So the next part of our trip is Scotland, and it’s one of the bits we’ve been most excited for. It is home for D and we had been talking about it for ages. Getting to Edinburgh was a bit of an adventure tho!

We had given ourselves a good amount of time to pack up the suitcases, tidy up the flat and then get the train (x2) to Heathrow airport….. and then we checked the time table, only to find major delays on the train line! So with a minor amount of ‘ahhhhhggg’ we bundled ourselves up and walked the kilometre or so to the station, dragging our suitcases behind us, an hour ahead of our originally planned departure. In the end, the train went only a little bit slower than it should have, and we made it to the airport in plenty of time!

Next came the getting ourselves into the plane part of the trip! Heathrow airport is something else! It is massive, with 5 different terminals, and navigating it is not for the faint hearted! We found our baggage check in, and it turns out my suitcase was too heavy for the internal flight! It meant that I was THAT person – repacking my luggage on the ground in the middle of the crowd… fun times!

Once the bag was checked, we made our way to security, and once again, I was that person! Apparently I had overlooked putting my tiny can of deodorant into the clear plastic bag that I should have, which meant the whole bag needed to be emptied, drug tested and then repacked. Meanwhile D just sailed through and waited patiently! When we finally managed to find a spot to sit, I promptly had a little panic attack!

In the end, and with no further hiccups we made it to Edinburgh and were greeted by Ds brother and sister in law. It was so lovely to finally meet them properly! A bit of suitcases Tetris, and off we went! We had a yummy family dinner and then a drive to Queens Ferry and the Forth river Bridges for a walk and an ice cream.

Day two in Edinburgh saw us up and about early-ish to head in to town for a tour of the castle. We had a bit of a walk through the streets and the tackled the hill up the Royal Mile. It’s a doozy, and our legs were burning by the time we got there! The castle was amazing, and the view was spectacular. It kind of blows your mind to walk through a place that has been in use for such a long time and is so significant to the landscape.

We wandered in and out of all kinds of buildings, including a chapel that has been there since 1130 and was built by King David for his mother Margaret. She was made a saint in 1250. It is a tiny space that has been a sanctuary for kings and queens for centuries and is the oldest building in Edinburgh. It is beautiful. We saw the Crown Jewels of Scotland and all kinds of war memorabilia; and just before we left, we joined a huge crowd to hear the 1pm gun get shot. The gun has been shot at 1pm everyday since 1861 to help the ships in the port of Leith keep time and set their chronometers accurately to determine their longitude at sea. … even knowing that it was coming, we still jumped at the noise!

When we walked back down into town, the crowds were huge. It is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the moment, and there are things happening everywhere you look. We did a whole lot of walking, shopping and sight seeing, and when we got home, a quick nap before going to a Scottish wedding!

Wee George is D’s cousin (Big George is his dad, and there are also a Wee and a Big Donald in the family!) I thought the wedding was spectacular in a holy moly kind of way!
We were invited for the party after dinner, and told to get there for 7. The wedding was held in a big equestrian centre and it was cold! They had one half of the place set up in a ‘western’ theme… hay bales, a bucking bull and cowboy boots! When we arrived (right on time) they were still serving dinner and then ‘pudding’… so we found a bar upstairs and sat with a drink and just people watched! We kind of just didn’t know quite where to look… we had everything from jeans and shirts to sparkly evening dresses. (I wish I could have taken a whole lot more photos than I did!) Wee George found us at one stage and was well and truly lubricated… I think I understood maybe 3 words! We also met the bride – who bless her, had no clue who any of us were!

When we did head down to the party, it was just in time for the first dance… goodness!!! And then the dance floor opened up to everyone else…. I have never seen quite so much twerking and gyrating in one place!!! – there were a lot of young people in the group!
It was lovely to meet Aunts and Uncles – but because of the very very loud music, and strong accents, it was difficult to have conversations. It was a very entertaining evening, and I’m so glad we got to be there.

Day three in Edinburgh, saw us head back into town to do the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour of the city. We have found them to be the best way to see as much as possible in a simple way. The loop took about 45 minutes and took us past all of the significant spots with interesting commentary and historical facts. We were super lucky with the weather too, and had mostly blue sky!

The other thing we did, was an underground vault tour of the city. Edinburgh is a city that is built in layers. There are so many bridges and overpasses, and spaces that have been enclosed as the layers got built. The tour guide we had was a bit dramatic for our taste (and I think it would have been more impactful without the drama and more of a factual presentation instead) but the spaces and the stories were kind of fascinating. We also went through a super old cemetery in the city, which I found really interesting. Some of the dates on the stones just blew my mind, and I loved reading the epitaphs on them.

Day four was D’s birthday, and a typical Scottish day as far as the weather went…. Showers on and off with blue sky inbetween. After Brekky, we went for a drive to see the Kelpies. Gigantic horse heads made from steel that rise up out of the ground. They are fabulous! The walk up to them goes along a canal that has all kinds of bushes along its edge. I loved being able to pick blackberries and rosehips as we were walking past. D was excited to find an ice cream vendor who had Double Nougats – an ice cream sandwich I have heard so much about for a long time! It was pretty yummy!

Following the Kelpies, we went for a drive through the countryside to find a ‘plot’ of land (1 square foot) that D had bought me for Christmas. We had the coordinates for the spot on the certificate, and Google maps took us there. It ended up being in a field on a farm, relatively in the middle of nowhere. We decided not to gallivant all over the fields, and instead planted our Aussie flag in a derelict barn that was just next to the track.

Back home and a bit of a lie down before we went off for one of the absolute highlights of the trip – the Edinburgh Military Tattoo! What a fabulous thing to be part of! The weather was not the most cooperative, but I think it just added to the atmosphere… we bundled into multiple layers topped with rain ponchos and made our way up the Royal mile and into the arena. The grand stands are built over the edge of the cliff and are terrifying if you’re not great with heights.

8800 people fit into the seats and there was a real buzz as we waited for the performance. The castle was lit up, and the show was high energy and awesome to watch. The coordination required to match in formation, while playing an instrument, in the rain and dark is pretty impressive… and the overall performance was spectacular! I got goosebumps when the show started and all the pipers came marching out! It was a seriously sensational way to finish not only D’s birthday, but also our time in Edinburgh.

This whole trip has just been one fabulous thing after another, and lucky for us, we’re not done yet! We have a bit more of Scotland to go – and we have been looking forward to and talking about it for ages!….. but that will be next week!