We began our day making a quick stop At Bakewell, Thankfully, Bakewell was only 15 minutes away, so it was a quick trip. Besides being another brilliant example of an English village, it is the home of the Bakewell tart!!! We absolutely couldn’t not visit and pick a freshly baked one up.
We parked the car, took a bit of a walk around and then visited what is claimed to be the original Bakewell tart establishment. We grabbed a tart (and a hedgehog cupcake for Beckett), stopped into a candy store and then took back to the road. Our next stop was Stratford-upon-Avon, which again we were fortunate was on our way to our eventual stop in the Cotswolds. We did have to go through, or at least adjacent, to Birmingham and experienced a bit of traffic, but it didn’t last too long. Once in Stratford we found a car park easily and set off into the town. Since it is Saturday, there were plenty of people about, but it still didn’t feel crowded. It was raining on and off throughout the day, so maybe that kept the numbers down a bit. We headed down the main drag to find Shakespeare’s birthplace, homes, school and, of course, Holy Trinity Church where he is buried. There were old, historical buildings everywhere you looked. So cool. We jumped into one of the convenience stores to grab a meal deal for lunch (typically a sandwich, snack and drink for just a few pounds) and headed to the park by the River Avon to eat lunch. Despite the weather, there were many people walking and hanging about. It’s just fun to sit and be among them. We eventually noticed that they were having rowing races down a way in the river too. Eventually we made it back to the car and got back on the road for the short little bit to the Cotswolds. Our cottage is in one of many villages here. We are staying in Burton-on-the-Water, the Venice of the Cotswolds, due to a very picturesque river that passes through the town. Our cottage is a short walk into town so we were already able to take a short walk to dinner and back. Tomrrow we have nothing scheduled other than to leisurely walk around town and to possibly take a walk to one of the neighboring villages. We’ll see. The rain is supposed to stop and it should be pleasantly in the 60s. We’re watching our favorite Gogglebox on the telly as I finish up tonight’s update. This has become a nightly ritual before bed. We still find it entertaining. Cheers! Rob
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So today we took a little side trip to Rutland County, the smallest county in England we learned, to visit the parents/in-laws of our friends from Columbia, Carrie and Robert. Heather and I worked with Robert for years at our last school. We had talked with them for the past few years about our trip, especially since Carrie is from England. They had mentioned that we should go visit her parents when we finally went.
It just so happened that her parents were recently in Columbia as their youngest just graduated from high school, so I was able to meet them in person here in the US! Her parents invited us to visit them once we were in UK and we made plans to do so. It took us a little less than 2.hours to drive to their home. In Oakham, which is a market town in Rutland. Carrie’s Dad, John, took us on a tour of Oakham, showed us Carrie’s old school, Oakham Castle and then we spent some time in Stamford, another market town to the South. In Stamford we spent some time in the town’s meadow by the river, got another helping of fish n’ chips (arguably better than the ones we had in Whitby!) and took a short walk. Like every other town and village we’ve been to, it was charming , had incredible, old buildings and interesting history that John told us about. I think my favorite though was just walking along in the town meadows with all the people and birds. We ended up having some tea on the way back to their home. We continue to develop our tea drinking habit. Once back at their place in Oakham, we spent some time chatting with John and his wife, Christine. They are such friendly, lovely people and it was a treat to just hang out and talk with them.. John even rated my driving as exceptional. Well he didn’t say exceptional, but he said it was acceptable. Lol We finally took off back to Baslow, with a few books they authored and gifted us about different areas of England. All the books contain brilliant photographs and we’re excited to read them once we get home to learn even more and remember this fabulous trip. Unfortunately it’s already to move on from Baslow tomorrow onwards to the Cotswolds. We had a nice time taking a break in one spot for awhile…I think we could’ve easily stayed here longer. It’s hard to believe we’re wrapping up our 3rd week in the UK. Excited for the Cotswolds and finally London, but slightly sad that it’s slowly coming to the end. We’ll definitely appreciate this last portion of the trip. Cheers! Rob It was nice taking the day “off” yesterday, but I was excited to go somewhere today and the plan was to go visit Chatsworth House, which is less than a 10 minute drive away from our cottage.
