Glasgow again

Today we took the train from Inverness back to Glasgow, signaling the beginning of the end of our trip. The train ride was long and cramped, but again the scenery was beautiful.

Once we arrived in Glasgow we made our way to our hotel. We are staying at a different one than before and this one seems to be situated much better. We are across the street from a subway station. Our previous hotel was between stations and made taking the subway impractical so we walked everywhere. Today, however, we zipped into the city center very quickly and were able to do a bit of shopping before everything closed at 6:00pm. We wish we had taken the subway more when we were here before!

We then ate dinner at The Butterfly and the Pig, a restaurant we had wanted to try, but couldn't fit into our schedule previously. (Thank you subway for making it quick to get around!) I think we were just too tired from traveling on the train and from preparing to travel by plane tomorrow to fully enjoy the food, but it was still good.

Time to pack. Tomorrow we board a plane and head home, but we don't want to leave!

Inverness: Day 3

Our third day in Inverness began with lively conversation around the breakfast table. We've met some fantastic people staying at our B&B. Generally we aren't ones to talk to people we don't know and we generally prefer the anonemity of hotels. However, there is something fun about meeting new people while on vacation in the setting of the breakfast table. It creates an intimacy and openess almost like you might feel for your family and friends which can lead to great conversations and a sense of home away from home. It's really quite lovely. At least, that's been our experience on this trip because we've been paired with fun people.

We finally set out for our day a little latter than planned because we were enjoying the conversation so much. On the advise of our B&B owner we took the scenic route to Inverness and traveled along the Beauly Firth. It was beautiful, but the single track road was a little terrifying!

Eventually we arrived at Culloden Battlefield, the site of the last major land battle fought on British soil during the Jacobite uprising. The Jacobites were slaughtered by the British military during this battle, which spelled the end of the Jacobite resistance. The visitor center here has a really good display of the history leading up to the battle. The also had a display of the weaponry that Jacobite soldiers would have used, which we were able to hold.

Your visit includes an audio guide that takes you out onto the battlefield. As we stood overlooking the field, the wind whipped around us creating a rushing sound that gave a sense of desolation to the place. You can almost sense what occurred here.

Outside the visitor center was a pasture containing Highland Cows (pronounced heilan' coos by the locals!). I've become obsessed with them since we arrived, mostly do to the silly and adorable cartoon versions that you find in all the tourist shops!

Upon leaving Colloden Battlefield we headed to Cawdor Castle. The castle's claim to fame is the mention of "Cawdor" multiple times in Shakespeare's Macbeth, though the play takes place in Inverness 300 years before the castle was built. The castle is still the residence of the Dowager Counteds of Cawdor. (She arrived while we were there, but we only saw her green land rover, not her.) We were able to walk through much of the castle including some private rooms, guided by room notes written by the countess' late husband. We also had a very nice chat with one of the Docents, Terry.

It was after 2:00pm by the time we finished touring the castle so we grabbed lunch at the castle's cafe. The strawberries and cream were particularly good!

Cawdor Castle has a golf course on its estate. Since we are in the land where golf was invented and it is the last day of the Ryder Cup, we figured it was only fitting we play some golf!

Following this we toured the castle gardens which were lovely. 

The castle docent, Terry, had suggested we visit Fort Grorge on our trip. Since we didn't have anymore time in Inverness  and we weren't hungry for dinner we decided to kill time by driving to Fort George even though we knew we'd arrive too late to be able to go inside. We took a wrong turn out of the castle and ended up going a very roundabout way to Fort George. It took a little extra time, but it was fun to see the scenery as we drove. 

We then headed back to Inverness for dinner. We quickly realized that dining at any recommended restaurant (Yelp, Trip Advisor, Rick Steves...) in Inverness requires a reservation. After our first four options were exhausted we finally found an Italian restaurant, Bella Italia, that would seat us. We were drawn in by their Italian style ribs. They were good!

Tomorrow we take the train back to Glasgow. We are sad that our trip is almost over!

Inverness: Day 2

Today was our first real day in Inverness, so what did we do? You guessed it! We went to Loch Ness. We took a very windy boat ride down the loch to Urquhart castle. We kept our eyes pealed for Nessie, but no sightings. 

(On a side note, as foreigners with no cell service we are searching for wifi everywhere. How cute is their wifi signal?!?!)

