Puffin Poem

Puffin:

Steve H. showed his Iona photos to a group of co-workers at Lawrence. One of them (thanks, Carol!) remembered this childhood poem about puffins.

Ariel view of Iona

 
Looking north from the south end of the island. St. Columba's bay is in the foreground. Seeing it this way, a rocky patch in the blue sea, only heightens one's sense of the preciousness of the place. 

More photos

Just added this photo and about fifty others with titles and descriptions to the AppletIona photo pool. Enjoy!

Where are the pictures?!

Turns out it was harder to post pictures while traveling than it was to post words. Now that we're home, we're reviewing photos we've taken and started to make them available on Flickr. We've started a Flickr group for the pilgrimage, and any pilgrim who has photos to share will post them to the group pool for all to see. We also expect to be adding particularly interesting photos to this blog.

Click here to see the photos in the pool so far. Note that a link to the pool is at the top of the "Links" list in the right-hand column on this page.

Home again, home again ....

Tom Burns is partners in a travel business with his wife, Allison. She greeted us in the hotel lobby at 6:45 a.m. and accompanied us on our coach to the Edinburgh airport ... about twenty minutes from the heart of town. Our flight was delayed about an hour because of thunderstorms in southeastern England (we needed to transfer at Heathrow), but British Air was as good as its word and we arrived at Heathrow in plenty of time to make our connection to Chicago.

The flight from London to Chicago (on a 747) was essentially full (there were one or two seats evident in our economy cabin), and we pilgrims were seated in several different blocks. But these were only minor annoyances on a largely uneventful flight.

We arrived at O'Hare only about 30 minutes later than scheduled and most of us had no trouble going through immigration and customs, clearing those checkpoints in about 45 minutes. Eight of the twelve of us waited for over an hour to be joined by the other four. Customs reported that none of the missing four had been pulled aside for "secondary" screening, and attempts to page them did not avail. Rules against reentering the screening area are strict, so we waited ... not always with complete patience ... and tried to imagine the best.

In the end the delay was caused by their search for their luggage, which had been left on the tarmac in London!

We hurried to the pick-up point for our coach ride to Milwaukee, then waited another hour for the coach to arrive. At Milwaukee we boarded the three vans that had brought us from Appleton and drove home, arriving about midnight ... almost exactly 24 hours after we had left Edinburgh.

We are all resolved not to let the rigors of our return trip blur the joys of the experiences we shared. We are definitely glad to be home, even as we cherish the memories of our time together.

Last day in Scotland

The day dawned cool, gray, and misty, despite a forecast calling for sun and warmer temps. By the end of the day it had warmed to, perhaps, 65 degrees, though the gray skies remained.

We got a slow start, lingering over coffee and catching up on two days' worth of blogging. And here we are again!

Museums seemed to be the order of the day ... that and a wee bit of last-minute shopping. The Royal Museum and the Museum of Scotland, in the Old Town, have exhibits focusing on the prehistory and history of Scotland. The art gallery on Princes Street has a wonderful collection featuring works by many Scottish and other artists. Featured today was an exhibit of etching by Rembrandt from the gallery's permanent collection ... ones not shown at the Art Institute in Chicago. Joan, Ruth, and Vivian visited the National Portrait Gallery on the other side of town. They also went to the modern art museum, where they discovered a painting of the north beach on Iona.

Many of us attended the noon worship at St. Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile. It was a brief service of prayer and scripture ... not even a hymn to involve the congregation. The gospel reading from Matthew told of Jesus' calming the raging sea. One of the windows in the cathedral depicts exactly that story and was the focal point for Maureen as she listened. One phrase from the prayer stood out especially: "Give us, Lord, more wisdom before we speak and more understanding as we listen."

In looking about the cathedral, we noticed that the Thistle Chapel was closed for reconstruction, but as we looked through the gate we saw that the floor was inlaid with marble from Iona. Each time we discover some reminder of Iona, we realize more fully both how influential and important that tiny island has been in the development of Christianity in the British Isles and in our own spiritual growth.

We had dinner together at the Mussel Inn, down the street from our hotel, and except for a few die-hards, returned to our rooms early to pack. Our bus picks us up at 6:45 in the morning for transfer to the airport to begin our journey home. We are ready to be back with family and friends, but not quite so ready to face the realities of jobs and laundry. So, farewell from Scotland and know we will see you soon.

May the road rise to meet us,
May the wind be always at our backs,
May the sun shine warm on our faces,
May we be held safely in the palm of God's hand.

Peace and Love,

The Appletiona Pilgrims

Windows on Scottish society

Monday morning in Edinburgh was devoted to a guided bus tour of the city. Our guide arrived in Tartan pants (his "dress tartans," not his clan tartans) and quickly charmed us with his knowledge and his wit. Our tour included admission to the Royal Yacht Britannia (decommissioned in 1997 and now docked permanently at the Port of Edinburgh) and a guided tour of Edinburgh Castle. Both visits were wonderful and helped us better understand Scottish (and British) culture and history.

Tom Ross is, he said in introducing himself, a "Presbyterian of the John Knox variety," leading us to expect a rather rigid conservatism. Later he told us that he votes Green Party, and we found him to be genial, flexible, and funny. He could (and did) quote both Shakespeare and Robert Browning. Once, he said, someone asked him to compare the merits of Browning and Shakespeare. His response: "Well, I'm prepared to discuss it, but who is Shakespeare?"

