Edinburgh

We were all relieved to be heading to Edinburgh and for Lars and Roxcy it was one step closer to home. We had done very well living in a small van for a month but we were looking forward to spreading out a bit and sleeping in a real bed. I had been looking forward to spending some time in Edinburgh, the last time we were there was in the 80's ... a lot has changed since then, including us.

We drove out of our way to visit this Cheese Mongers ... I love cheese! I am sure I have said this before, my favourite cheese in NZ is Blue River Sheep's Milk. I love buying cheese from our local cheese monger in ChCh who has the best selection of cheeses and great bread. 

We woke really in the morning at our Blair Castle campground and started driving to Edinburgh while Lars and Roxcy were still asleep. Pete thought that it would be a good idea to visit The National Museum of Flight outside of Edinburgh before we dropped off our van. Our Satnav got sulky and dropped off the internet just as we came into the city. It was very stressful trying to navigate our way to the museum. There was a moment of panic when we thought we would have to go analogue. We made it to the museum ok but arrived early and had to wait for about an hour so Pete decided to clean out the van before we dropped it off.

I would feel completely safe with this flight crew.

I booked an airbandb for our stay in Edinburgh. I had no idea where it was or what it was like other than the photos on the airbandb site. It is a little scary for me when booking accommodation online and I have no idea of location or proximity to where we want to go. When we pulled up outside the door Roxcy saw how old the apartment block was she became a little concerned about what might be on the other side and that possibly we might be staying in some derelict, unsafe place.

Roxcy was in love with our apartment when she saw it and went straight to setting her room up organising her wardrobe and her desk which looked out the window and onto the street. Lars just jumped on his bed and lay himself out and did not really care about where his clothes went ... which was mostly on the floor.

Our airbandb was about a 30 minute walk to all of the main sites that we wanted to see like Edinburgh Castle. It was a beautiful old building ... beautiful old stair case, lovely wood and these amazing tiles on the floor. Our apartment was almost like a home away from home and a lot more comfortable than living in a van.

We walked up to the end of our street to do some grocery shopping when we got settled. I just love these old buildings and it was so fun to sit at our window at night and watch people in their apartments living their lives.

Roxcy just loved setting up home. We were given tickets and passports to enter her room. There were notes with instructions from Roxcy all over our apartment and beside our bed. Pete and Lars went to the movies one night to see The Current War ... about the battle for electricity between Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse. I thought that the film would be boring for Roxcy and Lars had just been reading about Tesla so I thought the film might be of interest to him. Roxcy was really upset with Pete and me. She tried very hard to persuade us to take her with them but we were firm in our decision. As you can imagine there was some moments of serious distress for her. When we got back to our apartment Roxcy proceeded to take away Pete's tickets and visiting privileges to her room and said "oh and by the way, tickets to get into my room can expire. By the way Pete, your ticket has expired."

I spy with my little eye ... Lars ... I really like the idea of apartment living. There is something exciting and edgy about living in a city and the energy of peoples lives being right at your door.

Edinburgh Castle ... looks very foreboding and Gothic. I was a little underwhelmed by the Castle, but it looks very intimidating on top of the hill.

Lars our protector.

Edinburgh was the busiest city we visited in Scotland, and the only big city we visited ... people everywhere!

We loved the buskers ... Lars and Roxcy were fascinated by this elevated Dobby and spent quite a long time walking around him to figure out how he did it, we visited him several times doing a 360 view of him to figure out how he was standing above ground. There were a few buskers like this. We finally figured it out ... the staff is bolted to a platform that is under Dobby's robe and there is rod that runs along Dobby's sleeve and down his back that is attached to the platform and the staff. 

I really enjoyed watching Lars and Roxcy enjoy this busking act. They were laughing out loud at him ... he was very funny. I love the energy that buskers bring and how they draw in a crowd. This man was particularly good at it.

I found the best hot chocolate in the world here in Edinburgh ... it was delicious. We found this really yummy Italian restaurant ... I told them I like my hot chocolates strong and dark and they did it, so we went back for another one a couple of days later as well as pizza.

I booked a Harry Potter tour. Quite a lot of the Harry Potter series was written in Edinburgh so Harry Potter is BIG here and there are lots of different tours that can be taken. Our tour guide had done her Masters degree on Harry Potter and tourism. I have a whole new appreciation for Harry and his friends and JK Rowling. Lars was riveted the whole time and very engaged with our guide, he would chat away to her.

Our Harry Potter Tour took us down some really interesting streets, like this one. There is a Harry Potter museum and book store where you can buy wands and other Hogwarts magical instruments.

