The Jacobite Steam Train

My parents have been visiting for the past ten days and while they were here, we planned a little side trip...

Funny Scotland Observations

Have you seen this list of one visitor's observations on Scotland after a trip here? It made me laugh, especially numbers 10 and 14....


Also...8 Things to do in Scotland and we're currently working on a list of our favorite things to do in Fife!

Stonehaven

Mondays are our days for adventuring so yesterday we headed up the coast to Stonehaven. Day trips are slightly different now that Everett is around. We try to leave right around his morning nap time (9 am) and hope that he sleeps the whole way to wherever we're going. He used to be a really good stroller sleeper and would fall asleep anywhere, but now he's way too interested in whatever is going on around him to sleep! We also try to plan our departure from wherever we are around his afternoon nap time....which means that we don't get tons of time anywhere, but it's better than a cranky baby. Here are a few pictures if you'd like to see....

Glasgow

Earlier this week we headed to Glasgow for a night which was a Christmas present from my aunt - a babymoon! Here are a few pictures, if you'd like to see...

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Edinburgh Favorites

We live only about 30 minutes from Edinburgh by train so we go into the city quite a bit and by now we've accumulated a list of favorites there. Here are a few if you're planning a trip:

There are a lot of castles in Scotland but Edinburgh's is by far the most extensive and best maintained. Perched above the city (you get a great view), you could easily spend a whole day sightseeing there, but our favorite stops are the prisons and the crown jewels.

Holyrood Palace, where the queen still stays when she visits Edinburgh, is a working palace that you can tour. The audio tour is about an hour long and is great - very informative without being too much information. It's located at the opposite end of the castle on Edinburgh's famous street, the Royal Mile.

And, speaking of the royal family, the Royal Yacht Britannia, is another fun tour. Permanently moored now in Edinburgh Harbour, this tour gives you a fun glimpse into royal life.

The best burger that I've had in Scotland was at 9A Holyrood - plus, located right near Arthur's Seat (see below), it makes a perfect lunch stop after a hike.

When my cousin was visiting, I met her for dinner one night at The Dogs which had the coolest ambiance and the best goat cheese and asparagus risotto.

One of my favorite areas in Edinburgh is Grassmarket which is lined with tons of traditional Scottish pubs, including The Last Drop which is super cozy and has good food in addition to good drinks.

High tea at The Dome was one of my favorite experiences this year. The tea was the best I've ever had and their sandwiches are to die for. The best time to go is at Christmas, when they're decorated to the nines.

While we're not going out for drinks these days quite like we used to, we did venture into The Devil's Advocate with friends the other week, and I have to say, I would definitely go back post-pregnancy. There's a very cool vibe there and the bartenders make all sorts of specialty cocktails in fun glasses.

And, when we crave Mexican food - which in Ryan's case is quite a lot - we head to Miros Cantina on Rose St. which is tiny and has the best Mexican food we've had, outside of Colorado.

Arthur's Seat is a great little hike in the middle of a city (rare) and if you make it to the top, you'll be awarded great views of the city, the sea and beyond.

Of course my favorite thing to do in cities is to wander and in Edinburgh, my favorite area is Grassmarket which has lots of little shops and cafes that are fun.

Although if you want a more Scottish experience, wander the Royal Mile instead. While it can be a little touristy, it's also the perfect street for finding any souvenir you're looking for - many Christmas presents this year came from the Royal Mile!

And, for the ultimate whiskey experience, visit The Scotch Whisky Experience which is on the Royal Mile, right next to the castle. You'll learn about the different regions that produce whiskey in Scotland, taste a few and visit the largest private whiskey collection in the world (!!). To be honest, we were a little skeptical at first because we had already been to several smaller distilleries and learned about whiskey making there, but this tour really summed everything up and turned out to be really interesting.

8 Things to do in Scotland

While I wouldn't recommend visiting Scotland in January, if anyone is planning a trip for the summer months, here are a few things that we would recommend seeing and doing while you're here:

Scottish Borders

Last week we went on a little adventure....

5 Free Things to do in Edinburgh

We're very close to Edinburgh this year so we've been into the city a few times to explore. I noticed that Edinburgh has tons of free activities which is great because free is usually harder to find in larger cities. Here are five - a few that we've enjoyed and a few we want to try:

1. Walk the Royal Mile. This is the main street in Edinburgh which got its name back in the 16th century when the king used to travel between the castle (at the top of the street) and the Palace of Holyroodhouse (at the bottom of the street). Now, it's filled with restaurants and pubs, all sorts of shops and many of the city's main sights are just off this street. It's great for a stroll, to get a feel for the city, for listening to bagpipes and for people watching.

