Scotland! redux!

So this past weekend, we went up to Scotland for a nice little holiday! We departed on Thursday via a train at Kings Cross Station - and for you HP Fans that is where the 9 and 3/4 platform is but i did not have time to search for it sorry.  Our train left at about 10 and it was a 4.5 hrs train ride into Edinburgh.  The English countryside was so beautiful! and tons of sheep!  One could take over the world and conquer the grass with all the sheep that I saw this past weekend! Once we arrived in Edi. we were meet by our city tour guide and everyone was shocked and excited that he was in a kilt! Me, I was completely unfazed by it.  I've seen better looking people in kilts! So he took us around the city and we stopped at Hollyroad Palace, which is at the opposite end of the Royal Mile from the Castle.  Then we saw Parliament, strange building. Then we made our way down Princess street and saw where the man who wrote Treasure Island grew up and most likely got his inspiration for the book.  After the tour we made our way to the Mercure Point Hotel, where we stayed! It was very nice (I forgot to take pics of it sorry).  Then I went and had dinner with Lisa, Jen, and Ruth at Darios a very good Italian restaurant and we made our way down Princess Street and hit up Accessorize! I managed to control my wallet while in there, I'm not really sure how I did that but I did!  Then we went back to the Hotel and went to sleep!

The next morning, Friday, we left on our Haggis Tour of the Highlands! I was very excited for this.  It was so nice to be able to go back!  Our first stop was at Dunkeld Cathedral.  It was very beautiful.  I don't really remember what the significance of this place was.  We then drove on to some Jacobite  barracks!  These barracks are falling down and we were able to climb around like monkeys! It was fun.  Also, there were some very beautiful views of the Highlands in which we were entering!!! After that, we made our way into Aviemore for lunch.  Aviemore is a small town... smaller than Stirling for those of you who know the town/ for those that don't Stirling is around the size of Georgetown, if that! After we left Aviemore we were on a mission to find 17 white horses, when we found these horses we would be able to have Deep Scottish Love! While we learning about Deep Scottish Love we were making our way to Culldugon Battlefield.  This is were the Jacobites fell against the British for the last time in there quest for freedom from the crown.  Also Bonny Prince Charlie was leading the Jacobites at this time as well.  It was after this battle that Flora McDonald helped Bonny Prince Charles escape out of Scotland! If she didn't do this we would not of had the Flora McDonald's Fancy dance!... ohh what would the world have been like with out that killer dance! Once we left the Battle Field we raced up to Loch Ness to catch the 4 o'clock boat ride on the loch.  I searched and searched for Nessie but I could not find her... sadness! Then we made our way to the hostel were we would spend the night! The hostel was located in Fort Augustus, which is not far from the Loch.  The hostel had a campy vibe, lots of bunk beds, and it was surrounded by trees and was only a 4 min. walk to Loch Ness!

Next morning, Saturday, we made our way back down out of the Highlands back to Edi! Our first stop for the day was at the Commando Monument, which has Ben Nevis as a back drop! Ben Nevis is the tallest Mountain in the UK! However, I could not really see it due to the low foggy clouds!  Then we made our way to walk on Ben Nevis, which is were parts of Braveheart were filmed.  After that lovely walk in the cold rain, we went to Morrison's to eat...yes we ate at the Grocery store! After Lunch, we made our way to Glencoe! this place had such an eerie vibe, which was most like induced by the weather- rainny, cold, and foggy low clouds - or maybe it was because I had been listening to the song that Ashleigh, Anne, and Jo Anna sang that one year at Spring Festival, or maybe it was a combo of all of those things.  After Glencoe we made our way to Hamish who is a WILD & SEXY "harree-coo" or hairy cow.  He was sooooo cute I wanted to bring him home with me.  I didn't think my mom would like that or that he would fit in my suitcase without exceeding the weight limit.  We also fed Hamish (ill put the videos up later). After Hamish we made our way into Stirling to see.....the bridge....really the bridge that was the best they could do! I was very disappointed by this!  After we saw the bridge we made our way back to Edi.  We had the evening to ourselves.  I was extremely tired so I went and had dinner and then went back and hung out in Liz and Robin's room watching The Lord of the Rings Return of the King before the debate...which i went to my room and fell asleep to the debate! 

On Sunday, I went up to Edi Castle!!! It was gorgeous and had amazing views of the city!!! It has been one of the only places/castles that i visited where you could take pics (in some places) on the inside! After exploring the Castle quit throughly.  I made my way back down from the Castle and to the hotel to wait for the coach to take us to the train station!  We then found out from the coach drive that there might not be a train from Edi to London!!! We might have to take another Coach all the way!...it is a very long drive! However, we did have a train!!! but it would be a 6.5 hrs train ride back due to engineer work on the lines and it was Sunday.  We also had to change trains at Newcastle! The train ride went fairly smoothly until we got to York! Where a bunch of really roady dance girls got on!!! It was a long very long train ride back to London from York.  When  we finally arrived back at King's Cross Station at 10 at night we had to go and catch the tube back to Earl's Court to get back to the flats - it is about a 30/35 min tube ride and then a short walk from the station to the front door of the flats...but im on the top floor in the attic so that is about another 5 min (due to being extremely tired and exhausted from the weekend and carrying my suitcase up all of those stairs as well)...I finally walked in the door at 11 o'clock! Then I went to bed 

That is all of the goings on in Scotland! love ya