8/3/2016 Scottish games, Glasgow & Celtics football game

I forgot to mention - after dinner we walked around Inverness catching Pokemons.  As we walked by the river to a footbridge we met a group of guys, all playing Pokemon.  There were 2 lures there so Pokemons were showing up in abundance.  The guys were surprised to see me playing too.  It might not be as cool now.

We got up very early to get on the road by 7.  There was a MacDonalds right across the street, so we picked up breakfast to eat in the car.  We want to get to the Killian Highland games.

The very first booth we came to was selling wool from their very own blue leicester sheep.  I bought a pretty skein for a shawl and Jef bought some for a hat for Branwen and a kit for B to make a bear.  They didn't take credit cards, but said we could PayPal when we got some place that had WiFi.

Caber tossing.  One almost hit a piper competing, everyone but the piper laughed.  One said, "they're a dime a dozen, one less is no loss."

Only one small pipe band.  They marched from the center of the town - one block- with the local lord to open the games.  They did it 2 hours after everything got started.

It spritzed a little during the games, but nothing serious.

We continued on to Glasgow, found our apartment, (on the 7th floor with elevator) and headed off to a Celtic football game. This was a quarter final international match.  The young man who took us to the apartment, pointed out the stadium from a window and told us to just follow all of the people dressed in green.

It rained hard on our walk to the game, but everyone was in a glorious mood as they poured out of pubs along the way.

Before the game everyone holds up a green and white striped scarf and sings You'll Never Walk Alone.  Thousands of male voices singing this is incredibly moving.  The scarves sort of look like caterpillars from a distance.

We had "dinner" at the stadium.  A scotch pie.

Everything in the place was striped green and white.  The paper towels in the bathroom were in single colors, either green or white, but when they were in the trash, striped again.

New fans

Two men sat next to me.  When I tried to pull up the hood of my raincoat, one asked if I was cold and loaned me his extra hat.  He had changed to a green one for the game.

We got quite chummy during the game and during halftime learned all about them.  They even offered us a 3 bedroom house for free in Glasgow if we didn't have a place to stay.  (That may have been the whiskey in the coke bottle they had smuggled in. They offered me a sip - I passed.)

WE WON right at the end.  We were really happy because we really didn't want to have to stay for overtime.  It had been a very long day.  (Also, happy fans are much nicer than ones who had lost.)

I returned the hat and my new friend whipped off his Celtic one and popped it on my head as a gift.

Taxi back to the apartment.

8/2/2016 Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle

Looking over Inverness:

Our apartment is on the far side of the tower on the top floor.  The whole inside of the building has been redone.

Had our picture taken with the foremost Nessie researcher.  He was signing his book.

Nessie in the logo.

In  a stagnant pond.

On to Urquhart castle.  Calder with the explainer.

Castle overlooking Loch Ness.

Dinner at Café 1 in Inverness.  smoked Salmon 

Branwen's chicken and potatoes.

Chicken liver pâté.

Venison 

Crepes

8/1/2016 Arthur's Seat,Edinburgh, Dalwhinnie, & Inverness

After another great night's sleep, we packed up to leave.  I highly recommend this guest house ( 16 Pilrig), they did a load of laundry for free during the night and didn't charge for the children's breakfast.  It was cheaper, quiet,and clean and pretty convenient to things.

We drove to the trail head for Arthur's seat.  The rest were climbing to the top - I decided that I didn't need to.  I had walked 7 miles and climbed 10 flights of stairs the day before.

Instead, I walked up the Royal Mile toward our lunch reservation.  On the way I made a slight detour to buy the new "Harry Potter" and found an Asterix that we didn't own in English.  A large Starbucks was on the corner so I bought a latte and sat down to knit.  I shared a table with a man from Denver.  He had been in Edinburgh for 5 weeks deciding what he was going to do with the rest of his life.  He had left the day after he retired.  His wife was joining him the next day.

Continuing up the Mile, I met my family at Angels and Bagpipes. (In case you are wondering, Jef discovered that Open Table worked here and had a fine time looking for places to eat.)

Angels & Bagpipes symbol.  Their bathrooms were labeled Angeles and Bagpipers, which was carrying the theme a little far.

