The Highlands

We enjoyed a lovely full - English breakfast along with good, strong coffee. We tasted haggis on brown bread and loved it's rich, full flavor. Our bags were taken to the bus for us and our tour was off at 7:45am. The morning began a little overcast and cool.

Our tour began with a drive around Glasgow. We drove by an eleventh century church and cemetary, bowling greens and contemporary buildings. This city has a little bit of everything.

We stopped on the bonnie banks if Loch Lomond and Loch Ness. Nessie the famous monster did not show her head but we saw her fiberglass replica and Nessieland. Yes, everything there is all Nessie.

We stopped for coffee which was much needed as poor Larry couldn't keep his eyes open on the bus. While riding up to The Highlands, Annie played lovely, melodic Celtic music to add to the ambiance. We enjoyed a perfect scone (moist but dry enough) and a delicious trifle (not too sweet). I bought  a hempstem silver bracelet and a few "wee drams" for later and we were off again.

We stopped for fish and chips in a little Highland village where an older woman treated us like the waitresses at Boston ' Durgin Park restaurant. Our food was served on real plates with plastic forks and no napkins because "people like us" throw them on the ground and "even with gloves you don't know what was in them". She made us all laugh more than once and was a delight.

We stopped in the rain to listen to a man in full-kilted costume play his bagpipes. It was lovely.

We walked through the Cullendon battlefield outside Inverness where we are spending the night. That battle was the last of "the Clans" who fought to support bonnie Prince Charlie against the British. It was a slaughter and stones are layed where they fell; carved with the Clan names.

Dinner was delicious tonight and Larry enjoyed haggis once again. We had a whiskey before dinner after a walk around the neighborhood near our Mercury Inverness Hotel. It's not as nice as Novotel Glasgow, but is clean and perfectly adequate.

We're settling in for the night where it doesn't get dark until after 10pm or later. Thank goodness for room darkening curtains.

We'll end up in Edinburgh tomorrow. Can't wait.