Edinburgh

On our way to Edinburgh we stopped at a small farm where the remains of a Roman fort and a wall that used to spread all the way across the land from end-to-end. The name of this wall is Hadrian's Wall and the name of the fort is Chester's fort. The reason the Romans built this wall was so that the armies on the other side couldn't go over and attack them unless they carried a boat for 100's of miles.

After that we drove up to Scotland. Then we went up to the castle to buy tickets for the next day. Then we went and took the scotch and whisky tour. During the tour we learned things like how the whisky is made and what's in it. After we learned about it we took a historical trip through time in the whisky barrel ride. Following that we went to Mary's close where we heard stories of all the black plague victims like little jack (example on the tour) who got the disease in his blood and died shortly after. The close was underground and it was where people during the time of the plague sometimes lived. During the tour we found out that the people during the plague thought that the disease was spread from dogs and cats so they drowned them all but it turns out that it actually came from the rats. That evening we took the hop on-hop off bus tour and then went to dinner.

The next day we walked through the park and went up to the castle. At the castle we saw all of the following… The dogs of the soldiers cemetery, Katherine's church (which was dedicated to the deceased mother of King Henry VIII), the room of the kings, the firing of the cannon that happens every day at 1:00 p.m. (except Sunday). On the way out we walked through a cemetery.

The next day we got our pictures taken in old Scottish apparel and then we drove to Inverness.

On the first night in Inverness we played in the field and then had dinner.

The next day we took a boat tour of the Lochness Lake where Nessy is supposed to be. Then we got off the boat and walked around Lochness Castle. After walking around for a while, mom and dad got coffee, while Ian and I slid down enormous hills on our bellies. After that we slept soundly.

The following day we went to a castle were we saw a falconry exhibition. At the exhibition, a man showed us falcons, owls, hawks and what tricks they could do. They were huge birds. The next day we played a short round of golf at 10:00 a.m. Later that night we saw the movie Hancock which was a great movie.

The following day we drove to DunDonald where we stayed in a bed and breakfast. That day we went first to see the royal troon golf course and then we went to dinner at a nice restaurant near the water.

The next morning we dropped off our laundry and then relaxed and watched the Wimbledon finals for the rest of the day until we had to go pick up the laundry. On the final day in Scotland we walked the smugglers trail and then we headed off to Dublin.

RS