This year we ventured to Scotland again to spend time with Granny. Gramma came too and enjoyed her first European adventure. It was a busy nearly 3 weeks. Each day was busy. There were lots of castles, loads of eating out and treats, history every, and a good amount of Scottish family time. I wish I had more time to document specific stories, but instead, here’s a brief outline of the itinerary that kept everyone quite busy this time!
Day 1 – Drive to Newark, Nj and catch our direct flight to Glasgow
Day 2 – landed in Glasgow, got to our flat, Clair and Mommy napped, big kids played at the park, everyone went out to an Italian restaurant to celebrate Granny’s 70th birthday
Day 3- We walked around the West End of Glasgow. We saw the university and Mommy took a lot of pictures. Daddy told stories of his childhood. Hazel was entertaining guests who were arriving for her big party over the coming weekend.
Day 4- We ventured to Cilzean Castle in Ayr with Uncle Dolan, Granny, Millar, and Glyn. Here we met up with Muir, Andrew, Stacy and their little girl. It was very rainy, so we didn’t get to explore the beach like we did last time. The kids were disappointed. We took them to an indoor play park in Ayr before returning to Glasgow for dinner.
Day 5 – We celebrated Hazel’s 70th at the Glasgow House for Art Lovers. Both brothers and their families came, along with cousins and friends. Hazel was celebrated properly. The kids enjoyed seeing Sebastian the most. We hung out with Sebastian for a little while afterwards, then returned to Park Circus for dinner. David met Dolan for a drink.
Day 6- We went to Buchanan street for a little shopping. Then Mommy had to leave to go to Poland for a week’s work. Daddy and the kids met up with Granny, Uncle Dolan and Sarah to do a walk around downtown to solve a mystery. They all enjoyed it.
Day 7- The family all ventured to Stirling and enjoyed a tour of Stirling Castle.
Day 8- It was a rainy day and they hung out at Granny’s. Ellie spent the day baking. They did take a walk into Pollock Park and explored the little fairy houses.
Day 9- More walking around Glasgow to finish the mystery walk.
Day 10- Gramma and David took the kids to an old factory outside of town. I don’t know much about this adventure. I heard it was tense. Julie got back from Poland as planned around dinnertime. We ventured out to a local café for a dinner and planned the weekend.
Day 11 – David entertained the kids in town, Gramma and Granny met for Scottish tea. Julie finished up her last day of work and met a colleague for lunch. We went to see the T-Rex exhibit in town before meeting up for dinner.
Day 12- This was moving day from Glasgow to Edinburg. On the way we stopped at a cute little town near the Forth of Firth. We enjoyed tours of the bridges, beautiful blue skies, ice cream, and a safe settling into the new flag in Edinburg, which was by far my favorite. It was clean and gorgeous and well kept. Granny decided to stay with us in Edinburg which was nice.
Day 13 – We did the Hop of Hop Off tour of Edinburgh to get our bearings, hear the history, and make decisions about what to do for the week. Clair felt we didn’t “hop on and hop off” often enough. We went to the toy museum and one more little stop along the way. We had a nice dinner out at my favorite Café Rogue after the tour and ventured home by foot via a play at the local park.
Day 14- We ventured out of town, north, to St. Andrews. The kids all say this was their favorite day. It was a beautiful summer day in Scotland – almost 70. The kids loved being at the beach. The Grannies walked for miles while Max dug in the sand and the girls got much wetter than they were supposed to. All was well until David cut his toe on something in the sand so we decided to clear up and head off the beach. We took a little golf cart/train ride tour of St. Andrews and then did a little walking before venturing back towards Edinburg. We stopped for dinner about 20 minutes outside Edinburg in a little town called Dumfirmlen which had a very nice restaurant and an enjoyable park as well. A good end to a great adventure.
Day 15- Back to museums today. We tried to mix up learning and play. Today we ventured to the Surgeon’s museum which is part of the Medical School of the University of Edinburg. As I suspected, Clair was most interested in it. She really enjoyed seeing the organs in jars as well as the videos about the different systems of the body. Ellie was not a big fan of the organs in jars and the pictures on display. Max took it all in stride as always. After this museum and lunch, we split ways. Daddy, Max and Granny went to the National Museum of Scotland. Julie, Gramma, Ellie and Clair took a taxi into town to ride the tram. Clair was desperate for a tram ride. It was a short ride because I didn’t want to leave town. Clair was disappointed. Then the girls did a little shopping and we all met up at the park. The Grandmothers kept the kids while we got to go have a date night. It was very enjoyable. We started with a pub quiz, had a late dinner, and topped it all off with a late night drink at a fancy hotel bar, the Waldorf.
Day 16 – We went to the Eye of the Oblisque because this has been on the kids list of things to do the whole trip. They remembered in fondly from the trip 3 years ago. Everyone really enjoyed this museum. Julie left early to meet her friend Farah for dinner. The rest enjoyed dinner at Nando’s before heading home for the day.
Day 17 – This was a busy hiking day to see the high points in town in Edinburg. We started off by going up to Carlton Hill and then off to Arthur’s Seat. Arthur’s seat was a tough hike. Gramma and I didn’t go all the way up. David made sure each of the kids summitted and took pictures. They were proud. After the hikes we headed out towards the famous Edinburg Botanical Gardens. On the way we ventured for a lunch of burgers. We ended up at a pub that wasn’t too thrilled with our crew of picky eaters. Everyone survived though, and we made sure to stop at a bakery on the way to the gardens. A very busy day that resulted in walking over 10 miles I believe, despite having the car taking us from point to point.
Day 18 – Today we took the tour of Mary King’s Close which was underground and full of personal stories. We heard about the plague and the tough life of the underclass in Edinburgh many years ago. Unfortunately a few people on the tour picked up this horrendous cough that still is not gone. Everyone except David and I, which I assume is a result of the constant nightly wine which the others did not enjoy.
Day 19 – we left the flat in Edinburgh and visited with Brian, Sarah and Sebastian in Dollar. It is a lovely town and they have done an amazing job renovating a historic house. We enjoyed a relaxing day and lunch with them before heading to the airport. We stayed in a hotel right by the airport so we could catch the early flight home the next morning. Before bed we wrapped up the trip with dinner at Millar and Hazel’s local – Ollies. It was a nice evening.
Day 20 – we were up early to catch our 9 am flight. The flight home went smoothly and landed on time. We were greeted by 100 degrees and mid-Atlantic humidity when we exited the airport. Most of us wanted to head back immediately as that’s not the weather our family enjoys. Instead we embarked on the long drive home, which went fine.
It was an exciting, busy and exhausting trip. We all went to bed quickly and happily in our own beds once finally back to Maryland. I’m glad we are able to do these trips and spend time with Hazel and the family. It means the world to us all. I’m really glad my mom got to come along and enjoy the adventure. Not only is she super helpful, but I also hope this made great memories for her.
