Scotland: Day 3

After the excitement of exploring of the Isle of Skye yesterday we all turned in way early. Plus it was an early morning again today, but (unforeseen bonus!!) daylight savings time kicked in last night so we all got an extra hour of very much needed sleep. Then we were back over to mainland Scotland to roam around the Highlands.

Our first stop was at the Commando Memorial. It was originally erected in remembrance of the commando's from every country that died during WWII but is now to honor all commando's who have died in battle. The memorial garden had a lot of things for men who died in Afghanistan recently. Somber stop.

We had a stop off for lunch in Fort William, the heart of MacDonald clan country. So we thought it appropriate to have McDonald's in MacDonald-land.

Our tour guide is an outdoor guy so we went on another hike today in the rain to have a view of the Three Sister's Mountains (you can really only see one and a half mountains in this picture). For some reason I don't remember how out of shape I am cause I'm always saying "Aye" for the hikes and after about 2 minutes of the hike I'm beat!! Great view though.

Hairy Coos anyone?

This is Hamish and he is 16 years old. Hairy Coos (the Scottish have think accents and what they're actually saying is "hairy cows" but it comes out sounding like "coos") have no fat so in order to survive the drastic temperatures of the Scottish Highlands they have 2 coats of fur. They don't smell nice, but being outside you don't notice it as much.

We got back to Edinburgh and I went for a little walk. Our hostel is located perfectly right on The Royal Mile so I strolled down it. This is the view from the castle which is atop a slight hill. I've noticed that, while it is a capital city, it is not nearly as developed as London. There are no skyscrapers and everything is still very much old.

Edinburgh Castle at night.