AFter a little breakfast, we headed out. I hadn’t done too much research on Chatsworth House. I knew it was another large, fancy, old home and it had gardens, etc… and that we had reserved a table for afternoon tea. When we made the turn into the property and first saw the house from afar, it was pretty impressive. It’s a huge, impressive stately home. The location, of course, is beautiful, surrounded by green pastures and rolling hills. The house has been the home of the Cavendish family for centuries and dates back to 1549. Wow! We had tickets as the first group in this morning so it was not very crowded at all as we headed in. It was a self guided walking tour through multiple rooms. The Duke and Duchess actually still I’ve there, however, we were told that they are moving out soon and one of their son’s family, with children, will be moving in. The inside of this historical home was different than anything I have seen before. The Duke and Duchess are avid art collectors and have recently brought in multiple of their personal pieces into the public spaces. Interestingly, they love modern and pop art, so every space contained old, historical items and new items including furniture and art. Next to two thrones that were hundreds of years old, there was a modern, ceramic table. The juxtaposition was really cool and worked in every room we were in. One of the rooms even had paintings/sketches from Picasso, Rembrandt and Matisse. It made this “tour” very different than many we had already done. The other nice thing was they had plastic informational cards in most rooms that you could pick up that gave great information about the room and contents along with stationed guides in each room more than willing to chat with you. It was really well done. After exiting the house, we had a little liquid refreshment, as today was the warmest day we had have the entire trip. We then set up into the gardens. Again, the gardens were different than anything I had walked through before. They had several green houses, including one devoted to growing a grape vineyard. You couldn’t walk through it, I think for obvious reasons, but looking in you could see large bunches of grapes just dangling all over the place. They had several fountains and water features, including this cascading one that was ahead of its time. The rock garden was one I had never seen before as most of the rocks were HUGE and had been arranged in a really interesting manner. It felt like you were walking through something from Disneyland. It included a really cool willow fountain and fantastic water fall. As we had tea scheduled soon, we took a break in the shade on a bench for a bit at just people watched and cooled off. The tea was nothing less than spectacular. We spent the next hour and a half relaxing drinking the most flavorful tea and eating delicious savory and sweet treats. My favorite was the smoked mackerel pate, flaked salmon sandwich, mango/lime sorbet and the blackberry mouse/white chocolate tart. Beckett enjoyed two cups of the “world’s best hot chocolate” and we took home all our scones because there just wasn’t room in any of us to finish them off. We were waited on wonderfully and had short lovely chats with our waitress. It really was a treat. After a few hours of walking and full tummies, it was definitely time for naps, so we head home and we all laid down. We’re still trying to take it somewhat easy as I know once we get to London, it’s going to be go, go, go. Our dinner at the Italian restaurant a very short walk away from our cottage was so good last night….guess where we ended up again? Yep, we returned for one more dinner. The guys there were happy to see us and treated us like we were locals. They made eating there delightful as much as the amazing food. Heather and I ordered the same pizza from last night, the Diavilo, and a salad with mozzarella, tomatoes and avocado. Beckett actually ordered the pasta dish I ordered last night with salami and sausage, both which were slightly on the spicy side. We all loved it…again! Thankfully this time we had some room for dessert, which was the plan. Beckett had tiramisu, Heather had lemon meringue pie and I had an amaretto cake. We would be in big trouble if we lived near this place. As Beckett said, we’d have to eat here at least one a week. So glad we happened upon this place, as our meals here were some of the best of the vacation so far! Tomorrow we are going to visit parents of a friend of ours in Columbia which live in a town called Oakham. We’re excited to spend some time with people who live here and have them show us some sights. Cheers! Rob It was nice knowing we weren’t going anywhere this morning. I could take my time and Heather and Beckett could sleep all they wanted to.
