Steven and Victoria in The Scottish Highlands

 Birgit says that unless we want to extend our stay in Edinburgh and skip the Highlands altogether we need to be up, fed, packed, and on the bus by 8:30 tomorrow morning so I’m not going to wait until tomorrow to post about today.t  We started today with a bus tour of the city. Barbara told us a lot about the history, architecture, and city planning of Edinburgh. More than I can summarize or remember now, so if you want to know more about that, start here. Then we walked up to Edinburgh Castle . We were joined by all the other tour groups and independent tourists who are in Edinburgh today. It was very sociable. Fortunately we have some cool technology that meant Barbara didn’t have to shout at the top of her lungs to be heard over the crowd noise as we all huddled around her. Instead she gave us all headsets and she had a microphone; she could then just use her normal speaking voice and we could all here her even from 50 or 100 feet away (not sure what the range is). We saw p...

 Yesterday we started the day by going to St.Giles Cathedral . To quote from their website  “St  Giles’ Cathedral, founded in 1124 by King David I, has served as an active church and site of worship for more than 900 years. St Giles’ Cathedral has stood at the centre of major national events - from John Knox’s parish church during the Reformation, to the laying-in-rest of her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the presentation of the Honours of Scotland to His Majesty King Charles III.” It’s quite a bit smaller than Ely Cathedral which we saw last year, but quite beautiful. Afterwards we went to the National Galleries of Scotland  and had lunch in their restaurant with large views of the Scott memorial. Below is a picture not of the memorial but of part of lunch. Then we investigated the art. They didn’t have a lot of Impressionism but everything they had was nice (and makes me a little annoyed that we haven’t been down to the Art Institute in WAY too long) (I know the abo...

 In the introduction to one of his books Mark Twain wrote: "No weather will be found in this book. This is an attempt to pull a book through without weather. It being the first attempt of the kind in fictitious literature, it may prove a failure, but it seemed worth the while of some dare-devil person to try it, and the author was in just the mood. “ Twain actually continues for two more paragraphs and it is well worth looking up (for one thing he tells readers where to find weather if they really need it). I will stop the Twain quote there however, for fear of losing too many readers and hence, advertising revenue. But I intend to imitate Twain and try to faithfully(ish) record our adventures without referencing rain, heat, or meteorology in general. A friend of ours before we left helpfully informed us that Scottish weather “can be, and usually is, pretty awful”, so just assume she was right and focus on the more exciting parts of the trip. (In retrospect, I suppose I could just...

We arrived Madison airport 11:30 am, eager to start our adventures.  Something unusual happened. Both our flights left on time. We had sufficient room under the seats in front of us for our backpacks. We had plenty of leg room! In the seven hour long flight, they served us two meals. There are rumors going around that we even got a little sleep on that flight. Nothing went wrong during the whole journey. When we landed in Edinburgh, there were reporters there wanting to interview us about this unheard of trip across the ocean. After we dropped our suitcases at the hotel, we went out to explore the city. If you know us at all, you won’t be surprised at our first stop. . I seem to be constitutionally incapable of entering a bookstore without doing my bit for the local economy. I bought one book about the BBC during World War II and another about Victorian and Edwardian Railway travel. When I’ve finished reading them, they are available for loan, but speak up quickly, It’s first come ...

 In nine days we leave for our Road Scholar Trip: In the Heart of the Scottish Highlands The itinerary is pretty full so I have no idea whether I'll actually blog the trip or not, but if I do, this is where it will be. (Click “Read more” to see links) Our Itinerary May 27-30  Stay:  Voco Hotel Royal Terrace - Edinburgh Two days to explore on our own; the tour proper starts May 30 May 30 - Edinburgh Castle  and Holyrood House May 31 - June 4 Stay Ben Wyvis Hotel in Strathpeffer May 31 - Dunkeld and the Highland Folk Museum June 1 Culloden Battlefield and Cawdor Castle June 2 The Black Isle , Groam House Museum , Fortrose Cathedral June 3 Aigas Field Center and Inverness June 4 Urqhart Castle , Loch Ness , Glen Affric June 5-7 Stay at Isles of Glencoe Hotel June 5 Loch Ness Cruise June 6 Isle of Skye, Eilean Donan , Armadale Castle June 7 The Isles of Mull and Iona; lunch will be at "a charming hotel on Iona" June 8 Stay at Doubletree Hotel in Edinburgh June 8...