Final 3 Days

Our last few days in Scotland we did more relaxing, a little hiking, a little picnicking, the fanciest dinner I've ever had,  a lot of driving, and we visited Edinburgh. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures from this point on unless it was with my Iphone, and even of those I have very few. It was a very beautiful area (of course!), and mostly because of a fear of not being able to capture the beauty, and, if I am being honest, the fear of having to edit/organize all the photos!

June 17th

We went to visit Stirling Castle where William Wallace overtook a much larger English force. We walked around the old city, and toured some old churches, jails, and a very large graveyard. On our way back we saw a sign to pick strawberries, and bought some sandwiches from their bakery and headed back towards our hotel with the hopes of finding a place to picnic...so easy to do in Scotland. After we ate we explored around the Loch. Then we drove back to Balquhidder and stopped by Rob Roy's grave and walked around the church there and found a waterfall not too far off.

I didn't take this, I wish! But this is the castle with the city just below it and that is the William Wallace Monument. 

June 18th

We went on a few hikes on our final day around the area where we were staying. and then drove a little ways to Callander and walked to Bracklinn Falls.  It was a really pretty town that had a very hometown feel to it.

June 19th

We drove to Glasgow and found our hotel. We then walked to the train station to get a ride into Edinburgh. We were so tired by this point that I didn't have the energy to do much, plus we felt the time crunch to get back to Glasgow. We walked along the Royal Mile then up to the castle. It was pretty incredible to see this entire city built out of granite.  There was a man dressed up as William Wallace doing a bit that we watched that was very entertaining, and some rock band that included bag pipes.The thing I mainly remember about being there, was just all the different cultures and languages we heard. I love stuff like that, and I love people watching...I just hope no one is ever watching me! As we were trying to find our way back to the train station, we walked down a large stairway and each step was a different shade of granite, unpolished of course, but really beautiful. We finally found the station hoped on our train and then walked back to our hotel for the night. As we were walking back, we happened to walk right in front of one of our church buildings there! Made me wish we were staying through Sunday!

Loved, loved, LOVED our time there! Of course it would take a lifetime to explore all the beauty there is in Scotland. I was amazed by all the water. Every where you looked there was a loch, or a waterfall, or a stream. And If you didn't happen to see water, if you went around a bend in the road or over a hill you would. So incredibly stunning. This world is an incredibly beautiful place! Thanks to Patrick for the surprise and trip of a lifetime. He knows in order to get me there he'd need to surprise me. XOXOXO

But nothing beats coming home to a house full of boys!