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Published: February 19th 2009
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Welcome Back! (Make sure to check out all of the pictures)
So this is part two and the completion of my trip to Edinburgh (which I now know how to properly pronounce).
Saturday, Tara and I decided to break away from Syracuse's planned activities and go on a bus tour of the Scottish Highlands (oh yea, and a tour of the Whiskey Distillery). It was Tara's idea, and a great one it was. Around 8:30am, we boarded a bus (more like a large van) and begin our journey.
Our first stop was some castle (I am so castled out, yes castle is now a verb), the best part about this stop was that one of the guys on our trip lost his footing and slipped down a muddy hill. He tried to recover 3 times, but had no luck. It was our first stop and he got his whole left-side completely covered in mud!!! Don't worry, I made sure to take a picture later in the day. We nicknamed him "Muddy" the rest of the day.
Next, we stopped at a mini rest stop, where a famous Highland Cow lives. His name is Hamish (he reminds me
of a kid I used to know....just kidding...or am I?). The best part about taking a picture with him, is that we didn't have to tip him. It was a cool little stop and gave us a taste of what was to come.
Then we went to the town of "Killin". Yep, that's its name. They had some funny names for businesses such as "Killin Time" "Killin Place" and others. We got to explore the small town, and it was a great place to take pictures. It had a lot of images that one would hope to see in a Scottish town. They are attached. We picked up some lunch here, and in honor of Valentine's Day, since Tar and I are both single, I picked her up a chocolate bar to celebrate (we split it haha). Then it was off into the forest.
It was the Forest Park of Dalerb that was the home of our next stop. We only stopped here for a few minutes, got out, explored, took some pictures, and continued on. It is important to note that between each stop was about a 1/2 hour, of beautiful scenery and a tour guide providing
us with endless knowledge and stories about Scottish History, and the history behind the places we were seeing. That would be boring to recapture here, so I am just giving the gist.
We then stopped a few more times in the mountains to look at the scenery and take pictures. Our next and final stop was the main reason Tara and I signed up for the tour: The Famous Grouse Whiskey Distillery Tour! (so excited!)
So we finally arrived to our Holy Grail. The tour of the place was awesome. Although honestly, I had no clue what in the world the guide was talking about. At the end of the tour we got a dram (or a shot) to try. The guide tells us to try it and here is where the fiasco occurred. Tara and I go "1...2...3" and we shoot it back faster than you can blink. Not bad we say. Then we look around at our group. They are all sipping their sample, swishing it around, smelling it and sipping again. Woops. Is that what we were supposed to do? The group started looking at us and we felt like/were those American college kids. As
I like to say "whatever, you only live once."
So that is where our tour concluded. Oh yea, at one of the stops we were also late getting back to the van and everyone was waiting for us. Oh well....
We truly had a great day!
At night, Victoria and Lindsey traveled on their own to Edinburgh, and we met up with them and had a great night!
Sunday was fun, nothing too special. Just some shopping (Brandon, I got you a present) and walking around. It was overall a very exciting weekend!
2 BONUS STORIES!!!
1: So Victoria got me an early b-day present (March 15th, cough cough). She bought me a Scottish....get ready for it.....flask! She already knows me too well!
2. Not that I have any interest in Harry Potter, but it was kind of cool. We went to the restaurant where J.K. started writing the series.
Trivia Answer: England is kind of equivalent to a U.S. state. It is not a country, just a region of one. Unlike a U.S. state, if you put England as part of a mailing address, it is technically not correct. The United
Kingdom is the official country (just so everyone now knows, all of the places in it take Pounds, not Euros). The UK includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is all of the those minus Northern Ireland.
Trivia Question: What is the nickname of the UK flag?
Londoner,
Sir Darren Nigel Goldberg III of Maida Vale
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Lady Addie Jane
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Properly known as the Union Flag, but commonly called the Union Jack. Love the man in the kilt! Did you buy one for Daddy?