The ferry over to Scotland was lovely, and took no time at all. Then we had a nice drive along the coast with our first stop at Glasgow! Such a beautiful city, full of incredible architecture, great murals, cute little Scotie dogs and statues (they have a "thing" about putting traffic cones on top of them!). As a photographer, I was in my glory! We had two days in Glasgow and it included a visit to the Clydeside Whisky Distillery where we saw how they made their whisky that included a tasting, yum!
The highlight of the stay was that night when we went to Stirling Castle for dinner though. We were greeted by Kevin, with his bagpipes. He told us about the history of the castle, then playing his bagpipes, led us down to dinner passing a cool church with its graveyard. Once there, he "presented" the haggis (in all it's glory), then proceeded to entertain us with a Robert Burn's poem and even pull Jack into it as he "demonstrated" (with a flourish) parts of the poem! Afterwards, Kevin continued to play his bagpipes while we finished our meal then lead us out to our bus for pictures afterwards. What a fun evening!
The following morning we took a boat ride on beautiful Loch Lomand and Loch Ness (where we searched for Nessie...but no luck) and then on to a short visit to Fort William and then on to the Isle of Skye. The next day we were off to the beautiful Highlands! We were lucky to see some Highlands cows with their shaggy hair, then on the road again to see Eilean Donan Castle and the beautiful scenery of the Highlands.
The following morning was a visit to Blair Castle. This was really quite something, a very large, white castle with every room full of beautiful furniture, clothing, arms, paintings, etc dating back centuries. We were there for hours and evidently that wasn't enough as Jack was missing at boarding time and I had to go find him!
We then traveled on to St Andrews and saw the "world famous" golf course, then Jack and I wandered over to the ruins of the old Cathedral which was absolutely fascinating, as well as the town itself. We ended up having lunch at a cute little cafe called "Northpoint" that their claim to fame is that it is where Kate met Prince William when they were both in college (just across the way).
We ended our day in Edinburgh and spent all the next day there. We toured the Edinburgh Castle, and learned it's still an operating castle with on site military housing, a chapel and even a dog graveyard. We then took a tour to see Rosslyn Chapel, the one mentioned in the book and movie "The DeVinci Code". It was so much larger than I pictured it to be! We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but trust me, it was beautiful.
We spent the whole of the day exploring Edinburgh, and there was so much to see! Memorials like Sir Walter Scott and Robert Frost; statues like David Hume (another traffic cone "thing") and Grayfriar's Bobby (about a loyal dog!), a phenomenal National Museum, fantastic architecture (including their churches!) and a fun restaurant called Frankenstein's that had all the "required sights and sounds" including the movie going on and even the buildings that inspired "Hogwarts" for the Harry Potter books!
That evening was the 'grand finale' of our trip - the Military Tattoo! It was one of the reasons we booked this trip. We had checked it out and looked forward to it, so had high expectations...well, it exceeded them and beyond! If you have never been to one, it's a little tough to explain...but I'll try. First, imagine a parade when the military bands march, playing and doing their routines. Now, add military bands from various countries coming in one after another, playing their country's anthems and doing their drills. Okey, now, once they have all gone through that, marched in from the castle walls, and out the other side, they come back again and play music and have dancers perform "fun" music from their country - ie: USA: sports cheerleading, jazz, country western, and rock & roll. Each country was different - Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, etc. Now, add on the castle wall images with story-telling, smoke, various colored lights, lit torches on the surrounding walls and you've got quite a show! The grand ending was all the bands together led by the Royal Castle Band Leader and then they all marched out and down the street! Wow, just Wow.
What a way to end our two week bus tour. We had a group dinner, of course, and it was hard to say goodbye. 15 days together with amazing people and amazing experiences one just doesn't easily let go nor forgets. Most had very early flights, we were lucky, ours to Denmark was late in the day, so for once we could sleep in.
Our next adventure was on our own...off to Denmark!
Marie
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