Scotland

After our first night in Dublin, we had to wake up early to catch our bus to the airport to catch our plane to Glasgow. Again, everything went well and we got there just fine. Amazing in this world of unpredictable airline schedules, etc. We got our car and slowly drove to Edinburgh. Slowly because we kept stopping along the way. Stopping for reasons like this:

Yes, that is my sweet husband, rocking away on the bagpipes. This was in the lowlands (as opposed to the highlands) just outside of Loch Lomond. Adam's dream for years has been to play his pipes in the highlands of Scotland so this was just a preview. Don't worry, he did it again later, as you will soon see. We also stopped at a castle near the banks of Loch Lomond and walked around for a bit. We also discovered a few valuable knowledge tidbits about Abby during this long drive. 1) She can go potty in the grass and 2) She CAN still fall asleep in her car seat when the need gets great.


We got to Edinburgh that night and settled in. The next day, we headed out to the Royal Mile to see what the Fringe Festival was all about. Apparently, there's a huge festival every year in Edinburgh and we were there in the middle of it. A major part of the festival every year is the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which is why we made this trip in the first place. Wayne and Dee got tickets, which are pretty hard to come by, and it's been another one of Adam's life-long dreams to go to this thing, so that's why we went! Anyway, the Tattoo wasn't until that night so we hung out around the Royal Mile for most of the day until Abby's nap. It was pretty bizarre. There were thousands of people and some really weird street performers everywhere. Personally, I prefer the Royal Mile without the Festival going on. Oh well. But on the plus side, Adam got to eat haggis for lunch. He really likes haggis for some reason that I can't understand. I've had it before, and trust me, sheep innards are not all they're cracked up to be.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel so Abby could take a nap since we were headed to the Tattoo at 10:00 that night. I was pretty anxious about taking Abby to an event so late at night since she's never been up that late without at least cat naps here and there. But I must say, she did remarkably well. She enjoyed the Tattoo and kept asking for more bagpipes. There was one incident, however, that I'm not too proud of. As soon as we found our seats in the tight stadium seating area, she had to go potty. Fine. Adam took her to the port-a-potties that were just outside the arena, and came back about fifteen minutes later saying that she refused to go. The Tattoo started just as they sat down and Abby immediately started screaming and crying because she had to go potty. Now, she was wearing a pull-up, but apparently refused to go in it. So I again climbed and tripped over about twenty people to take her to the port-a-potties. Again, she freaked out, not wanting to go in because they were too "scary". I forced her in one with me and pleaded and cajoled her to please, please use the potty or go in her pull-ups. No. She would have neither option. I even went on the potty to show her it wasn't scary. She still wouldn't go. So, with all kinds of people outside the plastic walls, listening to all of this, I yanked down her pants and plopped her on the potty amid much screaming, hollering and even a little bit of kicking. As soon as she started relieving herself, she stopped the screaming and crying and said, "This isn't scary! I'm going potty!" I just couldn't believe I wasted all that time trying to talk her into it. But as soon as it was over, we went back to the show and she was wonderful for the whole thing.

So...is anyone wondering what the Edinburgh Military Tattoo entails? Basically, it's a show of many of the world's best military bands performing and basically showing off. Lots of marching bands, lots of drill teams, lots of dancing and lots of bagpipes. It was really cool and there was an amazing drill team from Norway and an even more amazing marching team from New Zealand. I never knew what a marching team was, but trust me, it was very cool. Basically, it was a very large group of people just marching. And most of the time, there was no music or audible beat. Incredible. Anyway, we had a great time and didn't get back to our hotel until after 2am. Abby was a good little trooper.


We left the next day for Prestwick and again took our time getting there. We stopped at Abby's first castle experience: Scone Palace. As I walked through the Palace with her, we looked for Princesses and dragons. Every window we passed, she had to look out and see if the dragon was out there. We also saw where the Princess slept and ate dinner and everything. It was pretty fun. We also stopped at a great little Scottish pub along the way and had a great little Scottish lunch. Adam had more haggis and was generally pretty happy with things.

We topped off our Scotland experience with a stop in the actual Highlands of Scotland so Adam could get all garbed up in his kilt and bagpipe gear and give us a nice little private concert. Dream: fulfilled. Adam had to lug his pipes and his kilt and stuff all over the rest of Scandinavia, but he still says it was worth it. I was very happy he could finally do this. Mostly because he had been talking to me for as long as I've known him about how great it would be to play his pipes in the Scottish Highlands so now when he brings it up I can say, "Good thing you've fulfilled that life-long dream!" And he did look pretty good.... So did Abby.


We eventually made it to Prestwick, then woke up early to catch the train to Newcastle to catch our ferry to Bergen, Norway. I'm not going to say much about the ferry because it wasn't the most fun time in my life. Except, Abby made a good little half-Scottish, half-Spanish friend named Ashelagh who was absolutely adorable. They had a good time together and it's a good thing, too because she kept her entertained and out of my hair! But we made it to Norway and all was well. Till next post....