Edinburgh June 10th - 11th

Our Trip to Edinburgh, Scotland was very fast - only about one and a half days. I think I could have stayed there all two weeks though! Scotland is very beautiful, and the people are extremely friendly and full of life.

We visited the Edinburgh castle, the Royal Mile, and took a Scotch Tour. The weather was still rainy but we had a few sun breaks which was very nice! We had a beautiful hotel at the Royal Scots Club, nice bed and we actually had a bathroom bigger than my closet! Thank god! Just walking around Edinburgh you were able to see some of the most beautiful and interesting buildings. Most are very old, with the oldest buildings up on the top of the large hill. We were able to see a lot of great things and learn a little history by taking a Hop on Hop Off bus tour. This way you can see everything from the top of vintage buses and don't have to walk the crazy hill!

The next day we walked up to the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is a great shopping district that starts at the Castle and goes down for a mile...imagine that! They have all sorts of great Scottish trinkets like kilts, thistles, and history of Scottish family names. It is tempting to want to clad yourself in plaid and play the bagpipes, but then again that look isn't really popular in the States! It was really fun to forget about everything and experience the funny parts of being a tourist, like trying on hats and seeing different types of Scotch. The end of the Royal Mile is the Queen's palace for when she visits. She wasn't in town, but through the bars you can see a very nice grounds that must be a nice place for her to vacation...from her other palaces all the UK...man I wish I were Queen!

We then went to the Edinburgh Castle where the Scottish Crown Jewels (must less exciting than the Queen's Jewels) and also experienced a real castle. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be - think Sleeping Beauty. It was very rustic but pretty amazing considering how old it was and how when it was built there weren't cranes or cars to move the large stones around. It was really neat as they had set up several different areas to go into the building like a military museum, Mary Queen of Scot's bedroom, and of course the Crown Jewels. you can see the entire city from the top of the castle - pretty impressive if you think of how the view would have looked hundred of years ago. You really could have seen your enemies approaching not to mention an entire army of your enemies approaching from England. they do seem pretty bitter about the whole English rule thing, especially since it was a very brutal and bloody part of their history. The Scottish Pounds are actually different from the English Pounds, showing more Scottish heroes that the Royalty. Interesting...

After the Castle tour we decided to taste some Scotch Whiskey. I have never been a fan of Whiskey, but hey when in Scotland! The Scotch Whiskey Experience as it is called is a ride in a whiskey barrel through the Scotch Whiskey making process. It is actually pretty entertaining, and after walking all over the Castle a welcome sitting and low energy ride! After the Disney-like whiskey making process you go to a room where you are

introduced to the different types of Scotch from the different regions. They have a fruity, floral, sweet, and smokey flavors all based on different regions and made slightly different based on peat and water types. Way more that I ever thought I would need to know. You smell the different types and then make your choice of what to sample. I chose the sweet and Brad chose the fruity (I think....). Either way, they tasted nothing like you thought they would. They just tasted like alcohol and burning. We learned how to add water to bring out more flavors (if there were more flavors other than alcohol and burning) and then saw the world's largest Whiskey collection. All in all very interesting and one little tasting was enough for both of us! We bought Dan a little sample since he is the only Whiskey drinker we know. Hopefully he enjoys it!

After the Whiskey Experience we decided to enjoy a few pints...a little more our taste. We went to a very old pub where we tasted Scotland's finest brews and listened to several locals talk - their brawls were so beautiful you find yourself just wanting them to talk!

That was our time in Scotland - much too short for me! We had an early flight to Germany in the morning to Frankfurt to meet our friend Steve who would be driving us to Heidelberg.

London Cont.

London blog post 2 (for Uncle Eddie) will include our exciting ride on the London Eye, the National Gallery, British Museum, Tower of London, and of course Chelsea Football.

