Aye! Scotland!
Hey there all! I know you're all getting a little ancy waiting for me to come home, and trust me when I say that I love it here, but I am really missing all of you. I've been thinking about it and have thus come up with a list of what I miss the most.
1. Singing out loud in an empty house.
2. Knowing where and when you'll find a bathroom.
3. Having a phone readily available.
4. Not having to explain where Montana is.
5. Having someone else make the plans and decisions. (oh wait, that never happens anyway.)
6. A pillow that's is adequate.
Okay, SCOTLAND!
Dumida and I left at the butt crack of dawn on Friday once again our trip plans temporarily marred by London explosions. We left out of Heathrow, which is not on the train route like Gatwick is, so that was fun. The bus there is hella-long. But we arrived and off we went to Edinburgh.
now when I say this is the most beautiful city ever, I mean it. I'll always say places are pretty and what now, but this city is amazing. It was built on seven hills by the sea. The original castle was positioned on the highest hill overlooking the sea, which gave it a great view of approaching ships. It now is a tourist attraction goldmine, and might I say still has a great view of the city.
That great Gothic looking building to the right is the Sir Edward Scot memorial. Here's a picture of it as we went tearing by it on our bus tour of the city.
So Friday was all about the getting aquatinted with the city, eat in the Grass market, watch some amazing Scottish TV in the hostel, and gawk at the people wearing kilts.
The next day we met up with a Haggis one-day tour to Loch Ness. Haggis is the sister company of The Shamrocker, which is what Maggie and I did in Ireland, so we had faith in the quality. It was fun. I was wrong in saying that the bus driver in Ireland was crazy. She was a grandmother in comparison to out driver/tour guide on this excursion. Holy lord. I actually got motion sick for the first time this whole trip.
We drove up through the highlands visiting the locals, like this fella.
Let me tell you, those horns are a bitch. He's not very aware of them at all. I got smacked in the arm when he looked over at the other cows he was in the pen with. It hurt.
We drove some more, and I thought this was funny...
This was not an isolated case, all the dog signs are like this there. Just so you know, the dog on those signs in London is an Airedale. I have no idea why.
We drove some more learning the history of Scotland from our guide Pepper, and also the inaccuracies of the movie Braveheart. Finally we made it to Loch Ness! Beautiful. And the water is black! Not like dirty polluted black, but deep dark cold black. It was amazing. All of my pictures came out with the water looking blue, but trust me when I say I've never seen anything like it before in my life.
Woah! Check this out!
Nessie? Or a cleverly placed window decal? :)
We headed back to Edinburgh taking the scenic route. There were areas that really looked just like Montana. Made me miss you guys in the Big Sky. I swear we drove through the Livingston pass more than once.
So that was Saturday. Sunday we slept in a bit and then went to the Scotland National Gallery (art museum, I am such a nerd), then we took a tour of the underground "haunted" vaults, then went to the Zoo.
Penguins! Lemurs! Polar Bears! oh my.
It was beautiful and it was fun and I recommend anyone going to Scotland to eat at The Last Drop in the Grass Market, (the veggie curry is AMAZING), stay at St. Christopher’s Hostel, and try the national soft drink IRN-bru. Good times.
Oops. I didn't post any people pictures. D'oh! Here's some.
Till next time!
Salinte!