Adventures in Scotland

So we left London on Wednesday and took a train to Edinburgh, Scotland. The train ride was nice and relaxing and we made plenty of friends who told us about things to not miss while visiting. We arrived at the train station almost exactly four hours after leaving London, found our hotel and immediately went out to get dinner because we were starving!

We ended up finding a cute little pub in Grass Market and enjoyed a leisurely dinner

And a leisurely beer...

Then we explored the city for a few hours before it got dark and we went back and crashed...

Scottish Parliament

The hike up Arthur's Seat (which we did the following morning)

A picture for my Dos...not to be confused with Hilary's Bizarre

Shopping for tartans...

Edinburgh Castle

Hollyrood Palace

The next morning we got up and had free, delicious breakfast at our hotel (score!!!) then hiked up Arthur's Seat! St. Anthony's Chapel (seen below) is about a quarter of the way up or so.

Almost the top

A view from the top

After our hike we went on a tour of Edinburgh Castle. I can't say enough about the guided tours we went on during our travels. They were really great and a great way to get a bit more history than you would just showing yourself around...and they are included in the cost of your ticket - bonus!

After the castle it was on to Scotch tasting....

At the end of our little tour we got to see the largest collection of Scotch in the world....3,400 bottles

It was actually quite fascinating (even for me who thinks scotch tastes, and smells, like nail polish remover). We learned about the process of making scotch and the different regions which single malt scotch may come from. Each region has its own unique characteristics and flavors. We also learned that there is no such thing as double malt (only single malt, Brian might have already known this) if its not single malt then its blended. And we learned that scotch no longer ages once its been bottled...so if you have a 10 year old bottle you've been saving for 50 years...sorry to break it to ya but its still just a 10 year old scotch!

The tour included a taste at the end but for just a few pounds more you could sit at the bar and enjoy 4 more tastes - so for some of us this equaled 6 tastes...

6 tastes later and Brian really learned what flavors and regions he really liked and did not like. Very educational, and nice for me to know what kind to tell Santa to put in his stocking!

After such a busy day we rested up then went back out at night for some night pictures...we even hiked halfway up Arthur's seat again at dusk for some great city views, but decided to hike down before it got completely pitch black...good call!

The next day we explored the city even further by walking down Leith Street. We of course had to stop at Scott Monument (For Sir Walter Scott) to get some pictures because it reminded us of the munch!

The coast...

We got to see the Britannia as well...

Our last day in Scotland we took the train to Stirling to see the castle and explore the town for a while...

I really loved this little garden...

Stirling castle (part of it at least)

Scottish countryside...just stunning!

In the little garden I loved so much...

The great hall in the middle of the castle

Drat...I forgot to bring my zoom lens...so waaaaaay off in the distance you can see the Wallace Memorial

Trying out the thrones....perfect fit!

Scotland was completely wonderful in so many ways. First of all it was the perfect place to be in the middle of our trip. It wasn't so crazy and big city as London and Paris. Everything was a bit slower paced. The people were nice beyond measure, by far the nicest people we met on our trip were in Scotland! We thoroughly enjoyed just strolling around the city and peeking into shops and taking our time doing things!
I fell in love with the highland cows, although we didn't actually see any, just pictures everywhere, and we sent Scott a postcard of one and Brian even found him a book about a highland cow...too cute!!! The food left a little to be desired, for me at least, but I survived, soup of the day works wonders! I loved the accents, the lady who was helping us at the train station wanted to take a look at the screen to figure out how to help us best and said, "let me just have a wee looky!" Imagine Mrs. Claus saying that in a Scottish accent...I'm telling you the nicest people in the world!
After four and a half days in Edinburgh it was off to Glasgow to catch a flight to Paris....

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

I'm sure you're wondering how Scott did while we were away? Ummm WONDERFUL! I don't know if he actually knew we were gone. He was spoiled to the core by two sets of grandparents and we got pictures sent to us regularly which helped me out a lot to see what a good time he was having.
We left a basket of new cars for Scott for him to have one new one each day while we were away. The picture above is of new car numero uno! My mom said he really was excited to get one everyday...even though he really had no idea that it was a countdown until we came home.

Scott spend lots of time building towers with his new blocks, especially since we had record heat while we were gone and there were many days that they could only go outside to the park or swimming in the early morning and late afternoon and the middle of the day had to be spent indoors.

Some days it was too hot for clothes!!!!!

We wanted to keep Scott as close to his normal schedule as possible which includes regular visits with "JAY". Scott also got his adjustment from Dr. Katie each week while we were gone!

Scott also discovered a new favorite show - Disney's Little Einsteins. So long Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...Little Einsteins is his favorite. He calls it "Ein-eins". If you haven't seen it give it a try (because I'm sure you've had about as much MMCH as you can take) they play classical music and famous pieces of art and teach kids about famous composers and artists while the Little Einsteins take their journey in each episode. Very cute!

