Scotland 2:  Edinburgh and Stirling

Probably my very, VERY favorite thing about Edinburgh was the Indian dish I ate for dinner!  J helped me find something on the menu that wouldn't be too spicy for me--Coconut Chicken Korma with rice and it was probably one of the yummiest things I have ever had!  Once I finished the rice off I still had more chicken and it was delicious still burrito style with the Naan.  I've already tried replicating it but was disappointed and I'm quite sure I could never get it to taste as good as the restaurant.  Maybe if I write them begging for the recipe they'll give it....or maybe I'll have to go back...

Of course we also enjoyed Edinburgh Castle and seeing the Honours of Scotland, the crown jewels.  A room within the castle held a crown, sceptre and sword of state which are the oldest royal regalia in the UK.  It was really neat to enjoy the history of the city & royalty.

We walked along the Royal Mile from the castle to Holyrood and this is some of the cool things we saw along the way.  We went into one museum where they have what is believed to be the oldest chess pieces in the world.  Of course J was interested in that.  Also, I found a couple swords just my size.  And off the Royal Mile not too far is The Writer's Museum which celebrates the works of Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson.  And it's housed in a impressive and elegant historic home of Lady Stair dating from 1622.

And of course we could not pass up a visit to Holyrood Palace, the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland.  Sadly, we couldn't take pictures inside and obviously couldn't tour the entire estate as the Queen does have private quarters since she frequently stays during summers.  We  found the gardens and the old abbey, founded in 1128, particularly enchanting and imagined going to a royal gala in the gardens.

I found this clock amusing, just outside the bus terminal.  We took the bus to Edinburgh one day and to Stirling the next and it made me smile every time we passed it.

In Stirling we went to the Wallace Monument, which I found more impressive than beautiful.  We saw the William Wallace sword and made it up all 246 steps to the top where it was so extremely windy that we snapped a pic and escaped as quickly as possible.  We walked through Stirling from the monument on one side to the Stirling Castle on the other and it proved to be a pretty quiet little town filled to the brim with cute little B&B's.

We found the layout of this cemetery just down the hill from the castle to be actually charming.  And Scotland loves daffodils!  So many pretty varieties of daffodils everywhere!!  We went back to Glasgow for dinner this night and that's when we ate at a yummy, yummy Spanish Tapas restaurant.  Next up:  Skye

Scotland:  Glasgow

First of all, I gotta give a shout out to my parents who made the 12 days we were in Scotland possible.  My Mom barely had time catch her breath after retiring to come take good care of our little ones and my Dad was kind enough to come help her and to sand and stain our deck and put in the garage door insulation--two things on our to-do list out of the way!  Thanks Mom & Dad!!

Although I was excited about our trip I was dreading the flight over.  Ended up not being too bad, as many things go, and we were there in no time (well, not literally; it still was 3 flights tallying over 5K miles, 80 miles of car travel and several hours in airports).  Glasgow is a very fun city!  We were based in Glasgow for 5 days.  I really enjoyed the atmosphere in the city.  Part of me is definitely a city girl.  We ate at cafes, pubs, a tapas bar and yummy restaurants.  J had his conference there at Glasgow University and he was kind enough to let me sit in on his presentation so I could see him in action.  Kinda like 'take your wife to work' day.  He had some other conference stuff to do on other days but we still saw quite a bit of Glasgow.  

One of the city's pedestrianized streets

We walked from our hotel in West/Central Glasgow all the way to St. Mungo's Cathedral in East Glasgow.  It was well worth it.  An amazing cathedral and the oldest standing building in Glasgow.

Just East of the cathedral is the Necropolis.  This is the coolest cemetery I have ever visited; and I've seen a fair share of cemeteries.  Tombstones are right up against the hills and some look to have the tomb even in the hillside.  A very calm and quiet spot of Glasgow. 

On the way back to our hotel we hit the City Chambers Building.  It's kinda like City Hall over there.  The interior had beautiful mosaic work in the entry and beautifully crafted marble staircases.  In the upper left of the trio of pics is the city seal of Glasgow.  We also walked through the Central train station.  It was huge!  It is kinda like the station in the Hugo movie with shops and eateries; very unlike the train stations in NYC and D.C. that I've been in. 

While J was at his conference I went to the Glasgow Botanical Gardens and had fun taking lots of flower pictures.  I found the pensive man with a pensive monkey on his lap a bit humorous and loved the large greenhouse with a winding trail the middle of the 'forest'.

A shot of Glasgow University with a cool bridge that is indicative of all the cool stonework we saw throughout Glasgow and much of Scotland.  We also went to some museums, etc.  We did so much walking in those first days after such a long trip over that my legs got stiff and J was massaging my calves nightly.  Thank you hon!  We had much better weather than we expected and though it was cold (mid-40's to lower-50s) we saw quite a bit more sun and less rain than we thought we would.  And every morning at the hotel we had a Scottish breakfast with our choice of:  bacon, sausage, eggs, croissants, haggis, panini, yogurt, fried mushrooms and fried tomatoes, and jams.  Next up:  Edinburgh and Stirling