Happy Birthday to Me

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Well, my birthday is June 24th and I got to spend a long weekend in my favorite place in the whole world (so far). Where, you ask? Scotland of course! Since Matt didn't get to go on my trip to Scotland last summer with Ali I took him on a "Best Of" tour of Scotland. We flew into Glasgow Prestwick on Thursday evening and stayed at an absolutely wonderful B&B right there in Prestwick for the night...Firhill Bed and Breakfast. It's by far one of the best B&B's I've ever stayed at in Scotland. The room was huge, the bed was comfortable, we had our own bathroom, and breakfast was great. There was only one other person down at breakfast in the morning and he had the enviable job of testing kayaks. He said he had been out the day before and a whale shark had swam right past his kayak! Now, for those of you who remember, Matt and I spent an obscene amount of money 2 years ago on our Belize vacation just to try and see whale sharks...and didn't! So, I think we have plans to go back to Prestwick and investigate further 😊 We did get a chance to poke around a little bit the night before and found a wonderful old church. The roof was gone but there was an ancient cemetary next to it and the sign said that there are Knights Templar buried there!

So, then we headed off in the morning (this is June 22nd, by the way) and hopped a train for Edinburgh. The weather was cold and dreary but that's such a big part of what makes Scotland beautiful...all the rain and mist...so I didn't mind but Matt's not as fond of the cold as I am. Anyways, we got into Edinburgh around noon and took a very expensive cab to Morningside Guest House to see my old friends (from last summer!) Heather and Giorgio. They were so wonderful last summer to Ali, Meg, and I that I just couldn't come back to Scotland and NOT stay with them! I introduced Matt and we were soon on our way to explore Edinburgh. Somehow Matt and I managed to knock out the entire city in ONE DAY! We toured Edinburgh Castle, did the Mary Kings Close tour, saw the Princes Street Gardens, walked Calton Hill, walked up and down the Royal Mile, and just wandered through some shops for a while. I had made plans to stay with Heather and Giorgio for two nights but we decided to leave a day early and rent a car for a drive up into the Highlands. Since we were so exhausted after walking all over Edinburgh in one day, we decided to take advantage of the fact that we're in an English-speaking country and go see a movie...even if we had to pay in pounds lol. Giorgio was wonderful enough to drive us to the movie theatre so we didn't have to try and find it on our own. We had some time to kill before the movie started (we saw Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, by the way) so we decided to opt for some good American food and ate at Pizza Hut next door 😊

June 23rd
We said our farewells to Heather and Giorgio (I'll definitely be back to see them though!) and hopped the bus to Edinburgh Airport, since there's such a high concentration of car rental places there. Luck was with us and found a little car to rent and were off! I was VERY impressed with how easily Matt seemed to get used to driving on the left...or should him being comfortable driving on the wrong side of the road worry me?

Anyways, we drove up to Stirling to take pictures of the castle and see what was in the town. Once we'd done that we hopped back into the car and headed for Kinlochleven. That's where the world's largest indoor ice climbing wall is...and Ben Nevis (the UK's highest mountain) is too. Well, it's near it anyways. Kinlochleven is a great little town and we ended up staying at a B&B there for the night. Now, I had booked Firhill and Morningside beforehand but, since I had no idea what our plans were past that, I didn't bother booking any others. So we just drove around looking for B&B signs that had vacancies, which is how we found our place for that night. Honestly, I have no idea what the name of the place was that we stayed but she had two dogs...one of them a little puppy, so of course I was in heaven! Matt and I went to the pub for some dinner and then he decided he wanted to hike one of the hills that surrounded the town. I must admit, I wasn't very excited about the idea. It was starting to get late and, even though it stays light out until at least 10:30pm in Scotland in the summer, I didn't want to get stuck on some hill in the woods when it did get dark. But, I gave in and it really was a beautiful view once we got up there (just don't tell Matt I said that!).

June 24th
Happy Birthday to me!
This was our last full day in Scotland and after a great breakfast (all of the breakfasts in Scotland are great though) we hopped in the car and headed over to Fort William. My goal for the day was to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct from the ground. Now, for those of you who don't know what that is, you have to have seen the Harry Potter movies. When they're on the train on their way to Hogwarts thy go over this beautiful bridge with gorgeous stone arches under it and breathtaking green scenery all around. That's the Glenfinnan Viaduct. Last summer Ali and I rode the train over it, which was actually kind of disappointing because we didn't get to SEE it, so that was my goal for this trip out to Fort William. After quite a bit of driving around (did I mention we brought our GPS with us?) we found it. Wow! Was it huge! And of course Matt climbed up on top of it so I could take his picture from down on the ground lol. Then we decided to drive out and explore Ardnamurchan which, if you get the chance, you can probably skip it. It was a pretty drive but the road was one lane most of the way and you had to keep pulling over for oncoming traffic, and that got pretty annoying once the novelty of a one-lane road wore off. Then, when we finally made it all way out to the end of the peninsula, there was really nothing there to see. So, I can check a section of Scotland off my list at least 😊 We headed back to Fort William for the night and stayed in the Grand Hotel, which wasn't as grand as all that. With the dollar so weak and the pound so strong, it was really pricey to stay in this hotel and honestly, our B&B in Prestwick was nicer and WAY cheaper. Lesson learned. But, we found a great little pub for dinner and I got to try heather beer...yes, beer made from heather. It was so unusual sounding that I had to try it! It was actually pretty good and I highly recommend a pint if you ever have the chance. I had meant to try haggis on this trip too but got completely distracted when I was ordering my dinner and forgot to order it as a side. Oh well...maybe next trip.

June 25th
So, today we drove the car back to the airport at Edinburgh, took the bus from the airport to the middle of town where we picked up the train to take us back to Glasgow Prestwick. Lots of traveling! What's that movie...Planes, Trains, and Automobiles? Yeah, that was us. Overall it was a great trip. I think Matt got a little bored with all the sightseeing...he wanted to kayak the lakes and climb the hills but that's for next trip...but even he was impressed with the Highlands, and that's saying something.

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Photos

Prestwick Church
Here's the church and graveyard that we found in Prestwick.

The Train to Edinburgh
Matt and I on the train to Edinburgh from Prestwick

The Scots Monument
Matt at the Scots Monument in Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle
...in that legendary Scotland mist!

Making a phone call
It's a British red phone booth!! And Matt's in it!

Matt in Edinburgh Castle
Okay...I have a picture just like this from last summer and so do Meg and Ali. I took this so Matt could be one of the cool kids!

On Calton Hill
Matt and I almost to the top of Calton Hill

Bruce and Wallace
The statue of Robert the Bruce looking across to the William Wallace Monument in Stirling.

The Glenfinnan Viaduct
You'll recognize this from the Harry Potter movies.

Just the Two of Us
A picture taken off the side of the road.