London

Well it hasn't been quite a week since we've been home so that still makes my posts about the trip somewhat timely, no? You only get London for now...the flight over was...really bumpy...not horrible....it could have been worse....but I have had more comfortable experiences in my life. We landed around 10am London time and after collecting our bags and taking the underground we made it to our hotel in one piece by around noon. It was raining...which we weren't at all surprised about, frankly it was a wonderful change in weather from home. After getting settled we met up with Taber, our travel partner to be for 2.5 days, and headed to lunch - at our first of many (MANY) pubs. I wouldn't say I'm a picky eater, maybe restricted?! I don't know but the soup of the day was on the menu for me 2 meals a day for 5 days....if you care the best one was a potato leak at a random pub the first night.
After lunch we set out to explore the city....

I am doing my best not to put 5 million pictures of the same stuff everyone has seen over and over - but I am including some of my favorite shots of the "big important places".

We saw some sights the first day and managed to keep ourselves awake until nearly 8pm (thanks to Taber for being such a go-getter!!! if it weren't for him we would have hit the hay at 5pm - not a joke). Staying up really helped us get used to the time difference.

Day 2 began with a tour of the Tower of London. We got there basically when it opened (I recommend this, no line, not terribly crowded) and it was perfect time to take the tour with this charming chap...

Our Beefeater friend gave us a fantastic history of the place. It turned out to be one of the best tours we had.
Love the little plaza below...I could totally live somewhere that looked like that....but not here because evidently there were many beheadings that took place in the square...no thanks!

After our tour we roamed around for another hour or two...I took a lot of pictures of all the horse displays for Scotty P. (this a reoccurring theme in my photography during this trip...when your kid loves something you find yourself loving it too. And we found a toy horse at the gift shop dressed in battle gear to bring home to Scott. He loved it!)

I just adored the child sized armor (in theory...who actually sends their toddler into battle?!?!!) I really just wish we could dress Scott and Parker up in tiny armor and let them play!

After the Tower and lunch at a pub (number 3 if you are keeping score) we wandered this end of the city for the rest of the day. We saw St. Paul's Cathedral, millenium bridge, Tower Bridge, etc.

It was the most bizarre day for weather. It was nice in the morning. Then it literally down poured on us as we were leaving the tower, freezing, pouring rain, then below, probably only an hour later, sunny and hot...bizarre!

The Tower of London from across the Thames.

We stayed out on that side of town for the whole day because that night we had tickets to a play at the Globe Theater. It was such a neat experience...so much history just sitting there looking around! It was freezing but we had blankets and hot chocolate and it ended up being the perfect cozy night.

The play we saw was a little off the wall, to say the least. It was called the god of Soho. We weren't even 100% sure we followed it all. But regardless the experience couldn't be beat!

The Globe at night...

The next day we walked past the palace (for the zillionth time because it was across the park from our hotel) on our way to breakfast. It was Taber's last day so the guys enjoyed a traditional English breakfast. I enjoyed traditional English tea!!!

After we said goodbye to Taber Brian and I explored more of the city. We went to Tate and the British Museum. And of course took more pictures with horses.

The Rosetta Stone (really bad picture - nice reflection)

At the British Museum there was also an exhibit done by the woman who used 14,000 Rx pills (the average taken by an English citizen in their lifetime) and had them spread out in an incredibly long box (and it was still done in several layers). I found it fascinating. And it makes me cringe to think that Americans use MORE meds in their lifetime than Brits do.

That night Brian and I ventured out after dark to take pictures of the sights at night. It ended up being one of our favorite things to do and we made a point to do it in every city afterwards.

The next day went to the History and Science museums near Hyde Park (and spent a bit of time in Hyde Park itself) then went to the National Gallery in the afternoon. It was especially neat to see the countdown clock for next year's Olympics in Trafalgar Square.

That night we went out again to the other side of town to capture the Tower and the bridge at night. Our night time outings ended up being some of our funnest memories! It was so fun to see the city at night!

Our last day in London we went to Notting Hill and Portobello Rd. for the morning.

"Bad guy soup" - sort of an inside joke for my mom : )

We had a great time in all the fun shops and found some amazing food! Score one for no pub grub!

We took our lunches to Kensington Gardens and spent the afternoon walking there and Hyde Park....I could live there!!! And we made sure to see the Peter Pan Statue while we were there!

Gee thanks....

Loved relaxing in the parks...

We found this most amazing tree...seriously straight from Lord of the Rings or something right?! I can only imagine playing in a tree like this for hours and days on end as a kid (or now!!!).

A view of underneath.....

London was amazing! We enjoyed every second we were there!
Up next....Scotland!