Blogs from Midlothian, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 138

The annual Edinburgh Festivals are regarded world wide as some of the best Europe has to offer in terms of film, literature and music. Every year it is estimated that the population of Edinburgh doubles as the city becomes one of the most vibrant places to be in all of Europe. However, despite this worldwide recognition, only a third of the visitors are locals which means many Britons are failing to take advantage of this fantastic short break opportunity available to them right on their doorstep. Starting in 1947, the Edinburgh Festival has grown into the largest festival in the world of its type. In 2004 there were an amazing 25,000 performances of 1,700 shows in over 230 venues across the city! To give an impression of how gigantic the festival really is, it would have ... read more

Scotland here we come We will see Hadrian’s Wall. And castle too! It is so nice having leisurely start times in the morning. I even wake up refreshed before the alarm goes off! Gotta love it. It’s off to Scotland today with many stops along the way. First stop at the top of a hill on a windy road (Kirkstone Pass - used in many commercials and is England’s highest road.) we’ve been on the last 20 minutes. We saw some spectacular views of Windermere and the area where we stayed last night. The piled stones making up the walls lining the roads are pretty cool. They take a lot of the stones on the mountains for making houses. Now we’re headed to Ull’s Water Lake…6 mile long lake. Next stop: Penrith. Hmm, I didn’t make ... read more

Judd and I took a horrible night bus to Edinburgh at 11 pm Tuesday night, and got into Edinburgh around 7 or 8 am. It was rough. We took the shuttle to our hostel (15 minutes away, on the coast), where we couldn't check in yet, so we dropped off our stuff and headed back to the city. We walked along the Royal Mile up to Edinburgh Castle and walked around the castle for a while. Then we walked around the city a bunch, climbing up a rather large hill (Calton Hill) with an astronomy observatory and some other building on the top, and then climbed up the crags to Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park that formed from the volcano Edinburgh is built upon. After that we called it a day and headed back to the ... read more

Our 3-day Isle of Skye tour was amazing! We had a great drive up there - sunny all the way so you could see the Highlands well and get some great pictures. Our tour guide/bus driver, Duncan, was quite a character. He should really be an actor (perhaps a new recruit for the Robin in the Hood Festival?). We made a number of stops on the drive up to relax, eat and take pictures. We stayed in the small village of Kylaken (spelling is probably wrong). The following day we went out and about on the island. We went to the town of Portree where, coincidently, there was a bagpipe festival! What are the chances of being in Scotland and actually getting to see a piping festival? We could only watch for about 30 minutes before ... read more

With the arrival in the UK of “Crazy A”, Sal’s mum Ann, the new trio of “the A”, Sal and Mick decided that it was an apt time to visit and explore Scotland, where Sal’s dad Ian was born and raised. We woke on the morning of July the 7th to some horrible news: London had been the target of four coordinated terrorist bombings. As the day unfolded, the full extent of the horror that had taken place became apparent to us. However, being the intrepid travellers that we are, we decided that not even terrorists nor anarchists/anti-globalists/people who don’t wash very often (the Gleneagles summit was on in Scotland at the same moment) would prevent us from experiencing the world. We headed up the M1 and crossed the border at the famous Gretna Green, synonymous ... read more