Scotland 2007

Oct 15, 2007 22:30

Despite flight anxiety, cramped busses, and crazy drivers I made it home safely. I'm still very tired and trying to kick the jetlag. This will be my complete Scotland post (our first week in the UK) and I'll make an England post sometime this week.

The flight to Newark and then Glasgow was uneventful and anxiety-less. Once we passed through customs we got on the CityLink bus, which was basically a 6 hour drive to the Isle of Skye where my aunt Norma and uncle Gerry live. We arrived in Portree, the unofficial capital of Skye, and my aunt and uncle drove us down one of the many single lane roads on Skye to their little cottage.



We spent the week traveling around Skye and made 1 trip to the mainland to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle (photos in previous post). One of our tourist stops on Skye was to a crofting museum which was basically thatched roof cottages with interesting artifacts in each cottage. The field next to it was full of cows and I was standing near the fence enjoying the fresh air and lovely view when a cat hopped through the fence. She immediately came to me and started getting friendly with me. I snapped a few photos and picked her up and she was purring up a storm. I carried her around for at least 30 minutes and she still didn't want to be put down. Josh asked if she meowed in an English accent, but in fact she had a Scottish accent!



My aunt and uncle have lived on Skye for about 25 years and my aunt decided to open a craft shop. Of course we had to do some shopping there! Unfortunately this is the last year she will have it open, and in fact it is now officially closed.







One of my many goals on this trip was to get some refresher lessons on bobbin lace making. My aunt had taught me at least 10+ years ago and have mostly forgotten. I made a bookmark and got some practice on a few other techniques. We'll see if I can remember where to twist, and where I shouldn't.



It was funny how the area is typically rainy, windy, and cold, but happened to be mostly sunny while we were there. Most people would be pleased, but I was actually looking forward to rain!

This photo is one of my favorite, but unfortunately I can't remember if that is part of the Cullin Mountains (the largest in Scotland). Regardless, it is lovely.



The last photo is of a thistle, the Scottish flower. I took the photo in my aunts garden.



Between my mom and I we took about 500 photos so I had to cut things down considerably. If you'd like to see a few more you can see my Picassa album.

trips

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