Scotland

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After my two week traveling hiatus, it was time for a lovely weekend in what turned out to be one of my favorite places I have ever been to, Scotland. Oh my goodness, it was so gorgeous!!!

We (Lindsey and I) left on Friday night and arrived in the capital, Edinburgh. We got in pretty late-around 11pm or so- so all we did was walk to find our hostel/hotel. It was called The West End Hotel and it was the nicest place I have stayed my whole trip, but it was really expensive. We didn’t have any other choice though because we started booking too late. Anyways, we arrived so late that the reception office was closed and we were just wandering around trying to find someone to check us in. Finally, Lindsey had the brilliant idea to ring the buzzer outside the hotel. This buzzer let us into the hotel. So, the resident on duty came out of where he was sleeping to check us in. He may have been strangest fellow I’ve ever come in contact with. I am almost positive he is on a permanent high. Haha he was weird…Australian I believe! ;-) He didn’t know what the heck was going on but we eventually got into our room (dormitory style with room for 8 girls and a bathroom that was only for our room.) The first night we only had to share the room with one other person. The second night there was 5 other girls. It didn’t really matter though because we never though because we never even saw them. They all came in after we were asleep and we left before they were awake. It was a good system. It was like having the room all to ourselves!  The beds were super comfy, the blankets were warm and my ear plugs were able to drown out any noise that may have been present. It was a good night’s sleep, BOTH nights. Saturday we had booked a tour that went through the Highlands, a town called Glencoe and up to LOCHNESS!! I was so excited for all of it. It turns out it was all very well worth the excitement. Scotland has a beauty that I had only ever imagined or seen in pictures. Seriously, it was that beautiful. I miss it already. I felt strangely at home. It was more like Colorado than England is and I really liked that. Especially through the Highlands! I really, REALLY want to go back and hike those mountains. Okay, I got a little ahead of myself, sorry.

So, I guess the best place to start would be the beginning. The walk from out hotel to the departure site (The Royal Mile) for our tour was absolutely gorgeous. Edinburgh seemed to be completely made up of old stone buildings. I really liked that, nothing looked modern. YAY! The old town, where the Royal Mile is located, is set on a hill overlooking the new town Edinburgh and it face the North Sea. The sun was shining really nicely that day and the view from the bottom looking up at the castle and all the other really old HUGE buildings looked so medieval and I felt like I was taken back a few thousand years. Anyways, we made it to our stop JUST before the bus arrives. Perfect timing, we barely even had to wait. So, the tour set off and we were headed North up to the Highlands!  Our tour guide’s name was Ross. He was a great tour guide! He wore an awesome kilt that was mostly purple, complete with boots and tall socks, and the little pouch in the front. Haha I saw a lot more kilts than I had prepared myself for. I am still trying to decide if they were really being worn on purpose or if it is merely funny to wear them around. I enjoyed seeing them though, it was quite entertaining. Ross was very impressive. He knew so much about so many things, I can’t understand how all that information can be stored in one place. He was full of about a million historical facts, facts about the location, and fun activities to do there, PLUS he knows just about everything there is to know about making whiskey. Haha He was very knowledgeable and there was never a dull moment. He always talked about interesting things and made everyone laugh!

So, our first stop was just outside a little town called Callandar. It was used as resort town in the Victorian age. Victoria was a big fan of Scotland much like myself! :-D At this stop, we met Hamish, the Scottish Highlands cow. He was so cute and really furry. He is like a celebrity and really enjoyed all the people taking pictures of him. After this brief stop we headed out to see some lochs (lakes) and a few castles, like Stirling Castle and the one used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We eventually got to the heart of the Highlands. This was a big chunk of our drive and Ross put on some traditional Scottish tunes for us to enjoy. It was very relaxing to have to mountains out the window and some cool music in my ears! We made a stop at a random mountain for a photo op! It was really good scenery for some nice pictures…as you can see.

