Our Scotland Brave Adventure!

[friends with mickey]

All the pics are fantastic but you with the brew is my favorite so far. Love that pinky action. Wally at the top is a cool shot too!

 

[packofjedis]

Terrie - Loving the photos! Quick question....we'll be in Scotland in a month. Is the path up to Arthur's Seat obvious? I knew it was high, but didn't realize it was so.....rural. We plan to hike up there as well.

I loved the Tattoo pictures. That looked amazing! If we had gone in August, we were going to get tickets, but instead we're going over in September and hoping for football tickets instead for the kids.

Enjoy your trip. It looks wonderful!!!

 

[stenogoddess]

Lovin the trip report! Thanks so much for taking the time to put it together for those of us stuck back at home!

 

[JLoane]

I am LOVING your trip report as well! My family and I will be on our Brave Adventure one year from now so we're living vicariously through you. Thanks again for all the pics!

 

[calypso726]

Last night was our welcome dinner at the Balmoral. Everyone met in the lobby 6:15 and then we headed to dinner. It was nice to put faces to names and so wonderful to meet everyone FINALLY! There are 34 of us in the group. Some are first timers, like us and some have been on 7 ABD trips!!!! I want to be THOSE adventurers when I grow up. There were some surprises last night and throughout our day today. I love surprises and unexpected bonuses and feel they really enhance any experience; therefore, I will not be spoiling the surprises. I am very happy no one spoiled them for me.
This morning we met up at 8:15 to start our day. Our on board local guide is David and he is AWESOME! I love his sense of humor and really enjoyed listening to him. We went through Old Town and New Town on our way to Holyrood Palace. David is a wonderful story teller and a wealth of knowledge.

I promised the artist who painted my Merida Brave shoes that I would post a picture of me wearing them in Scotland for her in my trip report. Thank you for my shoes Alice!!!!

We visited the National Museum of Scotland next …
Off with her head!!! … Oh wait, wrong movie, wrong country!

Bonnie Prince Charlie

Our Edinburgh Castle tour was our last stop of the day. It seems I have fallen out of favor with the wifi gods today so that is all for now. More tomorrow after finding the appropriate sacrificial Ethernet and chanting in binary code or something.

 

[calypso726]

Apparently with the wifi gods it is the thought that counts. Good. Ok so the strangest thing I have seen here so far has nothing to do with the Fringe Festival as one might think. Nope. The weirdest thing I have encountered is the Scottish Parliament Building.

So imagine you are walking through a city with buildings that are hundreds of years old, steeped in rich history, culture, Victorian architecture etc. Then out of nowhere you get this & below you see a Boma style bamboo meets Paul Mitchell blow dryers. This is the front of the building.

Now to the side youve got this whole Game of Thrones thing going on

And because that alone is not bizarre enough lets add some Star Trek/Star Wars pick your outer space adventure with a dash of Promethius glyphs to boot.

I believe this style of architecture is known as post modern identity crisis

 

[sayhello]

OK, that Parliament building is *very* strange! Love the pic of you two in front of the castle (I assume?)

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

Awesome photos! I laughed as I passed by your Sterling Castle pics. One looked vaguely familiar... (sorry for my mini thread hijack)...

here we are 11 years ago!

I'm so excited to see your pictures up north - Isle of Skye and Lewis. That should be absolutely amazing.

 

[jjharts]

Glad you are enjoying the surprises - there are more to come!! Love those shoes - they are darling!! We also marveled, wondered, and shrugged when we saw the Parliament building ("what were they thinking" is the only thing I could say!!)

 

[disneydeb8]

Anyone else in need of an update???

 

[stenogoddess]

These adventures are so packed! I'm sure she'll get back to us when she can. I can't wait either!

 

[sayhello]

Or the wifi gods may not be smiling at her. But it's likely a combo of both!

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

I'm always impressed when people post trip reports midtrip. I don't know where they find the time.

 

[tufbuf]

I'm always impressed when people post trip reports midtrip. I don't know where they find the time.

Same here, but it's great!!!

 

[Princess Leia]

Terrie - Loving the photos! Quick question....we'll be in Scotland in a month. Is the path up to Arthur's Seat obvious? I knew it was high, but didn't realize it was so.....rural. We plan to hike up there as well.

I loved the Tattoo pictures. That looked amazing! If we had gone in August, we were going to get tickets, but instead we're going over in September and hoping for football tickets instead for the kids.

Enjoy your trip. It looks wonderful!!!

