Dillon's visit so far

Here is a quick (or not so quick, depending on how long it takes Dillon to shower) update on Dillon's visit so far.

He got in to Edinburgh with no problems on Friday morning. He had a long layover in Newark but everything went smoothly and his plane landed at 6:15 am here in Edinburgh. I met him at the bus station and everything worked out.

On Friday we walked around the city. We started with a tour of the campus, then had brunch at Elephant's and Bagels. After that we walked down the Royal Mile a bit to St. Giles Cathedral, then we walked down around the castle to Princes Street Gardens and Princes Street. It was a nice day (really windy though) so we walked up Calton Hill for a great view. On the way down we went into the Calton Hill graveyard, which is where David Hume is buried. Then we walked back over towards my place, and went to Greyfriar's Kirkyard, another cool, old cemetery which is at the oldest church in Edinburgh. Then we bought some food at Tesco and went back to my place. We had dinner at the Elephant House that night.

Saturday we got up early for a bus tour outside of the city. The tour started in Glasgow, where we had about half an hour to go into the cathedral and the necropolis (see earlier blog post for details/pictures about those places). The tour then continued to Loch Lomond, a beautiful loch, where we took a boat cruise out of the village of Balloch. The scenery was really incredible.

Boat cruise on Loch Lomond:

After that the bus went through The Trossachs, which are the mountains that are considered the "gateway to the Highlands". The scenery was different from the actual Highlands (there were more trees so I thought it looked more than Colorado than Scotland), but it was still beautiful. Here's a picture of us there.

At the "Gateway to the Highlands"

Then we stopped in Aberfoyle for lunch. Dillon and I got food at a little deli in the village, then found a picnic table near a river and a petting zoo. Here's the view from our picnic table.

Aberfoyle:

On our way to Stirling after the Trossachs, we stopped to visit Hamish the Cow, and Dillon made a new friend.

Dillon feeding Hamish the Hairy Coo:

See my earlier post about my weekend in the Highlands for more pictures of Hamish.

The bus then went through Stirling (as we heard about William Wallace, since his great battle was at Stirling Bridge). The bus passed Doune Castle, which is the castle used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Monty Python castle:

On to Stirling Castle, which was great. I liked it better than Edinburgh Castle, but the views are better in Edinburgh. Stirling was less crowded and had just less touristy (fewer museums and just more little places to explore). Here is a picture of the castle.

Stirling Castle:

From Stirling we went back to Edinburgh. It was a great trip! The tour guide was really good, and talked for most of the trip about the history and stuff of the places we were passing. I'll put pictures from the tour on facebook later.

That night we made dinner at my flat and watched a movie.

Yesterday we did other touristy stuff, mainly Edinburgh Castle. We did the free tour and spent a few hours going through all the buildings and museums and stuff. We got a quick falafel dinner after that then went to church. Of course it was "Missions Weekend" so it was a different service than usual with a different pastor but it was interesting.

Today we got up fairly early at 8:30 so we can get in a full day of sightseeing. We're going to start with a narrated bus tour around the city, followed by the palace. Then we're taking another bus tour up to the Royal Botanic Gardens, then on to Ocean Terminal, which is where the Royal Yacht is so we'll check that out. We might hang out in Leith for a bit because there are cool restaurants and the shore, then we'll go back to my flat to make cupcakes for small group tonight, then go to small group at 7:30. I can't believe it's already the last small group!

Ok we have to go catch that bus tour, I'll try to blog again soon.