After watching Good Morning Britain for a bit, I started the laundry. There is a washer but no dryer so we were going to have to hang everything to dry. Luckily this cottage has a nice little backyard and the weather was great today…nearly everything dried by the end of the day. Just a few things still on a drying rack in the kitchen tonight. This was our do nothing day and we did basically nothing. After eating lunch at the cottage we did walk across the street to a little candy/ice cream shop for ice cream cones. Heather and Beckett got toffee and I got lemon curd. We took them to Goose Green, a little green space right next to where our cottage is and sat on a bench for a bit. After we got back to the cottage, we kept laundry going and eventually Heather and I laid down for a nap. It was a bit weird not doing much today, but I know our bodies, and minds, will appreciate the break. There are a few pubs/inns here locally to eat at, but there is also an Italian restaurant literally across the green from our cottage. We decided to do something different and head there for dinner. OMG…it was one of the best meals of the trip! Beckett got a pizza and Heather and I shared a pizza and a pasta dish. It was all amazingly delicious. So good, that we made reservations to go back tomorrow night for dinner again!!! The plan is for Heather and I to share one pizza, so we can actually eat dessert too. The restaurant was a delightful surprise! We watched a bit of tv after we got home and are ready to hit the hay again. Heather and I are addicted to a show here called Gogglebox. You watch people watching tv. It’s pretty funny and we’ve both been literally rolling at points. I’m excited to keep watching it once we’re home online. Tomorrow we are visiting Chatsworth House where we also have reservations for afternoon tea. We plan to spend a few hours there, but will be home late afternoon so we can take a nap and finish up laundry. Cheers! Rob Our host prepared breakfast for us this morning. It was delicious! The eggs were farm fresh, free ranged and you could tell. It was a very hearty breakfast and I ate more than I needed to.
The road trip to Baslow was on the shorter side and we couldn’t check in until later, so we made a few short side trips. First, we headed to Knaresburough. I had seen a picture of a beautiful viaduct here on a Facebook post at some point. It was another quaint English town. Of course, they had a cool market square and a castle, Knaresburough Castle, although this one was a ruin. The castle was built on the bluffs above the river that winds through the town. And, of course, that’s where the viaduct is. It was pretty impressive seeing it in real life. We walked down to the riverside; unfortunately the place I had seen that rented row boats was closed on Tuesdays. I think Heather and Beckett were relieved. Lol We walked through a garden, headed back to the car and head to the next town I had seen on-line, Harrogate. It was about time for lunch, so it was good that this is the location of Betty’s Tea Room, a famous tea room I had read about. Thankfully we were seated quickly and had a nice lunch. Our waitress was great; she loved our accents. Lol.. We talked about Harry Potter and visiting Orlando with her. We jumped back into the car for the next hour or so to Baslow. We once again found our place fairly easily and had a fun time parking our car in a space barely big enough to fit it. This time we are staying in this cute cottage with three floors. The stairs are a bit of a challenge, but the cottage is just plain cool. After a bit of a rest, we walked to the local coop a few minutes away for some groceries. We will be here for the next four nights and three days. Tomorrow we plan to do absolutely nothing! Well, we will be doing laundry, but we have no plans to go anywhere or do anything. We told Beckett he can veg out in front of the iPad. I’m looking forward to a day of rest and so are Heather and Beckett. Cheers! Rob Well, the comfy, overly soft bed was fabulous! Heather and I could have stayed in othat bed the entire day! Definitely the best bed we’ve slept in all trip long.
