I got away Scot free

July 19Last night I let Kevin go out on the town (Edinburgh) while I took the girls home for bedtime. So today I went out and stopped at a few art galleries and took myself out to lunch. First was the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, I mostly went because it was free and they had a photography exhibit. Then I ended up paying to go to a Vanity Fair exhibit which was cool because there were all these great photos of famous people. Then I when to an Impressionist exhibit at the National Gallery of Scotland, and I got to use the audio tour headsets without getting interrupted; it was very peaceful. I met Kevin and the girls at the Museum of Scotland, which we didn’t leave enough time for because there were about 8 floors starting with natural history on floor 0 and working up to modern times on the top floor. The girls got to try on more costumes, to which Sydney said, “no more chainmail!”
This link will take you back to the Edinburgh pictures, but I’ve added more on to the end from this day.

Hammer of the Scots

July 18
Today we visited Stirling, Scotland which is considered the “clasp of Scotland” due to its geographical importance in the battles between England and Scotland. It’s where William Wallace (WW) of Braveheart won his great victory and where Robert the Bruce won the battle of Bannockburn. We saw the William Wallace memorial and Stirling Castle. The girls had a great time trying on chainmail and helmets. Kyla doesn’t really like to hear about the gruesome deaths that happened in those times. We left the tour when the guide with the great Scottish accent was telling about the fate of WW, then I brought her back just in time to hear about the beheading of Mary Queen of Scotts. She really doesn’t like the beheading thing, poor Kyla. We just try to tell her how happy she should be that she lives in a time where that sort of thing is not OK. Click here to see pics from Stirling.

Queen sees the Eiffel tower

Day 13: Edinburgh, Scotland

We had a uneventful but pleasant transition from the Highlands to Edinburgh. Our apartment is on the east side of town, fairly close to trains and buses. As Kyla says, "We live in a wee house.", yes it is quite a cozy studio apartment. What it lacks in size, it makes up for with stylish decor. We're trying to sound more Scottish and say wee instead of small or little. Sunday we walked to the stores nearby and found a Woolworths (the big W) and a Walmart (Called ASDA here). I usually don't shop at Walmart and after walking around for a bit, I felt kind of sick, so we left. I don't really think it had anything to do with Walmart unless I was poisoned by the free popsicles they were handing out at the front door.

Then we decided to have dinner at this bar (the building in the middle of the picture) we heard about on the beach. The Dalriada was quite nice with live music, but they didn't have dinner. So we had to walk on and find some fish-n-chips in Portobello, a popular beach in Edinburgh.

The girls had a great time playing in the sand. Here is Sydney, the queen of the hill.

There is a long promenade at the beach and the girls ran down the wall, but had to be ferried by dad across the gaps.

On the way back to our apartment, Sydney said, "Look, there's the Eiffel Tower!" Yes, the same basic shape, but a lot smaller and of course in the wrong country.

I wonder how the girls got their shorts so dirty (anyone pack the oxy?) and how Sydney got an eye-full of sand? See the video to find out.

Kyle of Lochalsh

Day 11
Today we rode the train to Plockton, a small fishing town on the west coast of Scotland. We stopped at the Plockton Inn restaurant for a fresh seafood lunch. Then we got a taxi ride to the Eilean Donan Castle, which has appeared in a few movies (Highlander and one of the Bond movies). The scenery on the way home from Kyle of Lochalsh was "crackin' good".
We also got to hear a wee bit o' bagpipin'. Ooooh, I almost sound Scottish. This was the favorite castle so far. No pictures taken inside of course, but lots of cool historical items. As the girls were admiring a case of silver flasks and such, we heard Sydney exclaim, "Look, it's a Nintendo DS!" There I saw a silver case the exact size of a Nintendo player. I thought it was hilarious, but maybe you had to be there.
Click here for a few more pics.

What a view

Day 10: The Cairngorm Mountains



Well, here is the view from the visitor center on the top of Cairn Gorm mountain. No, I didn't forget to take off the lens cap, those are clouds. Just clouds, for only 25 pounds you to could see this. I try not to think about that part.

Here is a picture of what you might see on a clear day.
Here is a picture of a picture of the visitor's center.
Here is the view from the funicular on the way down the mountain. By the way it wasn't raining on the way up, so we could see a little better. Riding in the funicular was pretty fun, plus it's a funny word to say. It was a wee bit chilly on top of that mountain, but we stayed pretty dry. Don't the Cairngorm Mountains sound like something from Lord of the Rings? It's the highest point in Britain, but it's a little hard to be impressed by a 3000 something foot high mountain. The girls enjoyed the visitor's center and we got to have hot chocolate.

Here is my best shot of the day. Kyla said, "Are you taking my picture?"

