At the beginning of June, we left the USA for several months to work in England (at the University of Nottingham). However, on our way we stopped in Scotland (for Louise's friend Brent's wedding) and then Italy. Well, Italy wasn't exactly "on the way" but it was at least "in the neighbourhood"! While we were in Scotland we also spent some time in Stirling and Edinburgh. Although it was a brief trip, it was great to get an introduction to Scotland. It is really beautiful with scenic hills that are at once both smooth and rolling (in terms of over-all shape) yet also craggy (due to exposed rock and scrubby foliage). We are hoping to make it back during our time in the UK so that we can explore the highlands.

Brent and Mhairi's wedding was held in an old Scottish castle in the town of Dollar (near Stirling). They had a beautiful sunny day for the wedding (not at all what we'd expected from Scotland). The castle (Castle Campbell) was a picture-perfect stone castle. It is in pretty good shape considering how old it is and the staircases, fireplaces, window-openings etc all still remain. We had some time to explore the castle before the wedding and they had hired a bagpiper to play on the rooftop which created a great atmosphere. Brent and the other men in the wedding party were all wearing traditional Scottish kilts and his bride (Mhairi) looked lovely in her dress with a tartan shawl. After the wedding we enjoyed cake and champagne on the castle grounds before the reception (with haggis nuggets!) down the hill in the town of Tillicoultry. At the party (‘ceilidh’ in Scottish) a band led everyone in traditional Scottish country dancing. It was a great time and a really unique experience to attend a wedding in a castle! To see photos go here and then click on "Brent's Wedding" (requires Flash Player).

While in Scotland for Brent's wedding, we stayed in the town of Stirling. After the wedding we spent a day exploring the town. It has a great old castle and is very close to the Wallace Monument, an imposing tower built to commemorate the struggles and victories of William Wallace (Braveheart) over the English. We climbed the 400(ish) steps to the top and had amazing views of the surrounding countryside and the town of Stirling below. The monument also had lots of interesting exhibits on Scottish history which we enjoyed. To see photos go here and then click on "Stirling" (requires Flash Player).

After our stay in Stirling we spent a couple of days in Edinburgh. Louise's friend Leigh, who had also been at Brent's wedding, joined us for some of this time too. On our first evening there we just wandered around the city and took in all the sights. We spent the next morning exploring Edinburgh castle and learning more about Scottish history which was actually quite fascinating, then spent the afternoon at the Scottish museum before we took off for a brisk walk up Arthur’s Seat (a large, craggy, gorse-covered hill overlooking the city). It was great to get some good fresh Scottish air in our lungs. We had a lovely pub dinner in one of Edinburgh's fine pubs and afterwards we stopped into a fish and chip shop to try a local specialty - deep-fried Mars bars! On our last day we checked out the University and did some shopping (they have great, cheap cashmere stuff there) and then visited the seaside suburb of Leith. It was a lovely sunny day again so in the afternoon we joined the locals for a pint or two of beer on the banks of the Leith River before finishing our stay in Edinburgh with a good meal of Fish and Chips. To see photos go here and then click on "Edinburgh" (requires Flash Player).