Another quite day as we prepared to leave Athens. We visited a shopping mall is search of some particular items, before heading off to the airport. Determined not to get caught out running short of time, we planned to arrive an hour ahead of time to ensure we were not hurried. Buying the "correct" ticket to the airport, we clambered aboard the peak hour train loaded to the gunnels. As Murphy's law would have it, we sailed past the ticket inspectors at the airport, they were busy nailing some other family for fair evasion, faultlessly navigated our way through the automated boarding passes and baggage tag machines and finally checking our bags through, all in under 30 minutes… Time for a beer !

Arriving in Edinburgh around 11.00pm, we headed straight to our hotel and bed. Unfortunately, my phone didn't reset to UK time, so I'm up at 5.00am, (thinking it was 7.00am) and hassling Lauren to get up about 6.00am… Ooops, not a pretty sight..

It's a beautiful sunny day in Edinburgh, just perfect for getting out and about, so we grabbed the first hop on/off bus for the day. Edinburgh is a mix of styles and architecture, with a distinct "Old town and New town", mind you, New town was built in the 1700's. We toured Edinburgh Castle with a curios guide named Colin. Colin was a world class "Gaelic Speed Speaker", but none the less managed to convey his vast knowledge of the castle and its history.

We also spent a wee while in the Camera Obscura just near the castle. Similar the the Museum of Illusions in Zagreb, except much larger, we had a few giggles with mirrors and optical illusions. One in particular, where you walk through a tunnel with hundreds of lights revolving around its length. It appears as if you are walking through a revolving tube. Look up and you fall over ! Nothing is moving, just the lights playing with your brain.

Boarding our train at 5.00pm, we were greeting Ben in Dundee at 6.30pm, just in time to share dinner at Alison and Murray' home. Innes, Maureen, Kevin, Lorna and Rory joined us shortly thereafter for a gathering of the clan! Our relatives in Dundee are always so welcoming and generous every time we visit, it truly feels like a second home.

The next day, Ben and Rory guided us around the original "Perth" and the river Tay. Stopping at a picturesque area known as Pitlochry for a bite to eat and stroll through Rodney Gardens. The drive was a great chance to catch up with the happenings and adventures of the boys (they're not boys at all, they're 25 and 27 yrs old, but boys to me), since they visited Perth almost 4 years ago.

After dinner at Lorna and Kevin's, Rory and his partner Sian, invited us to Sian's skeet shooting club. Sian is a champion skeet shooter, hopefully representing Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane 2018. Lauren gave the shotgun a try, but decided it wasn't for her. Ben and I played around, thinking we were naturals as we hit about 50% of our clay pigeon's. That was until Sian demonstrated how damn fast they fly in competition! It turns out, our targets were like slow moving, one legged turkeys compared to her milli-second sparrows… Rory would do well to stay in her good books!