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Published: July 21st 2014
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I don't think we're in England anymore... First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYDNEY!!!
Now, back to Scotland. On Tuesday July 15th we arrived in Edinburgh, but we really started seeing the city the next day, because we got in late at night. On Wednesday, we got up early in hopes of making it on a free (tips-only) bus tour of the Scottish Highlands by TheHairyCoo.com. We only learned about the tour on Monday, so it was too late to book online, and we just had to show up and hope someone else didn't. Unfortunately, everyone who'd booked the tour did show up (some at at the last minute), and there was only one spot left. So we wandered around Edinburgh for an hour before going on a free walking tour. On the walking tour, we stopped at many places including St. Giles Cathedral, Lady Stair's Close ("close" means "alley"), Grassmarket, Greyfriars Church, and the George Harriet School, which is the inspiration for Hogwarts. We also had great views of Edinburgh Castle. Our guide, Dave, gave us a brief lesson in Scottish history and told us multiple stories about the places we saw. We saw some places that influenced J.K. Rowling and learned that William McGonagall, whose grave was the
St. Giles Cathedral
St. Giles Cathedral inspiration for Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter, was a horrible Scottish poet whose work was so bad he was banned from doing poetry readings, even in his hometown! It was an interesting tour, and we decided to do a tour of Edinburgh Castle with Dave in the afternoon. The Castle is huge and beautiful, with multiple buildings and museums. Dave told us more stories about things relating to the Castle during the tour, and after the tour we had enough time to visit a few of the museums. Once the Castle closed, we meandered our way back to our hostel on a nice walk through a park.
On Thursday, we once again got up early to try to get on the Hairy Coo tour, and this time we were successful! It was a great tour, and our guide, Donald, was amazing. We started off by driving to the largest monument to William Wallace in Scotland (he was a major figure in the 12th-13th century fight for Scottish independence). The views from the monument were amazing. After leaving the monument, we drove to an area where we could see Stirling Castle and then moved on to the Lake of Menteith.
Max Writer's Museum
Max in front of the Writer's Museum Yes, it is a lake, not a loch, because it was mislabeled on a map and the name has remained. We then went into the highlands and stopped for lunch in Aberfoyle before driving to meet and feed hairy coos. Hairy coos are Scottish highland cattle, which have long hair and horns. We were able to feed them bread, which was was a lot of fun. Then we headed over to Loch Katrine, which inspired Sir Walter Scott and other Scottish writers. Our last stop in the highlands was Doune Castle (which means Castle Castle) where Monty Python and the Holy Grail, among other things, was filmed. We then made one more stop on our way back to Edinburgh, to see two major bridges, some of the biggest in Europe. Overall it was an awesome tour, and we definitely wished we had the money to tip Donald better.
On Friday we finally slept in and actually got some sleep. We went to the Writer's Museum and the Scotch Whiskey Experience. The Writer's Museum focused on Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns, and Sir Walter Scott. We learned about their lives and work and saw artifacts relating to them. The Scotch
Rebecca Writer's Museum
Rebecca in front of the Writer's Museum Whiskey Experience taught us about the process of making whiskey and different types of Scotch whiskey. The first part is a ride, and the second part is a tasting of one of 5 types of whiskey (either a single-malt from one of four regions or a blend). Rebecca tasted the Highlands one and Max tasted the Speyside. When we bought our tickets they asked Rebecca for ID (apparently she looks younger than 18)! We also saw the largest collection of Scotch Whiskey in the world, at 3500 bottles. It was an interesting and informative experience. After that we walked around Edinburgh a bit more and saw the building that was the inspiration for Ollivander's. That evening, we headed over to Glasgow, where we met up with the person we were staying with (we have a mutual friend). We went to a pub with him and a friend of his and had a good evening talking to people and playing foosball.
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Melinda Sachs
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Hairy Coos
Dearest Rebecca and Max, Another wonderful post! I love reading about your trip and seeing your beautiful photos. You are truly soaking up your environment, and seem to be sampling the best these cities have to offer! Also, I just love seeing pictures of the both of you! You look happy and relaxed. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you please bring back a Hairy Coo for Daniel? They are so cute, and don't appear to be too much trouble. We have plenty of bread here for them to enjoy :)))) Love you oodles! xox M