THE BRITISH OPEN started today in St. Andrews. I'm not a golfing fan, so I seized the opportunity to visit other attractions in the town while hardly anyone else was at them. I took my son and his friend to visit the ruins of the castle first. The weather was cloudy but dry and reasonably warm.


The castle has underground mines and counter-mines, left over from a sixteenth century siege, which we also explored thoroughly.

The picture above was taken from the top of St. Rule's Tower, which we climbed from within after lunch:


This is a twelfth century tower on the Cathedral grounds. St. Rule's Tower is the building in the middle. The Cathedral too is in ruins: there are spires on the left side of the Tower and one wall is on the right. The spires are also visible in the lower right part of the castle photo above.

Here's a picture of St. Andrews which I also took from atop the Tower:


The Cathedral grounds are in the foreground. The clock tower on the right-hand street is at the University Chapel on North Street. The street on the left side is South Street. St. Mary's College is a couple blocks up and on the left-hand side of South Street. The golfing is taking place in the vicinity of the West Sands, to the far right and out beyond the town.

Thanks to all of you who have sent me things today for PaleoJudaica. I'll get to them as soon as I can. As you can see, I've been having a life today.