Swanston Farm Holiday Cottages Edinburgh

We are visiting the UK and Norway at the end of May and first part of June in 2010. I have never been to Europe and am very excited about it.

Our daughter has been attending Kingston University this past year so we are going to see her, travel and pack her up to come home. We have family in Stavanger so we don't need hotels and ...

... but one side has nothing - it's just bare and exposing a monstrous building left from the time when the area mined coal from under the sea. I ask a guy sat next to me what the building is used for now and he tells me that it's going to be dismantled but requires a lot of money and asbestos specialists to take it down. The coastline will look ...

... is screaming for mercy. Found some very nice cookies though, yum!

Time for some wandering! We didn't hit the Royal Mile unfortunately, but we did get a good wander up and down Princes Street. Waiting around in Pizza Hut for some food, just having a general laugh.. who needs to be touristy when you get the full-on local effect?

And the best part was.. SNOW! Very random and very light, but it was there :)

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom kilgiraffe

Fun trip to Murrayfield for Scotland v Fiji.....lots of happy Scottish faces after the win, boys in fancydress, stag parties galore, chuc-chucs ferrying folks home in the rain, great cocktails in an Italian Jazz bar and running to catch last train back home on a busy busy Saturday night train heading South.

I'm writing this entry several months after visiting Edinburgh. There were large sections of the city that were torn up during our visit due to the installation of a light rail/train line. I found out later that the rubbish removers were also on strike during our visit, which I completely missed while we were there.

I love the feel of Edinburgh. It feels like some huge city that was built ...

... about mysterious noises and sightings and all that good stuff while inside a dark stone vault lit only by a flashlight!  That was about it for Tuesday.

Wednesday:  Took a bus tour.  We went to Sterling castle which is right near where William Wallace had his major battle trying to retake the castle.  I believe Braveheart is based on this.  A little fact...Mel Gibson wore a kilt in the movie even though kilts were not even invented yet!  After Sterling castle we went up ...

... which may now be on my reading list. We hit Edinburgh last night and went out to dinner, lots of kilts and bagpipes around, snow flurries on the windscreen but nothing actually on the ground - apparently not cold enough! Today we did a tour of the city, particularly Edinburgh Castle. We drove through the street where Jenny lived while in Scotland. I couldn't see her actual flat but it was still very exciting. In fact ...

... especially being Canada Day because, our country really had a big impact on Edinburgh. There is actually a 12X12 piece of land in the Edinburgh Caste that is proclaimed to be Nova Scotia, because the kings were tired of taking the boat to Canada to Knight and Crown people. That land still exists and they say if you have a baby on it, they are a Canadian citizen. Just don't know if they would let you give birth in the castle!!!! Learned a lot more about the city including ...

After much planning (and purchasing) I think we finally have everything for our trip! I've moved all my belongings out of my flat and Rowan has gotten yellow fever vaccination AND her passport. Success!! We are both quite excited but also a little nervous. We will be having a leaving party this weekend which I'm sure will be great send-off and we also have a day in between that and our flight to give us time to recover!

... have been another god job opportunity, working in a hostel. I dont have a lot of news, i seem to be doing the same things over and over, and loving every minute! Just thought i'd keep in touch, hope u all had a great easter, i'm officially not eating chocolate for 2 weeks. see how that goes. i eat too much of it. i want to know if can live without it!! (by tomorrow i will be suffering i bet!) off to find some cheap cds, bye! xoxo