Scotland

When I visited Scotland I fell in love with the country and the people. I don't know if I have ancestors from there but I hope so since my family primarily came from the British Isles. But I am confident from this trip that anyone would love Scotland. There are not only beautiful golf courses which I'm not really into the city of Edinburgh is absolutely beautiful.

The city is pretty compact but the public transit system is kind of a joke because they're making a new trax line. So getting around can be tricky but it's not too much of a walk or if it seems to much you can use the hop on hop off buses to explore the sites or rely on taxis for long distances but a rental car would be difficult to drive on those small one way streets and the parking seemed nonexistent. So I would recommend exploring on foot. And these are the things that I would definitely see.

"We have a piper down...repeat we have a piper down" (gotta love that movie)

A castle has been atop Castle Rock since the 1100s. There have been numerous battles in order to try and take over the fortress. Most of the buildings on top of the hill date from the 1500s but St. Margaret's Chapel dates back to the 1100s.

 

A view of downtown Edinburgh all of the buildings are made of the same stone

This cafe is where J.K. Rowling wrote much of the Harry Potter books when she was a struggling single mother.

Greyfriars is the name of a cemetery. Greyfriars Kirkyard was where this dogs master was buried and the dog lived there for years and stayed by its masters grave until the day it died.

Views from Carlton Hill  the one on the right is Hollyrood Palace but I couldn't take a tour because they were preparing for Prince Charles' garden party.

As for the rest of Scotland because of the fact that we had limited time and we didn't want to try and drive around Scotland we decided to take a guided tour which allowed us to see the scenery, know exactly what we were seeing, listen and talk with a Scot and we lived to see the next day. It has always been my belief that if you want to see a country you have to really get into the country to see and experience it because cities are usually different from the rest of the country. 

This tour led us from Edinburgh toward Stirling via Callander where we
got to feed the Hairy Coo named "Hamish". Then we continued through the Highlands to the Pass of Glencoe. Then we headed across Loch Leven and continued onto Fort Augustus on Loch Ness. Then we rode a boat on the lake and heard some stories about the mysterious sea monster. We even drove through Inverness, Perth, and the Kingdom of Fife. Even though I didn't get to see as much of the Highlands as I would have wished, this was the next best thing and I look forward to my next trip to Scotland. 

                        "Hamish" the hairy coo                                Canola oil comes from these yellow plants

Loch is the Scottish word for lake

A farm in the Highlands. Those in the Highlands think that those in the cities are wimpy. It is rugged and they do have to be tough to live there especially in the winters.

One of the many castles located throughout Scotland






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