Saturday, June 28, 2008

The Family Seat....


The family crest.... above the front door

Now this was REALLY cool!  And way interesting.  The current owners of the house (and of the castle ruins) have collected tonnes of information about the history of the house and of my family.  Really lovely people who welcomed us with open arms.

Oh.... as did my long-dead rellies.  Gillian, H and I heard lots of knocking noises during the night.... which could only have been my gr gr gr gr (etc) grannies and grandpas saying hullo.






The castle ruins

The Scottish Museum of Flight.....

Where we got to climb on board the Concorde!!  Actually, it was pretty cool...




Edinburgh Castle...





Thursday, June 26, 2008

HMY Brittania..

There's something about perusing the royal yacht that pulls at the heart strings.




This was hysterical.  The bumper bars had to be removed to get the car on and off the yacht!!

The following photo brought tears to my eyes today.  Of course.

The Falkirk Wheel

I'm not usually into feats of engineering, but this one really is fascinating.  Worth reading about...... HERE



Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Monty Python, anyone?

This is Doune Castle, where they filmed "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".  





And this is a young man with his very first salmon, caught in the River Tooth (not spelled that way!!) which runs beside Doune Castle.  All TEN POUNDS of it!!  Quite amazing.





Cycling around Loch Katrine...

It rained.  Lots.  And the midges were enjoying the taste of Aussie blood.  But boy we had FUN!!!







Gillian's family...

Gillian's parents re-organised their holidays to be here for the boys and me.  Pretty amazing.  And to top it off, they put on a true-blue Aussie b-b-q for us on Sunday.  Gillian's brother and his family, her sister and her family (who are absent from the above photo) and the divine Wendy made us feel special and very loved.  

And then Mike and Grant, two of Gillian's oldest friends, took the boys to see "The Incredible Hulk" while Gillian and I visited the local pub.

A wonderful day.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Up the Byres Road...

Gillian lives in the grooviest part of Glasgow, the West End. Her flat is absolutely perfectly located for pubs, restaurants, cafes, public transport and ambient strolling. And today I've done a fair bit of the latter. I was able to do that because Gillian has taken H and F to the Science Centre (an activity that would leave me yawning).


View Larger Map

And tonight we're having pre-dinner drinks with two of her dearest friends that I've not met .... and tomorrow a bar-b-que with her entire family. I'm in heaven. I barely have to make any decisions regarding food or itinerary or even bed-times! They boys adjusted instantly and completely to the local time, and although they're staying up a bit later than when we're at home (well..... we ARE on holiday) they're sleeping through.

Next week we're off to Edinburgh for a night before visiting my family's "seat" in Scotland. Yes, that's right! The Family Castle! Luckily for us it has a B&B and Gillian has organised for us to stay there. Pretty exciting stuff!!

It's very easy to feel instantly and thoroughly Scottish while staying here. All of our first names are Scottish and our surname is thoroughly and utterly Scottish too (and quite uncommon). When visiting the site of one of the most significant battles between the Scots (Jacobites) and the Government (English).... it was incredibly moving to see our forbearers' names listed amongst the dead.

In fact, I found it so disturbing that I took my tears to the car while Gillian and the boys explored further.

Friday, June 20, 2008

North-East Coast.... Gardenstown, McDuff, Pennan, Dunotter Castle...




Pennan....





Dunnotter Castle.....



look carefully to see the 3 seagull chicks above!








Cullen, and our B&B on the beach....