Scotland

I know the anticipation has been killing everyone so without further delay here is our time in Scotland:

We flew into Edinburgh
and were completely overwhelmed with the amount of old, well preserved buildings in such a concentrated area.
Since Scotland is part of the UK there were still cool telephone booths like this one:

One of the major attractions in Edinburgh is the Edinburgh Castle which sits atop a hill over looking the entire city.

We wanted to stay out late one night to get a picture of it at dark all lit up, but this was taken at midnight and it still wasn't dark. We were too tired to stay out later so this as close to it being lit up as we got.

A view from the castle:

Scotland is famous for deep fried candy bars. Here is one of the deep fried Snickers we enjoyed.

And what trip isn't complete without an old man sleeping on a bench? So cute.

Next we took the bus to St. Andrews. Here is what remains of the cathedral.

St. Andrews Castle.

Some may know St. Andrews because that is where Prince William and Kate went to school, but to others, St. Andrews is known because it is considered to be where golf originated from. The Old Course has hosted the British Open more than any other golf course in the world. The bridge Ben is standing on is the "famous" Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole of the Old Course. Many famous golfers have walked on this bridge.“I’d like to see the fairways more narrow. Then everybody would have to play from the rough, not just me.” Seve Ballestero

From St. Andrews we took a bus to Stirling for the day. Stirling has two main attractions; Stirling Castle and the William Wallace Monument.

Unfortunately these 2 attractions are about 2.5 miles apart. See? There is the William Wallace Monument as viewed from the castle:

But we walked all the way! For those who love history (my husband), this is Stirling Bridge where William Wallace won the battle against the British saving Scotland. If you want more details, watch Braveheart; Mel Gibbson is William Wallace in that movie.

After Stirling we went to Glasgow. This city was in stark contrast to Edinburgh. Edinburgh had charm and history, Glasgow had people.

It did have this cool building in George Square.

And this Cathedral.

And this arch as an entry into a really nice city park:

This is Glasgow University. Could you imagine if this was your school? How cool!

You can't tell in this picture but we are actually sitting in a cemetery leaning up against a monument to somebody. It just felt so good to sit.

One more country to go...