More London Exploring Tuesday, June 23

Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. We were so far away I really didn't get any good pictures.

We also went to Harrod's. What an experience that was. Found a jacket I thought would be nice with a pair of pants I had. The price......3,859 pounds, which at the exchange rate for Tuesday, June 23, would be $6,413. I quickly moved on!!! We also had our most expensive meal there, at a hamburger shop!!! We had a very formal meal at Crabhill Manor and at Auchen Castle and they were not as expensive as Harrod's. I'm still in shock that a hamburger, tuna melt sandwich and a milkshake could cost so much!!!!! While there we saw the tribute to Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed that caused such a stir with the Royal Family. (Dodi's dad owns Harrod's)

I found the use of the word killed rather than died to be interesting.

I wish I had gotten several shots of this. It is life-size and very well done. The escalator on both sides make it possible to get a very good look at the memorial.

Reminded me of Mary Poppins and Dick Van Dyke's character. This was in Trafalgar Square. We have been there several times during our trips to London. We had some extra time to get a few different pictures that day.

The fountains remind me of all the fountains we saw in Rome.

The National Gallery - an excellent art museum.

Massive lions in Trafalgar Square.

THE Castle

We spent our last night in Scotland (Tuesday, June 16) in a castle. A real castle by the name of Auchen Castle which is located outside Dumfries, Scotland. I took tons of pictures. Here a just a few (ok, more than a few) of the pictures I took. The sky was so blue that day it made taking pictures even more enjoyable.

This picture is coming up the drive to the castle.

Directly across from the driveway from the Castle.

The upstairs window was the window to our room.

The staircase inside the castle.

At the foot of this staircase was a mirror that covered the wall. As I walked down the steps to dinner in my full-length dress I remembered the way we used to pretend to be a princess coming down the stairs of a castle. I may not be a princess, but at least I got the castle experience for a night!!!

This was our room. There were matching his and her robes on the bed. In the middle was the cutest, softest bear I have ever seen. He was wearing a tag that said he was up for adoption. He was adopted!!!!!!

My bear sitting on the couch of the flat. He will sit in our guest room as a reminder of our night in the castle. Just not on the bed.....Chloe (our pug) will think I bought it for her.

Glasgow

Photos of Glasgow, Scotland. We took a bus tour of this city too. This was also on Tuesday, June 16.

The top of the tour bus. We always tried to sit on the top so we could see better and get better (kinda) pictures. Difficult to take good pictures with the bus moving and bouncing, but still better than trying to take pictures through the glass.

I loved this one. Can you see what is in the bottom of this very old, historic building??? Great place for a Starbucks if you ask me. (of course, just about any place is a great place for Starbucks!)

While we enjoyed our tour of Glasgow, I did like Edinburgh better. Edinburgh was older and still had so much of its heritage. In Glasgow we learned that they have torn down older sections to put in more modern buildings and there was a push to tear down another older section to do the same. I found that to be very sad. So much history, beautiful history. I hope they decide to renovate rather than destroy.

Edinburgh, Tuesday June 16

These are random shots of Edinburgh, a magnificently historic city in Scotland. Most of them were taken from the top of a tour bus.

A picture of Edinburgh Castle. There are a few more pictures of the castle a few pictures down.

The next 3 pictures are of the Edinburgh Castle.

I am continually amazed at the history we are seeing. To us in America, something that is 200 years old is rare and we think something from the 1800's should be preserved. And while that is true, to see buildings that date back 5, 6, and 7 hundred years has been almost unbelievable. We left Edinburgh and drove to Glasgow. Of the two cites, Edinburgh is by far my favorite. The main reason we went to Glasgow was because of Glasgow, KY and how proud they are of their Scottish heritage.

A Manor and a Guest House

Crabwall Manor - After going to Conwy Castle in Wales, we drove to here for the night.

This is the terrace and dining area (in the background). We had a wonderful meal at the manor that evening. Another formal affair that was very interesting.

The windmills remind me of something from a sci-fi movie. There is something a little spooky about them to me.

This is a picture of the hills of Scotland. I don't know why I didn't take pictures of Wales so you could compare the two. In my opinion, Wales is the prettier of the two but Scotland is far from ugly. Something else I can't believe I didn't get a picture of was the sheep. I have never seen so many sheep in all my life!!!! And to top it off, I don't believe I have ever seen sheared sheep. (and I'm not sure that is the correct way to say that but I think you get the picture)

This is the Sonas Guest House which is a Bed and Breakfast.

Crabwall Manor was amazing. While it was very old, it was well-maintained. Our room, which I failed to get a picture of, was quite large. And the bathroom was unbelievable. I never take a bath, only showers in hotels. This bathroom had a very large tub which I could not wait to get in and soak. It had a separate shower and two pedestal sinks. The room itself had yellow and blue (two of my favorites!) as the color theme. I have tried repeatedly to describe it and do it justice and have given up. Just trust me when I say it was magnificent.

We left Crabwall Manor and headed for Edinburgh, Scotland where we stayed at The Sonas. The Sonas was a Bed and Breakfast. Our room was quite tiny, but there was something very charming about it at the same time. I'm glad we had the opportunity to stay there. We met a man and his son from Indiana who were also staying there and enjoyed talking to them, especially the little boy. He was telling us all the places we should go while we were in town. I didn't have the heart to tell him we were not staying any longer.