Edinburgh Day 2

Day 2 in Edinburgh... Rain! We hopped the bus to the city center to go exploring.


First stop to get out of the rain, the whiskey experience. You start your tour with a ride in a whiskey barrel, very mr. Toads wild ride feeling but very explanatory on the process of making whiskey.


At the end of the tour you are taken into a room with the largest unopened collection of scotch whiskey, a Brazilian man collected them and sold them to the museum for an undisclosed amount of money. There were thousands and thousands of bottles. My favorite had to be the bottles shaped like highland terriers, Scotty dogs!




Kyle in the hall of whiskey, he said he was in heaven...hehe



I didn't much care for my taste but Kyle finished off for me. I tasted from the lowlands, supposed to be more citrusy and Kyle tasted from the region of Islay, much more smokey flavor. They both tasted like whiskey to me, but Kyle loved his taste.



When we left the whiskey experience the sun was out so we headed to the Edinburg castle. We loved it, what a wonder tour. Took about 2.5 hours, so much to see and tons of Scottish history involved.




Kyle posing with Mont Meg, huge cannon, something Ike 70tons. They used human power to move it around...needless to say they didnt use this cannon very much, it could fire only 7-8 times in a DAY. Not what you call efficient.



This is a picture of the war memorial...tribute to the Scottish so Odets that have fallen in all the wars in history. Breath taking and sad all at once.



Panoramic view of Edinburg. We didn't feel like we scratched the surface of evert ing you could see in the city. But we had so much fun and were so blessed with beautiful weather for the most part.



To round out the day we returned to a restaurant we passed earlier in the day and it caught our eye. Seriously the best food of the whole trip, up to that point ;) The bowl of mussels was outrageous! White wine sauce with garlic and jalepenos, to die for...yummy. But wait, to top it off the gnocchi we had was gave the dishes I had in Italy a serious run for their money. Creamy bleu cheese and spinach gnocchi, delicious doesn't do this dish justice! Everyone that goes to Edinburg needs to eat here.  http://gordonstrattoria.com/



Dinner down, it was laundry time! We did the essentials...unfortunately they weren't dry by the morning so we have had them spread out in th car drying since...hehe, a little oakey but it gets us clean socks and undies.



In the morning we head out to see St. Andrews and then adventure out see what we can see. We are having a blast!

- Shalyce

Location:Scotland

Edinburgh

Sorry for the delay in blogs, our last two places of residents didnt have wifi, so we are now in the car and I am catching up to hopefully post when we find wifi again.

So our stay in the cute bed and breakfast in scheffield was a miss. We got to the house around 11pm and it was locked up and no answer to the bell, so we drove around looking for a room. We eventually found one and it worked out great. We slept in and then headed for edinburgh.

On our way out os scheffield we stopped at mcdonalds for brunch...it is so fun to see the menu at mcy-d's in foreign countries. And check out the futuristic decor. The crispy sweet chili cucumber chicken wrap I had was delicious. I will say that this country sure seems to love their mayonnaise! It is on everything in very healthy portions. Oh well, when on Europe, right?!



We made a quick stop at the Scotland/England border for some pictures. Guess what, it was raining :)



We checked into our room in Edinburgh and took a stroll to the center of the tourist district. Below is a picture of our room, we ended up needing more time in Edinburg so we extended our stay by a night.



We took in the sights, this is one of the beautiful churches in the center of town, Giles cathedral. We visited inside too but I didn't buy a photo permit so I only took outside pictures.


This is a gorgeous view, in the rain, from one of the many Closes in Edinburgh. When the city was built the Closes were little alley ways to access the tenement buildings. The tower in the back is a huge monument to Sir Walter Scott.



It started really coming sown on us so we popped into a pup for dinner. I had the ham and eggs and Kyle got a salmon en crute, both we de Sioux but the hit of the meal was the fried Brie!







Another view of Kyle and the Scott museum in the back, we were exploring while waiting for our haunted tour to begin.



More rain :) what better place to stay dry than the pup!



Our haunted tour was great and we survived the long walk back to our room in the pouring rain. Great snooze before another fun day in Edinburg.

- Shalyce

Location:Scotland

Open!

What a wonderful day and quite the adventure getting to the tournament! What should have been an hour excursion ended up taking well over 4!!!! The 'caltrans' of England decided to do road repairs the second day of the tournament, great planning.

When we finally made it to the park and ride we were relieved to get on the double decker bus quickly and get on our way. Little did we know that the bus was headed into the traffic we just got ourselves out of.

No problem, we aren't driving, out of our hands...right....until our bus driver rear ends the car in front of us in the entry to a round about. That's right BANG! So the car and the bus pull over to do the traditional number info exchange. As the driver exits the bus he tells the crowd of 70 or so people be back in a little while. At this point in our journey we are approximately 2.5 miles from the golf course and 3.5 hours into our trip.

So if no one has ever seen ticked off British and Irish people let me tell you it is entertaining. They flagged down another bus and we finally made it to the tournament.

Great story to remember the day by since no cameras allowed. We lucked out with another great sunshiny day. A little windy but for the most part awesome. We shared a shrimp and chips plate and a sausage and chips plate. Delicious. We got to see Tom Watson play, along with John Daly, Sergio Garcia, Ricky Fowler, and Rory Macelrory to name a few.

Purchased some souvenirs, had an iced hard cider and walked the course. Beautiful! But it looks very very challenging, the bunkers a ridiculous, in fact one of the stands had a mock bunker from the 17th hole you could play. Crazy!