The London Eye was first built for the new Millennium, and the futuristic Ferris wheel dominates the London skyline - a bit controversial for some, but hey so was the Eiffel Tower in its time! Normally the lines for this "ride" wrap around the block, but we chose to go a little later in the day and when the weather was a little drizzly. Not to say that anytime in London the weather is anything but drizzle...but apparently tourists like to avoid the Eye in the rain. There is a very "exciting" 3D video you watch and then up you go! On our ride we had a child that was a little whiny, but other than that it was really amazing! The view was great, even if there were a few raindrops on the windows. If you are into seeing skylines from above this is a must, but not really worth waiting for hours to get on if you ask my opinion. We were lucky to be able to walk right on, and I would have loved to see it at night since it is open late for those city light seekers! Here are a few amazing photos of the skyline!

Next we visited two museums - the National Gallery and the British Museum. The National Gallery is extremely overwhelming when you first enter as there are thousands upon thousands of paintings lining hundreds of rooms, but we opted to download Rick Steves' podcast on the National Museum. He walks you through each room and directs you to the more famous or most interesting photos and explains each one. It was sort of like having a tour guide, but one with a great sense of humor and knowledge about not just art but history. I highly recommend that if you want to see a museum but want to do it in an hour - Rick Steves' tours are free and easy to follow. We also used Rick's British Museum tour for the first part of our British Museum experience. The British Museum is very big and overwhelming. I'm not much for Museums...and this is the ULTIMATE MUSEUM. Rick's tour takes you through Ancient Egypt, Rome, and a little of Ancient Asia. Again, Rick is a funny guy, so this was a great way to say I went to a museum without having to actually read the little descriptions or pay for the audio guide. We went back the next day to do our own tour, but really Rick's was pretty awesome so we didn't spend too much time there. What more could you ask for - a free and entertaining tour that gets you in and out in about two hours!

The London Tower was my one MUST DO experience in London. I have a love for Royal History, and the London Tower is crawling with history and of course the crown jewels! The fortress is still standing and though it has had a few changes over the years, it still maintains some of the historical pieces that make it absolutely stunning! After watching The Tudors on Showtime I was excited to see where Anne Boleyn spent her last hours, where the traitors were brought in by boat, and also where the executions took place right out in public! Over flowing with French School children that like to push and shove their way past you, it was hard to really take it all in, but again once the London skies opened up we had the place pretty much to ourselves and everyone darted for the refreshments.

The Crown Jewels were amazing. Amazing. The way they showcased them with showing Queen Elizabeth's coronation and outlining the line of Royals in the entrance, you really start to appreciate the ceremony involved in just a few pieces of jewelry. Most people pushed past us to get to see the jewels, but we took our time to watch the presentations and it really is worth it! There is no photography, so sorry no photos, which means everyone needs to go themselves! The crowns are very large covered in diamonds and precious jewels that have been handed down through each Royal Family. You ride a conveyor belt past them, most people gawking and then leaving, but we rode it twice, going on each side. I only wish I could have tried them on...I'm sure the Queen wouldn't mind! It is exciting to think that when Charles or William get crowned they will be using these jewels - and I saw them!

The Tower of London also have a pretty impressive collection of armory in the White Tower. You can see how the armor has changed over the years, and also the size of the royals! Henry the XII was a pretty big guy who also really liked to show off his "family jewels". I have a few photos, but it is really impressive in person!

We were unable to go and see where Anne was buried as you have to be on the Beefeaters tour, which we didn't take since there wasn't one happening when we first arrived. The Beefeaters apparently live in the Tower, and from a few of the buildings you can see the lives of today mixed with the buildings of yesterday. Very strange as we would never have people living in our national monuments like this...well other than the White House of course! There is also a raven keeper that takes care of the ravens. There is an old tale that London would fall if there weren't ravens at the Tower, so there are of course ravens. There are a lot of stories of the ravens, and apparently they are very intelligent. They like to steal things from the visitors and also can mock different sounds like dogs or machinery which they like to taunt people with. We didn't see any of this...but they are very pretty!

Though the Tower is beautiful, it does have a very frightening past with several prisoners and executions in the main lawn. They actually have the "chopping block" in the museum which you can see had been well used...pretty crazy! They now have a memorial on the site of where most executions happened, so you can literally see where many lost their lives We also got to visit the tower where many were kept before their executions. This of course had a wonderful view of the chopping block! The Tower was very fun and a great glimpse into life before the USA was even thought of - and I highly recommend it!

