Edinburgh in August

Perhaps its just my background in civil engineering, but it seems like a really bad idea to have construction throughout a city like Edinburgh during your most busiest tourist months! What a mess! Roads were closed for the Fringe Festival but even more so they had lots of roads closed due to construction. It was absolute chaos to try and drive in the city and even more so to find parking. So needless to say, after our first attempt we decided that it was best to take either a taxi or bus into town and walk about while we were there. We met a friend of mine and her father there as well, and they too had the hardest time moving about by car in Edinburgh. Hours I tell ya..............spent trying to get around to where they needed to be and find parking. And they are from the UK......so it wasn't just the "crazy American's". LOL

The drive down to Edinburgh was really nice. We had great weather for it and the drive from Inverbervie is only about 2 hours. We stopped for lunch along the way and just took our time.......enjoying the view. We took the bridge over to Edinburgh and it was really neat to see the bridge. The nerdy bridge person in me was fumbling fast to get my camera and took a picture through the bug infested windshield.



So all that aside, after we figured out the best way to get to city centre was by bus or taxi.........we had a fab time! Friday night we had dinner at a really great little sushi place called No 1 Sushi. Yeah cheesy name but fab sushi. At least the best we've had since we've been in the UK. Which we've not found much in the way of sushi since we've been here.

Saturday morning we woke early and had breakfast at the hotel and set out to figure out the best way to get to city centre to meet up with friends. So we got down there and meet up with them and set out walking toward the castle so we could visit inside. Wow..........talk about a castle up on a hill in the middle of the city. You simply can't miss it!

Edinburgh Castle from the park

A view from Edinburgh Castle

At 1:00pm every day they shoot off a canon from the castle. Back in the day this was how people could keep the hour and knew that when they heard the canon that it was 1:00pm. So we stuck around the castle grounds so we could hear the canon at 1:00pm. That was pretty neat. And of course there were lots of bagpipers all over the place..........due to the touristy season. So any Scots that read my blog.............forgive me for what I am about to say............but really............I've had enough bagpipes after my day at Edinburgh castle. ;)

1:00pm canon/gun firing

One of many bagpipers seen and heard in Edinburgh!

Our friends were going to the Military Tattoo on Saturday night, so the grounds leading up to the castle had a lot of bleachers and seating for that. Jeff and I were headed to a ghost tour of the underground city vaults later that evening. But in the mean time we were all hungry and looking for something good to eat. We headed off down the Royal Mile to see what we could find. We weaved our way through all the Fringe Festival street performers and finally came upon a nice Italian place. It was yummy!
So lots of performers all over the place doing street acts. Everything from people dressed up as statues and not moving an inch, to people doing tricks and acts, passing out flyer's for evening acts and just lots of activity going on in the streets. So while we were just walking about we stop off to check out a street performer. This street performer is quite comical and eventually goes on to tell the crowd that he can solve a rubiks cube in less than a minute. So he ask for someone from the crowd to have a stop watch or a second hand on their watch. No one says a word or volunteers EXCEPT MY HUSBAND. :| So there he is repeatedly letting the performer know he's got a stop watch on his watch and the street performer not only moves him up to the front of the crowd, but ask his name and where he was from. So my loving husband very loudly announces that he is Jeff from Houston, Texas. Do you have a visual of this and a visual of me standing in the back of the crowd covering my face? LOL
So the street performer goes on to ask Jeff to shout out every 15 seconds that passes. And of course he ask Jeff to shout........makes him practice a bit. It was really quite comical and the street performer did in fact solve the rubiks cube in right at a minute or so's time. And my friends of course were cheering Jeff on. LOL See.............I can't take him anywhere! ;)

Jeff helping out the performer and shouting out the time at the 15 minute interval

The street performer desperately trying to get the rubiks solved!

Okay so on to the Ghost Tour. Wow............okay I won't say that its scary as much as its just eerie! Its truly very eerie in the underground vaults and the stories they tell even before you get down there, just around the city is really on the eerie side too. The vaults are eerie in themselves and while I didn't experience anything ghostly while I was down there.........I will say that there are a lot of small rooms and when they put 30 people in one of those small rooms to tell them a story.............its creepy! Afterwards they allowed a couple of minutes to walk through all the vaults if you wanted. Jeff took a walk about and said that at one point he was the only person around and it was a bit creepy and eerie. So not to disappoint, as we didn't see any ghost or experience one............we did however get that eerie feeling while we were down there.

