We are now at the end of day 6 of our grand whirlwind tour of Scotland and we have probably covered more of the country than many native Scots. We figured we’ve put well over 1,300 miles on the rental car so far. Tonight finds us in Glasgow, in a beautiful castle hotel. We just attended the first of two concerts of The Blue Nile, the primary reason for our trip to Scotland in the first place. I’m happy to report that the concert was fantastic. I’ll let Larry provide the full report on that one. We’ve done so much it’s hard to detail it all. We had a beautiful, sunny, dry day yesterday. Not a drop of rain. Yea! We saw the Eilean Donan castle – you Highlander fans out there will recognize that one. This morning we hiked up to the Glenfinnan Viaduct – you Harry Potter fans will recognize that (the bridge that the Hogwarts Express takes) and then went on to search for Nessie. Larry had a sighting – we have his account on video.

Larry Sees Nessie Spit

We finally got some pictures of the Scottish Highland cow – or as I like to call them, the hairy cows – thanks to Larry hiking back a ways, across a ditch, and up to a fence. There were even baby ones. They are so cute. And kind of funny looking. Cows with bangs, essentially. Actually it’s more like a cross between a cow and a maltese. I love them!

We are constantly amazed at how beautiful this country is. Each area we visit seems more beautiful and dramatic than the last. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. We’re heading into our last few days already, but we still have much to do. More to come!

So it doesn’t rain EVERY day in Scotland, just a lot of the days. We awoke in Isle of Skye to a beautiful, clear, sunny day. Unfortunately we slept through breakfast because we stayed up too late posting pictures to this blog! We spent a little time in the little town square area before heading on to Dunvegan Castle (a Highlander filming location, and also recently used in the film Made of Honor with Patrick Dempsey) http://www.dunvegancastle.com/content/default.asp. Dunvegan has been home to the Clan MacLeod for over 700 years. It was beautiful. The castle is also unique because it has a lock of hair belonging to the famous Bonnie Prince Charlie and proudly displays (behind protected glass) the Fairy Flag, a famed heirloom of the Clan purported to have mystical properties.

After leaving Dunvegan, we wound our way back down through Skye, stopping to visit more hairy cows and sheep and admire beautiful scenery along the way, before bidding goodbye to the beautiful isle and stopping at another castle, also a Highlander filming location, the famed Eilean Donan Castle (http://www.eileandonancastle.com/). Wow, what a setting.

After leaving there, we wound our way through some beautiful mountains before stopping in Ft. William for some dinner. We actually did find a restaurant that served dinner past 9:00, amazing! Tonight we’re staying at the Glenfinnan House Hotel, right on the shores of Loch Shiel and about 10 minutes away from the Glenfinnan Viaduct (of Harry Potter fame). We’ll be hiking up there tomorrow. It’s just gorgeous here! A total postcard.

So it’s the end of our fourth day in Scotland already. Time flies. I’m writing you now from the Isle of Skye. Based on my observations so far, here are the pluses and minuses to living in Scotland:

Pluses:

• Long summer days. The sun sets about 10:30pm. It’s fully dark by about 11. It starts to get light again by about 3:45 am. I LOVE that!!!!! (unfortunately we know this because Larry was up sending work emails that late the other night)
• Green, green, green. Being that it rains all the time, it is unbelievably green. The rugged, green scenery here is just fantastic. Larry said “It looks like a movie set where they actually put too much green foliage.”
• The accents. Two words: Sean Connery.
• The castles. They are everywhere: castles still in use, castles open for tours, castles in ruin, castles turned into hotels. It creates such a romantic, lost world sort of feeling.
• The sheep. I’ve never seen so many sheep in my life. I’d be willing to bet that the sheep in this country outnumber the humans 3 to 1. They’re very cute!

Minuses:

• See title of this post. It’s certainly not stopping us from doing what we want to do and we’re having a fantastic time, but it does suck when you’re out trying to take pictures. And it covers up the landscape with mist and fog (although in some settings, that adds to the mood and seems more appropriate than not). Not a lot of direct sunshine here. No wonder they’re all so pale (I must have Scottish blood in me!).
• Everything closes way too early. Especially given that it stays light until 11:00!! We find that we’ve got 6 hours of light left and we can’t go visit anything because they’ve all rolled up the carpets and gone home. I know, I know, the UK and Europe are just like that. I’ve come to expect that, but it’s very frustrating when you still have so much daylight left. Every castle/ruin/garden/museum closes at 5. Restaurants close by 9. And in the small towns, sometimes even earlier. Last night we were scheduled to eat dinner at our hotel way up in the Highlands but got there later than planned (we had to take a very windy one lane road for about 60 miles). We got there at 9:00, they told us they stopped serving dinner at 8:00. And everywhere else in that one-sheep town (and I mean small – they have a mobile bank branch visit the town twice a week because they don’t have their own) had closed by 8:30. The night before, in Inverness (which is actually a decent sized town), we were forced to eat at McDonald’s because everything was closed by 9. (Hey, at least it has a Scottish name).
• Midges. Little tiny flying bugs that bite. They’re everywhere and they attack with the ferociousness of a pack of New Yorkers who are trying to board a delayed express train. They’re nasty little flying devils.

So what have we seen so far? So much I can’t even describe it all here, but it has all been absolutely amazing. We’ll try to attach a random sampling. I think we’ve taken an average of ~300 pictures a day. We’ve seen a lot of castles. We’ve seen a lot of sheep. We’ve seen spectacular scenery. We’re having a fantastic time and we’re so lucky to have the chance to see this beautiful country. We’re also staying in some really cool places. Tonight we’re in Viewfield House, a beautiful mansion that’s been in the same family for more than two centuries. Night before last we stayed in a former castle, the oldest part of which dated back to the 12th century. The bar in the hotel was named the Green Lady bar because she’s their resident ghost. Tomorrow night we’re staying near the Glenfinnan Viaduct. Any of you who’ve seen the Harry Potter movies would recognize that as that spectacular bridge that the train takes on its way to Hogwarts. We’re crossing our fingers for clear skies!

Here is a small selection of photos from our trip so far. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the pictures and view captions. Some pictures that are oriented vertically will require you to scroll down to see the caption.

Looks like Lisa has put together a great trip as always (she’s our staff travel planner/coordinator, and I’m the staff chauffeur and photographer).

My birthday present, which is nearly profane this year, is the primary reason for going; two nights with The Blue Nile in their home town of Glasgow, Scotland. To take advantage of the pond-crossing, we turned it into our summer trip.  I’m really looking forward to all of it.