Scotland - June 17 - 24, 2006

We stopped briefly at Lake Awe. The weather this week in Scotland was typically Scottish
- a mix of rain, mist, wind and sun.

We took a ferry from Oban to the Isle of Mull . This is a lighthouse we passed on the way.

This is the small town of Tobermory on the Isle of Mull.

Tobermory, again.

Back in Oban, we climbed a hill overlooking the town, where this 100-yr old structure stands. Its construction was financed by a man named McCaig, so it goes by the name of McCaig's Tower. It is a copy of a Roman colosseum and was never finished.

That's the ferry we took out to Mull. It is going out for one last trip of the day, here.

Walking back down, I just liked these colors.

I have no idea what those guys are doing up there. They weren't there 23 minutes earlier, when I took the previous picture.

We attended a show of traditional Scottish music and dance. Here the singer is recognizing the piper and Kelsey, the dancer is applauding. She did several dances, with 2 costume changes and was so cute.

After spending two nights in Oban we drove Northeast toward Inverness. This is Glencoe, a valley between mountains, but this is all we could see of the mountains.

All over Ireland and Scotland we saw masses of Rhododendron in bloom. This is the only picture I got of them. it's not very good, but you can see how many bushes there are going up the side of the mountain. They were often lining the road and we drove through tunnels of rhododendron, but there was never a good place to stop and get a picture.

Next we stopped at St. Augustus, where there were sail boats going through a series of locks. There were 6 locks here.

The boat in front of "Jay Jay" was on its way back to Norway.

We arrived at Urquart Castle about 4:30 pm. It was open till 6:00, so we still had time to visit it. 
The rain had stopped, and there weren't many other visitors, so we thought it was great.

It was a fun place to walk around.

You could climb a spiral staircase to the top of the tower, which is where I took the previous picture.
The lake here is Lock Ness. And no we never saw Nessie.

The next day in Inverness we walked from our B&B to this lovely botanical garden.

Mama duck and her babies had taken over the Phlox.

Another view of the garden.

The desert house. There is a mirror here reflecting the tall, skinny cactus and other things.

This looks like a bridge over a stream, but it isn't. It is an aqueduct over a stream.

Here you can see the water in the aqueduct as well as under it. The funny thing is both of them run into the river Ness, just a short way farther down stream. so why build this? It was a mystery.

We walked back to town along the river and past some beautiful homes.
This is the back yard of this house, facing the walk along the river..

One of many bridges crossing the Ness in Inverness.

A pub where we ate lunch.

Inside the pub.

The front of our B&B in Inverness.

A street with small houses near the town center of Inverness.

The Royal Mile -- main street in Edinburgh.

It was very windy the day we were here. This park is below the castle and we thought it might be less windy down here. It wasn't. The wind was blowing those wooden benches down. I saw one go over and then noticed others that had been blown down.

Looking up at the castle from down in the park. We thought we'd walk up that zig-zag path, but it was closed at the top. We met a man coming down, who told us it was closed before we'd climbed all the way up.

We went out to the street and walked up one of the "streets" instead.
In Edinburgh streets and alleys often include steps like this.

I have lived in University towns all my life, but this is the first time I've seen a sign like this out on the street.

Edinburgh has painted cows.

We visted the castle the next day. This is the front gate.
We got there when they opened and didn't have to wait long to get tickets or to get inside.

The view of the town from inside the castle walls.

Then we walked the mile down the street to Holyrood Palace. (It rhymes with Hollywood) This is where the queen stays when she comes to Edinburgh.

A gate leading out from Holyrood Palace.

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