Inchcolm Island

There is a sightseeing ferry that leaves from the area just in between the bridges over the Firth of Forth and we decided to take it since we were advised to do so by the owner of the Kirk. She was spot on and we enjoyed every minute of the trip, well almost every minute except when the humongous group of adolescent tourists screamed and all ran to one side of the boat in hopes of spotting a seal on a buoy. The seal, after hearing the melee, promptly dove into the water. Imagine that. The ferry stops midway at Inchclom Island where you can choose to disembark and spend an hour and a half exploring. We actually lucked out and got to spend two hours due to a scheduling adjustment. The island is basically uninhabited except by the caretaker and his partner. There is an overabundance of psychotic nesting gulls and some seals and the island was once the sight of an Augustinian abbey and also has old WWII lookout bunkers. Enjoy the photos.

Welcome to Inchcolm Island!
(imagine Mr. Roarke's voice with that Peter Brady adolescent twist)

The view down a very narrow staircase

Local fauna

Edinburgh

Edinburgh (pronounced Edinburra in Scot speak) is an absolutely gorgeous city. We took the train and as soon as we arrived, a huge deluge of rain began. Of course, it was the one and only time we forgot all of our raincoats and umbrellas (we had left them at the kirk). So I bought two brollies just before exiting the station and we managed. The downpour did stop fairly soon and we had scattered showers throughout the day.

We walked the Royal Mile and saw lots of sites all the while making our way to Edinburgh Castle.






Upon arrival at the castle, this is what we saw:

And then this:

Needless to say, we were not truly impressed with the castle. We have definitely seen better. Geez, I sound like such a castle snob. Here are some shots from inside the castle.


When traveling to Edinburgh, I suggest walking in the large park in front of the castle and enjoy the gorgeous views such as these:

Also, definitely take in some of the art galleries.

At the end of our week, Vic, Wendy, Melina and I did a girls' shopping day, and guess what, it began to rain just as we arrived in Edinburgh. We were prepared though and the light drizzle didn't hamper us. We power shopped and got a lot of good snaps of the lower Royal Mile. The Palace at Holyroodhouse was very nice, but we were castled out and just stole some shots through the gates. This is the official residence of the Queen when she is in Edinburgh. We also saw Arthur's Seat which is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park, a remarkably wild piece of highland landscape in the centre of the city of Edinburgh and the Scottish Parliament building which is a really mod building and nothing like I expected.



Arthur's Seat



Holyrood Palace

The Vennel Kirk - Wowsie Wowsie Woo Woo

Okay, so we have rented a lot of properties over the years via the internet. As many of you know, when you do this, you're never sure what you are going to get. I can only say that we were more than overwhelmed with the place we are staying in right now. It is an old church called the Vennel Kirk in South Queensferry, a town which is considered Edinburgh but it is about a 12 minute train ride from the city centre. The Kirk was finished in 1633 and was completely renovated (according to wording in a stained glass window) in 1898. It has been modernised inside and sleeps the 10 of us very comfortably with room for two more. It is ginormous and beautiful and so well-situated to anything we would ever need. I just can't believe our good fortune. It's got all of its original stained glass windows and the bottom half of the windows are in the downstairs bedrooms while the upper portions are in the upstairs bedrooms ~ so cool. Plus, we get our very own key to the graveyard next door and the tombstones are amazing.

View from the entrance

Side view

Close up side view

View into the graveyard

Great room
Yes, that is a grand piano.

Window in the great room

The kitchen is through the French doors and our bedroom is off the upper balcony.

South Queensferry is located on the banks of the Firth of Forth which is an estuary of the River Forth. We have beautiful views of both impressive bridges which cross here: the Forth Bridge which is the railway bridge and the Forth Road Bridge which is exactly what it seems. It is a picturesque and popular town for tour buses. I think some of them come just to look at the bridges. Others come for a ferry ride or just sightseeing.

Walking through the cobblestone streets in town

The Jubilee Clock Tower

Me being all artsy fartsy ~ a mosaic of a lamp post with the shadow of a lamp post ~ National Geographic worthy?

365

Today is officially the 365th day we have been living in England. I can't believe it's been a year! It really does seem like yesterday that we were checking out of the hotel, frantically mailing packages to ourselves in England and battling the traffic to Dulles...

Craig's parents are visiting us at the moment and his sister and her family, Vicki, Wendy and Melina, are in Paris until Saturday. Then all of us are traveling to Scotland for a week. It might be a while before I blog again, but I am going to try to do some posts from Scotland. We are driving there which should take about nine hours, but that's the same as the Outer Banks with traffic. We did it with little kids so bigger kids should be easier - I know you are all shaking your heads saying how optimistic I am.

Hey Baby, It's the 4th of July

The title of this post comes from the main chorus of a song we always play on this day, Fourth of July by X, which is a fabulous rocking tune, but melancholy as well. I can't say we are feeling melancholy though.

We all celebrated Independence Day at a grand BBQ held through Craig's workplace. A ton of people were there (they said 500 Americans and their guests) and the weather was pretty much exactly as it would have been if we were home - hot and humid. I truly think it hit 90 degrees, no lie. I picked the kids up early from school as a treat and so did every other family and they listed the kids' reason for early dismissal as "American holiday party".

We had the typical American fare - hot dogs and hamburgers. I ate my first hot dog in over a year and I can't say that I actually missed them. The kids wandered around and we hardly saw Finn as he was playing skittles (see a previous post for explanation if you want) almost the entire day. He did stop to eat and play games outside of which I was one of the coordinators. Luckily, Catonsville has such a great 4th of July morning of games at the high school and I snagged a few ideas. We did a cheese curl on a spoon race which I was told was a huge improvement over the egg on a spoon race since it was definitely less messy and the kids could run multiple races. There was just enough breeze to make it a challenge too. The kids also loved the three-legged races and they were really fun to watch. My games partner found water balloons and orchestrated a water balloon toss at the end which even the adults enjoyed.
Today, Craig, Finn, Vicki, Wendy and Melina took the train into Bath to do some sightseeing and Owen, Evan and I are hanging out. We went shopping because I had promised Owen a shopping spree at the craft store for his birthday and he has waited very patiently for the weekend.
Happy Independence Day!