Scotland

It took 30 hours of travel time for us to arrive in Scotland. It was nice to finally arrive in Edinburgh and see the familiar faces of Tom and Karen. They bought us fish-n-chips for dinner, delicious. Took a tour of their cute little flat. learned that garbage is called rubbish, so cute. The steering wheel is on the right side of the car and they drive on the left - scary. We went to a Ceilge dance with the YSA. We learned a couple of dances and had a fabulous time. Tom was quite the celeberty in his Scottish outfit. All the girls wanted a picture with him. We were very tired by the time we got to bed that night. Sunday we went to Loch Lommond, it was what you would picture Scotland to be, foggy and lightly rainy. We visited the main shopping district in Glasgow and walked around the down town area. We loved all the old architecture in the city. We had a Donner Kabad, which Bryan was so looking forward to eating. We visited Sterling Castle. Very old and neat castle. We learned how tapestries are made, very long and tedious process. They were working on one at the castle that would take 5 years to complete. We also drove to the William Wallace (famous from "Braveheart") monument. We spent a day in Edinburgh to see the castle. We loved the really old parts of the castle. We saw the great hall, prison, living quarters of Mary Queen of Scots and the crown jewels. Very cool place. Parts of the castle have been added over time for military purposes. All the streets inside the castle walls are cobblestone, so cool. We also walked the "Royal Mile", which was a beautiful old street lined with shops that goes from the castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. We stopped at a little cafe to have lunch, not much looked good on the menu, so Bryan, Tom and I ordered smoked Salmon sandwiches. You would think smoked meant cooked, right? Nope. It was raw salmon on plain wheat bread. Karen ordered a cheese sandwich which was shredded cheese between two pieces of bread. I did taste my sandwich and tried to eat it, but did not suceed. We of course found a bike shop to visit while we were in Scotland, Bryan was in heaven. Our last day in Scotland we visited Rosslyn Chapel. Probably our favorite chapel. Everything was so ornate. The carvings were so detailed. It was a very cold day and the chapel was not heated. Gave a real experience as to how it felt so long ago when it was built. I was disappointed that we were unable to take pictures in the chapel. We said our goodbyes to Tom and Karen and headed for Paris.