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Friday, September 30

edinburgh, in 287 steps

After getting to know our way around town, we decided we wanted to check out this huge monument that is right in the middle of town. It is called The Scot Monument and it is a huge important landmark in the Edinburgh history.

This is a good picture of Brett and the monument on one of our first days into town.

The Scot Monument is dedicated to Sir Walter Scot who was a famous Scottish author. It was built in the 1840's and took about 4 years to complete. They allow daily visitors to climb up the steps and see some fantastic views of the city for just a small price. The monument is also nick named "Edinburgh in 287 steps" because there are 287 steps to the top of the monument and you are able to see panoramic views of Edinburgh. There are three tiers that you come out on and walk around as long as you want. Then you continue to climb up until you get to the top. The worst part was the climb back down. My legs were  trembling for about an hour or so after we finished, but it is definitely a must see if you ever get to Edinburgh. We enjoyed our climb and our view and even though the sun didn't come out we still were able to see everything. Here are some of my favorite pictures we took!




X x

Thursday, September 29

a castle, fit for a queen

One of my favorites, besides the most famous, historic Edinburgh castle (which will be another blog post later!) is called Dirleton castle. It is a really fun castle go around and explore on your own. It is fairly near the coast and has a lot of land around it with some beautiful gardens that are maintained everyday. It is actually among some of the oldest castles in Scotland, being built around 1200. 
It is really fun to walk around at your own pace and explore the castle and try to image just how people were able to live and survive hundreds of years ago.




X x

Monday, September 26

little house on the prairie

a view of my aunt and uncle's house

After being in town for a few days, we headed south towards the border between England and Scotland to stay with my Aunt and Uncle. We stayed with them  for a couple nights and took in the beautiful sights, smells, and sounds {baaaaaaah} of the country. One day for lunch we drove into this little town called Moffat. It is a popular destination for locals and tourists. One of my favorite little cafe's is called The Rumblin' Tum, which you can see is the first picture. Then later on in the evening before it got dark we went for a couple walks with my camera and took some truly amazing pictures. It was really nice to get away from the hectic city life but after a couple days we were ready to get back to civilization!

X x

Thursday, September 22

edinburgh international festival

Remember in my previous post on the tattoo when I mentioned there was a festival that takes place in Edinburgh? Good! Well the festival is three weeks in August that celebrate the music, theater, dance, and virtual arts from countries all over the world. On the streets are the performers either giving a little sample of their show and then handing out flyers and promoting themselves, or sometimes even locals will come out and try to make a little extra cash with some street performances with all the buzz and tourists around. Here are several pictures that I took just walking through the streets and watching all these little performances.


Please excuse the short post, but I feel like these pictures do much more justice than me trying to explain to you just how crazy it actually is on the streets! Although I must say, I do think it takes away a lot from the beauty of the city. All the beautiful churches and stone buildings are all just covered with people and tents and posters and flyers everywhere. Thank goodness it's only 3 weeks right?

X x

Saturday, September 17

Edinurgh's Military Tattoo

During the month of August is one of Scotland's busiest times in terms of tourism because their annual festival takes place. Every night during the festival, there is an event called the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. It has been preformed for 60 years and this year my parents, Brett and I were lucky enough to get tickets and attend this amazing evening at one of the last performances before the festival ended.

This year they changed up the program a little bit and honored all the men of the Navy in which different countries around the world were invited to preform. There were some acts that marched and played an instrument and played a couple different songs. Some acts gave a little performance and incorporated some comedy or audience participation. Either way it was an amazing show and definitely worth the money. If you ever have the chance to make it to Scotland during the festival time it something you must see. To read some more information and see other pictures or videos visit their website.

Here are a couple pictures I took from the show. 

X x

Wednesday, September 14

better late than never

Hi friends & readers! So better late than never, right? My thoughts exactly! So yes, I have already been to Scotland and come back...and provided no blog posts for you. I am terribly sorry I hope you can forgive! Since I was only gone for 2 weeks and I was hopping around from place to place, I decided to leave my poor baby laptop at home and take my trusty iPad! This only provided me with one problem.. No way to upload my pictures from my camera to my iPad. Plus the blogger tool is actually a little 'widgey' on the iPad so I decided it would be best to save everything for when I got home and I will relive everything for you, play by play!

So these pictures are just a collection of some of my favorites from the trip. Do not fear I have so many blog posts coming your way, you are not going to know what to do! I hope everyone enjoyed the end of their summer and is in full swing back at work or school. This was my first summer since I have left college so working full time through summer was extremely tough, so I made sure to get in a little vacation to get my mind and body out of the rut! I was hoping to come back and feel more energized and ready to take on the new tasks ahead of me.. but instead I caught a sinus/cold/infection on the plane so I have been trying to get over that while getting back into the office. Not to worry, it is slowly clearing up and I am going to keep resting and gathering photos and writing for you!




X x