Birthday Trip to Scotland

Even though it rains a lot in Scotland you still have gorgeous views!
The Rosslyn Chapel on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
Rolling Hills, Fences of Stone.....Scotland at its best.
I've never seen so many sheep in my life! Every field has a flock of sheep.
Scott and the Scottish Bagpiper!

We decided to get away for a quick trip for my birthday. There is a ferry/cruise-liner that leaves from the port of Zeebrugge (which is about 15 minutes from our house) that goes to Scotland and back. The best thing about this cruise liner is that you can bring your car onto the ship. We enjoyed having our car with us because everything so spread a part in Scotland. In our short time there we managed to fit it:

• Rosslyn Chapel - think DaVinci Code
• Edinburgh - very small, quaint city that happens to have a Hard Rock Cafe and a castle.
• St. Andrews - It's the original home of golf so Scott had a great time.
• A walk (or as the brochure says : Dry Slope Skiing) through the Pentland Hills to see the scenic part of Scotland.
• A visit to the local grocery store which had American Food! (Highlight of my trip!)

I know Chicago is known as the windy city....and I thought Dublin was very windy....but Scotland takes the cake on this. I think every where we went we had gale force winds. Winds strong enough to knock Scott off his feet. I can barely walk on a normal day so I was all over the place! We had good weather though. It only rained in the mornings and late evenings so we had afternoons filled with sunshine.

Hotels are pretty pricey in Edinburgh so we decided to stay in a bed & breakfast for our stay there. We were both skeptical at first but ended up loving it. Margaret and Quin Dunlop at the Carlethan House were wonderful hosts! They were about 8 miles out of Edinburgh in this little town of Lasswade. We really enjoyed staying outside of the city b/c we had a better feel of the beauty of Scotland. Plus, we were able to leave our car at their house and take the bus into the city. Don't forget - they drive on the other side of the road in Scotland! Scott did an excellent job driving. We were both much more relaxed than when we drove to London last year!

Scotland also had wonderful food. Every meal we had was excellent! We are hoping to go back to Scotland to see Glasgow and the Loch Ness. But, we were very satisfied with what we saw this trip. We wanted a nice and relaxing trip and that's what we got!