Our Honeymoon

We are on our way!

Made it to Scotland, we were exhausted so found our hotel and went to bed.

Later in the day we decided we were starving so found a pub and went out into the foggy Edinburgh night.

This became one of our favorite pubs, great music, great drinks, and they stayed open until 11:30 for food.

After dinner and music we explored the High street, or the Royal Mile in the fog. It was a perfect foggy night in Scotland.

There will be lots of photos of small alleys. In early Edinburgh there were very small alleys called close, that were the streets of Edinburgh. At that time the city was only 4 square miles.

These close were the streets that everyday people lived on. The largest were about 4 people across and would go from the Royal mile road to the outer wall of the city.

The next day we were up early... ok at like 11, and went out for breakfast. We had intended to go to the castle, but had to buy tickets for the next day. So instead we walked all around the city.

Breakfast became my favorite time of the day!

The Edinburgh Castle from below, it is a brilliant strategic castle as on three sides there is sheer cliff to climb to get to it. The only access is the Royal Mile, or high street.

Ryan loved finding the Scottish Thistle's throughout our trip. This was the first one he found.

A beautify set of stairs that led to a small green space and then into one of the many market areas.

This is an above view of the market area we eventually explored.

After wandering through the market area we discovered a grave yard. There were some sad, beautiful and historically interesting graves. I really enjoyed it.

View of the castle from the graveyard. This graveyard was on the side that originally had a Loch on it. That is a lake, it was where all of the poop from the city was sent.....

From the graveyard we moved into a beautiful garden space. It was overflowing with people, as it was one of those rare sunny days. There were so many beautiful flowers.

Also why do kids in Edinburgh get a castle to play in, I want a castle to play in!

One of the most interesting pieces was a fully functioning clock that was covered in succulents.

After the garden we wandered through the new part of the city. The older part is up near the castle, on the other side of the rail is the "new" city.

Ryan loved this building because it kept the old fashioned facade but then was really modern on the inside.

We then made our way into another park, this one had a lot of historic buildings and lookouts.

That night we went to a Gordan Ramsay restaurant and I got to eat a Beef Wellington. I felt like I could die happy afterwards.

When we arrived there were a ton of film crews wandering around. I had gotten the timing wrong and had made a reservation at 4, we changed it to 6. We found out if we had arrived at 4...

Ramsay would have been sitting just behind me on the sofa..... I may have cried.

But the food was to die for. Even the butter tasted better than normal butter.

We also tried sticky toffee pudding for the first time. Even thinking about it makes me drool.

The next day we were up early again.... maybe 10, and headed out to breakfast. We went to a close that had a restaurant in it.

Then we were off to the castle. I am going to try and only put the really cool photos in, I apologize for the photo overload....

This is a graveyard in the castle grounds. It is for all of the dogs of the royal family.

After the castle we wandered through the Royal Mile.

One of my favorite stores was a Harry Potter store.. ya ya I know.

Ryan really enjoyed a store for Knights.

We then wandered into a parade. We got into trouble a couple of times, we had to cross it and there were no breaks so we had to run through. The looks we got taught me a lot about teacher looks.

That night we went to "The Real Mary Kings Close" tour. It was really in depth and I enjoyed all of the history of it. If you want more details on it, you will have to ask.

The next day we were off to Loch Ness. We went with Timberbush tours for a day trip and were able to stop in the highlands and at a small village.

We stopped for breakfast, which was not great, and had to saw hi to the highland coos.

Our second stop was cold, but stunning. We stopped in the highlands, we found fog, mountains and lots of green.

The Castle at Loch Ness. We wandered through the castle really quickly and then hopped on the boat to get a ride back to our bus.

Ryan said he found Nessie, but he did not show it to me and did not get it on film so not sure if I believe him.

The next day we shopped. I got a fun purse, Ryan got a great t-shirt.

A view from the bottom of a close looking up at high street. The outer sides of the the close would have around 10-15 levels where the street side might only have two.

That night we did a scary ghost tour around Edinburgh and learned of some of the more ghastly stories that fill the city at night. We learned about some canibals, beheadings, and some "grave robbers"

The next day we were off on another bus tour. This one took us to Lindes Farne, Alnwick Castle and then a small manor. I found where I want to live, and my favorite castle on this day.

Lindes Farne is also called the Holy Island. It is a small island that for 9 hours of the day you can not access. It was perfect and I will be looking into at least retiring there.

I will need to figure out how to get internet there for Ryan though.

The castle at Lindes Farned is getting work done on it to be a tourist destination. I would love to be a part of that, think they have any job openings?

Then we moved on to Alnwick Castle, which is where they filmed Harry Potter!!!!!! Ya I know.

This is where they filmed the scene where Harry catches the ball in front of Mcgonagalls office.

The details and history around the castle were stunning. We were able to go inside, where the family still lives, although this is there second home. The inside was luxurious.

There was a library with so many books that I would have to read one a day and spend the next forty years reading before I got through all of them. Unfortunately they said I couldn't stay and try...

I loved the castle, and in the town outside there was a rare book shop, which I will have to go back to investigate someday soon.

The next day we packed up and headed home. We had a grand adventure and can not wait for the next one.

If you can't find us one day, we may have moved to Scotland. You should move there with us!

Thanks again! All of our love!