Breakfast was going to be prepared for us, but we had a bit time to kil before we ate so we took some time to explore more of the house. Several doors to other rooms were now open as they were already getting the house prepared to open at 11 am. Each room had a ton of artifacts and informational posters. It was pretty amazing that we had stayed here overnight. The house has been in the Stuart family for hundreds of years and their story is pretty interesting. Breakfast was served downstairs in the old maid’s pantry.. It was a true Scottish breakfast with eggs, sausage, bacon and more HAGGIS! I ate all of it again and Heather even ate a bit of hers. It’s quite good if you can get over thinking about what it’s made of. After breakfast we hit the road as we had quite a bit of driving today. Our final destination today was Holmes Grange Farm which is in the Yorkshire Dales area. The scenery continued to be amazing all day. Lots of narrow, twisting roads with a few bits of highway. We have seen hundreds, probably thousands, of sheep while we drive. Today was no exception, however, we also did finally spy highland cattle, or coos, as they are called! Unfortunately, we saw them as we were driving on a narrow winding road and we were unable to take a picture or immediately pull over. However, as soon as I could, I did make a u-turn to go back to the pull off on the side of the road right before we saw them. I was hoping the cows were still there and I could just walk down the road a bit to see the. So sad, they were gone by the time I got there. They had moved far away into the field behind the trees and were barely visible. I was so bummed. Oh well. I didn’t get a picture, but we were excited we did actually get to see them. We didn’t expect it, but there was a nice pull over spot at the Scottish/English border on the road we were on. There was a stop on our way up, but we didn’t stop then. They had some cool rock markers and a few educational signs. Eventually we stopped for lunch at a rest stop and ate at Burger King. Again, nothing special really. They did have an Argentinian burger, but we all stuck to the normal Whopper and such. We still had a bit to go and we decided to take a little side trip to the Tan Hill Inn, which claims to be the highest (elevation) inn in Britain. I had seen it in a show I had watched about the Yorkshire Dales. The ride up was harrow, twisting and littered with sheep. Sheep in the fields, sheep in the road. It’s so cool to see them just hanging out literally everywhere! The landscape definitely changed as we got higher up. It almost reminded me of the Scottish highlands again. There is literally nothing up there but wide open space…….and sheep. Finally, we could see the inn and we pulled in. Unfortunately the didn’t start serving food until 5 and so we grabbed a few drinks (ales for Heather and I) and sat down and enjoyed the ambiance for a bit. We took off once again to finish up the day’s driving to get to the farm. Once again, we didn’t have too much difficulty finding it. We met the host, moved suitcases in and took off to a local pub. It was the first disappointing meal we’ve had this trip. Heather and I got the Sunday roast and Beckett got a burger. After the Sunday roast we had in Durham last week, this one fell short. Oh well, we’ve had great luck with food overall, so one mediocre meal isn’t too bad. We headed back to the farm, said hello to the sheep and donkeys they have, and wrapped up the day. We started the day In Fort William with breakfast prepared for us at the bnb we stayed at last night. It was nothing fancy, but it was nice to have eggs, sausage, bacon and the trimmings. No haggis though to the disappointment to all. Lol
We had some time before the visitor center at Glen Coe would be open, so we took a short drive up to Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in Britain. We obviously weren’t going to climb it and we had heard from a couple on the train yesterday that it was shrouded in clouds, but we were so close to it, we couldn’t pass up taking a look. It turned out that there was a little visitor center there as well, with some decent information on Ben Nevis and the area. There were several people there that were clearly there to hike it. After reading a display we found out that hiking it up and down could take 6 - 8 hours and that is was a fairly strenuous affair. We jumped on the trail that takes you to its base and took a short walk out to see what we could see. While we never did catch a glimpse of the peak, it was still a beautiful view, including all the sheep at the base. We have seen sheep everywhere we go. I bought myself a small stuffed sheep in Edinburgh as it is clearly something I will now equate with this trip. We soon jumped in the car and headed to the Glen Coe visitor center. One thing we learned, is that Ben stands for mountain and Glen stands for valley. So from the mountain to the valley we went. The visitor center at Glen Coe was a bit larger with displays and a short movie about its history, including a horrible massacre that occurred there. They even had a recreation of a house they believe people had built in the area hundreds of years ago. We also talked with one of the guides there and he pointed us in the direction of another Harry Potter site! There was an area in Glen Coe where they had built Hagrid’s hut along with a replica of the covered bridge at Hogwart’s for some of the movie scenes. Being there you can see why the area was chosen: it is simply breathtaking everywhere you look. We left the visitor center and took a short side trip to see if we could find the exact spot of the hut, but we don’t think we found it. Of course, everything has been removed and plants have grown since then. It was hard to tell if we had the spot correct. Funny, it actually shows up on Google maps if you type in Hagrid’s hut, but we still weren’t sure we had the spot correct. We still got to see more of the beautiful valley including great views of the River Coe. Our accommodations for tonight were at Traquair House, the oldest inhabited house in Scotland, or so they say. The drive was going to be 3 hours from the Glen Coe area to the house, so off we wentQ The drive was a mixture of highway and back roads. At one point we stopped at a rest stop and got lunch at Burger King. Tasted just like home; nothing special except they did have an Argentinian beef burger. I should’ve checked see how much that one cost, but I stuck with a good ole Whopper. Three hours of driving was a bit much for all of us at this point. While I am sleeping well, we’re often not