Welcome to London 09-28

     09-28 was a bit of a rest day for us. We took a train to London today and located our apartment - which, BTW, is pretty dang cool - and settled in for the night. We worked out the bedroom situation, and went to the little store down the street to get food for the next couple of days, as well as some wine to get relaxed ;)
     This was my first time on a train, as well as Charlie's. With that, we also experienced a ride on a double decker bus for the first time. With that said, I don't have many pictures for today.
     Oh, since our train arrived in King's Cross landing, we also got to see the 'Platform 9 3/4' sign from Harry Potter. I had planned some stuff for photo ops with this sign, but the line in front of me planned something as well. Since I don't have much patience - It just didn't work. Here are the photos :)

Our Land! The reason for this trip 09-27

     Our land. Yes, Charlie and I own a whopping 2 sqft of land in Scotland. It's actually pretty cool - Legally, our titles are Lord Charles Ritchie, and Lady Lynee Ritchie. The land is sold by a couple/company that wants to preserve the natural forests of Scotland. They don't want their children to sell off the land to big companies for development, so they sell small portions of it around the the world - to ensure that all the land could never be acquired. Matt and Angie bought this for Charlie and I in 2011 - for a wedding present. Honestly - this is probably the coolest present ever.

     Anyway, we went to visit our land today, which was the whole reason we came on this trip in the first place. As is natural, we took some photos ;) 

On our moss covered land. Clockwise starting in the white - Charlie, Matt, Angie, Me

Our 'non-goofy' poses

And here is the goof

Okay - didn't realize the cleavage till now - but I was mimicking Miley Cyrus (spelling?) considering her tongue is always hanging out - and the whole twerking thing ;)

Me and my man

The base of the trees

     The rest of this day was followed by a long drive back to Edinburgh, in order to catch the plane to London in the morning.

Loch Ness, Matt's family castle, Isle of Skye 09-26

Ah. Now it's a shame that I don't have the immediate time to tell you of the glory of today's travels. 09-26, we put our feet in Loch Ness (who can visit Scotland without seeing Loch Ness??), toured the castle that Matt's ancestors built and ruled (still rule, just don't live there), and hiked, dipped in, and reveled in the magnificent Fairy Pools of the Isle of Sky.
Again, when I get home - I'll give some detail, but for now - Pics:

Loch Ness:

Matt's Castle:

Fairy Pools: Just a sneak peak - because this place was glorious beyond belief

He really wanted a refreshing dip in the smallest pool around.

Was it cold Matt?

Castle Hunting and Drive through Scotland, 09-25

Gotta keep this short and sweet - as we have an early morning train to catch.
09-25 was a day of driving. We headed to Aberdeen through the castle loop route, trying to find castles to take pictures of - while we made our way west for the next days adventures. I'll blog some detail when we get home (since there is obviously no down time here) - but for now, here are some pics:

Random castle - the name escapes me

We found a beach

Cute little cow

Edinburgh at Night 09-24

Edinburgh. I don’t know what I could possibly say about Edinburgh that could fully express how much I love it. This is a place I could live. We expected the city to 90s themed touristy like Dublin, so we didn’t have high hopes – but it blew us out of the water. It’s absolutely gorgeous here. The city is layered, built with old brick, and most dwellings that of the original structure. The streets are cobblestone, and the stores prideful of their Scottish heritage. This felt like home to me, in the sense that I was proud to know I have lineage with the Scots. I was proud to see this thriving city so beautiful, and ever more so to see that it struck true to the history that built it.

After we settled in to our hostel – which was better than all the other places we’ve stayed to date – we saw a flyer for a ‘haunted ghost tour’ of the city at night. We saw that it took you to the underground of Edinburgh – the vaults – and figured, why not?

The tour started with a walk through a part of the city – where an old building used to stand that was used to permanently quarantine those infected with the black plague. The tour guide did an amazing job in building suspense while telling the stories – just had to throw that in there. We then continued to Greyfriars cemetery, where she further explained stories and rumors of paranormal activity, as well as gave insight to the fact that there were over 200,000 bodies buried there, in layers below the dirt. After – we went into the vaults. We were warned that several people throughout the tours feel too much, and get sick in the vaults and have to be escorted out. Based the overwhelming ‘earthly underground’ scent – I could see why. She told us stories of the historic use for the vaults in regards to the Scottish witch trials, and the horrific torture the women went through.

Overall, it was a fascinating tour – getting to learn about the gruesome history of Edinburgh. But being honest with you – I took this as the perfect opportunity to practice my night-time photography skills. Haha, and I must say, I’m pretty darn proud of myself – take a look: Do keep in mind - I have not done any touch up work on any of these. I also did not have my tripod with me. For those of you who love taking pictures - you know, the amount of blur here is pretty dang impressive considering I had to hold my breath and stand as still as possible! Oh, and I have a thing for phone booths...

Okay, this is during the day, but the rest are at night