Apparently JK Rowling got her inspiration for character names from the Edinburgh grave yard. Her children go to a private school right next door and have their own personal security guards while at school. This is also the graveyard where Greyfair's Bobby (a Skye Terrier) sat by the grave of his dead master everyday for 14 years.  

I think Lars is a very handsome Harry Potter! Pete was often seen writing down quotes from Lars and Roxcy on his phone and wants me to include them in our posts. Movie quote from Lars ...

Pete ... "Lars this film might be a bit old for you."

Lars ... "I've seen a hundred PG13 films in my entire life."

Pete ... "A hundred Lars, are you sure?"

Lars ... "Maybe more!"

Roxcy looks very convincing as Hermione Granger. We learnt from our tour guide that anyone who had red hair was considered a witch and were either drowned, burnt or hung. If you were thrown into the river with stones chained to your feet and did not drown this meant that you were witch and would then burn you at the stake. Not a lot of positive options. I loved to remind her how lucky she is not to have been born in the 1600s. One of Pete's favourite quote from Roxcy ...

Roxcy ... "Pete, it's not fair you didn't cook my chicken when I asked you to."

Pete ... "Roxcy, it's not good for your development if I stop doing everything I am doing just because you say I'm hungry, especially when I am doing something important like reading a book."

Roxcy ... "Wait! You were reading a book!!!!"

I really love this photo of Lars ... do I have too? He was really upset that we did not buy him a wand and this was the best look I could get out of him.

We visited the Edinburgh Museum ... which is amazing for children. There are science, animals and technology sections. You could spend hours here ... I loved the light and the spaciousness of the building.

We went for a ride on a large ferris wheel on the river ... it was very high, but not as high as the one on the River Thames in London. Lars wanted to spin us very fast but I couldn't do it. We had a birds eye view of Edinburgh. Roxcy was so cute as we came down ... she said ... we are ok Liz ... don't look down.

We found a very cool Hi Fi store and stopped to have a look. There is some beautiful audio here. I loved this turn table. We walked past this store every day on our way into the city. The guy was a real enthusiast as most techno people are and it was a really nice moment stopping to look and check out his store.

Home again ... safe at last! Lars and Roxcy were so excited to be going home ... and had sent through their list of favourite foods, pizza being top of the list.

Leaving Inverness

We have enjoyed Inverness ... it is a small city but very accessible and easy. I really liked the houses in old Inverness. Like a lot of cities that have been around for along time there is the old and the new and somehow the new does not seem so interesting. Often it is business parks, malls and modern apartment living ... but the buildings seem so sterile. As I write this I think of ChCh ... there is a lot of new going on in our city and a lot of old has been demolished and either replaced or non existent. I am not sure that there was a lot of old worth keeping, but there were some really nice old churches and old buildings that had been around since ChCh was settled. What makes the places that we have visited so interesting is the age and the architecture of the buildings. Many of them looked alike but somehow they looked amazing to me and so interesting. I felt like they were the living remains of how people used to live and their lives. I wonder how some of the buildings in ChCh will look in 100 years, if our planet still exists.

An early morning photo of Lars and Roxcy ... 

A supermarket that we shopped at was doing a collaboration with Orla Kiely, a fabric and textile designer, for shopping bags. She is an Irish designer and has a real 70's vibe with her designs, which I love. We have one of her curtain designs at home. I bought a few of these bags to use for my grocery shopping.

 Lars had been asking to play soccer pool for days. We had fun ... although some were better at winning and loosing than others, no names.

We visited Fort George, which was the largest Fort in Europe when it was built in the late 1700's.  Pete and Lars were quite interested but I was a little bored. I tried to find things of interest ... these remind me of a Split Enz song ... I See Red.

There is something deeply moving to me about this photo...The painting behind Roxcy shows the terror and slaughter of those awful battles of WW1. The loss of so much life, so many young men dying fighting for their country. Grandma Gibson lost many of her friends from Glasgow in WW1 and we have had a number of family members who were killed in WW1 and WW2, including Pete's grandfather. Roxcy is completely oblivious to it all. Her attention is captured by something else in the room and she is unaware of all the death behind her. I hope she never experiences this kind of death and loss.

Don't mess with me ... Every female soldier should have a pair of unicorn flip flops as part of their kit.

Lars is wearing the whole kit ... gas mask, bag and gun. He is so much fun, I love the way he just gets fully into it. He is absolutely ready to face any enemy here, which at times could be us.

