Inverness Museum

Earlier in this adventure when we had become fatigued walking all over Glasgow, I mentioned that I thought it might be nice to just stay in Inverness for the rest of this trip.  We stuck with our pre-planned plans but as we prepared to leave Inverness,  I would love more time there.

What a great town! We enjoyed loud, boisterous Scottish music over dinner and met many delightful people, both locals and visitors from around the world. One night the bagpiper asked each person in the room to tell where they are from. Before we left, a couple from Kansas came over to meet us because one of them grew up in Hennessy, which isn’t far from Jane’s home town (Watonga).

We had a goodly amount of time that Saturday morning before our train to Glasgow. The weather was beautiful, so we strolled along the banks of the Ness after breakfast.

One final objective remained, so we turned our attentions to the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery.

The displays in the museum filled in lot of gaps in my sketchy knowledge of Scottish history.  Each era was explained beautifully. My current interest is in the ancient times of the Picts, Celts, Vikings, and Scots who all had a part to play in the early history of Scotland.

I got to wondering about the Pictish cross on display here. We have seen them in different ancient cathedral grounds. The Picts were reputed to be barbaric, pagan warriors by all accounts and more or less the “wild men” of Scottish history.  Their conversion to Christianity seems like a bit of a long shot, but it broadens our thinking as well. Credit Columba and his fellow missionaries for facing down a tough mission field in a hostile culture. They brought Light into a dark place and changed the course of history.

The museum also had numerous objects peculiar to Scotland culture and history.  I took a liking to bagpipes and swords.

A fair amount of the museum was devoted to the Jacobite uprising, Bonny Price Charlie,  the tragic loss at Culloden and the Highland Clearances that altered Scotland forever.

In our travels, it comes up in conversations with Scots, and deeply held views come to the surface. 

The events before, during, and after Culloden have filled books and museums. I have read about it after previous trips to try to understand it. For that reason, I will not comment any further on it in this blog.

Before leaving I enjoyed presentations about the myths and legends of Scotland. From Kelpies to fairies to a monster on the loch, this side of the Scottish history and culture of this delightful country.

As has been our habit, we enjoyed wonderful Scottish music with our dinner.

We returned to our very comfortable Inverness B&B. With joy combined with reluctance to leave, we said fond farewells to our hosts Elaine and Matthew and set off on the last phase of our trip back to Glasgow.

As we walked to the train station, this lone piper stood by the River Ness to ensure that we will always remember Inverness.