Scotland

So, there should be a whole bunch of posts about to come through on email. The first one is kind of stuck though, so who knows if that will happen tonight. Here's what you should see.

First is Glasgow. The city is cool. We landed around 10:30 and got the rental car. First of all, we could barely fit the stuff in the car, and it's bigger than the one we had in Iceland! So not a Dalek car. It's pretty ugly too. I'm not a fan. Patrick started driving us around, which was interesting at first. I told the story of how I almost died within minutes of starting to drive in New Zealand because I looked the wrong way at a roundabout, and then we hit our first roundabout. The GPS was fairly stupid, and we ended up going to wrong way a few times. When we finally figured it out we headed to Hotel Indigo for the night. Yet again, we got in before the room was ready, so we walked around for a while. We wanted to go to the modern art museum but Pat didn't want to drive, so thinking it was just under two miles, we set off. However, there was strange construction and stuff so we hit a diagonal road instead of the one we needed and got off course. We stopped for lunch, figured out where we were, and got in a cab to the Tall Ship Museum. Best decision ever. Finn got his driving permit and sat on a giant chair, when we went in to the free transportation museum. He got to drive a train and look at bikes, cars, trams, boats, an old -time Glasgow street, all kinds of stuff. It was the best thing we could have done! Then he and I went on the tall ship which was cool. It's from the late 1800s and was a cargo ship, so it's huge. Three masts and four decks as far as I could tell. It's like a scavenger hunt...we found twenty (ceramic) mice, a cat, and lots of barrels. Good times.

Then we took a cab back to the hotel and took a nap. Everyone else went out to dinner but I stayed behind and watched some British tv for a while. Wow, they would never pass the censors in the US. Swears all over the place, breast feeding babies, all kinds of stuff that is banned in the states. It wakes you up a bit to hear the f-word on tv when you aren't expecting it!

This morning we walked around Glasgow a bit more and got breakfast and money. I like it that they have 1 and 2 pound coins, it feels like Australia again! Breakfast was only ok, but I had a flat white: 3 shots of espresso and milk. I was awake! After using the hotel bathroom (and finally getting wifi to work) we headed out to Invergarry.

The drive was so amazing. The Scottish Highlands are beautiful! I took lots of slightly blurry pictures out the window, but made Pat and Anna stop at Loch Lomond. I took my traditional standing in a body of water picture there, it's cold! Finn liked running around. And the Cameron House was there...I swear something big happened there during the 1745 rebellion with Bonny Prince Charlie but I haven't looked it up yet.

Now we are at Invergarry Castle. Yes, a real castle! Finn and I are sharing a room and Pat and Anna are down the hall. I've already made Finn trip over my backpack and whack his head on the bedside table...bad auntie. But tomorrow we are going to take a Nessie tour on Loch Ness and then try to row around on the Loch the castle is on. I want to find a nice patch of heather to possibly take a nap in, inspired by reading all about Jamie Fraiser sleeping in the heather in the Outlander series. I'm a bit obsessed. Then the next day we head to Edinborough (I know I spelled that wrong), Hadrian's Wall, and Manchester England. Then it's off to Ireland!