The next stop was for lunch and we just ate at a little tourist shop. It wasn’t all that great and it was set up like a dining hall and it was expensive! After looking around the gift shop a bit, we were off to Loch Ness and the town of Inverness (meaning ‘at the mouth of Ness’) Ross was making Nessie and monster jokes the WHOLE way there. I loved it! Seeing Loch Ness was worth the entire trip by itself! Plus, we were able to take a little tour out to the middle of the lake and a ruined castle on the coast. The sun was starting to set and it was insanely gorgeous out there. I wish I could’ve stayed a little longer. It was nice to be around nature again. Sometimes I feel like I am constantly around buildings in Leicester! After the boat ride, it was time to go through Inverness. It was a pretty quick drive through there, but it was a really cute fishing town. It seemed like a relaxed community. Then we drove through Ross’s hometown and made our last stop at a sleepy little town called Pitlochry. We got some hot chocolate and walked around the high street. I randomly spotted a little barber shop named “Sweeney Todd-Demon Barber of Fleet Street”, like the movie!!! It was totally weird, but we got our pictures with it anyways!! The rest of the drive was spent listening to some traditional bagpipe and modern bagpipe music, talking about kilts and tartans (the patterns on kilts), and the process of brewing whiskey. The last one was pretty interesting to me because it is all chemistry!! I drifted off once, but the rest of the time I was just listening to all his stories. OH and this was really random but one of the “traditional” bag pipe songs we heard was the theme from The Last of the Mohicans! I got really excited and thought of you, Daddy. The tour ended back at Edinburgh and we were a little sad to leave but we were VERY hungry for dinner. So, it was off to Hard Rock Café for Lindsey to collect her shot glass and we thought it was as good a place as any to get dinner. And of course, it was very good!

Sunday was the day we had planned to see the castle and any other museums or landmarks we could fit in before we had to catch our train that evening. Edinburgh castle was huge. There was so much to see, but I am pretty sure we saw just about everything. The castle had parts that extended back to the 12th or 13th century, I can’t remember correctly. Like, most of the castles I have seen, it has been turned into a museum, but at least this time it was all relevant to purposes that the castle actually served. We spent quite a long time there and it was worth it! After the castle we went to the cathedral in town, I am drawing a blank on the name…dang it. Anyways, it was pretty cool, but we had to hurry through because something important was going on inside. The architecture on the outside was the coolest part anyways. PLUS we saw a guy playing bagpipes just across the street! After looking at the cathedral we walked back towards the castle because we had noticed a place that gave whiskey tours and it looked really cool because there was like a little boat that took you to all the cool machines and what not. Unfortunately, that part of the tour was being remodeled but we decided to do the Scotch Whiskey Tour anyways. We had about an hour and half before the next one started so we thought maybe it would be a good time to grab some lunch. Just as we exited the building there was a girl handing out these flyers and I almost didn’t take one, but it’s a good thing I did because it was flyer for the café called The Elephant House-“the birthplace of Harry Potter” as the flyer said! So, Lindsey and I had our lunch complete with hot chocolate in the very café that J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series on napkins. YAY! Seating was so scarce that a couple ended up joining us at our teeny tiny table. It wasn’t bad though, we had to hurry anyways to make it to our whiskey tour. During the presentations I felt like an expert due to all the learning I had done on the tour the previous day from Ross. ;-) It was still really informative and it made me see how serious some people are about their alcohol. I have been noticing that in all the countries I have been too. It is pretty funny actually. Anywho, I had two small sips of some very potent whiskey, but I finished ‘em!! That was the important part. I don’t understand why people drink something that is painful! Haha So, Lindsey was able to pick out a nice bottle of whiskey for her dad and we headed off to look at some shops, purchase some lovely fudge and make our way to the train station. We were both really sad to leave Scotland, but the train ride home was nice because there was just enough daylight left that we could see the beautiful Scottish countryside for about an hour. I was not ready to leave. I HAVE to go back someday and you people are coming with me! 

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Photos

Random Loch
So a lot of these lochs...I can't remember, the only one I know for sure is Loch Ness!

Loch Ness
I claimed to see Nessie...it was just some tires though! ;-)