Lots of wonderful memories from today...we are on our way to Sheffield, England right now. I will post this when we get to our next bed and breakfast, the Quarry House, looks adorable from their website.

Tomorrow at some point we head to Edinburg. More pictures from there I am sure :)

Late addition...self portrait!




- Shalyce

Location:Sandwich UK

Stonehenge and Dartford/British Open

After the fabulous day yesterday in Salisbury we picked up our rental car (Renault, feels funny but good since my mom drove one while I was growing up).





Kyle drove us over to Stonehenge for a visit. We got a beautiful day unlike the Effiel Tower day ;) Stonehenge is amazing, a truly extraordinary engineering feat!


















Then I got the idea we should see another henge so Kyle drove us over the Avebury, tiny roads, he was not happy but he did a fabulous job! Not nearly as stupendous as stonehenge but worth the visit. We strolled around and visited the local cathedral and had lunch at the pub. I had a 'jacket' (potato) beans and cheese.











Then we got on the road to come over to Dartford. We are spending the night here so we can go to the British open first thing in the morning. the tournament started today and we are supposed to get good weather tomorrow too. I am not taking any chances, I am bringing my rain jacket this time! No cameras allowed at the tournament so probably no blog tomorrow...but I will enjoy and be sure to take plenty of mental pictures.

We had dinner at a Thai and Chinese noodle bar tonight, they only had pad Thai for noodles at the noodle bar, go figure. There was also a carnival going on in town so we strolled through the fun, the grounds had beautiful flower gardens.





I learned that the British don't sell cotton candy at their carnivals they have candy floss...interesting.

Also, before I close this post wanted to say happy birthday to my dad! Sorry we aren't closer to celebrate but my pups will fill in for us and we can celebrate when we get back. Love you very much.


- Shalyce

Location:Dartford,United Kingdom

London and Salisbury

EARLY morning train to London! But we were greeted there by Miss Casey Lewis. We had a well deserved 'english' breakfast with drip coffee and a menu that we could read, not to mention wonderful company.

After enjoying the leisurely meal, we parted ways with Casey and headed to catch our train to Salisbury. Quite a beautiful train ride, saw the country side of England. Upon leaving the train we made our way to our darling bed and breakfast. Highly recommend it if you are ever in the area! Wonderful service and great location.













Kyle and I hit up the sites (pubs) to sample the local culture.























We also saw the cathedral and missed having Tucker with us as there were sheep everywhere to chase.











Needless to say we had a wonderful time in salisbury! Oh yes and another nap :)

Enjoy the pictures and another blog post to follow of what our day held today.


- Shalyce

Last day in Paris

Boy did I stick my foot in my mouth about the hot weather! Not only was it not scorching hot today, it down poured rain on us as we were at the top of the Effiel Tower! It was raining so much and such nasty weather we re welcomed to the top by severe thunder. Oh well, it is an experience for sure, but it would have been really nice if we had the gear we are prepared for Ireland along with us for the hike today! Who would have thought ;) .

Oh well enough about the weather. Kyle and I returned to the Effiel Tower today to climb the stairs to the second level followed by the elevator ride to the summet.


We were a little early for the champagne bar at the top but that was probably for the best as it was a downpour at that time. We successfully climbed all 704 stairs both us and down.









We then returned to our room to dry off before venturing out to visit the catacombs. We were pushing the limit with the closing time as it was roughly a hour and half wait for a 2 hour window, so if anything got held up we were going in. Thankfully we got in and really enjoyed the unique tour. Very much a reality check to see what life must have been like before sanitation and clear water, the pleague would have truly sucked.



Before returning for the room and the obligatory vacation nap, we stopped off at happy hour. I proceeded to half creme brûlée and Kyle enjoyed a crepe with ice cream. Tres bien!

Nap time over we went for a nice dinner as it is our last night here. I used yelp and found a cafe close by with rave reviews. It recommended the escort so I thought why not 'when in Paris?' Let me tell you, the review was right sooooo good.


Kyle said they were good too if only he didn't know what they were. I rounded out the meal with a frommage plate (cheese) and Kyle enjoyed a delicious white fish dish. Yummy!


Now back to the room to share our day and pictures before cracking the book. Early morning trip on the Eurostar over to London and the off to Salisbury to see stone hedge and continue on to the british open. Enjoy and I will write again soon, granted I find more wifi.

Having a great time! Miss everyone but will see you soon.



- Shalyce

Location:Rue de Rivoli,Paris,France

Paris

So we have been in Paris for two whole days now. What a wonderful experience! It has been warm but it is a nice 'stretch' before we head to the UK and rain :) we have seen the Effiel Tower








(venturing to the top first thing tomorrow morning), we waited in line for the towers of Notre Dame,








visited to gardens of the Louvre, and stood in the shadow of the Arc de








Triomphe. We did a water bus today to get between the different sights.

Tomorrow we are headed up the Effiel Tower and visiting the catacombs. I forgot to mention the food is wonderful. Had a fabulous cheese plate last night








and two killer salads for lunch (one yesterday








and one today).





We have enjoyed several delicious crepes and Kyle snuck in an ice cream cone of course.


























Enjoy the pictures, one more exciting day in Paris and then taking the Eurostar to London to meet up with Casey from SD and on to Salisbury t start our England/Scotland adventure.

Misc picture

Location:Rue de Rivoli,Paris,France