Nov 1st. Southwest through Scotland

On Friday we started heading back home. Our first stop was Rosslyn Chapel recommended by Alex I. It is one of the most beautiful churches we had ever seen.

The inside is covered almost entirely in intricate carvings covering the subjects related to the bible and good amount of pagan imagery. There are some controversial studies showing that the artwork in the chapel is just the work of fanciful imagination of the builders. I am not so sure after looking at.

The types of images and amount of detail of on them, and how they overlap seems to indicate tremendous amount of thought and planning faultlessly executed. Save to say that if you only see 2 places/things in Scotland, Rosslyn Chapel and Edinburgh should be it. The sad part is that the carvings look washed out. They were whitewashed with cement to try to preserve them in the sixties. The process killed the sharpness of imagery,  and made them soapy and molten. It also increased the rate of decay. Check out the link above. The chapel has been in the possession of the same family for about a number of centuries. 

Next we’ve visited Melrose Abbey ruins. They were beautiful. Red limestone made them appear almost glowing among the molting trees in the autumn sun. As we continued our trip south, we’ve stopped many times to take in the scenery on the way.  Pictures hardly do it justice.
The next two points were Smailholm and Dryburgh Abbey where Sir Walter Scott respectively grew up and was inspired by the stories of the troubled life in the border and almost completing the full loop his final resting place at. Sir Walter Scott features prominently in Scottish history. He was the one who unearthed Scottish royal jewels after they lay untouched locked in a chest for a long time when Scotland gave up its claim independence. 

A few more stops later, we reached our dinner destination. We had positioned ourselves to explore Hadrian's wall on Saturday. The penultimate stop was Tynemouth. Originally we had planned to see its castle as well. But the short autumn day cut our plans a wee bit. The town was very pretty - lots of interesting restaurants. One of the churches was changed into a mini new age shopping arcade. We strolled towards the castle and almost walked into it – it was not visible in the dark. We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant with very artistic décor. Can't remember the name. The food was very creative but tasted somewhat bland.

At last we arrived to South Shields to spend the night at William Fox house hotel. For the price we was expecting something half as good at Knock them Dead hotel in Belfast. We were pleasantly proved wrong. Our room was small but impeccably clean and freshly painted, there was en-suite bathroom, proper comforters, and free parking downstairs. And we even got the fireworks show going on right outside our windows. Kids were super thrilled!! Halloween parade yesterday and fireworks today - we are living it up :)

Oct 31. More Edinburgh

We got back out the first thing on Thursday and explored the area around Edinburgh castle. We keep talking about how much we enjoy the town. It is beautiful and cosmopolitan. The queen lives here in the summer so it should be kept in a beautiful condition.

We finished our explorations at the Edinburg castle. As two other castles we had seen in the last few days, this one is perched up on top of volcano plug with the most enviable views and excellent exhibits: They had Scottish old crown jewels and the Stone of Destiny. Memorial to the fallen Scottish service men and women was very touching.

After that we did a quick haggis, fish and chips stop and ran to work. By the time we got out in the evening, all the good places were full. Fruitlessly we wondered through town checking one place after another and getting rejection. One restaurant said they do not allow children younger than 5. Hmm.. I wonder what it is they do that the children this young are not allowed to witness.

Kids were starting to freeze up and get desperate by the time we’d stopped by at Mussel and Steak in old town. It seemed hopeless as well. Thankfully, a kind American lady with two kids got out and let us take her table. It seemed that she was preparing to spend some time hanging out at the restaurant and brought some books to keep her kids engaged. That was so nice of her.

The food, other than steak was excellent. To be fair, steak is challenging to prepare just right. Highly recommend this place for seafood though. 

On the way home we got a special treat – Halloween parade in Edinburgh. Totally cool!!! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Oct 30th. Edinburgh

Telecommuting while on the move is pretty intense. We wake up early and get out to see a bit of town and then come back home to work. We get out again for dinner and then come back to continue working. We finish around midnight. And then repeat again the next day.

With so many experiences crammed in together over a short time period memories start to jumble. However, our days are never boring, we see something new every day, and we enjoy spending more time with kids. In addition to having a much improved endurance, they seem to have grow more mature as well. They have fascinating discussions among themselves and their inputs into our conversations have us burst out laughing almost every day. So telecommuting is awesome!!

