Finally, the day to fly home has arrived. It was a wonderful trip, but quite long. Steve thinks the length was just right because our week in Edinburgh seems very long ago, and it doesn’t feel like we only just got to Scotland and are now heading back home. I’ll give him that, but I …
Today was our last day on the Isle of Skye and we had a long drive ahead of us back to Edinburgh; however, we made time for a “quick” hike nonetheless. It was time to take the road from Glenbrittle to Sligachan and find the Fairy Pools! We got a little turned around on the …
We had grand plans for today, with many sites to see as we left Edinburgh and started our drive up into the Highlands. Unfortunately, we were stopped dead in our tracks very early on by poor rental car management. We arrived at the downtown Edinburgh Avis before 9:00am to pick up our pre-paid, reserved-months-in-advance vehicle …
Continue reading ‘Finally Heading up to the Highlands, After a VERY SLOW Start’ »
Today was our last day in Edinburgh and it was a “free” day. Yes, I, the much maligned scheduler of vacation “death marches”, had scheduled a free day that didn’t have anything in particular planned. It was to be used to see anything we had missed earlier in the trip, or to explore something in …
We took the bus back to Edinburgh from Roslin, and stopped at a kitschy tourist shop for a wee bit of souvenir looking. Afterward, we found a nice pub for dinner, then made our way to another pub for a drink. The Jolly Judge had been recommended by an online cider locator as a place …
This morning, we climbed on an early bus and headed out to Roslin. We went to the upper deck of the bus and were lucky enough to get seats in the front row, right up against the window. It gave us a whole new view of the city as we drove by and great views …
Continue reading ‘In Search of History (the Knights Templar and William Wallace)’ »
We started our day with a visit to St. Giles Cathedral. I put Steve in charge of photographing the stained glass windows and went about walking around and giving him tidbits of information from the walking guide. We were a bit disappointed to find the Thistle Chapel was closed, with a sign outside the door …
Continue reading ‘St. Giles Cathedral, the National Museum of Scotland, and More!’ »
Yesterday’s gorgeous weather was a gift that enabled us to make it up to Arthur’s Seat. While the weather forecast for today was basically the same as yesterday, the weather reality was not the same at all. It was cold and drizzly and overcast for all but about 30 minutes today. This is not a …
Our first task on our first morning in Edinburgh was to procure local SIM cards for our phones so that we could make good use of them while in Scotland. I admit to being surprised when I received a call less than two hours later from a local group wanting to talk to me about …
After years of talking about it, Steve and I finally made plans this year for a trip to Scotland. I have spent months planning for the trip – reading guide books, creating a spreadsheet of sites of interest, and coming up with possible itineraries. As part of the planning process, I created a map plotting …