Scotland.

Home of my mother’s ancestors.

Rich in history and culture.

Our home for two weeks.

We arrived in Scotland early in the morning July 4th.  When we got off the plane in Glasgow it was raining.  Hard.  Once we were off the plane we had to get our bearings and hop the shuttle into the city.  This was our first bus, as we had to catch the CityLink from Buchanan Street Station into Edinburgh.  Because we were on a very small amount of sleep, this was an adventure, lol.

We did manage to make it to our vacation rental on time after taking the tram (the ticket man on the tram was super helpful).

Needless to say we were wet, cold, and tired.  Also, happy to be “home”.

We got our keys and then had tea and cookies with the lovely women we were renting from.  Then we napped.  We napped hard.  When we woke up we got our groceries at the Scotmid (their co-op) up the street and then walked through the neighbourhood to get some chips for supper.

I knew this day would be a write off, so the weather was not really a disappointment.  We packed for just about every season.  We crashed early and hoped for half decent weather on Wednesday.

Day Two: In Town

We spent our second day just bumming around Old Town (mostly because I forgot our Explorer Pass to get into the Castle at home, oops) and getting our bearings.  We hung out in Princes Street Gardens before heading up to The Royal Mile.

The Royal Mile is amazing.  It is full of a gazillion tourist shops, but we walked it many, many times during our stay.  Our first day on the Mile was a short one, but we got a feel for just how busy it is.  We had lunch at Bryon (which ended up being our fav burger spot) and just took in the sights.

There will be more on the Mile in my next post, I promise 🙂

Before we burgered, we bought tickets to go to the Edinburgh Dungeon.  We had a lot of fun on this attraction, and it introduced us to some of the darker history of Edinburgh.

We definitely recommend this attraction.  It was a good first full day in town activity, especially if you are still getting your bearings.  The actors are awesome and there are two rides (these are optional, so no one HAS to go on them if they wish not to).

After the Dungeon we did some shopping at Boots (kind of like Shoppers/Lawtons) and then went home to have supper and chill.  We were still jet lagged, so that was enough for our first full day.  We still had tons of time ahead of us, so we were okay with a “short” first day!

Next week: Edinburgh Castle, Grassmarket, Harry Potter, and Greyfriars Bobby.

@crazymamaruns