These buildings really transport me back in time. Fort George is still used today as a training facility for the army. It is very imposing but Lars claimed that Fort Ticonderoga in New York state was better. Pete and Lars then had one of their arguments about which  one was best. Pete claimed that Fort George would "kick Fort Ticonderoga's butt" (a real Pete saying) if they were side by side. Lars had no doubt that Fort Ticonderoga would win, although he did admit that Fort George was impressive. Both were built in the 1700's. Pete, Mike and Lars went past Fort Ticonderoga a few weeks later after visiting a high ropes course in upstate New York.    

We made a trip to Findhorn which has been a long standing intentional community. It was founded in the early 1960s by a husband, wife and friend. It is still a thriving community and gained a reputation for its enormous vegetables. We took a walk around it, which Lars and Roxcy hated. They are so patient. Pete wanted to get a good look at their vegetable garden, which is impressive. Here is Pete ... I can just see his mind planning another planting box in our yard for vegetables and how he wants our garden to look.

Lars and Roxcy were in deep conversation about Findhorn and the type of people that live here. Roxcy ... "What type of people live here Lars?" 

Lars with authority ... "Everybody here is probably a student, or a communist."

We had lunch at their cafe ... the food was yummy! I had this delicious stuffed potato. We would often have stuffed potatoes for dinner when our children were young ... stuffed with mushrooms, onions and lots of cheese. 

We drove to Losssiemouth where Great Grandma Gibson was born in 1901, her Father was the local policeman here. Their house had a small jail attached to it. When Grandma's father was away, her mother would sometimes let the prisoners out for some fresh air. Her Father was very upset when she told him about this years later. He said he would have lost his job if one of them had run off. But none of them ever did. It is beautiful, a beachside holiday destination. I love the white sand and blue ocean.

I am not sure if you can see this clearly ... but I love this photo of Roxcy just embracing the wave. It was a really hot day, but the water was still cold.

These are the remains of Roxcy's chocolate biscuits ... she eats around the chocolate chips! I would eat the chocolate chips.

On our way to Balmoral Castle Pete wanted to take a train ride. It was a very short train ride and uneventful except for Lars and Roxcy sticking their heads out the windows.

We dined at Balmoral Castle cafe ... I had to take a rare photo of Lars eating a real Scottish Shepherds pie, it was yummy with very generous servings!

Because Balmoral is still lived in there was very little that we could see, but we had full access to the gardens which are beautiful.

We spent our last night before Edinburgh camping at Blair Castle campground. It is a beautiful spot. I loved the drive way ... how would it be to have this as the entrance to your property? It looks like something from Downton Abbey.

We walked around Blair Castle in the evening, the  white looked spectacular against the evening light. Unfortunately we never got to look inside but the outside and the grounds were beautiful. We would never have stopped here if it had not been for our very dear friend SuZie ... this is her clan, so we had to make a visit. We got up very early the next morning and headed into Edinburgh the last leg of our journey.

Isle of Skye and back to Inverness

Every time I start a new post I feel like I am trying to write the introduction to an essay ... I was useless at it.. I would get so stressed my brain would freeze. I am not sure I was a very good academic student ... I lacked a lot of confidence. I am glad those days are behind me.

We have nearly done a complete circuit of the NC500. Pete has really enjoyed driving along this coast line ... he has loved the long straight stretches and sweeping bends. For anyone who likes driving they will know what Pete means. He has often mentioned how much he would love to drive his Fraser along this route.

We are heading back to Inverness and onto Edinburgh now ... we are really having a wonderful adventure with Lars and Roxcy. They are the best to travel with ... we have done this a few times with them now. I think they are quite adventurous to get onto a plane and fly to the other side of the world ... away from home, their favourite food and Mum and Dad. We had discussed going to Hebrides Island, the big island. There was a music festival happening on the island and the ferry was booked out going over ... we could have gone standby but there was no guarantee about coming back. So we decided to go to the Isle of Skye instead and stayed at a seaside village called Portree ... we have no regrets.

We came across the Mackenzie Bakery. Scottish bakeries are different to NZ bakeries. In NZ the bakeries sell hot foods, filled rolls and some are like the Bell Bird specialise in selling artisan breads. Most of the Scottish bakeries only sell cold items and we never came across an artisan baker.  

There was a fair on the wharf of Portree to raise money to replace their search and rescue boat. There were lots of people and entertainment, mostly for the children. We got to look around the search and rescue boat and Lars got to have some fun on one of the rescue crafts. He looks like he is totally in role here ... heading out to sea to save some one from a grim death.

