The Edinburgh Tattoo

       Today was quite an adventure. Its hard to think that our time here in Scotland is pretty much over, but the more I think about it, the more excited I get for salad, and normalcy in my life again. This morning we went on a hike to Arthur's Seat, also know as Pratt's hill. Paul hiked this hike a lot during his mission, so it had significancy to him.
     We also went to the Edinburgh tattoo. Sofie, David, and Moa, (Paul's family from Norway), met up with us before the Tattoo and had dinner with us. The Tattoo was so cool. It is basically a big performance with lots of musicians and dancers from all over the world. America was not represented in the Tattoo this year, but lots of other amazing countries were. I am a little more partial to percussion because of my background in percussion, so when the percussion parts of the group came out, I just LOVED them. They had dancers from Mexico, England, New Zealand, Asia, and a few others I can't remember along with the scottish pipe band. This truly was a way to end our trip with a bang!

At the top of Pratt's hill. It was SOOO windy I almost got blown off the top!

Purple flowers! They are everywhere so I had to get a good picture of them

We stopped at the Elephant House, which is the cafe that J.K. Rowling sat down to write Harry Potty

We stopped and got the most amazing shakes of my life! They were SO good. Paul got a strawberry cheesecake something or other, and they literally put a slice of strawberry cheese cake in the blender with his ice cream! I had a caramel toffee something or other where they also put a caramel type cookie in the blender with my ice cream. If I they had one of these in the states I would go ALL the time!

The pipe band at the Tattoo

Edinburgh Castle in the background

The castle lit up all red!

The motorcycle group from England (they had kids as young as like 6 doing tricks on motor bikes!)

All the actors lining up at the end of the show

Edinburgh Day 2

     Paul and I bought these explorer passes the other day to get into a bunch of historic sites for free. Anyway, we wanted to go see the castle in Sterling (just outside of Edinburgh), and figured that since there were multiple other places we could use our passes out there, we would pick a few and make a day of it. Oh, I do need to mention though that for breakfast I tried haggis and it wasn't so great. But I tried it.
     We started out going through and seeing the Sterling castle. Yes, we have been to lots of castles, they all seem similar, but they are also all so different from each other. We had a lot of fun checking everything out.
     Second stop was to a cute little bar to get some sticky toffee pudding. We had a great chat with out waiter about the Mormons and about American politics. It was quite interesting!
     Third stop was a place called Inchmahome Priory. It is some old ruins on an island in the middle of a lake. We took a fun little boat ride out there. Once we got to the island, we took a beautiful little stroll around the whole thing. It was so peaceful and so serene. No wonder the cannons (kinda like monks) chose to build a priory there and study religion there.
     Last stop of the day was at Doune Castle. I guess Doune is mostly known for being used to film several scenes in Monty Python. We got some coconuts from the ticket office and clapped them together while we toured the castle. It was kind of fun. Several people gave us weird looks, but hey, we enjoyed ourselves.
    I am thinking about the two days I have left in Scotland and I am both sad and relieved. I have loved all of the adventures and fun little tours we have done while we are here, but I am definitely ready to have consistency in my life again. My own bed is going to be so nice, and eating healthy and exercising again will be so great. I guess I will have to make the most out of our last two days so that when we come home Monday I will have no regrets!

Touring Sterling Castle, what the queens bedroom might have looked like

Its a unicorn with its tongue out!

Just viewing the landscape

Sitting in the throne room

Paul's turn!

Going down some stairs to the lower parts of the castle

Inside the courtyard

Its a royal toilet!! Sure looks softer than the one I use at home!

Our boat ride out to the Inchmahome Priory

There was a path that went around the whole island

Just a walkin

This crazy tree has all the roots growing sideways but the tree is somehow still growing up and out!

Some of the ruins

An arch! I was obsessed with arches the whole trip!

Its another arch! But this one was huge so it was REALLY cool

Leaving the dock to head back to the mainland

Doune Castle! 

Inside the courtyard of Doune Castle

Having fun with my coconuts!

Paul's attempt at reenacting Monty Python

Edinburgh Day 1

     I have wanted to go running this whole vacation, and today I really really wanted to, but by the end of the day, I am SO glad that Paul and I didn't go running. At the end of the day I am pretty sure we walked at least 6 miles if not more.
     Today we basically just saw the sights. Paul took me down Princess Street and High Street and The Royal Mile down in the City Centre. We did lots of shopping for souvenirs and decided we spent more money on getting our family and friends things than we spent on getting stuff for us. But we got to come to Scotland so we decided we don't need lots of stuff.
    The Fringe is starting here in Edinburgh. That is where thousands of dancers, actors, comedians and musicians from all over the world come and perform on the streets and in theaters all over Scotland. We watched a few shows and made our way to Edinburgh Castle and ended the evening there. We toured through the huge castle and made our way back to our room.
  I just can't believe how much history there is in this city. The buildings are so old. The architecture is just amazing! I have loved seeing the different styles of buildings and homes in Ireland, Norway, and Scotland. They are all different, and yet similar at the same time.

A cool tower in Edinburgh

Standing in front of Edinburgh Castle

Inside the courtyard of Edinburgh Castle

Check out how red Paul's beard is!!!

Now I know the picture is kind of dark, but this is me standing in the doorway to the cells. They were so tiny. Paul had to duck to walk through them!

Paul posing in front of a cannon

 This is a view of the city from out one of the cannon holes. The ocean is in the background and man was it beautiful!

My turn with the cannon

Look how cheesy we are!

Stained glass window in a cathedral

Edinburgh Castle from a distance. It really is quite huge!