The path going up is obvious. Just be careful coming down. I managed to come down an alternative route. My DH was watching from the correct path as I am about to lead my DD off a rocky incline. I realised just in time that it didn't feel quite right. It can be quite bracing at the top and you might end up being quite windswept and interesting. I love the views from Arthur's seat - you can see right across Edinburgh and the contrast of the Scottish Parliament and The Palace of Holyroodhouse. You can also get a free guided tour of the Scottish Parliament which explains some of the story behind the architecture. It is just across the road from The Palace of Holyroodhouse so can easily be combined. The guided tour of the parliament takes an hour and can be booked online.

Calypso726 - Hope you enjoy the rest of your adventure.

 

[packofjedis]

The path going up is obvious. Just be careful coming down. I managed to come down an alternative route. My DH was watching from the correct path as I am about to lead my DD off a rocky incline. I realised just in time that it didn't feel quite right. It can be quite bracing at the top and you might end up being quite windswept and interesting. I love the views from Arthur's seat - you can see right across Edinburgh and the contrast of the Scottish Parliament and The Palace of Holyroodhouse. You can also get a free guided tour of the Scottish Parliament which explains some of the story behind the architecture. It is just across the road from The Palace of Holyroodhouse so can easily be combined. The guided tour of the parliament takes an hour and can be booked online.

Thanks so much!

 

[Princess Leia]

Thanks so much!

What football match do you hope to go to on your trip to Edinburgh?

 

[calypso726]

Sorry for the delay in an update. The wifi gods here are rather primitive and clearly I am not in favor with them. I am thinking a smoke signal ceremony and some chanting between two tin cans strung together may appease them. If that fails I may resort to rock carving.


Yesterday we drove through Glen Coe on our way to Fort William where we stopped for lunch. From there we made our way to Eilean Donan Castle. The drive over was scenic and just so lovely.

We ate lunch here.

This was the view from our table

We arrived at Eilean Donan Castle

Hanneke & Zoe took amazing pictures. THANK YOU Hanne & Zoe you guys ROCK!!!!

This would be a view from inside the castle looking outside.

Yeah, I’m thinking I could totally live in a castle.

 

[calypso726]

Awesome photos! I laughed as I passed by your Sterling Castle pics. One looked vaguely familiar... (sorry for my mini thread hijack)...

here we are 11 years ago!

I'm so excited to see your pictures up north - Isle of Skye and Lewis. That should be absolutely amazing.

HaHa! Great minds as they say I am glad you are enjoying the pics. Isle of Skye and the hike in Quirang ... OMG!!!! Posting pics soon assuming the smoke signal ceremony will suffice.

Glad you are enjoying the surprises - there are more to come!! Love those shoes - they are darling!! We also marveled, wondered, and shrugged when we saw the Parliament building ("what were they thinking" is the only thing I could say!!)

Thank you

Anyone else in need of an update???

I'm trying but the speed cyberspace navigation here is more or less the equivalent to the speed of Fred Flinstone's car being driven by a snail.

These adventures are so packed! I'm sure she'll get back to us when she can. I can't wait either!

They are! I will! I'm here!

Or the wifi gods may not be smiling at her. But it's likely a combo of both!

Sayhello

No they aren't! I have offended them by uttering foreign words like High Speed Internet Access and even DSL.

I'm always impressed when people post trip reports midtrip. I don't know where they find the time.

I don't know about everyone else but for me it would be in lieu of sleep. I've always wanted to try a trip report but am always afraid I will forget the most impact certain moments or experiences will have on me as time goes by and not convey them the way I would want. So here we are and here I go

The path going up is obvious. Just be careful coming down. I managed to come down an alternative route. My DH was watching from the correct path as I am about to lead my DD off a rocky incline. I realised just in time that it didn't feel quite right. It can be quite bracing at the top and you might end up being quite windswept and interesting. I love the views from Arthur's seat - you can see right across Edinburgh and the contrast of the Scottish Parliament and The Palace of Holyroodhouse. You can also get a free guided tour of the Scottish Parliament which explains some of the story behind the architecture. It is just across the road from The Palace of Holyroodhouse so can easily be combined. The guided tour of the parliament takes an hour and can be booked online.

Calypso726 - Hope you enjoy the rest of your adventure.

Oh I wish I would have known that. I would have liked a guided tour of the building. If anyone does do this please share. Thank you Princess Leia we are enjoying it very much!

 

[packofjedis]

What football match do you hope to go to on your trip to Edinburgh?

We'll be a week in/around Edinburgh and then a week in north Wales (my aunt lived there and we used to visit a lot when I was a kid). We're in the ballot to see Manchester United play on 9/14. Our fingers are crossed. If we don't get tickets, I've got to come up with a back up plan. My son said any soccer is better than no soccer.