Scotland - Day 7 - Inverness & Edinburgh

Caramel Heaven Sundae. The name speaks for itself

Culloden Battlefield

Memorial Cairn at the Culloden Battlefield

Cawdor Castle. Someone still lives here!

Look mom - a cannon!

Lovely gardens at Cawdor Castle

Our delightful B&B in Edinburgh

Another photo of the room

In Edinburgh's New Town, looking toward the Old Town

Three??!! I can only handle one as it is!

Josh on the Royal Mile

Today was another transition day.  We had our last breakfast at the simple but sufficient Strathness House in Inverness and headed out by car down the highway.  We stopped at two locations on the way out of Inverness before continuing on the long (3 hour) drive down to Edinburgh.  We had a long stop at the Culloden Battlegrounds -- where the last great battle between the Highlanders (Scotland) and Britain.  The museum walked you through both vantage points so you could get a good sense for the differing viewpoints.  The battle happened in the late 1700s and up until this point, the Highlanders (supporting the Jacobites who were trying to gain "rightful control" of the throne) had one every battle against the British. But not this one.  They were crushed by the British in less than 1 hour.  Their plans of a surprise attack were foiled by torrential rains and fog.  They had to call off their surprise attack in the middle of the night because they realized they wouldn't make it to the British's camp in time.  By the time morning came along, the Highlanders were exhausted from lack of sleep and food.  When time for battle came along, they were not prepared for the fight of their lives -- not like the well-rested and well-fed British.  After the battle, the British made sure there would be no more uprisings and tried their best to root out all vestiges of Celtic culture and support.  One of the many reasons why (probably) there is still some resentment by the Scots of the English.

Right down the road was the Cawdor Castle -- one that is still being used to this day! The owners let people tour a large part of it even with them still living there.  Josh liked walking around and seeing the old rooms.  What was amazing is that the place was never built with a real kitchen!  It was added over time.  The most recent kitchen addition looks very good and is quite large.

After that, we headed down the long highway down to Edinburgh.  It was Sunday afternoon and the two lane highway was quite crowded for half of the trip.  They didn't have consistent 4-lane highways until about 30 minutes before Edinburgh.  It was a bit frustrating but we got there nonetheless.  This was my last day of driving in the U.K.  I may have looked the wrong way a few times (and cut it close a few times when I did) but in the end, it was a fun experience.  The car was quite large and wide for these country roads.  But it fit our luggage well and was quite sporty.

We arrived at the B&B (14 Hart Street) in Edinburgh around 6pm and checked into our room.  All the rooms are downstairs which makes it seem like they are just renting out many of their rooms.  But it is quite well done and the room is fairly large.  It's in a residential neighborhood in the "New City" but the main old center is only about a 10 minute walk from here.  We headed out for our dinner at an Italian restaurant (Vittoria on the Bridge).  Food was quite good.  The caramel ice cream and sundae were outstanding for dessert.  The best tasting caramel ice cream (Josh's) and sundae (Karen and I) have ever had.

We had a nice stroll around the old part of town which was quite bustling with the "Fringe" festival ongoing.  Lots to see.  And the sun doesn't go down until around 9:15pm and is twilight for at least an hour after that.

Tomorrow we need to do some much needed laundry.. visit the town and have a fun night at the military tattoo. (festival)

I'm not sure if it's the fact that we speak the same language -- or the type of trip we're taking so far -- or a combination of both, but I have felt a stronger connection to the people we've met so far than in any other place on the European mainland.  They are totally connecting with Josh, especially at the restaurants.  I already mentioned how the Torridon restaurant went out of their way to make him his favorite flavor of gelato -- Mango -- for dinner. And at Cafe One in Inverness, the manager was having a great time with Josh.. and Josh got the cook to make him mashed potatoes with his meal even though it was not something they had on their menu.  The manager suggested he go over to the kitchen and say thank you to Chef David.  Which of course Josh did -- promptly getting up and walking over there.  He said thank you again to him and shook his hand on his way out of the restaurant.  That was awesome.