Starters: Salmon Paté and Mussels 

Mains: Fish & Chips, Pork with a swoop of blood sausage sauce, 12 hour roasted beef.

Desserts: 3 kinds of chocolate mousse and panacotta.

There were many little alleys from the Mile: this was Advocates' Close.

The Scottish Parliament building was finished since Alec and I were here last.

On our way to Inverness, we stopped at the Dalwhinnie Whiskey distillery for a tour and tasting.

This was Alec's deluxe tasting with the chocolate that went best with each type.  The kids got juice and shared the chocolate.  I "only" had 3 tastes.  Jef drove the rest of the way to Inverness.

We got to our apartment a little late and had a hard time finding out how to get in the car park, but finally managed - thank god for cell phones.  We have a lovely 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment which is lovely.  Unfortunately, it is on the 3rd floor of a building with very high ceilings and no elevator.

Without reservations for dinner and being a little late, we had a hard time finding a place for dinner.  Luckily, we walked into one a block away that had room.

We just ordered a bunch of stuff: crab cakes, assorted smoked fish platter, Cullum skink (fish chowder), haggis balls, garlic bread, fish & chips, and pork.  Surprisingly yummy.

Climb, climb, cliiiiiiiimmmmmmbbbbb, and off to bed.

7/31/2016. Edinburgh Royal Mile

U'Unbelievable - we all slept through the night.  Of course, we were all exhausted, but normally jet lag wakes us about 3, keeps us awake till 6, and then makes us want to go back to sleep.  On our last European trip, it took Branwen 4 days to return to normal.  This time she was the hardest to wake up.

After a hearty breakfast, we set off for Edinburgh's high spot  (And I mean that literally), the Edinburgh Castle.  The street performers are getting really creative.

The woody one looks like he is floating.  

We had a little complaining when we started at the castle.  But they revived.

Ice cream for lunch.

We walked all the way down the Royal Mile to Hollyrood Castle shopping as we went and then walked home.

Dinner at the Stockbridge:

Amuse bouch - a tomato half on Parma ham and mozzarella.

Alec and I chose salmon with an adorable quail egg.

Calder's was pork.  The black squares are blood sausage.

Branwen had lamb.

Jef had white fish.  That green scoop is avocado ice cream.

Classic English taxi home.

7/30/2016 Day one Edinburgh

Pokemons are a very good thing.  The rest of the family have been catching them for awhile.  Yoshi is getting the longest walks of his life, and everyone offers to take him, which is a change.  The kids showed me how to play and helped me set up my phone while we were in the check in line at KLM.  We all played and time passed very quickly through all the lines.  I was a level 3 by the time I got on the plane.

Airplanes are getting smaller!!! 9+hours to Amsterdam jammed into a cattle car! Alec and I traded seats because he had a entertainment system box taking up most of his leg room.  Jef and Branwen traded after awhile because Branwen's screen didn't work.  The food was terrible!  But, everyone  on the plane was pleasant.

Amsterdam airport gave us a chance to stretch our legs.  We didn't need to go through any passport control, so could look at the shops and try to catch more Pokemons.

The plane to Edinburgh had lots of leg room.  It makes no sense.  Edinburgh airport is a little scitzoid - our passport control and baggage pickup was in a barn.  Then we went through a lovely area that is the rest of it.  We picked up our car.  We got a "van".  It is really a station wagon with jump seats, but it holds all of us with room for all of our suitcases, so we are comfortable.

In Edinburgh we are all in one large room.  (16 Pilrig). It has 2 singles and 2 doubles, a tiny tiny bathroom.  It is larger than it looked in the picture so there is room to put our luggage.  There are also enough plugs for our electronics.  (This is important, we have more Pokemons to catch.) I need the bed closest to a plug for my CPAP.

We wanted something easy for dinner, so we found a nice fish and chips place called the Tailend just a block away.  We shared an appetizer of deep fried haggis nuggets. 

 Back in the room, we showered and went to bed - even though the sun was still shining.  (Let's face it, we are pretty far north, so the sun will always be shining.)  There is a moritorium on electronics until 6 am.  If anyone wakes up before that, they are to keep their eyes shut and rest.

7/29/2016 Here we go again. Great Britain here we come

We are on our way today.  First stop Edinburgh.