The American Triangle, Edinburgh, Scotland

Hello green landscapes and rolling hills and adorable cottages, we're in Scotland!

1) Traveling by train is fun.
2) It's also convenient and relaxing.
3) You get to see more of the country than you otherwise might!

I am a huge proponent of train travel!

Scotland immediately wowed me. I felt at home even though my generational roots lie southeast of London in Dover. The train ride was nice and I read and we chatted and I took pictures of the moving landscapes. Excellent trip so far! We arrived in Edinburgh in the afternoon and were graciously picked up by our homeowner whose apartment we had rented for the few days we would be in town.

The place was hopping. Traveling to Edinburgh during their biggest annual festival was both a good and bad thing. We saw a whole lot of interesting things but weren't there to partake so it was a bit distracting at times. Our apartment was on the Royal Mile nearly equidistant from Edinburgh Castle and the Queen's Castle where she still stays occasionally and it was perfect. Quaint, comfortable, spacious with ample natural light, we spent a good deal of time in the apartment relaxing with a good book or interesting TV news. There were three topics on BBC News: Ferguson, MO, Scotland's impending independence vote and ISIS. Over and over these topics were covered the entire time while we were abroad.

Taking an evening stroll to see the sights. It got progressively colder the further north we ventured. Rainy, too.

God save the Queen!

View from atop the hill near the castle. It was windy, chilly and beginning to rain harder but still stunning.

Finally, my first pint abroad! 

With a beer down, we wandered back to the apartment to relax and enjoy the evening. I was voraciously tearing through my book and felt so connected to it...it was awesome.

In the morning we stumbled on an adorable cafe next to the pub we'd visited the evening before and indulged in some breakfast. It was so good it got a repeat visit the next morning, too!

I mean, duh, I'd love it here.

The most delicious scone I have ever tasted in my entire life.

The day proved much better than the previous and the weather was again perfect for us to wander the streets. We slowly wound our way to the offices for the Edinburgh Military Show that we would be attending that evening so we could pick up our tickets and then continued on to the castle for a tour.

It was chilly but with the shining sun and a good scarf, it was a great day to be outside!

So intimidating.

Watch out Ferris Wheel!

After spending the afternoon touring, we headed back to the apartment to refresh ourselves before dinner and the show.

My only regret with the temperature is that this outfit didn't see the light of day!

I became very quickly addicted to a caramel chocolate shortbread bar thingy so I made sure to pick one of those up before arriving home.

Waiting for the show...he's the worst.

The dinner before the show gave us faster access than the crowds and we enjoyed a nice meal with some wine and a shot of Scottish Whisky. Not gonna lie, you can absolutely taste the peat fire they use to smoke the malt. Yuck, sorry Scots. The show itself was interesting with military bands from all over the world performing different tunes and accompanying dances. I think my favorite part was the fact that we got tickets on the very top row of seats which happened to also be the only ones that were covered when it started raining during the show. Thanks, Universe!

We left the show and quoted Kevin Hart the entire walk back to the apartment along with a few mocking moments of Milo. One last morning in Edinburgh before we go even further north to find Nessie!

The next morning dawned gray and rainy again (thanks for giving us our best day there when we wandered!) and with one last loaded baked potato (it was a shop entirely for loaded baked potatoes...it was glorious) we got on our train to Inverness. Note: no muck-ups this time!

Here we come, Nessie!