Edinburgh doesn't rhyme with Pittsburgh...Buddy this means you.

If you can believe it, this will be the last post documenting our wonderful 17 days in Western Europe. Knowing that it will most likely be a lifetime before we have the opportunity again, we took advantage of things being so close together and jetsetted to several different countries whilst we were there. Our last stop was a day trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. That's pronounced ED-in-burr-ə, folks. I coached Buddy for weeks before our trip and the whole way to the airport, he repeated "ED-in-burr-ə, ED-in-burr-ə, ED-in-burr-ə..." only to get flustered at the ticket counter and say he was checking in for his flight to "EED-in-burg". Poor thing. He put a smile on the ticket agent's face, though.
We hiked the world's largest hill, heading for Edinburgh Castle (seen above) but couldn't resist taking a picture for my Dad of the Scotch Whisky Experience on the way up. Didn't have time to pop in for a free sample for you, Dad, (and we were a bit nervous about the looks I might get) but know that we thought of you :)
In all its glory. The castle, not my tummy. If you look really close you can even see a bagpiper doing his thing, which made it feel really authentic. If only I'd been eating haggis...
The view from the top was pretty incredible, and I was pleasantly surprised by the blue skies and puffy, white clouds. Who knew?
My only complaint is that the walls were a wee bit too high.
I imagine Buddy had a complaint about some of the castle's dimensions as well.
No shortage of flags to stop and pay respects to.
He's got some Scottish in him, so don't worry, it isn't blasphemous.
Michelle, will do you me a favour and see what's in the end of that long tube? Thanks!
Huzzah!
Then it was off to dreary dungeons and creepy caves. I believe I had just read the placard that informed me a group of rebels invited their enemies over to dinner and savagely killed them afterward in this very nook. Our first question: Why not slay them before dinner - more food to go around! Leftovers, anyone?
Buddy took a time out in one of the castle's prisons to think about what he'd done wrong.
What had he done, you ask? The details are a wee bit fuzzy, but it may have been that he made this face at the lumpy mush I'd prepared after slaving away over the fireplace in the dank, cold dungeon. Such disrespect.I think guards are supposed to look intimidatING and not intimidatED, my good man. In his defense, it was rather a tight squeeze.
Is it just me or does this fellow look just like Steven Spielberg in a kilt?Speaking of kilts, the blessed bagpiper was at it all morning, bless his face. A lively tune! I'm inspired to dance. Gloria Estefan warned me that the rhythm was going to get me. How right she was.
He was such a sweet lad, I had to take a break from my jig and tell him what a wonderful job he was doing. And of course, take a picture. Who told Scotland Buddy was on his way?
The castle in miniature was still pretty vast!
I felt right at home with the Union Jack AND the Canadian flag flying. What a beautiful sight.
Not a bad view while you're eating lunch, eh? The buildings in front of him were pretty good-looking too.
Once again in homage to Dan Brown, we headed over to Rosslyn Chapel in search of the Rose Line from The DaVinci Code.
We found this. Apparently when you restore an ancient building, it has to get a lot worse before it gets better. Not what I would call picturesque, but that's just me. The inside was beautiful, but unfortunately we were forbidden to take photos.False advertising! That is not how it looked in the brochure.
Was I overly impressed by the chapel? You tell me.
Loved all the green, though. The small, winding roads and the hedges. A far cry from Las Vegas, which my Dad said felt like John Wayne Country with all the dust and wide, open spaces.
In true Richards fashion, we couldn't leave without jumping in front of something.
I wanted to make my last jump in several months a good one and was pretty proud of myself when I saw the photo. But if there's anything wrong with Wiggles, I think this could be used against me in a court of law.
We tried having people take pictures of us in front of the castle, but it ended up being us and a tiny glimpse of the castle in the corner of the photo. So we opted for a self-shot and it turned out rather well.
Just trying to confirm the old adage that REAL men don't wear anything under their kilts. The results were inconclusive.
Sitting at the front of a double decker bus back to the airport was pretty fantastic. Of course, if you asked Buddy about the experience he'd have to tell you about the back of his eyelids. In his defense, it was a LONG day.
If you thought double decker buses were cool, feast your eyes on this bad boy!
Speaking of feasting, this was the first meal we'd had on an airplane in years! The snobby dude beside me thought I was crazy taking pictures of our meals (he even said - "You're taking a picture of your food?") but not everyone flies across the Atlantic on a regular basis. I'll tell you this much - it sure beats peanuts.
We spent a lot of time in airports while we were over in Europe, and this one just outside of Paris had to be the scariest. There was one screen directing people to one of four gates, and our flight didn't appear there until 15 minutes before it was scheduled to leave. There was no rhyme, reason or order to the boarding process, it was every man for himself and tensions ran high indeed. This is the entirety of the area past "security". Just a mass of humanity.
Upon our return to Nottingham, we had one last dinner with Uncle Gary, James & Emma and Uncle Tony & Auntie Ann came over bearing a trifle. I don't think I have to tell you how excited Buddy was.
Or how full he was after downing more than his share. Auntie Ann insisted that she wanted to wash her dish while she was there, so someone had to finish it off. All eyes fell on my husband and he obliged. What a man!
We were leaving in the morning, so wanted a picture with the dynamic duo...and the deer skull was just a bonus. Uncle Gary lives directly behind a park that houses more than a few deer, so it isn't rare for something like this to pop up in their back garden and Uncle Tony couldn't resist.
Thanks to Uncle Gary, James & Emma for opening their home to us and letting us use it as a base camp for our many adventures. They're pretty awesome.
England certainly lived up to its rainy reputation, and sure enough we had to walk out on the tarmac to the plane. I think I would have been disappointed if it hadn't poured, though. Apparently they have non-stop flights from Manchester to Las Vegas. Pity we're broke! It was fun to tell people on our flight that we live in Las Vegas. Always a concept that shocks foreigners.
This trip was something we'd dreamed about doing for a long time, and it was wonderful to be able to do it together while we're still relatively fun and fancy-free. Trip of a lifetime! So now that you know all you ever wanted to know (and more) about our adventures in Europe, I'll attempt to tell you about the rest of our amazing summer before we become The Richardses: Party of Three. Wish me luck!