After the Tower, we decided to do something a little different - visit a Football Club. We rode the subway to Chelsea to see the Chelsea Football Club. It was a neat little ride as most people on the train were locals since we got away from the touristy sections of London. A short walk to the stadium and you can see just how much Football means to Europeans. They have some exciting photo ops outside...which we were excited to use! They really should have more photo sites like this in Europe...maybe places you can stick your head through so it looks like you are wearing the crown jewels or something...anyway....

The tour of Chelsea was very inexpensive but very informative! They took us through the entire stadium including the players locker rooms and the pitch. They had a museum with Seattle Sounders scarves since the Sounders played Chelsea last year. It was fun to see - a little taste of home! We have some great photos of the experience, and I highly recommend it!

From London we caught a flight up to Edinburgh, Scotland. More to come on the beautiful and amazing Scotland!

London June 5th - 9th

On our arrival in London I was very surprised that we first came in the Paddington Station. Growing up London meant Paddington Bear with marmalade sandwiches and big red hats. Of course London is nothing like a Children's book...especially modern London.

The hotel we stayed in was the Castleton Hotel. I only say this because no one should stay at the Castleton Hotel. My dorm room was bigger than this room, and the bathroom looked like it belonged in a camper. Needless to say we did not spend a lot of time at our hotel.

Our first day in London we had beautiful weather. Taking the Tube we explored the city's main tourist attractions - Big Ben, Parliament Building, and Westminster Abbey. This was also the day that after walking around for hours we found out our hotel was in Little Pakistan which meant that the only food available was Pakistani. Not really our taste. London's food was not really the best. Mushy peas, fried fish, and kidney pie. Yummers. Good thing they have some wonderful beer! We drank a pint a day in London, enjoying the pubs and locals after hours. It was just finding the food to go with the pints that seemed to be difficult since most restaurants closed early. Good travel tip - Londoners eat early. Wish we would have known that!

We got up early one day to watch the changing of the guard. It was so definitely an experience - lots of tourists, police, and fanfare. We read that the Union Flag (red white and blue flag) is flown that means the Queen is not at home at Buckingham. The Union Flag was flying that day so she must have been on vacation, but they still do a wonderful show without her there. I just kept thinking that if I were the Queen I would sit inside and watch the crowds gather and hear their oohs and aahs. It is definitely a must when you visit London, even though the band did play contemporary rock music rather than the expected classical march. The ceremony and beauty is just wonderful - very English looking if not sounding.

After our first day the weather changed. The rain and overcast sky spent the rest of the trip with us - making sure we didn't miss our home weather too much. We only got caught in a few downpours, which made our jackets an everyday take a long. We decided to do a bus tour of the city, where we happily slid on some plastic ponchos. Seeing the city nice and wet made London a little more like home.

One thing that Brad and I both share is a fascination with WWII. In that case we HAD to visit the Winston Churchill Museum. It is housed in a bunker that government employees and Churchill himself lived during the War. It was amazing to see the British side of that time period and how the USA played an important role. It was very fun and and eye opening and allowed us to geek out a little!

You can't go to London without going to Westminster Abbey. In High School I watched as Princess Diana's funeral processional lead to the doors of the large Abbey, and to see the real thing was like a dream. It wasn't at all what I thought it would be, mostly considering there were a lot of dead people everywhere - the floors, the hallways, every nook and cranny. Some were even on top of others, crammed together in this beautiful building. You couldn't spend all day just reading the epitaphs, but luckily we had the audio guide that gave us an abridged version of what I needed to see. Considering my fascination with Henry the VII and the Tudors I was excited to see Elizabeth and Mary's graves as well as Mary Queen of Scots. History really comes to life when you can actually see and feel it. Not to mention TV and movies that literally bring history to life. Westminster Abbey took a lot longer than I thought it would, but it was definitely worth a visit. They even had a video that showed the crowning of the current Queen...making me think that I may be able to see two royal ceremonies in my lifetime - Charles and William. We'll see, but it is very exciting to actually see where it all can happen!

There was so much more in London, but I think this is enough for a post for now! Stay tuned...up next London Eye, The National Gallery (Rick Steves Style), British Museum, and Tower of London, and Chelsea Football.

Here is a video of the changing of the guard.