going to sleep until 10:30 or 11:00 or later; especially since it doesn’t get dark until way after 9. It also starts getting light, along with birds chirping, around 3:30/4:00 a.m. I’ve usually been able to fall back asleep until 7 or so, but I know I could sleep more. We were all thrilled to finally arrive at Traquair House! It was sooooo amazing! It is open to the public during the day for visits and tours, but by the time we arrived, it was closed and practically deserted. We got to pull our car up to the circle drive in the front and unload our luggage. One of the staff took us inside and up to our room. Once inside you felt like you were in a museum; in fact, we were. And you felt like you shouldn’t be there. Our room was up a winding stone staircase; thankfully only one floor up. He showed us to our room, gave us the low down on a few things, including breakfast in the morning and left us to get situated. Since it was closed to the public at this point, we had the run of the grounds. We went outside to roam the gardens and to say hello to some of the animals they have on site for children. We got temporarily “lost” in the hedge maze. It was really fun, especially since we were completely alone. We took a short drive to get dinner; our first disappointing meal of the trip and then headed back to enjoy the room for the evening. The entire room is amazing. Even the bed! The bed is incredibly soft; you sink into it when you lay down. I’m little concerned it’s too soft, but right now it feels great! Tomorrow we leave Scotland and are headed back to England. I’m so glad we were able to spend some time up north and see some parts of Scotland. Cheers, Rob So today was another activity that has been rebooked twice. We have had tickets to ride the Jacobite train twice before and have had to cancel. Third time was indeed a charm!
The weather this morning was again cool with clouds and intermittent rain. Again, we welcomed the addition to the atmosphere of today’s experience. We imagined the scene from when the dementors stop the Hogwart’s Express on it’s way to Hogwarts. Appropriately enough as we left the station several close branches from trees along the track scratched the side of the train. I told Beckett it was the bony fingers of the dementors! Lol…he didn’t like that. The train itself is freaking amazing! The engine itself really does look like the Hogwarts’ Express. We had booked in the first class carriage and the accommodations were definitely first class. We had a table to ourselves and sat in what almost were wing-backed chairs. They were large, comfy and we had a ton of leg room. Soon after leaving the station a trolley came down and served us tea. We received tea service again on the return trip back. We are certainly becoming lovers of tea drinking including Beckett. The train takes a roughly two hour track to a coastal fishing village, Mallaig. The scenery along the way was what you would expect. Lots of green hills and mountains, occasional rocky outcroppings, sheep, waterfalls coming down the mountains, rushing streams especially with all the rain and then there are the lochs. The thing though that a lot of people come for is the viaduct crossing. The famous viaduct is the same one filmed in all the Harry Potter films; the one we see the Hogwarts’ Express cross on its way to Hogsmeade and the castle. They make an announcement that you are approaching the viaduct so everyone can get into position to see and take pictures and videos. It was as cool as you would think it was. And we got to do it on the way back as well…so two times! The train is long enough that we could look out of our carriage and see the other ones still on the viaduct. You could also see a ton of people who had driven to the viaduct area to witness the train crossing from below. It truly is big deal there. Of course, we once again, met a very friendly British couple who was sitting directly across from us at a table for two. They had received tickets to ride from their daughter. It was fun to chat with them throughout the journey out and back. Once in Mallaig, you have roughly two hours to enjoy the village. As it was noon, we headed straight to a restaurant near the station that our Airbnb host last night recommended. It was a tiny place, with room for roughly 25 people. I had read that the rush for lunch spots was pretty serious as it is a tiny village and the train brings a bunch of people all at once. Luckily being in the first train carriage, we were one of the first people off the train and we had no problem getting a table right away. We shared some shrimp cocktail as an appetizer and then all three of us ordered another round of fish ‘n chips. I think this was our third round? I can’t really say it was better or worse than the others as they have ALL been really good! Beckett and I ordered our fourth or fifth round of a Scottish soft drink called Irn Bru, which we are currently addicted to as well. After lunch we had a bit of time left to check out a cute little Harry Potter themed store and then we headed back to the train as it was windy, chilly and still raining off and on. The trip back to Fort William seemed to go faster. I think full tummies and the sound of the train and tracks lulled us all into a deep relaxation. Beckett even caught a few z’s. I did want to snap a specific picture on the return trip. I had read up ahead of time on all the possible film sites for the Harry Potter movies throughout the UK and another one on this journey is a small island in one of the lochs that the train passes. We kinda missed it on the way out, not knowing exactly what we were looking for, but I spied it on the way back. Remember the scene of Dumbledore’s grave? It was filmed on this tiny island in this loch that the train passes. I was ready this time and got a few decent pictures of it as we passed. So cool…in my opinion. ::) We had planned to possibly drive out to the viaduct in the car after we got back from the train trip, but we were feeling a bit run down and decided we needed rest. We headed for our bnb and have been lounging the rest of the evening. We continue to be conscientious about the need to pace ourselves and get rest so we can continue to enjoy all the time we have here. So far, so good! Tomorrow we head to Glen Coe, a beautiful area that is also the site of a horrible massacre that occurred in Scottish history. Afterwards, we head back down south towards England. So glad we got to spend some time in Scotland! Cheers! Rob We left Edinburgh bright and early this morning as we had several hours of driving ahead of us today.