Straight ta Hell laddie

Day 9:

Today the girls needed a little down time so Kevin decided to ride the rails and take a 12-hour round trip to Wick/Thurso, the northernmost stop in Scotland. The usual route has a fork at the end where the train goes to Thurso, then back to the junction and on to Wick. After several delays the train was running about 45 minutes late. The conductor asked any one who wanted to go to Thurso to let him know, and he would arrange a bus ride in order to get the train back on schedule. At the junction many got off to catch the bus, but there was still much confusion: the conductor, ticket taker, ticket taker in training, and the trolley girl were all having a big discussion outside and passing cell phones back and forth. There was a group of about 20 German rail enthusiasts (the same group that had stopped up both toilets on the train) getting on and off the train, talking to each other and talking to the conductor. Finally they all got back on the train and the train starts moving backwards. At this point a group of three teenage Scottish backpackers stopped playing their Nintendos to ask the conductor, "Where are we going?" After massaging is forehead for a moment he replied, "Straight ta Hell laddies, strait ta Hell." Apparently the german group had insisted that the train cover all of the rail lines in the highlands, so the train finally got to Wick about 1.5 hours late. There was just enough time to buy a few grocieries (as much beer as one person can carry) before they headed back south again.

The girls and I had a relaxing day of swimming at the pool, complete with waves and a big slide, eating ice-cream followed by fish-n-chips and and stopping once more at the Funfair.

Searching for Nessie

Look at this cute little flower that I found, wait a minute, what is that in the background? Is it Nessie?
Oh no, that's just a model of Nessie we found at the Loch Ness visitor center.

Today (Day 8) was the big trip to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle. Poor Sydney was a little confused. We kept talking about Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, so she kept asking where is was and would she get to see it. After seeing the educational film at the visitor center where they explored all the scientific explanations, (one of them on how if Nessie was a Plesiosaur, there was no way she could exist), Sydney sadly informed Kyla that Nessie died. I guess it cleared some things up for her - she got the gist of the film how a lot of people have searched, but it's never been proven that there ever was a Loch Ness monster.

Urquhart castle was fun to explore - mostly ruins now, but a lot of history which you'll have to google because I'm not a reliable source. What I got was that it was attacked so many times that they finally blew it up and moved out. My last post took forever to format so this time you'll have to click here to see the rest of the Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle Pictures.

Cawdor and beyond

Day 7: Nairn & Cawdor Castle

Today I'm thinking more pictures and less words to save myself a little time. Today we took the train to Nairn, then had to call the dial-a-bus to to Cawdor Castle.

Here are some pics from Nairn where we had a picnic at the beach and found a playground for the girls to play on. Sydney really wanted to stay and play in the sand, but we didn't have any supplies for cleaning up. She left when we said it was time to go, but not without some wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Here is Kyla at the entrance. It was filled with tons of antique furniture and historic portraits. They wouldn't let us take any pictures of the inside though. The gardens were beautiful. Sydney had great fun running around to hide in the little maze. Wallace and Gromit's Were-rabbit came to mind when I glimpsed those big rabbit ear shaped shrubs behind the garden wall. Kyla enjoyed taking multiple pictures of Sydney and the flowers.

On to Scotland

Day 6: Scottish Highlands

Not much to say about yesterday (day 5). Up at 5am to have time to take the Metro to the airport which went well and saved us at least $100 on an airport shuttle. The rest of the day was hurry up and wait for two commuter flights on EasyJet to Inverness (accent on the ness) Scotland. We did have to wait for what seemed like forever outside in this metal tunnel. After being let out of the tunnel to stand in the cold and windy rain, then we started to really appreciate the tunnel. Thank goodness we didn't pay extra for express boarding as the seating on this airline in not assigned. The girls love our new accommodations. The only one for the whole summer we were able to book through our timeshare exchange. So we are in a condo at the Scandinavian Village, a winter ski resort. We have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen, washer/dryer and sometimes flaky internet. It’s so beautiful and green here, looks a lot like home.

Today was a day of rest, which we desperately needed. Everyone slept about 12 hours and got recharged on some cereal, computer time and cartoons. We walked into town for lunch at the pub and stopped at the grocery store in time to come back and cook some dinner. On the way the girls found a Funfair and got to pay $3 each for 15 minutes in a bouncy house which they loved. I’m going to start telling prices in pounds because it sounds better. You can then freak out silently (or not so silently) when you multiply it by two to figure out how many dollars it is, just like I do every time we have to buy something or go out to eat.


Here is something new we found at the grocery store, wheat biscuits that are found with the cereal. The biscuits are all stacked very neatly in the box. You pour the milk on and biscuit soaks it up like sponge.




Then you have to eat it quick if you don't like soggy cereal.
If you like them as much as Sydney, you have another. Don't tell her, but I tried them and they're not that great. I'm glad she likes them, someone has to finish that box of 36. I finally found something cheap here - I bought a jar of lemon curd for only 50 cents! I usually get it at Trader Joe's for at least $3.50. Everything else seems to be normally priced, if you get paid in pounds for a living.