UK 2022

After a shower, we walked to Caffe Nero, about 10 minutes. The breakfast places don't open until 8:00 AM. A hot chocolate, a vegan breakfast sandwich and a Belgian chocolate muffin. Very delicious. Gwyn had porridge with fruit and nuts and an Americano coffee. We are bringing coffee back to Joe and Deb.

We waited in the lobby for Elaine, our driver and tour guide from Noost Scottish Tours. She picked us up, and off we went. Going out of the city we headed to Sterling Castle. The sheep and the cows were all along the hill sides. Beautiful rolling hills. Driving through the village was just like the small villages that we have seen on the British show Escape to the Country.

The castle was magnificent. The kitchens were neat. In one of the Military displays, they had Lego figures hiding about. I found four of them. There was a display of wooden circles with busts of people. Pretty neat. The church was huge. Many of the buildings had served as barracks, and they eventually uncovered pictures on the walls. The royal areas were impressive, and they had actors dressed in period costumes giving information. In the Queens bed chambers, one of the families was German, and the guide spoke fluent German.

We stopped at the Smiddy Farm Shop for lunch. There were some bees flying around, and I would catch them on the glass window in a cup and release them back outside. My roast beef sandwich was delicious. The flat bread was fresh baked and incredible. Very yummy. Next, we drove to Trossachs Woollen Mill to see Hamish and Honey, two of the highland cows. We fed them and they were cute. After that we drove to Loch Lubnaig and it was beautiful. Stopped at the Balquhidder Parish Church were Rob Roy was buried. Saw a waterfall behind the church. Elaine saw her husband on his bike as we were heading up to the church.

On our way out of Edinburgh, we drove right past the Kelpies. On our way back into Edinburgh, we stopped and saw the Kelpies. We have seen them on Instagram, and wanted to see them up close and in person. They were huge! There had been some rain in the area, but it had stopped by the time we arrived. So glad we stopped to see them.

The trip back to Edinburgh was a bit quiet, as we were all a bit tired. One of Elaine's neighbors lived along the road. His house was pink because he was a Jacibite supporting Scottish independent rule. He also was a bit cross eyed, so when he cleaned the windows it was not a very good job. I looked for a supper place, but did not find one. Elaine dropped us off at the hotel. We went back to our rooms for a quick minute, then went looking for supper. We stopped at the Cold Town House, but the could not take us for an hour. We walked down to Mamma's American Pizza, and they could. We sat at a table in the back. The guy who started it was an extra in Star Wars IV. The young girl that served us had been to America when she stayed with her parents at a friend of her dad's hotel in Camden Maine when she was 10.

We could hear the Tattoo since we were right outside the stadium as we walked to supper and back from supper. A shower then to bed.