Of course there was the usual sausage sizzle and face painting ... this is one of the best face paintings I have seen in a while ... our very own fairy. I love the colours Roxcy has chosen, she is like Chris and has a real eye for colour.

We cam across a great bookshop that had some beautifully illustrated children's books ... I am a sucker for a beautifully illustrated book with a good story. I love to collect children's books and we have quite a few at home now, some of our favourite family classics like Goodnight Mr Tom, We are going on a Bear Hunt to name just a couple. I loved reading to our children when they young, it was the thing that I looked forward to at the end of our day and I love reading to our grandchildren.

Lars and Roxcy experiencing life in a paddy wagon, one of the things that was on display at the fund raiser. I feel like this photo is a glimpse of Lars & Roxcy when they are older, hopefully not in a paddy wagon.

We were told by someone at Inverewe to visit the Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye. They certainly attract the crowds. In New Zealand there would be lots of signs, board walks for the wet areas and fences to stop people falling to their death and maybe the odd spot open to people to swim. In the States we would be paying money to see them. In Scotland there was neither.

The water was freezing but this did not stop Lars & Roxcy from jumping in and swimming. Here is Roxcy our very own fairy. On our way out we saw a man attempting to jump from one rock to the other. He missed, slipping down the rock and was only saved by his backpack. There was a rush of people to rescue him, he was very lucky. It was a very scary and tense moment. As we were walking back to our van Lars said ...  'I know this is a bit sick but the best part of the day was seeing someone nearly fall to their death, not many people get to see that!' He found this very exciting, the person who slipped did not ... he looked very grey when he was dragged back up the rock.

We camped at Glenbrittle Camp about 30 minutes up the road from the Fairy Ponds. It's rated the best camping ground in the UK. Lars and Roxcy spent their evening paddling in the ocean. These two are not at all deterred by the temperature of the water.

We visited Dunevegan Castle while on Skye ... these castles are very busy with visitors all through the summer. After a while it feels like after you have seen one castle you have seen them all. There might be the odd difference but over all they seem the same. I seem to remember feeling like this when Pete and I visited the UK in the 80's. 

As usual I am looking at the decor and the textiles and Pete is reading the history. He comes away with all the info and I come away with photos of textiles that I really liked and find inspiring. Like this wall paper.

Another wall paper that I liked ... it looked like a painting to me.

Lucy emailed through this portrait of Pete that Marigold had done ... great colours, a little too much hair I think. Never the less an artist in the making.

I discovered this in a supermarket ... I had no idea that Cadbury's had their own version of Nutella. I learnt something new, I am no Cadbury's fan.

On the way back to Inverness we visited Mackenzie Castle. Parts of it are still lived in today. I am not sure I would like to live in a castle they are pretty dark and would be a nightmare to keep warm. James Bond in Quantum of Solace drove his Aston Martin over the bridge that you can see in the background. Parking was a problem and Pete had to park a bit of a walk from the castle, which is fine when you are starting out your day but not such a good idea at the end of an hour or so looking round a castle, feeling tired, hungry and walking in the rain. Pete was also struggling to remember where he parked. When we finally found the van Roxcy said, "Pete this has been a very bad experience. From now on you are not allowed to park the car unless one of us is with you." We have had many moments of being 'schooled' by Roxcy ... another Roxcy gem that she would sometimes say is  'something for you to learn'. Roxcy is hard to prove wrong ... I often found myself in a losing battle with her.

We spent a few days back in Inverness at a campsite right next to an indoor swimming pool and a gym which we all appreciated. Pete and I would have turns going to the gym early in the morning and then swimming in the afternoon for Lars and Roxcy. We also took Lars and Roxcy to see The Lion King, one of my all time favourite movies. I love this photo of them both sucking their thumbs at the same time, unconsciously. Lars and Roxcy enjoying the comforts of life again.

We saw these three wheeled cars at the carpark ... two in a row ... a family of three wheelers. 

Pete got a haircut ... it was nearly as good as the one he had in Turkey. I loved the colours of their display. 

Roxcy lost her flip flops early on during our travels, Inverness was a good place to replace them and unicorns seemed like a perfect match.

As we walked around Inverness we came across a few of these coloured statues ... I am not sure what they were about but they looked really colourful and seemed to attract a lot of attention.

Preacher Lars ... 

I got really excited when I heard Mr Whippy and then saw Mr Whippy come into our camp ground ... I thought he was just a NZ thing but no! He is also alive and well in Scotland. Even the tune they play is the same.

I love, love, love the chimneys in Scotland. We would drive down streets and there would be rows of houses with rows of chimneys, I would get so excited.