Street performers we watched while we were waiting on the Ghost Tour to start

So Saturday was a super long day and we were exhausted. We slept in a bit on Sunday but then had to get going to check out of the hotel on time. We took off headed back home and stopped off at Deep Sea World to see their shark exhibit. They are suppose to be the Aquarium with the largest shark exhibit in the UK. It was pretty neat. They have an underground tunnel that you can walk through and the sharks and stingrays and fish swim over and around you. They've got several sharks and while most are fairly small, they did have a pretty big one. And lots of stingrays. They have a seal exhibit too and lots of other things like frogs, crabs, octopus' and even perranias. Eck! Its right by the North Queensferry Heritage Trust bridge. And this is significant because this bridge was built for railroad and there was some bad engineering done on it and when it opened for the first time and the first train went across it, it collapsed. Several lives were lost and of course it was shut down. It eventually was re-opened after a great deal of engineering and repair went into it. While we were there they were doing some more work to it. It looked as though they were refurbishing it, but its hard to tell for sure.

This seal was just chillin. He looked up once......other than that no human was gonna disturb his slumber unless it involved food!

This one was swimming laps, popping his head up ever so often to make sure he still had an audience!

A very small portion of the North Queensferry Heritage Trust bridge

Okay so the thing I forgot to mention above is that on Friday, when we got to Edinburgh and checked into our hotel, we set out to find Rosslyn's Chapel. You know the Chapel that is said to have an underground vault that contains the bodies of the Knights Templar in their full dress armor and the Chapel that Dan Brown says that the Holy Grail is in that same vault. Well we went there. That was pretty interesting to see. Right now they are refurbishing the Chapel so there is lots of scaffolds and such around the Chapel, so its hard to really see the full thing. However you can walk around the scaffolding that's around the roof right now and see it up close. That was really neat. And while you're not allowed to take pictures on the inside of the church, its really amazing. LOTS of carvings, lots of detail and its really a true sign of the age of the Chapel because a lot of it is starting to kind of dwindle away (for lack of better word). I never realized how much carvings were in this church or what they all mean. And they do address Dan Brown's theories in their tour but they simply say that it's rumored that there are several different things in the vault including the dead sea scrolls, the holy grail and the Knights Templar in their dress armour and that the Sinclair's still have full rights of the Chapel and do not want to open the vault and disturb their ancestors. They do however know that when they did a sonar of the underground fault it did in fact show a great deal of metal!

Rosslyn's Chapel

Part of the roof and top of Rosslyn's Chapel

The side of Rosslyn's Chapel and its current entry point into the Chapel

Paris

Paris reminded me of Vegas. Its one of those places that's super neat to visit, lots to see and do, but after 3 or 4 days, you are tired and need to go home just to rest! I'll also apologize in advance as this blog will probably be rather long. You just can't write a short blog about Paris and cover everything! So my apologies for the long blog today!

The intersection near our hotel

So lets get some of the basic information out of the way about Paris. Yes................its all true, everything you've ever heard about Paris, the people, the city............all of it. Yes its dirty! Yes the people are rude and yes some of them stink! BUT its Paris! I mean if for no other reason to visit than just to see Notre Dame, Arc de Triumph and the Louvre....then its well worth putting up with rude Parisians that can be smelly at times and the dirty city. I highly recommend anyone go there at least once in a lifetime if ever given the chance just to see the landmarks of Paris. Its also very expensive, just as people say. So expensive that you should not be shocked to find that you've spent 50 euro on three burgers with fries and three drinks. And just to put it in bigger perspective for my American friends, 50 euro is about $75! Yes......and that's the norm in the city! But some of the food is really quite tasty!
You will also find that if you want to use the restroom, be it to wash your hands or to pee........you'll find that it usually cost you to get in the toilet. The bathroom doors have coin slots on them where you must put in coins in order to open the door. I was blown away by this as you even see pay toilets on the sidewalks that look similar to port a potties, only you have to put coins in the door. I think on average we paid anywhere from 30 pence to 50 pence each to use the loo! And even more astonishing is that we had to even pay when we were paying customers in a restaurant! A restaurant, might I add that we were paying roughly 5 euro for a bottle of water OR a glass of soda! I would think in part its a way to take full advantage of the tourist and also to keep the gypsies from using their bathrooms. There were a lot of gypsies around the tourist spots.

