Scotland!

Well that went fast! Three full days and four nights flew by - which I think is going to be a recurring theme. Here's my recap for our Scottish adventure. I've been having trouble inserting images to this blog so I've decided to make my iCloud photo album public. You can see some of my trip highlights here https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0IJtdOXmJuFtyh

Day 1 - Welcome to Edinburgh!

I arrived near dinner time so I dropped my stuff off at the flat we were staying at and then we went to a pub. It was more American than Scottish I think as we ordered a burger (falafel) and fries. Most importantly this place was known for its craft brews so I was in IPA heaven as I got to sample 3 different locally brewed IPAs. Just for reference - I still like PNW IPAs much better!

Day 2 - Sightseeing in Edinburgh

For my first full day in Europe we went to Edinburgh Castle. It never ceases to amaze me at all of the history that Europe has when you compare it to the rather short history of America. The castle was built during the 12th century I believe and really is a conquering sight over the Edinburgh skyline. After a tour of the castle we went to the Scottish Whisky Experience where we learned all about Scottish whisky - pretty neat because I knew absolutely nothing about whisky. Probably the most interesting part of that was we got to use this scratch and sniff piece of paper that had the exaggerated scents of whisky from the four main whisky producing regions of Scotland. After the tasting experience we went to Calton Hill, which was a park that was basically on our way home from the castle. It had some amazing monuments and the one photo (in the album) we learned was a very common teenager hangout spot based on all of the liquor bottles behind the monument (which you can't see).

Day 3 - Arthur's Seat and Glasgow

In the morning we hiked up Arthur's Seat to get a great view of Edinburgh and its surroundings. After that we visited Holyroodhouse Palace which is where the Queen resides during the summer. The Palace was gorgeous and undoubtably has a lot of history (Mary, Queen of Scots lived there). In the afternoon we took about an hour train ride to meet up with one of Rachel's family's friend. First we went to the Glasgow Cathedral which was the only real working cathedral that we visited while in Scotland (all others were in ruins).

Day 4 - St. Andrews

The day to visit the home of golf finally arrived and we caught a train to St. Andrews along with several high school kids that were there to tour the university with their parents (it was pretty adorable seeing all of the nervous kids). First we went to the St. Andrews castle - or what remains of it - it was situated right on the coast and had we not been fogged in I bet we would have had a great view of the sea. We stopped for lunch at a fish and chips place and then went to the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral. This was the most magnificent sight in Scotland due to the graveyard that had been built up over the centuries where the cathedral used to sit. To top off our day we went to the Old Course and watched a few groups play the last hole and simply imagined what it would be like to play the Old Course...one day!

Again, sorry about the lack of photos, but I've spent the last 3 days trying to post this while fighting with the pictures so you can access my photos here: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0IJtdOXmJuFtyh

Next up: London!