In the Steps of Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou

Today's big adventure involved a 45-minute bus trip to a small village called Roslin. Roslin is the home of a beautiful chapel with a fascinating history, and most recently the locale of the final scenes of "The Da Vinci Code". We'll have to watch the end of the movie again to place it completely, but it was definitely familiar. The chapel was built in the 1400's, and has ties to the Freemasons. There is also some compelling evidence in the architectural sculpture that the Knights of the Templar actually visited North America long before Columbus, as there are carvings of Indian corn in the arches,a plant unknown to Europe before the discovery of the New World. What a gorgeous chapel! Incredibly intricate sculptures absolutely everywhere--seemed like NOTHING was unadorned.

The chapel went through several periods of abuse, as did most of the religious structures (and castles/palaces). It lay pretty much unused for 200 years before one of the Earls of Roslin took it upon himself to begin restoration, in the 1800s. In the 1950s, they tried to "whitewash" the chapel as part of the restoration process. Unfortunately, the stuff they used did more damage than good, causing the chapel to mold over. In 1993, they erected this "temporary" roof structure to dry out the chapel, and good progress has been made. There is a stairway up to the roof level on the outside, so you can get a good look at all the elaborate flying buttresses, etc.

We took the bus back, had time for a bit of shopping and a traditional tea, and then went to catch our train to Newark, and then on to Nottingham (on and off without incident, thank you very much), where JoDee and Paul picked us up. Stoopped off at a pub for a quick drink before heading home to bed.