Well, sorry to all, my team seems to be too busy to file their reports. I guess that is how it should be, perhaps. Please keep your eyes peeled for future posts that are out of order and go back to that first vocational day.
Moving on to the next full day of team activities which finds us at Dumfermline-Carnegie's breakfast meeting to give our presentation. Everything went well with the notable exception that the team leader messed up his talk and skipped one slide. It was not a crisis, but my team noticed the defect and called me on it later. Youth these days have no respect. Well, in truth, they only teased me a little.
Immediately after the presentation we all jumped on a nearby train to ride across the old 1890's rail bridge, both architecturally and historically significant, across the Firth of Firth. A quick walk, quite difficult for Emily in her 12 inch stilletto heels, down to the Firth. OK, maybe they were 4 inch, but, still a challenging hike down a slippery or muddy trail. Everyone made it safely down and there were no complaints at all, it just required some caution and patience. After a quick coffee (read "hot chocolate" for me) at Hawes Tavern, we hopped onto the Maid of the Forth, a ferry boat, to view Inchcolm Island and to get the view from the Firth. It was interesting to see Edinburgh from this vantage point in the distance.
Lunch was at the home of Neil Maclure, and his wife, who really did an amazing job for us. Delicious sandwiches (including vegetarian soups and sandwiches for Emily that were too good for me to pass up), shortbread, oatcakes and the aforementioned soups were provided in plentiful amounts. It was also wonderful fellowship. Sadly, a you will soon read, Casey began to drop hints about fishing in the area.
We darted off to the local library where David Munro (a geologist and local historian) shared some history of the Kinross area and lead us over to Loch Leven for a short boat ride over to Loch Leven castle, perhaps first constructed as early as 1257 or so, where Mary Queen of Scots had been imprisoned once for 11 months. It was a very simple castle, I think Mot and Bailey would be a fair description, with its one main 5 storey tower, a surrounding wall, maybe 120 to 150 yards to a side, and a smaller tower (Glassin tower) where she was held.
Dinner was in the home of Club President Sandy and his wife, and included the other host families and many Rotarians involved in our experience. The food was excellent (thanks, Trevor, though I'll never forgive you for withholding the vegetarian dish recipe....just kidding) and the company even better. It was the culmination of an amazing few days in Kinross. Our hosts could not have been more welcoming or more supportive. Unfortunately, Casey strongarmed Neil Maclure into a fishing trip the next morning, with Ben and I agreeing to go. Silly us.