So we are back – & it was a great trip!! The rainy, cold, windy Scottish weather took a holiday too. We had beautiful sunny, warm, 20degress weather – so “unscottish”.
We flew into Liverpool – drove as far as the border of Scotland & slept the night in a motel. Then on to our destination & the wedding the next day.
The wedding was beautiful – the place wasn’t easy to find but we found it – it was a good thing that Walter saw the time wrongly & that gave us time to try & find out way there – plus Tobias fell asleep on that long winding way we were trying to find, which put him in a good mood for the wedding itself & the long night ahead. So it was in Birkhill Castle – very lovely old castle – over-looking a loch (lake). The ceremony was in the garden – my 1st standing ceremony for a wedding. Then it was champagne & the little salmon thingys were lovely. Then the bridegroom made his speech – very smart man – thanked his new wife 1st – hahahhaha 😉 Dinner was in a lovely little tent with all the white drappings & golden ballons – needless to say the bride & groom looked lovely together & blissfully happy! There were of cos the other speeches – from the bestman to the bridesmaid to the bride’s father. & a very funny video of the groom through his growing years.
We left after the 1st dance as the little guy was on overdrive & really needed to sleep.
The next day was nice & sunny again – we went to Edinburgh – lovely city – like the old buildings very much. Had lunch in a park, walked the very big Edinburgh Castle. Then back to the area we were staying for a nice fish & chips dinner.
Then we made the 3hrs plus drive up to the famous Loch Ness – i must say i am a little disappointed – so much fuss about Nessie & only 1x exhibition which isn’t even on the Loch itself. But the exhibition is good. Saw the ruins of Urquhart Castle from a distance – refused to pay to see fallen buildings – not to say we don’t like old buildings or history – on the contrary we love old buidlings & history – just don’t have cash to throw around. Oh, the Scottish weather held true in the Highlands – it was cooler & it rained but not big time – just a drizzle for maybe 10mins. The Highlands are indeed beautiful! Then we drove back down to just outside of Stirling where we stayed at a nice little B&B, HillView Cottage. Very cute & nice. According to the owner, the land – actually the whole valley was 5 feet higher – it was filled with peat which was dug out 100s of years ago.
The next day was a short tour of the city of Stirling – another very old city – with lovely old architecture – it was a sunday when we went so everything was closed – so we just looked around & then went on our way. We stopped to have a look at Hadrain’s Wall which was built by the Romans & ran the width of England. Now it is in ruins but parts of it still exists. It was a big, thick wall from what we could see of it & very impressive to see that it once ran the whole width of the country. Then we drove on down to Liverpool for a 1x night stay. Liverpool – Walter’s fav city! which by the way, has been voted Capital City of Culture 2008! We had chinese food – which was nice, not great but nice.
The next morning was spent wondering around the Merseyside docks – Albert Docks. It was a cold & windy morning. Cold, grey English weather had returned. Then it was off to the airport & back home.
We would have been home 2hrs earlier than 8.30pm but we missed our train from Basel & then missed our connection after that – hahha – but it was good – at least the 1st miss was – we got to go to the chinese store in Basel & got Mooncakes!! yummy!!! & i LOVE mooncakes!
i’ll sort the photos & post the pictures soon.
now to sleep – still haven’t recovered from that sore throat which has gotten bad, & cough & … well, i had runny nose & block ear but now they seem to have gone in favour of the bad sore throat – sigH!
Still we’ll (me & Tobias, who is not well but nothing serious) will see the doctor tomorrow.
syc
trippingdifferently 