When I always heard that Paris was dirty I had always envisioned that it was gray and dirty with grit and just smog or such. But I got there and it wasn't that way at all. In fact I was quite astonished when I seen Notre Dame for the first time and it was not at all this gray, dark building I had always thought it would be. Much of the city looks clean, from a distance. I would say that the dirty part comes in from the cleanliness of the streets, litter, and just over all filth of the public transportation. You just feel like you need to wash your hands a lot. Oops, but don't forget, it'll cost ya 30 pence to wash your hands before dinner! And if you have to pee........best do so then! LOL

Also don't be surprised to find a few prostitutes along the rail system. We seen a few along our journeys to and from points of interest. However I will say though that the metro/rail system is by far the best way to travel about the city! You'll still walk a bunch, don't get me wrong, as nothing is close to one another as far as points of interest. But buying a two day rail pass with unlimited use was by far one of the best buys we did.

Okay so enough about the low lights of Paris, lets talk about the highlights! Notre Dame is breath taking! At least to me it was. I stepped off the subway, walked up the stairs and there it was! WOW! As I said, I expected this gray cathedral. Jeff's dad told me that when he was visiting Paris about 9 years ago that they were washing it then. Its amazing. Its really amazing that this building still stands today and that it has all the details that it has. The inside is remarkable. I had no idea it was such a big building, both inside and out. Amazing architecture! We got to visit the crypts down under Notre Dame and its basically the base of the old building and things that they excavated. Really neat to see. You can walk up the towers but its all steps, the lines are long and we opted not to walk the steps.

Notre Dame......isn't it beautiful!

A very small part of the inside of Notre Dame

The back of Notre Dame, from the boat

We took a boat tour on the river too, around the city. I got some amazing shots of the Eiffel Tower from the boat and really...........its the best way to see the Eiffel Tower, if you ask me. We did walk up to the tower on our second day there, but it was much better seeing it from the boat. The boat ride was an hour long and we got to see the back of Notre Dame, several parts of the city and the Eiffel Tower. And it was a nice breezy way to relax and spend an hour of time.

The Eiffel Tower. I took this shot from the boat ride

Second day we went straight to the Louvre, first thing in the morning. I was simply blown away by the Louvre as well. Both outside and inside. Its amazing to me that there is so much art inside one HUGE building, so much history! I can't tell you how fantastic some of the statues are, or how neat it is to see the real Mona Lisa in person. To see the detail in the marble statues makes you wonder how on earth they had the tools to do such amazing things back then. And then to see some of the sizes of paintings............I found myself wondering how they were able to paint such detail and maintain a scale of the overall painting when they had to paint on ladders and such. Of course I am a fan of Da Vinci Code, so it was neat to see some of the Louvre in person just for that reason. I could have spent days in the Louvre and still not fully enjoyed it all. But it also goes without saying that after you've been in the Louvre for half of the day, been around all the people, you are ready to leave as well. I seen all the highlights and the things I really wanted to see. We probably covered at least 3/4 of the Louvre, but hardly no time to really stop and appreciate it all. If I ever find myself in Paris again, I will definitely go back, see a little more and pause to enjoy it. If you ever find yourself in Paris, go early to the Louvre.........when its not so crowded and the queues aren't so long!

A very small part of the Louvre from the outside!

Aphrodite aka Venice de Milo

Mona Lisa

Winged Victory of Samothrace

One of the many beautiful ceiling in what use to be Napoleon's home

One of hundreds of incredible statues in the garden of statues at the Louvre

After the Louvre that's when we went to see Eiffel Tower up close and in person. From there we went to see Arc de Triumph. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the architecture and art, but I was far more impressed by everything I seen, than by the Eiffel Tower. Its neat, don't get me wrong, just not as neat to me as Notre Dame or the art in the Louvre or even Arc de Triumph.

Arc de Triumph

The third day we were there we took a tour from Paris to Normandy. Its a long ride out to Normandy, about 3 hours, but its definitely worth seeing. The cemetery is what is the most remarkable thing to see. It puts war in a new perspective, no matter the patriot you are or your core beliefs in war and politics. Its a peaceful, beautiful place, even with all the white grave markers. A must see! And we found out that its US territory. As is Omaha beach where the battle was. Its all very surreal and it really puts the battle of Normandy into perspective for anyone that enjoys history and wants to know more. We seen a few films on the battle, seen the memorials on the beach and had a fantastic lunch at a french B&B.
The ride back was long as well but when we returned we had a nice dinner for our last evening in Paris and turned in a little early.

A very, very small tract of the graves at Normandy!

