Heading to the UK

For our vacation in August, we picked Scotland, UK. We planned a trip to fly to Paris, change planes, and land in Edinburgh. The first full day we took a bus tour into the highlands, up to Inverness and Loch Ness. No we did not see Nessie (darn). We also took a weekend to go up to Aberdeen and visit friends, then back to Edinburgh to tour the zoo, castle and down to Roslyn Chapel. Here are our highlights. The flight to Paris was long, but since I slept most of the way, I didn't notice much. I woke up a while before landing. BonJour! We flew on Air France, which btw, is one of the best airlines I've ever been on!!! They gave us hot towels, eye shades, ear plugs, and the seats were comfy, even in coach. Once we landed in Paris, we got on the bus system at CDG airport, rode around the outside of the airport to the next gate, where we waited maybe 10 minutes and was able to line up to get on the next bus to take us to our next plane to Edinburgh. Welcome to the UK! After heading off to our little hotel, Victoria Park House Hotel, a very minimalistic hotel. Our room was not ready, so we went down the road to find ourselves some lunch. We found a fabulous veggie food in a restaurant, Roseleaf Bar Cafe, that played the entire Cure Standing on the Beach CD, I was happy... I had the The Roseleafer, yummy!! We overtipped hugely because we were thinking American style, but the food was spectacular, so in the end, they deserved it. Back up to the hotel to our dinky room, far, far up the many stairs (many many stairs). Unfortunately the TV didn't work, we didn't have a hand towel and they never replaced our other used towels. Luckily it was only for a few days. But the beds were fine, sheets were clean and we only slept there and the price was low, bonus. We learned how to use the Lothian buses, even after taking one the wrong way accidentally once. The driver let us stay on and go back the other direction, Thank You!!! Our next day, our first full day in Scotland, we took the bus tour, via Scotline Tours They were wonderful to deal with online, and easy to find on the Royal Mile. Our guide was pleasant and the ride took us away from a day of downpours in Edinburgh into a chilly highlands. On our ride we stopped to see the

Harry Potter film site

sites where Harry Potter was filmed, a highland cow named Hamish, some "cheese and pickle" sandwiches with IRN-BRU drinks (both, acquired tastes) and the ride up to Urquhart Castle that sits on the top edge of Loch Ness. It was pretty awesome to walk around the ruins, see the trébuchet, and look out over the water. After our ruins tour, we got on the boat and took a water tour down the long lake. It was soooo cold! A hot cocoa was necessary to break the chill. I didn't take many photos because I was so busy trying to

Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness

keep warm. We finished up the tour, found a rest stop to get some food, much needed. And of course a tour through the gift shop. I found one of my eggie obsessions! If you read back on one of my holiday posts, you'd discover my Eggie addiction. I found an Eggie, refrigerator magnet with a measuring tape inside. I had to have it! I was so thrilled, and to top it off, I named it my "Scotch Egg" since it came from Scotland! (oh come on that was funny...). Once we were done there, we boarded the coach, snuggled up, and road the long road back to Edinburgh. It began to rain, we listened to soft highland music, the scenery got dark and a while later, in the misty rain, we arrived in a lamp-lit, stone street city. We thanked our guide and headed back to our room, far far above the streets. And the next days we we walked around Edinburgh getting a feel for the city, loving the transportation, choice of foods, the fact that the Fringe Festival was going on, and listing to all the excitement. Soon our weekend to Aberdeen was coming...