I Love Scotland

In October, that road trip up to Edinburgh was supposed to be 6 hours, but wound up taking 8 hours as we hit the lovely city of Birmingham at rush hour and didn't move for approximately 2 hours. By the time we got up to Scotland it was 11pm and we were exhausted, but eager to see the city the next day.

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh didn't disappoint, but in true Scottish fashion, the skies opened up and drizzled on us all day long and didn't let up once. This was quite frustrating for my photography ambitions as handling an SLR camera, camera bag, purse, and umbrella are quite difficult to do. I seriously think I need to find hat with an umbrella on top for my rainy photography days. I won't look that ridiculous... right?

One of the highlights was the Edinburgh Castle of course, which is nestled on a mountain top but sadly the views where obscured by the rain and fog that day. 

My favorite part of the city was the The Real Mary King's Close tour. You need to book a tour ahead of time, and I highly recommend it for any trip to Edinburgh. This tour is a deep dive into 17th century life in Edinburgh when everyone lived in "Closes" in the city which were basically alleys with homes that had rooms 5 stories high and thousands living on top of one another. The tiny alleys sloped down to the river from the streets up on top the hill to the putrid waters below. With no sewage system, the hill top city of Edinburgh threw literally everything down below. You wanted to be the rich person living at the top of the Close. The poorer you were, the lower you lived - quite literally dealt the shitty hand in life.

Amazingly, that infested river was drained and in modern day it is a pretty park with fountains and statues and flowers... see below...

We figured we had made the trip all the way up to Scotland and felt obliged that meant we needed to go on a mission to find Nessy. After road tripping up north from southern England, and wanting to cram in as much of the Scottish Highlands as we could in one day, we decided to take an all day tour that brought us to Loch Ness and other picturesque spots without having to do the driving ourselves. This meant we got up at 5am the next day, and met a tour group where we got stuck in the back seat of a mini bus sandwiched between 2 Brazilian 18 year old girls who both wanted a window seat and proceeded to talk to each other ignoring the fact that we were sitting between them. It was a long day. But the scenery was amazing.

Loch Ness

As luck would have it, during our hour long boat trip on Loch Ness... we spotted her.... Here we have it folks... NESSY!!! (Plus baby)

At Glen Coe, Scottish Highlands

Not only are the accents awesome, but the landscapes are fantastic and Edinburgh is a lively, interesting, picturesque and fun city.. I <3 Scotland. Can't wait to go back.