Sorry about no blog yesterday. Again, had some internet problems and
hopefully I don’t encounter them again tonight.
This crazy hotel we are in will definitely not like how we rate them on
Booking.com. No receptionist, no phone
in room, no toilet paper in bathroom, no shampoo, no elevator (and you know how
much Rita loves to walk upstairs), one teabag to share and the heating system
set on air-conditioning when it’s about 40 degrees out and not even a pen to write out our complaints. Other than that, it is an OK place. There’s the Highgate Restaurant next door
that serves chicken that Rita keeps calling the “Chicken Shack”. That’s where we have to go have our
breakfast. The waiter, the host and the
chef run back and forth through the parking lost as the on call receptionist at
the hotel. It’s been an experience.
Back to the night of the 26th.
We stayed in a little cottage in Nairn run by Jane Fairweather. OMG, what a sweetie. She even came and picked us up at the train
station. The only thing is that the room
was made for little leprechauns as it had teeny little chair and you almost fell
to the floor when you sat on the toilet.
I was wondering if I was going to have to call for help. Wonderful breakfast and then Jane drove us
back to the train station after Rita asked her to drive us past the local golf
course so I could take a picture of it for Ron.
Huh! Like Jane is our tour
guide. Ron better love these pictures as
we sped by so we could get to the train on time.
We have now decided that we are seasoned
Train Travelers and ready to backpack across Europe. We’ve got it down, we’ve figured out the time
tables, how to hop off and on and get the Ticket Agent to give us all the info
we need by telling him he is “wonderful”.
Flirting goes a long way here and they love an American accent.
We went from Nairn to Inverness and
walked along the River Ness, went into little shops and took the On-Off Tour
Bus. Then back to the train station for
our trip to Stirling where we are today.
Scotland and most of Europe have it
down with the trains. All stations are
in the middle of the city and you can go anywhere after you get off the train. Simple and the trains are full. We need to rethink driving our big old SUV’s
or every kid have a car. The countryside
is amazing and if you get tired you can just look out the window and count
sheep forever till you fall asleep.
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| Rita with some old friends at Stirling Castle. |
Today we went to the Stirling Castle. I stupidly asked the taxi driver it he could
take us all the way up the hill and he said, “where else do you think the
castle is, we don’t build them underground.”
I told him they should try it sometime and maybe the could take the
English by surprise and win.
I took over 200 pictures at the
castle so won’t go on and on, but my favorite part was Queen Anne’s
Garden. It made me feel that there was
some civility amongst the royalty and the need for a peaceful place. They are still in the process of restoration,
but they have done a magnificent job bringing the castle back to its once
glory. They say the Stirling is the
heart of Scotland and I really felt it in that beautiful and peaceful castle.
We are now back to our little Chicken
Shack Annex Lodge. Rita is watching
boring English television. We still can’t
figure out their guide system so watch anything that pops up. Right now, it’s a Pierrot mystery. I’m eating Ritz crackers and cheese with a
mini bottle of Chardonnay. Tomorrow back
to Edinburgh by train. It was a fun 3-day
adventure that was full of twists and turns, miles of walking and meeting some
of the best people on earth.
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Along the River Ness in Inverness
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| A beautiful entrance to a cathedral in Nairn in the middle of town. |
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