Thursday night, Nana and I left at 9:00 PM on the Caledonian Sleeper Train bound for Inverness, Scotland. We arrived around 8 the next morning. Train ride was beautiful. Highlands are ruggedly glorious. The beauty is almost harsh, but beautiful all the same. Inverness was smaller, and the view more hilly and jagged than I expected, but then again it is the capital of the Highlands. The thing I love about these Scottish towns is that there are so many old stone buildings, churches, etc., that it makes the town seem old and so full of history. The land isn't marred by huge modern business... boxes... and such, but most of the businesses use these older buildings. Anyways, I liked Inverness. But then when we rented our car (Aunt Paula and Chloe got in on a train a few hours later), we all drove to Skye. And that... was... gorgeous. It's so isolated - almost my kind of thing - and everybody is so friendly, not only to tourists, but also towards each other. And yes, everybody there has the coolest Scottish accent. And so I fell in love with Skye, and felt heart broken when we had to leave.
This owl was rescued. You see odd things like this all over High Street (Inverness). And he was so cute... This picture is for Duncan, who loves owls. :)
Chloe and Ruby at Loch Ness.
The Highlands on the way to Skye.
Eilean Donan Castle. It was restored in the 18th century... we didn't go inside, but contented ourselves with taking pictures. :)
This horse is a thoroughbred Arabian Stallion. His name is Arabic, and his pasture extended to the front yard of the B&B where we were staying. I snuck sugar cubes from the breakfast table and fed them to him, and then the owner of the place gave us some carrots to feed to him. Oh yeah, and from now on, all the pictures are taken on Skye. :)
Taken in the walled gardens of Dunvegan Castle. These gardens were amazing... They were so extensive, and I wish I could post all the pictures I took of them, but that would take up ever so much space.
Rush hour on Skye.
This picture was not doctored up at all. The sea is really that blue. :)
HAGGIS! Which by the way is EXCESSIVELY EXCELLENT! For those of you who don't know what it is, it's basically ground up sheep organs, (lungs, liver, etc) with ground oats, and herbs served (in this case) with a red wine and onion gravy, and "tatties and neeps" which are mashed potatoes and turnips. It was very very very good. Though this wasn't the traditional Haggis (which even some Scottish people say is quite disgusting) it's made with the same ingredients. :)
More later!
Cheers,
