I miss the castles

Not much to report today. An old friend was in town last night for her bachelorette party, so I went out and had a few beers more than I should have ... today has been less than pleasant. I've decided that on days when I have nothing particularly new to talk about, I'll live vicariously through my past self and show pictures from the Scotland trip. So, here goes. This is Inverness Castle.



The reason it looks so fancy and nice and new (and therefore less castley) is because it is new. During the Jacobite Revolution in Scotland, when English forces were on their way to the highlands, the Scots decided to blow up the castle rather than let the English take it and use it as a stronghold. On one hand, it made sense, since a battle fought purely in the fields would favor the home side, but it does seem that defending a castle gives some advantage. Anyway, they had a French engineer, who understandably had no more love for the English than the Scots did, take charge of the demolition. He succeeded, and the original castle was completely destroyed. Unfortunately he also blew himself up in the process. Live by the black powder, die by the black powder.