The idea of this trip originated many, many years ago with a Christmas gift I gave Heather. I bought both her and I a square foot each of pasture at Dunans Castle here in Scotland. It was a way for the owners to raise money for the restoration of the castle and grounds. I told her that I’d take her there someday to actually see it. Then, a few years ago I started to think about doing something for my 50th birthday. Taking a trip seemed like a fun way to celebrate. I threw around several ideas. We considered Canada, Iceland, anywhere out of the U.S. Then we thought…let’s go to the UK and see “our” castle! Plans were made for a short less than 2 week trip. Then covid happened. Our original trip planned for 2020 was cancelled. We tried again in 2021, extended the length of the trip by about a week, but quarantine requirements were unappealing and B still wasn’t vaccinated. We cancelled again. Fast forward to 2022 and here we are! Plus, we added another week to trip! The drive from Edinburgh to the castle was almost 3. Hours, but went relatively quickly. A lot of it at the beginning was on some pretty decent highway and took us through Glasgow. Soon though outside of Glasgow we entered beautiful countryside that gave way to hills and mountains, winding and climbing roads and eventually lochs and highlands. The scenery has been quite stunning today. We arrived at the castle not long before our scheduled tour. Along with two other families, we were guided around the castle grounds by this lovely, old Scottish man and given a history lesson of the area and the castle. It was raining off and on all day, which seemed to only add to the atmosphere. He showed us the bridge to the castle, took us down to the river at the bottom of the glenn, and took as along a trail through the woods and fields. The trees, plants and flowers were varied and beautiful. He showed each family where their plot of land was located and everyone took pictures. After almost an hour, we were led to an outside tent that had been set up with a lovely afternoon tea spread set up just for us. After giving us the lowdown on all the goodies before us, the woman left and three of us just chilled, ate, drank and took in the amazing nature surrounding us. We spent almost another hour just enjoying ourselves. Rain continued off and on, but it was so nice and refreshing to relax outside in the fresh air. We finally decided it was time to hit the road again, as we still had another 2 1/2 hours of driving ahead of us up to the Scottish highlands where we are tonight. The driving was a blast. The road was 2 lanes the. Rest of the way, sometimes narrow, but always in good shape. Traffic overall was pretty light and I never felt hurried or crowded. It was fun to. Watch the scenery change as we go closer and closer to highlands. It literally seemed like a movie. Almost unreal hills, mountains, rocks, trees, streams and a sky that changed from cloudy to sunny and back again. We arrived in Fort William late this afternoon. Found our new place for the night with relative ease. Met our airbnb host and chatted for awhile. He is Scottish, but went to school for a bit in Fort Dodge, a stone’s throw from Iowa Falls where Heather grew up! What!?!? It is a small o world after all! He, like everyone we meet, was friendly, asked us questions about ourselves and our trip and continued the trend of hospitality we have found here in the UK. The rain has picked up this evening and it may be rainy off and on tomorrow as well as we take our steam engine trip to Mallig, a small fishing village, on the coast. We don’t mind at all! We’ll get our third, or maybe it’s our fourth, helping of fish n’ chips regardless. Lol. Till tomorrow….cheers! Rob Knowing we had a little more distance to cover today, I researched the transit system here in Edinburgh and installed the bus app and purchased a family pass for the day. This proved to be a big help today!
