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Hello Everyone!
Our time in Scotland was short, very short, but we took in what we could and had a great time running around. The landscape out here is unbelievable and the architecture is absolutely amazing (many cuts and lines…get it Fred?). We were expecting rain in Scotland, since it is well know for that, and it pretty much rained the whole time there. We weren’t disappointed at all though because it just wouldn’t be Scotland if it was always sunny and dry.
When we last blogged it up, we were heading back to London where we were going to catch our overnight bus to Glasgow. As uncomfortable as an overnight bus sounds, it was quite uncomfortable, but we got some sleep and the 8 hours seemed to fly by. Before we knew it we were in Glasgow, a budget travelers dream because all museums and attractions are usually free, and once off the bus we were slapped in the face with some cold weather. Luckily we had packed for this so we threw on our beanie caps and were ready to tour. We headed to the Cathedral district to check out St, Mungo’s Cathedral and slowly realized that
it was 8am on a Sunday and nothing was open. So we read a bit from the travel book and learned at around 11am things start to open, but located behind the Cathedral is the Necropolis, a very old hilltop graveyard open to public viewing 24/7.
The Necropolis was huge! We walked around for about 1.5 hours and didn’t get to see all of it. It was an amazing sight to see, but unfortunately you could also see where many vandals had defaced many of the graves…no respect. After playing with the dead for some time, we headed back to the Cathedral and visited the St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art where we were able view another famous Dali painting called Christ of St. John Cross and also learn about the numerous religions of the world. After that we headed across the street to the Provand’s Lordship, Glasgow’s oldest house (more or less surviving since the 15th Century), then down to the town square for a coffee and foot rest. After our little break, we had seen enough of Glasgow and jumped a bus to Edinburgh.
Edinburgh, prounced Ed-in-bur-ra, is an amazing city. I wish that
we would have planned more than 2 nights because we could have easily spent a good full week here, but regardless we had a good time. Our hostel was within walking distance of everything and a good stones throw from the Edinburgh Castle. We arrived around dinner time so after we were checked in the hostel told us of a restaurant with a travelers menu that is very reasonable. After some bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes), we gave ourselves a walking tour of Edinburgh checking out the Castle, the Sir Walter Scott monument as well as many other local sights before calling it a night.
The hostel not only had clean and comfortable facilities, but also offered free tours everyday. We decided with one day in town the walking tour of Edinburgh sounded good - and it was. We learned a lot of interesting facts like the one about Greyfriar’s loyal pooch Bobby, who after his master’s death visited the gravesite everyday for 14 years. We also visited a lot of interesting sights like the coffee shop were J.K Rowling thought up Harry Potter and the Hogwarts gang scribbled on some napkins years back. The tour was
about 2 hours, rain during most of it, but it showed us some free places to visit as well as places for cheap eats and where to go to buy some cheap groceries.
After the tour we headed to the National Gallery to check out some art work, but nothing too exciting there, then headed to the Museum of Scotland to learn some history and also take some pictures from the top of the building since we heard there were good views. After our history lesson we headed to the grocery store and bough enough food for 4-5 meals and a bottle of wine all for about US$20 which is really good since everything in UK is pricey. Then we headed to the hostel, made a monster meal of lamb, crumpets (which are crumpalicious!), brie, peas, and carrots and enjoyed the nice red wine. After cleaning up we went to our room to relax a little bit, but over relaxed and slept until midnight and decided to just get our stuff ready for our morning departure and go back to sleep. The next morning we were off to Inverness on the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster.
Inverness,
is known as the Capitol of the Scottish Highlands, but we were going there with one purpose - to hunt down Nessie for a photo. I think we were successful, we will let you be the judges. It was still cold and rainy in Inverness, but no complaints from us! We arrived in town around 12pm and found our hostel right next to the bus depot where Heather, so eloquently, decided to fall down some stairs, but no serious injury - thank God. We stopped by the local bus station and learned that in about 15 minutes a bus was taking off to Castle Urqhart, which is on Loch Ness (translated Lake Ness), but we would have to run since it was at the other bus station. We made it in time and we were off for the hunt.
Castle Urqhart, or what remains of it, is located on the Loch Ness and is the area where the famous hoax photo was taken…or was it a hoax? Loch Ness is the largest body of fresh water in Britain, holding more water than all the lakes and reservoirs in England and Wales combined. It is 39km long and has an
average depth of 132 meters, that’s a lot of water. We didn’t pay to go to the castle (still being cheap) but were able to take some nice shots from where we were barricaded. After we filmed our documentary - The Hunt for Nessie: The Silence Beneath the Surface - we headed back to town to catch another bus to the Culloden Battlefields. (For future reference to any who wish to hunt for Nessie, take the Jacobite Tour - includes bus and boat tour as well as entrance to the castle for about the same price we paid a local bus just to get out there. We, of course, learned this after our venture.)
Not sure how much people know about Scottish history, but the Culloden Battlefields are some-what comparable to the United States Gettysburg, but a bit quicker. Heather (as well as my mom) read these novels by an author named Diana Gabaldon and one of her books takes place in and around the Culloden Battlefields so it was neat for her to get to see them. Short History Lesson: Bonnie Prince Charlie, Leader of the Jacobite cause, attempting to take the throne back from the Mary Queen
The Cumberland Stone.
You got like three feet of air. of Scots, went to battle against Cumberland and his army on the fields of Culloden. This battle was the last major attempt by the Jacobites, Cumberland had twice as many soldiers and they slaughtered 1200 Jacobites in under 40 minutes, while Cumberland only lost around 350 men.
While in the battlefield, the rain started and we ran to the bus stop, which was just a big rock on the side of the road (glad the bus driver told us when we departed), and made it safely back to Inverness not too wet. That night was our last night in Scotland so we found a nice little pub and enjoyed the night with a few pints. The best part was the two locals playing some traditional music (or Trad as it is called here), playing not on stage but sitting at the next table over as they also sipped back on some Guinness. The next morning we were heading to North Ireland to visit the city of Belfast.
Right now we are on a train returning from Ireland’s western coast back towards Dublin, so look forward to our next blog where we tell you about our run in with
some of Belfast’s local pub boys, a near Leprechaun sighting (just missed him), and our exciting adventures at the sheep farm. Also if anyone has been to Europe and have recommendations of things we must see, please shoot us a comment and let us know!
Love Ben and Heather
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anonymous
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I see it I see it, finally photographic proof of nessie! Well done lads. Phil