Elgin Cathedral

While Elgin may be more famed for the stones that their Earl stole from Greece, the ruins of the cathedral are still quite impressive. The intact tower gives a lovely perspective on the octagonal chapter house and the rest of the ruin. 

The chapter house had beautiful ceilings and an amusing poem on a memorial:

Also, Scotland knows danger when it sees it. Warning:

Next stop: Loch Ness.

Actually, first was the town to the Loch's Northeast: Inverness. On the train from Elgin, I heard one of the train's ticket punchers singing the Imperial March from Star Wars with a distinct Scottish accent. Once in Inverness, I checked into the hostel and had a tasty dinner at the Mustard Seed, a restaurant inside a converted church. I love reclaimed spaces, ones where the architecture has been altered to accommodate a new use for the space. In this case, the church's high roof allowed a balcony inside the restaurant area but also left a great open space above the center of the restaurant. 

I of course walked by Inverness' castle, but it was constructed in the mid 1800s and I didn't find it too impressive, which is why it is not pictured here. I went to sleep early, ready to face monsters in the morn.