We took our first bus from our airbnb to relatively close to Edinburgh Castle. We still had to walk a bit, but it gave us a chance to see a few sights early today including a pretty impressive monument to Sir Walter Scott. It’s the second largest monument to a writer in the entire world! Edinburgh Castle sits high up on a hill which meant we had a bit of walk up a hill to get there. The calves were burning early today! Edinburgh Castle like every castle we’ve seen so far is pretty impressive. It is more of a fortress and has sprawling grounds. It provides amazing views of the city all the way to the water. There are multiple buildings and several small museums within. We took our time wondering, saw the Scottish Crown Jewels and the great hall. As has been typical, you wonder around looking at history that is so much older than our own country’s. After the castle, we headed to Camera Obscura and the World of Illusions. We weren’t sure what to expect, but it provided a fun activity apart from all the historical site seeing we have been doing. There were great views from the top of this building as well and some real fun optical illusion activities. We headed to lunch at a place I had researched before hand. I was anxious to go, as they offered an appetizer that gave you an opportunity to try haggis in a smaller version. Beckett ordered sausage, Heather beef and I ordered the haggis app and a Scottish egg. Everybody tried the haggis and I ate the entire thing. As long as I didn’t think about it, it was very tasty. My dish had a layer of potatoes, then the haggis and then a layer of creamed turnips. It all was covered with a peppered gravy. I would definitely eat it again! The Scottish egg was kinda underwhelming. We met a nice man sitting next to us who chatted with us for awhile. Again, we meet friendly people everywhere we go. It’s so nice to chat for a bit with them. Even the people in the restaurants seem to genuinely want to know how your day/trip is going. They always ask a follow-up question and wish us well. Yesterday, I chatted with this older Scottish woman while we were all trying the cross the crazy streets with the construction and traffic all around us. We were both laughing at the walk, don’t walk signals which seem to take forever to change. Our next stop was the Royal Yacht Britannia which was located several miles away. We got our next bus, which gave us a nice 20-25 minute ride to the waterside. It couldn’t be much easier riding the busses. They have an awesome app that tells you exactly which bus to take, maps out how to get to the stops, tracks your progress, etc…. Very low stress. When we arrived, there was basically a large shopping mall at which the yacht is docked. You actually had to walk into the mall, take an escalator up to the top floor and enter a museum from within the mall. It was a bit odd and not what we expected, but once you come outside to where the yacht is docked…it’s amazing! They provided audio guides and you walked through multiple decks of the yacht. It was so cool to see, especially after seeing it in documentaries and in t.v. Shows like The Crown. You can hardly believe you are in the same place as the Queen, Prince Phillip and all the other people related to them were. The yacht is beautiful and the audio guide gave great background information. Even Beckett enjoyed it! We grabbed our third bus back towards what is called The Royal Mile; the road that connects Edinburgh Castle with Holyrood Palace, one of the Queen’s many homes. The palace was already closed, but we were still able to take a look at it and take a few pictures. Again, it was stunning just like everything else we see. I’m sure the inside was even more so. By this time we were all tired and ready to wrap up the day. We headed to another place I had researched, the Toolbooth Tavern, for dinner. It was a typical British pub and we had a decent meal. I think lunch was actually better. I have read not to expect too much from pub food; that’s not the real reason you go to a pub, right!?!? I almost ordered myself another ale, but at that point I think I would’ve fallen asleep on the spot. Beckett and I have been drinking Irn-Bru, a Scottish soft drink, so I opted for another one of those instead. Not sure how to describe the flavor, but it’s orange, but doesn’t taste anything like orange. Edinburgh has been lovely, just like everywhere else we have been. I still can’t quite believe we’re here and are wrapping up our second week. Tomorrow will involve quite a bit of driving as we head further north and west into Scotland. I imagine we are in for some beautiful scenery. Cheers! Rob |