2. Arthur's Seat. This hill is perfect for climbing (it's a 30-45 minute hike to the top) and the views of the city (and sea) below are stunning.

3. Galleries and Museums. I was looking for Edinburgh tips in my guidebook one day when I realized that many of the major museums and galleries offer free entrance! My mom and I checked out the Writer's Museum a few weekends ago where we learned about Scotland's three most famous writers, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson whose poems I used to love as a child. Other free ones include the National Museum of Scotland, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Fruitmarket Gallery and the Museum of Edinburgh.

4. Calton Hill. Providing another great view of the city (some say even better than Arthur's Seat), this is Edinburgh's acropolis with several memorials dating from the first half of the 19th century.

5. Have a picnic in the park. On a nice day, the Princes Street Gardens are a lovely place to sit. There are plenty of benches and it would be fun to bring a picnic and eat in the park while enjoying the sun. After being in Scotland for three months, I've noticed that when the sun is out, you have to take full advantage of it and soak it up - this would be a great spot to do that.

The Enchanted Forest

On Monday night we did something really cool....

Firth of Forth Boat Tour

Last week I got tickets to this boat tour that cruises the Firth of Forth (the body of water between Kirkcaldy and Edinburgh) and we checked it out on Friday. Here are a few pictures if you'd like to see...

We started in South Queensferry (luckily it was a sunny day!) which is a little harbor town about 20 minutes away.

For an hour and a half, we cruised around while a recording played that explained the history of the area, what the different islands were, and even what kind of boats had been shipwrecked beneath us!

We made a stop at the island of Inchcolm, where some passengers disembarked to walk around and explore (and then get picked up by a later boat) but we stayed on board and continued the tour.

We had a great view of the famous railway bridge (one of the most famous in the world, they say)...

...and every so often the captain interrupted to tell us where to see seals.

The seals were huge! They also said that the word "golf" comes from an acronym: Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden!! (But we think they were kidding - maybe!). The whole tour was very informative and it was fun to learn a little more about the area we're living in - we'd highly recommend this activity if you're in the area, especially in the summer. The tours are only running through the end of October now, but they'll start back up again in the spring. And, if you go in the summer months, you're almost guaranteed to see tons of puffins and maybe a porpoise or two which would be fun! For us, it was only seals but it was really nice to be out on the water, in the sun.

Arthur's Seat

We're so lucky that Edinburgh is just a 30 minute train ride away, and we've been taking advantage of that to pop into the city for the day or for the afternoon whenever we get the chance. It's nice to not have to squeeze everything in to one trip and to space it out depending on what we feel like doing that day. On Monday, it was sunny and we felt like hiking, so we headed up to Arthur's Seat where you get incredible views of the city below, and in our case, a rainbow!

Oban

Earlier this week we slipped off to Oban for the night, which is a little resort town on the west coast of Scotland. It was so much fun, despite a very wet day of rain on Monday - here are a few pictures if you'd like to see....(storm clouds and all!):

Anstruther, Crail and Elie

At the beginning of September (yikes, that seems like a long time ago!), we did a little day trip to a few of the coastal towns here. Technically, we were searching for the best fish & chips in the world, but we also found time to walk around and explore a bit too. Here are a few pictures if you'd like to see...

Fort William + Loch Ness

At the beginning of this week, Ryan had a few days off and so we took a little trip out to Fort William and Loch Ness.

Here are a few pictures if you'd like to see....

In Search of Fish & Chips

After last week's post, I got about 1,000 recommendations to go up the coast to Anstruther for the world's best fish & chips. So! Ryan had the day off yesterday and we headed that way.

There are multiple fish & chip shops in Anstruther and we tried two: Anstruther Fish Bar, first, which has won UK Fish & Chip Shop of the Year.

The fish was perfectly fried and flakey, and was definitely (so far, at that point) the best fish & chips of my life.

Until we went to The Wee Chippy, which is what the locals recommended, and the fish there was even more perfectly fried and flakey.

In the end, the decision was that The Wee Chippy had a slight edge. Anstruther was beautiful and we had a sunny day which was perfect.

The First Week of Scotland

We made it! Last Monday we arrived in Kirkcaldy and got set up in our new apartment and we've been exploring our new town ever since. So far, we're loving Scotland and it's been so much fun to figure everything out: which grocery store we'll go to, where the best fish and chips are, where to get a good Scottish breakfast...

Here are a few pictures from our first week, if you'd like to see....