Part of the cemetery in Normandy

Memorial at Omaha Beach

We had a nice time and it was a fantastic weekend but we seen a lot, walked a lot and we were all tired when we got in the plane Sunday morning to head back to Scotland. So while France is expensive and the people are a bit rude, I highly recommend seeing Paris if ever given a chance. Just go into it with the mind set that you are going to spend an absorbent amount on food and drinks but its Paris...........home of the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph and Notre Dame. Those things right there make it worth the visit!

So that's our Paris trip. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I took over 100 pictures in Paris but of course I can't upload them all. Jeff's dad got back on a plane to head home this morning. We were so glad to have him and will miss him. We think he had a pretty good time but figure he'll be happy to see his wife, get some rest from his vacation with us and just be back in the good ole USA. ;)

Fish Festival & Dewar's Distillery

We have had a really nice time and nice weather since Jeff's dad arrived. Its raining today, but I figured it would be a good day to catch up the blog, post a few pictures and do a little laundry.

The first day Jeff's dad was here we took him around Aberdeen a bit but then let him get some rest since he was feeling a little jet lagged. The next day though Charles and I walked up the hill behind the house and to the church across the road from us and looked at the old church and the cemetery and just spent a little time enjoying the wonderful weather we've been having.

On Friday we took him to Dunnottar Castle and explored around there, let him see the sights and snap some pictures for him to share when he gets back home. To get to the castle you have to take a very steep stair climb down to get there and of course you have to take that same steep climb to get back. So he was really feeling the stairs when we finally got back to the car. But he had fun and it was fun for us to get to see the castle again.

Jeff and Charles in front of Dunnattor Castle

After the castle we decided to drive him to Montrose to see the little beach sea side they have there. We got an ice cream cone, looked over the water and just took a little stroll. He and Jeff went down to the water and put their hand in it. We all agree..........MUCH colder than the Gulf of Mexico (or any other water I've put my hand in). Maybe about the same as the Guadalupe River! LOL

Saturday we went to Johnshaven (which is right by the house) and went to their annual Fish Festival. Its much like the funfair Jeff and I went to a few weeks ago but much smaller and it was more about little booths and live bands. We had some Scottish funfair classics though and walked around and enjoyed another wonderful day. We ran into a friend of Jeff's from work and sat and talk to him and his wife for some time. They've been to Texas and actually many places in the States and really enjoy Texas and think the people are just super friendly and kind. So we had a good time talking to them. They invited us over for a beer at their weekend spot and in turn we invited them over for dinner at our place that evening. Jeff and Charles had put on a brisket, so I made some bbq baked beans and grilled some asparagus and we had a nice dinner. Was a good time!

Okay so Sunday we got up and decided to head South and hit the Dewar's Distillery. Wow! That was fun! We had such a good time. We got a deluxe tour, so we got to see the branding centre, tour the distillery and have a sample for 4 of their whiskey's made there. I had no idea Dewar's made a single malt scotch, but they do and its called Aberfeldy. Which Aberfeldy is the town that Dewar's is made in and where the first distillery is. They now have a huge operation in Glasgow and that's where they take the scotch to age. So we took the tour through the branding centre and learned all about the start up of Dewar's and how it became. After we toured the branding centre we sat down to try 4 different tastings. Wow! Okay Jeff and Charles are scotch drinkers..........I, however am not! LOL So needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed with the 4 different tastings. But it was really fun and quite the experience. Then we took the tour of the distillery and got to see how they make Scotch and the process it goes through. Again............Wow! After our tour of the distillery we went back to the coffee shop and had a snack and a cup of coffee. It was so much fun. I had planned for us to do the tour strictly with Charles and Jeff in mind and what they would like. I had no idea how interesting it would be to me and how much fun we'd have. I have to laugh and tell everyone that when we walked up to Dewar's when we first got there you can smell the Scotch! Its this strong aroma that just fills the air. Charles starts singing, "I'm in Heaven............I'm in Heaven". LOL To funny!

Our samples of Dewar's at the Distillery. I couldn't finish mine! LOL

Jeff and Charles in front of the Distillery after the tour. Do they look tipsy? LOL

So we drove back and enjoyed the scenery. Its such a beautiful drive. It skirts around the highlands and its really just beautiful! We stopped on our way there at the River Tay and took a couple of pictures there too. A really pretty bridge too! I just love the architecture around the UK.

The River Tay

The bridge that we crossed at the River Tay

So that's the holiday so far! We are headed to Paris this week. Looking forward to it!