Scotland - Wow!
When I decided to retire, I began saving for a retirement trip for our family. We are finally on that trip. I know that this blog is mainly political in nature but please allow me to use it as a journal for the next few days so that family can keep up.
We just spent three days each in England and Scotland. England is nice. The villages are picture book quaint. We went to London and did the touristie thing. The crown jewels are everything they are described to be and more. We saw all of the other tourist sites as well but didn't get to go through any of them.
Scotland is undescribably beautiful. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in the Kingdom of Fife that was incredible. It had 20 acres of gardens and wood and the house was a large manor built in 1832. The kids described the breakfasts as "the best we've ever had!" I think they are probably close. We saw Luss, the village of Clan Colquhoun. They corrected us on the pronunciation. We had always pronounced all of the letters and syllables. They pronounced it "Cohoon". I think we finally re-programmed our brains by the time we left.
We also toured Stirling Castle, the Wallace Monument, and Edinburgh Castle. I liked Stirling Castle the best. The view from the Wallace monument is spectacular. Scotland may be the most beautiful country that I've ever visited. The last day was spent in Edinburgh. We toured the castle and saw the Scottish crown jewels. While they aren't as spectacular as the English jewelry, they are magnificent in their own right. My youngest son said that our sword puts the English one to shame.
There is an interesting animosity toward the English. As one scotsman told us, "You can't hate a man but you can hate a nation!" When you look at the history, the English have treated the scots horribly but there would be no monarchy, UK, or British Empire without the scots. I understand the pride that scotsmen and women around the world have a little better. One thing to note though is that most Americans of scots descent know more about Scotland than many of the locals.
Well, we are trying to get to Germany next so I'll wrap up. This trip has only created a desire for us to return to Scotland and I'm sure that we soon will. As the Londoners say - cheers.
We just spent three days each in England and Scotland. England is nice. The villages are picture book quaint. We went to London and did the touristie thing. The crown jewels are everything they are described to be and more. We saw all of the other tourist sites as well but didn't get to go through any of them.
Scotland is undescribably beautiful. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in the Kingdom of Fife that was incredible. It had 20 acres of gardens and wood and the house was a large manor built in 1832. The kids described the breakfasts as "the best we've ever had!" I think they are probably close. We saw Luss, the village of Clan Colquhoun. They corrected us on the pronunciation. We had always pronounced all of the letters and syllables. They pronounced it "Cohoon". I think we finally re-programmed our brains by the time we left.
We also toured Stirling Castle, the Wallace Monument, and Edinburgh Castle. I liked Stirling Castle the best. The view from the Wallace monument is spectacular. Scotland may be the most beautiful country that I've ever visited. The last day was spent in Edinburgh. We toured the castle and saw the Scottish crown jewels. While they aren't as spectacular as the English jewelry, they are magnificent in their own right. My youngest son said that our sword puts the English one to shame.
There is an interesting animosity toward the English. As one scotsman told us, "You can't hate a man but you can hate a nation!" When you look at the history, the English have treated the scots horribly but there would be no monarchy, UK, or British Empire without the scots. I understand the pride that scotsmen and women around the world have a little better. One thing to note though is that most Americans of scots descent know more about Scotland than many of the locals.
Well, we are trying to get to Germany next so I'll wrap up. This trip has only created a desire for us to return to Scotland and I'm sure that we soon will. As the Londoners say - cheers.
posted by Moneyman at 12:13 AM
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