We disembarked at the ruins of Urquhart, a castle that was begun in the 13th century and blown up by its owners in the late 17th to keep the Jacobites from using it. It is now mostly just a shell of the castle, but it is still picturesque to look at set against the loch. 

After visiting the castle we headed back to Inverness to pick up our car and drove out to Muir of Ord and the Glen Ord Distillery. We were able to take a tour of the facility and saw how they make their whiskey. (Sadly, no photos were allowed on the tour, but I guess we understand why!) We were also able to taste a few types of whiskey made by them and some of their partners.

Since we knew we'd end our day much closer to our B&B than Inverness, we arranged to have dinner at the B&B. It was really good, especially the homemade tomato soup using homegrown tomatoes from the B&B!

Inverness: Day 1

Today was a travel day. We took a four hour train ride from Edinburgh to Inverness. The scenery was beautiful, but that is a long time to be stuck next to strangers!

After arriving in Inverness we had to wait for the car company to pick us up and take us out to the airport (20 minutes away) in order to pick up our car. Then we had to drive all the way back into Inverness. The drive was made better by the super nice Mercedes they gave us!

Russ did great driving on the left side of the road and navigating all the roundabouts!

When we arrived back in Inverness we set out in search of Leaky's bookshop and cafe with the intention of having a late lunch. However, when we finally found it, we discovered that the cafe portion had closed three weeks ago! We left in search of food and realized that Inverness closes even earlier than Glasgow and Edinburgh. By 5:00pm a number of shops and restaurants were already closed and others were getting ready to close. We ended up eating at a KFC in their mall because it was one of the only things open!

We then got back in the car and set out for Muir of Ord (about a half hour northwest of Inverness) where our B&B is located. We thankfully made it out there before it got dark. Since we are a bit out of the way, and everything seemed closed anyway, we decided just to have a relaxing evening at our B&B instead of driving back into Inverness for dinner.

Tomorrow we're off to explore the Loch Ness!

Edinburgh: Day 5

*Update: we're having some issues with the images in this post and a few of them are ending up at the bottom of the page rather than in the text. When reading, if it seems like an image is missing, scroll down!

On our last day in Edinburgh we decided to hike Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano. We had been advised by a number of locals to do this earlier in our visit to take advantage of the nice weather while it lasted. However, we decided to stick to our original itinerary. This may have been a mistake. Though it did not rain (thank goodness!), it was incredibly windy. The winds were gusting so strongly that we nearly fell over a few times, but the view of Edinburgh was breathtaking.

We did climb all the way to the peak, though we don't have any photos from there as we were holding on for dear life to not be blown off the mountain!

We made it safely, albeit windswept, back down the mountain and retuned to our B&B to freshen up before heading out for the afternoon. We hopped on a bus in search of the Leith Tea Company- a company that makes their own tea blends. Unfortunately they had moved locations and we didn't have the new address. So we caught the bus back up to the Royal Mile and went to Oink for lunch. It was so good!!


After that we walked up the Royal Mile and crossed over to Grassmarket. This area was originally the city's garage for horses and cows and was the sight for Edinburgh's hangings. Now it has been turned into a pedestrian-friendly plaza full of pubs and funky shops. We had fun looking through Armstrongs vintage emporium and had a delicious treat at Mary's Milk Bar.

We also went into a true British hat shop! OK, guys. You've already heard me talk about how obsessed I am with afternoon tea and how much I love French Macarons. Let's add one more thing to the list: I just die over British hats and fascinators. They are fantastic! We had such fun with the shopkeeper who encouraged us to try everything on and insisted we take photos. Doesn't this one just scream Downton Abbey hunting scene??

In the end I settled for something a little more practical. (You know I couldn't pass it up!!)



In the evening we finally made it to the Whiskey tasting with Mark of Cadenhead's Whiskey Shop!

I am definitely not a whiskey drinker (it all tasted a bit like burnt rubber to me...), but Russ enjoyed it and we had a lot of fun. We were paired with a great, lively group of people, including two locals and regulars, a father-son duo who knew what they were doing. Turns out that the son, Donald, and his wife will be honeymooning in San Diego right after we return from our trip. What a coincidence! I told them to look me up at the Museum if they have time, though Russ and I know firsthand how difficult it is to fit everything into a vacation!

Tomorrow we leave Edinburgh for Inverness. We are sad to leave Edinburgh. We both really enjoy this city and still feel like there is much to do. At the same time, we are very excited to explore the highlands!