Lunch in Amsterdam

Who can guess where we were when we had this meal?

Here are a few more photos from the trip - including the world-famous Fingel's Cave.

One of our days in Iona, we took a boat trip to the Island of Staffa with a group of people -some of them were staying at the McLeod centre with us, some were just folks visiting Mull or Iona for the day. It took about 1/2 an hour to get there in the boat. The best part of this trip was getting up close and personal with some puffins. Puffins love people because we scare the seagulls away from their nests. When we get off the boat, we all hike up a hill (about a 20 minute walk). We could see a flock of puffins on the water below us, and when we sat down and stayed still for a little while, they flew up to check us out. We were surrounded by at least 30 birds - flying back and forth to their nests, and just hanging out near the humans. Beth took this video - there was no zoom involved, we were really this close to them. As a bonus, we saw a mother seal and her pups on the way into Staffa, and a whale on the way back to Iona. We didn't try and take a picture of the whale, we ju

We spent a week living in community on Iona, at the Macleod Centre. We shared a room with a women from Germany, Holland and Austria. Everyday we had a chore - setting up for, serving and cleaning up after one of the meals (we were on supper duty). The food was delicious - fresh, homemade, local and yummy! It was a relaxing week of visiting, napping, hiking and exploring...here's some of what it looked like. Pictures from Iona Here we are on Staffa (more details on the Staffa trip on our next post). Enjoying sunny Scotland. This is a picture of the view from our room. Waking up in the morning to sheep and cows outside the window. Beth relaxing with the cows...until she realized that one was a bull... free range sheep view of the Abbey from the water proving to the locals that Canadians don't live in igloos - we were so cold, we bought wooly hats, and taught everyone the word "toque" Bird on sheep

...well, 2 coaches and a train...we're in Manchester for a quick stop. Pictures and stories of Iona to come.

We're in Glasgow now. First thing you need to know - we're in a public library that has a fully licensed bar! Oh, and free internet. We've also made our first European clothing purchase! Any guesses what's in the Mark's and Spencer's bag? You're right! Long (thermal) underwear. It's bloody cold here - and rainy, although the sun is trying to come out now. Was this our lack of planning? It is July, right? And we are Canadians... Anyway, we are really enjoying Scotland and are making full use of the 2 day "hop on, hop off" bus tour of Glasgow. Tomorrow we head to Oban, then a week in Iona, where internet access may be iffy. We'll be back online as we head south to Manchester in another 10 days.

We arrived in Edinburgh around 11am local time, found our hotel (thanks to Beth's navigation and map reading prowess), dropped off our bags and headed for....breakfast at "Two Thin Laddies". They didn't get thin with the portions - amazing lattes and the biggest bacon, egg and sausage sandwhiches ever! The highlight of Edinburgh (other than the fact the sun came out while we were at the castle) was the tour called "The Real Mary King's Close". A Close is small alley that runs between 2 tenement blocks. Mary King's Close was leveled in the late 1800s to build the Royal Exchange, but due to geography of the city, several flats were preserved underground, becoming the foundations for the new building. The tour took us through several levels of these medieval town alley, and our guide Agnes (aka Karen - who was a character and a half!) told us stories of life of ordinary people from the middle to lower classes, in the 1600s to 1800s. There were stories o

After attending a wedding (congrats Shanta and Eric) and 2 birthday parties all day Saturday, and realizing we hadn't started packing yet and had some travel to book, we actually were ready to go when Mike and Lisa arrived to escort us to the airport! Mike did the "top 5" checklist of things we needed (passports, tickets etc), and Lisa kept us calm, despite her reaction to the size of our bags, and sister Lisa's reassurance she would take very good care of our cats (right Liz?), we loaded into the car and left. The planning and dreaming and reading the guide books were done, the trip is actually happening! 3 Hours delayed thanks to a freak thunder storm, we finally took our seats next to young Thomas from Glasgow - a very, very....very very very...anxious flyer. Katherine helped Thomas out by cleverely distracting him by talking incessantly during ascent and descent. Thomas helped Katherine out by explaning that no, it was not tea, coffee or scotch served at supper b

We committed to our 2 carry-on bags and have loved the reaction from many friends and family: we hope the heart palpitations have stopped... Now we have a predicament.... IT WON'T ALL FIT!