The castle has many attractions. The most spectacular was witnessed by Jan and Robin -- a 21-gun salute by the palace guard marking the arrival of Queen Elizabeth at Waverly Station (deep in the valley below the castle). Evidently the Queen is in town for a series of garden parties (remember, her husband is the Duke of Edinburgh), and she arrived today. Robin has wonderful pictures of the mustering of the guard and the firing of the cannon.

The central city is quite hilly, but the deepest valleys are crossed by bridges which limit ascent and descent, and there is much of interest within an easy walk from our hotel, so we have been exploring. Interestingly, we saw several magnificent churches that are no longer functioning as churches. One is a restaurant; another is a museum of witchcraft! So the secularization of Scottish society is proceeding apace.

We seem to need frequent infusions of caffein ... which the Scots are happy to oblige. A "quick quart of coffee" at Starbuck revived one of our party this afternoon.

Most of us had dinner at The Abbotsford, a pub with upstairs restaurant less than two blocks from our hotel. The fare was traditional Scottish, and quite good: roast beef, fish and chips, steak and ale (sounds like "steak and eel") pie. Desserts we sampled included cheesecake, honey-poached peaches with mint cream, and apple crumble.

Following dinner several of us walked back toward the castle and stopped for an after-dinner drink at the Greyfriars Bobby pub. In the '50s, Disney made a film telling the story of Bobby, the Skye Terrier who, upon the death of the policeman who was his master, spent every remaining day lying on his master's grave. The dog was ultimately buried in the Greyfriars cemetery next to his master. The pub was over-decorated with memorabilia of the dog and film, but the atmosphere was charming. Two fiddlers, a guitarist, and a drummer sang and played (a mini-ceilidh) as we enjoyed our whisky and ale.

And so to bed....

Iona to Edinburgh

Sunday was our travel day -- Iona ... Fionnphort ... Craignure ... Oban ... Edinburgh. For the most part, everything went according to plan. We had our last breakfast at the St. Columba, and there was even time for a "cooked" breakfast for those who wanted it. Our luggage was carried to the jetty in the hotel van, saving us yet another lugging of the luggage. (This time, however, gravity would have been helping us!) There was time for one last group photo before the ferry arrived, and then we were off across the Iona sound.

Joining us on the ferry was Sid Graham, the pastor of the Church of Scotland parish on Iona. In another of a series of amazing coincidences, he had spent time recently in the Fox Valley, and knows both Chuck Valenti-Hein of Memorial Presbyterian Church in Appleton and Anne Coran of another Presbyterian church in Northeast Wisconsin.

We had time in Oban for a nice lunch. There was a minor scheduling glitch involving the charter bus that was to take us to Edinburgh. The original bus had equipment difficulties, but a substitute bus soon arrived and we were on our way. Evidently the more direct bus route from Oban to Edinburgh would have retraced our route from Glasgow. We opted instead for a more northerly route that took us through Stirling and Callander, thus exposing us to more wonderful Scottish landscape. Our route took us through the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, and camping, hiking, and biking were much in evidence.

Stirling is the site where William Wallace (aka Mel Gibson aka Braveheart) successfully challenged Edward the Confessor in 1297 at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Callander's claim to fame is that it provided safe passage for Rob Roy. (For more on both these topics, please read up on your Scottish history!)

We arrived in Edinburgh pretty much on schedule Sunday evening. At Dinner (the Orchid Lounge -- not recommended), we had a good discussion of how our experiences together and individually on Iona could be brought back to Appleton. More on this subject as our thoughts develop.

Approaching the end

Friday started out grey and drizzly, but by mid-morning the sun was in evidence. Our morning study was led by Steve W. and covered Celtic Mysticism. Steve did a wonderful job of describing mysticism, engaging us in thinking about "thin places" and how we might experience them, and sharing, from J. Philip Newell, a lament for the effects of the Synod of Whitby whereby the Celtic church and the Roman church parted ways. A rich experience that left us with much to ponder.

During the week, we've been exploring lunch options on the island. Today all twelve of us ate at The Argyll Hotel, where we had a wonderful light meal followed by a truly divine apple-rhubarb pie garnished with strawberries fresh from the Argyll's organic garden.

Afternoon pastimes included shopping, napping, and a trek by Doug and Steve H. to Dun Bhuirg, Iona's second-highest peak (at 225 feet), located near the western shore just north of the Beach at the Back of the Ocean. The views were spectacular. Of interest on Dun Bhuirg is the remains of an Iron-Age fort ("dun" means "fort") used from about 200 BCE to 200 CE, well before the arrival of Columba in 563 CE.

Coming down from the mountain, Doug and Steve walked south to Columba's Bay in hopes of finding Mermaid's Tears. Doug thought he was successful; Steve knew he was not!

Meanwhile, the shopping was evidently quite successful, as Pat arrived for dinner wearing a beautiful new necklace and earrings. We heard no report on the naps!

After supper, we attended evening worship at the Abbey Church. When we returned, we heard a sound from the meadow below the hotel garden. The sound resembles one of those twirly party noisemakers -- others have likened it to a frog's croaking. A couple from near London, also guests in the hotel, told us it was the call of a corncrake, an endangered species in the UK. It migrates here from West Africa. We learned that the bird is almost impossible to spot, though its sound is unmistakable. Through protection of its habitat on Iona (crofters are evidently paid not to cut the grass in which the bird nests), there are now six mating pairs on Iona.

At supper, talk frequently turned to the fact that tomorrow is our last day on Iona. It's been a wonderful time, and we are all reluctant to depart. We certainly hope to make the most of tomorrow!