Scotland: Day 1

Thursday afternoon I left for Edinburgh, Scotland. It's about a 6 hour train ride north of London but the English countryside is beautiful. We got in fairly late so we all just showered and went to bed early.

After an early start we got on the mini bus that started driving north. This is the River Tey in the town of Dunkeld.

Dadda's been telling me that the trees on Lancaster Blvd are changing color and are making this the best time of year to be in the AV. But I think I've got him beat with the Scottish Glens. Dark green trees mixed in with yellow, red, and orange ones. It's like a watercolor.

We stopped at Clava Cairn which is similar to Stonehenge as it's a burial ground but in the Bronze Age. The rocks are more in a pile that can be walked into rather than in monolith form, but they were brought from 80 miles away so it's still pretty impressive.

The leaves were all crunchy so we had a bit of fun.

This is the monument at the Culloden Battlefield commemorating the clan members who died. The battle (very short explanation) was because Bonnie Prince Charles wanted to take Scotland back for his family, the Stewart's, and he got the locals, Highlanders, who lived with their families in what they called clans, to help him fight the English. The Prince escaped but he lost the battle and many clansmen died.

There are boulders for each of the clans that fought in the fields to show where each clan fought. They stood with their family before the battle began and they charged the English together in a sort of formation and they all were killed in the same spot together.

One of the many lochs in scotland. Isn't it just beautiful?

"Last week, Japanese scientist explaced...placed explosive detonators at the bottom of Lake Loch Ness to blow Nessie out of the water. "

(No, I didn't see her.)

The last stop was at a shop that showed us how the men wore kilts and how a woman ran a home in the days when the clans ruled the Highlands. (Not that they still don't, but you know what I mean.) And we also got a lesson in Highland combat with really big swords.

And the hostel we stayed at even provided live music for us. A nice way to finish off the day.