (no I will not give any names)!

This morning was our earliest yet so we would have plenty of time to get to Edinburgh in time to eat and shop before singing at St. Giles cathedral. We spent a couple hours on the Royal Mile and I am pretty sure that every ATM on the street ran out of money. The good news is, if our hotel goes up in flames tonight, I think we have enough wool and cashmere scarves to tie together and get everyone out safely.

There are certain places that are just made for singing. St Giles is definitely one of them. It was so incredible special to see and hear our kids singing in such a spectacular space, to see Emily and Claire get to conduct, to hear the way the sound lingers, etc. There were lots of people in and out as we sang, and I think we even developed some real fans during our 30 minute performance. Surely something that they will not soon forget.

After singing it was back to Dundee to the hotel for the night. Admittedly, I think we are all at least partly excited to be in a hotel tonight to catch up on our rest. Visiting each night with our host families has been so meaningful, but it's nice to turn the switch off and relax for a couple nights. For even more of a taste of home, the kids had KFC and McDonalds right across from the hotel tonight and as I write many of them are next door at the movie theater during their free time.