June 22, 2026 Pictures of Edinburgh Castle, information to come later.

June 21, 2026 Pictures, explanations will come later

06-20-2026 Some pictures from Holyrood (explanations to come later). We did go inside, but no pictures are allowed inside.

06/20/2026 (Pictures only for now. I'll add text and some more photos of the Hop On Hop Off sites on the blue route later).

06-19 and 06-22 2026 Although we did not go to the National Museum or Gallery, we visited some of the smaller museums around Edinburgh. The Museum of Childhood was nostalgic with its displays of toys from the past to present. These baby toys were ones I played with. Fuzzy felt was one of my favorite toys when I was a little girl. My mom collected dolls and I collected Barbies. She would have loved these displays. My sister and I loved playing Mouse Trap and later it was my so

June 18, 2026 After a day of touring Edinburg on the City Sightseeing hop on hop off bus, we got off at the national museum stop and walked to Biblos. We had booked the Folk and Haggis show there to listen to traditional Scottish folk music while enjoying a traditional Scottish meal. The music was excellent, the fish and chips we ordered from the choices - not so much. Perhaps if we had gone with the haggis it would have been better. I did enjoy the Cullen Skink (smoked fish

6/18 and 6/20 Brent read Wealth of Nations when he was 10 to 12 years old, and its Scottish author, Adam Smith, had a profound influence on him. Therefore, when we were in Edinburgh where Adam Smith lectured and lived in his later life, we searched out his statue and grave at Canongate Kirkyard. His statue shows him with a beehive and plough symbolizing his impact on agriculture and industry. He rests his hand on a globe showing his worldwide influence. While walking in the r

6/17 to 6/22 2026 In addition to the historic buildings, we also saw many interesting sculptures and other monuments in our explorations of Edinburgh. The Scott Monument is a Victorian Gothic memorial to the famous Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott who wrote Ivanhoe, Waverly, and Rob Roy. In addition to the large central marble statue of Sir Walter Scott and his deerhound, Maida, there are 64 to 68 smaller statues representing characters in his novels. It is the largest statue

06/17 to 06/21 We flew from Reykjavik to Edinburgh on Wednesday and spent 5 days enjoying this amazing city on our own before our Gate 1 tour began. We used the City Sightseeing hop on and hop off bus for our explorations. They had 3 lines - the red line (primarily the old town with the Royal Mile), the green line, a similar route with some extensions but with a live guide, and the blue line which went into the new town and up into the harbor area with the rivers Forth and Le

April 29, 2023 We tendered into Oban. It is a small, picturesque fishing community. It is known as the "Gateway to the Islands" and is the unofficial capital of the West HIghlands of Scotland. The view from the ship emphasized its location in the Highlands and it was surrounded by the hills of the Highlands. We didn't have a bus tour and I was feeling a bit better so I went into town with Brent. It was fun to poke around in the shops and walk along the waterfront. Oban is fam

April 28, 2023 I was still under the weather when we arrived at the Isle of Skye, our first port in Scotland. I was sorry to miss the tour of the West Highlands, but it felt it was best not to spread the cold my sore throat had developed into. Brent did have a great time seeing the Eilean Dolan Castle and learning about the Highlands. I will need to return someday as I have ancestors from the Highlands. The MacIans were a part of the McDonald clan that feuded with the Campbel

April 16, 2021 We awoke today to the white cliffs of Dover instead of Le Havre, France. Because of the protests in France over the new retirement age, we were unable to come into the port. Rather than spending a day at sea, the captain was able to arrange for us to visit Dover instead. There was a shuttle with stops at both the town of Dover and the Dover castle. We stopped at the Dover castle first. We crossed an actual drawbridge into the castle grounds and gazed out over t

April 15, 2023 Today, after our walk together around Weymouth, Great Britain, Brent took a tour of the Tank Museum in Bovington to see over 300 tanks and other military machines used in key battles from World War II to the modern day. Our day began with the ship coming into to port at Portland (not Oregon). We had missed our stop in Brest, France the day before because of rough seas. We hopped on a shuttle and went to the seaside town of Weymouth to wander around. We didn't s