Balmoral

We started the day with a really nice hike on the Balmoral estate. The property is absolutely gorgeous with fall colors dotting the rolling landscape. Our hike took us to a couple of notable cairns- the one built by Queen Victoria - (well not HER of course- but a very professional mason I’m sure) to honor her deceased husband Albert. Then another to honor her youngest son Leopold, (I think that was his name anyway) who had been born a hemophiliac and died at age 30 of complications. And a third- not quite so grand, to her (rumored) consort (“more than a loyal servant”) John Brown. Her dedication to Albert talked about her broken heartedness- very emotional for a British royal!
After the hike we headed up to the castle for lunch in the visitors’ center.
Now, I had really hoped that King Charles and his hussy wife Camilla would have been in residence as I had some “feedback” for them about the shameful way they behaved when he was married to Diana. There are some grudges I will just never let go of! But it was not to be. And had they been there, visitors are not allowed on the grounds. So my grudge will just need to fester a tad longer.
After lunch we strolled through the amazing gardens. Very very beautiful. They use shorn wool for mulch on many of the beds.
We returned to the Fife Arms. Most of us were joining an art tour of the hotel. Cynthia had signed up for a wine tasting, but wires got crossed and that tour had been cancelled. She was disappointed, but I assured her she could buy a good many glasses of wine for the hundred pounds they were gonna charge her for the wine tasting.
Dinner that night was at the fancy restaurant at the hotel. Now, throughout the trip I had been really struggling with my hearing issues. Loud restaurants and larger groups of people are a problem. (One of the other women, Penny, was also deaf in one ear. She had what is called a BAHA system, a bone anchored hearing aid, but that seemed to be of minimal help. Additionally, one of Cynthia’s ears had become completely clogged the day before leaving for the trip, so there were 3 out of 6 of us jockeying for position to allow us to hear. That night I chose completely wrong and really was not able to hear anything. Add to that all the discussion among the group about what wine they were gonna choose which went on ad nauseum plus the fact that I wasn’t even hungry and was pretty much sick of the fancy multi course meals. I was just tired of it. Like an exhausted two year old, I sulked throughout dinner. That was the last big noisy meal of the trip. I probably could have been a mite more gracious.En savoir plus