Today we went for a walk down the Royal Mile. Edinburgh is one of the prettiest cities we visited. It is filled with a great quantity of amazingly beautiful buildings. It would be good place to come back to for the summer. Its narrow medieval alleys have secrets to tell, I am sure of it. Because it is surrounded by the mountains and is situated on the multiple levels it reminded us of a colder Nordic version of Lisbon, but the one without the blue tiles, clean, and in perfectly restored state.


We walked to the summer Royal Residence in Holyrood Palace and saw amazing Da Vinci exhibition in Queen's gallery. Da Vinci did substantial research in human anatomy. He performed countless autopsies, not something looked at favorably in those times, and experimented with different preservation methods. His talented drawings and detailed anatomical descriptions would have really progressed medical field further but they were pretty much lost until early 1900s and by that point it has progressed on its own. Georgia was a bit grossed out by the images but understood their significance.

For dinner we went out to Phuket Fountain for Thai. Highly recommended. Even Isabella ate there - and normally she goes not experiment beyond pasta and toast. Further on the gastronomic front Dima expanded our discoveries of what the city has to offer with some great whisky. If anyone is a connoisseur, this is a place to be. The variety is staggering. 

Oct 29th. Stirling Castle

Early in the morning we got on our way to Edinburgh with a stop at Stirling on the way. Stirling is a beautiful town complete with its own castle perched up on the hill, just like Dumbarton yesterday made from a volcano plug.

The views of surrounding hills were picture-perfect. The nearest featured a monument to William Wallace - a huge, lone-standing tower. The guy on the right is not it. We walked through town and returned back to the castle. As with most of other castles Mary of Scots was there too.




William Wallace looks
 nothing like Mel Gibson

In the last few centuries it was used as a military facility so other than the walls nothing remained of the prior splendor. It was restored, and walls were whitewashed and painted with some medieval designs but after seeing a few others with their décor intact this one was not as impressive inside. We did like the marvelous children workshops that showed how different paints were derived, medieval clothing, and jesters.


We were hoping that we would be able to work from a lovely medieval tavern in town. But when we checked in, they did not have Internet available any more so we transferred to our final destination. I rented an apartment for us in Edinburgh. It turned out to be nothing like it was on the pictures. It is a giant two bedroom apartment in an old building. Five minute walk away from the center.

But did I say it is giant? Ceilings alone must be 6 meters tall. Kids were afraid to go to Dima's room level reachable by a stone staircase. It is a bit like fishbowl though because it is on the ground floor. Unfortunately the Internet here is questionable as well. However home electrical appliances and shower facilities are much better than in England. Flushing the toilet is no longer an act of faith.

At night we got out for a short walk. Isabella fell asleep halfway through it so we called it a day.
 

Oct 28th. Glasgow, Dumbarton Castle, Loch Lomond and too much work

We met with the locals

Today we left our apartment at dawn to cram in a few hours of sightseeing prior to the start of the work day. We went Northwest to Loch Lomond. Loch Ness was the desired option but we were not ready for the ride and were not sure that the monster will show up promptly.

The roads are much nicer and wider than in the UK. Fall is in full swing and we enjoyed the views of foliage, hills and lovely lake on the way.

At Luss we got out and strolled through the picture perfect village filled with Chinese tourists. Stopped at a souvenir shop. The owner ran up to us and offered to try some fudge. Really warms your heart - both physically and spiritually :) We got some butter cookies there and instantly devoured them.

The final stop by the lake was at Tarbet. We visited the tea shop and had some coffees with hot egg and black pudding (a.k.a my favorite blood sausage) bugs.

On the way back we visited Dumbarton Castle. It will be one of the most memorable in our travels. The castle is perched high up on the rock that served as a plug for a volcano way way way back. It is also one of the oldest castles in Britain and like many other places was visited by Queen Mary of Scotts. The views were amazing and kids enjoyed visiting various parts of it.

Back home we jumped into work and emerged only for dinner at Insgram Wynd. Safe for the ambience, it is really four stars tops. Interesting dishes but lacking that final oomph.

Tomorrow we are relocating to our next point in Scotland - Edinburgh. We did not give this town its due and there are few nice places to visit here. Maybe we will come back at warmer and drier times :)