Hello again! - or "Hiya" as they say in Scotland.

I've actually been home awhile now, but for some reason haven't made it by here to say so.

My trip took me through Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England... sort of in that order.

In Scotland I stayed with a young family that my friend was working for as their nanny over the summer. With them we took a trip to Drumnadrochit and saw Loch Ness and Urquhart castle, and some of the Scottish highlands.

And I made sure to take Nessie with me... (more on that later)

Also while staying in Edinburgh with the family I climbed Arthur's seat, ate at the Elephant House, went to Edinburgh Castle - saw the crown jewels (of Scotland) and the stone of destiny, visited a the tartan weaving museum-and-gift-shop, held a brief conversation with a slightly drunk highlander, viewed a lovely weaving exhibit as well the bones of a viking from 900AD and other artifacts dating back to B.C. times at the National Museum of Scotland (among many many other interesting museum-y stuff), visited Greyfriar Bobby's grave (he's a dog... with a statue, and a tombstone), set foot in an old Scottish kirkyard after dark (for all of 2 seconds... we didn't stick around.). Went into the "Creepy Wee Shop in the Graveyard" (yes, there was a gift-shop in a graveyard) explored a 15th century castle without a roof (Craigmillar Castle), took a day trip to northern England and went to the part-time island of Lindisfarne. Among many other things.

Oh yeah, and I saw LOTS of plaid.

That's as much as I can say today, I'll have to tell more later. For now I'll leave you with some photos of the aforementioned places...

Edinburgh Castle

Bobby (he even has a bar named after him!) & Bobby's Grave

Lindisfarne Causeway, The foot path (complete with a safety lifeguard like bench in case you're too slow when the tide comes in), and the castle by the seaside...

Craigmillar Castle