Today we left the Dunain Park Hotel in Inverness. We are driving to Edinburgh with some great stops along the way. So far, we have gone to Fort George. The fort never saw any action but took 20 years to build and had some great scenery. It was a state of the art fort back in the day. Like many of the other fantastic castles, it was on a peninsula so when we went climbing around up top there were beautiful views of the beach.
We went to another Scottish military museum to poke around for awhile and while we were there, I saved a life. There I was, minding my own business when I saw a beautiful bird standing on the window sill... actually... it wasn't standing on the window sill... it was trapped in the window! I called for some help and we saved the little bird. I'm a hero.
One of the most impressive things that I found about the fort was the moat system. There were outer walls, then a bridge for a moat, then the inner fort. The moat was awesome because it wasn't in use- it was dry until they needed it. There were doors that could be lifted to flood the moat before intruders got in. I thought that was cool. I really like the layouts and strategies that were used in castles and forts.
Moving along our way, we stopped at Petty church. It turns out that the chief of our clan was buried in that church. We tried to get in but it was closed so we really didn't have much to see... that was a bummer. My grandpa of course took the opportunity to point out that our clan is lacking a chief. We're sure his nomination is waiting for him in the mail....
For lunch we decided to do something a little different and buy some picnic food from Tesco (It's a grocery store like Vons or Albertsons). We drove for about 30 minutes and stopped on the side of the road and ate. We found a little loch (lake) and enjoyed our food with a beautiful peaceful view. I wish I had a tent so I could stay over night where the air is crisp and quiet. Sitting amongst the heather was beautiful.
We have made little stops on the way to Edginburgh. We saw small canals moving rented boats in Caledonia. We stopped at a well on Loch Ness that was absolutely gorgeous but had a gruesome story. We also stopped at a little town where i was finally able to find the Morrison clan tartan! I have been looking in every shop we've come across to try to find a scarf, blanket, anything with our family colors. I'm pretty stoked I found it! (by the way, our driver Vince just started to say a bunch of names of Scottish towns and he totally sounded like Sean Connery. Haha!) We stopped at some mountains called the 3 sisters. The scenery was breath taking with it's massive mountains.
We finally got into Edinburgh and we are staying at the Scotsman. The Scotsman was a newspaper press that has been converted into a hotel. It was absolutely gorgeous! The rooms that we stayed in were where the editors of the paper used to have their offices. The views were amazing!
We went to an italian place called La Favorita. We ate some amazing pizza and mandarin orange/passion fruit ice cream. Mmmm! After dinner we started talking to some of the Italian waiters... of course, after my grandpa has a beer or two he starts to embarrass me by telling one of the guys that I'm a nice California girl looking for a nice Italian man. The waiter said he was an Italian boy looking for a nice California girl! I'm grateful that the waiter went along with it and laughed but then when we got up to leave the waiter came over to me. He held my hands and gave me a kiss on both cheeks... the second kiss was very planted and a bit closer to my lips than I was comfortable with!!! Ew!!!! I mean, the guy was nice but... honestly! Thanks so grandpa, I had a new friend...
Edinburgh is absolutely gorgeous. I would really like to live there. It has a good buzz about it. The history gives it a similar backdrop to London but with a friendlier feel. I have been thinking about possibly moving again and Scotland would be a great place to live. 2 of my roommates are from Australia so I am thinking about spending some time there. My plan is to go to Arizona when I get back from London but... I would love to go somewhere outside of the country again. I have met some really amazing people and I would love to know more. I'll have to stay in the states to work up some more money though... I'll be broke when I get back =(
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