When we left England on Sunday morning, we crossed the border into Scotland and made our first stop in the village of Gretna Green.
When England made the marriage laws more restrictive way back when and required parental permission to marry if you were under 18 years of age, young English lovers eloped across the border to this small village in order to get married. The town is still famous for this reason (sort of like Vegas!), and over 3,000 weddings a year take place there. We even happened upon a wedding taking place when we stopped there for lunch.
Overall, we found Gretna Green to be a delightfully touristy and cheesy, and we nicknamed it the "Breezewood of Scotland", but that didn't stop us from joining in on the fun of the place.
On to our hotel in Glasgow and dinner that night in a restaurant in the shadows of Stirling Castle, which overlooked the valley where the battle for Scottish sovereignty that Mel Gibson immortalized in "Braveheart" took place.
Stirling Castle as night fell
We were met at the castle by Kevin, a Scottish piper,
who led and piped us down the hill to our restaurant.
A very cool experience.
Sampled a local Scottish brew
The round black morsel on the left is haggis, which we both ate.
It was like a liver pate, and wasn't all that bad, actually.
On Monday, we were driven to Edinburgh where a visit to Edinburgh Castle was the centerpiece of the day.
The wind was blowing to beat hell that day atop the hill where the
Castle sat. It was really cold, too. And the Scots play golf in that!!
The four of us house hunting in Scotland
Mary, Queen of Scots resided there.
She didn't look a thing like Saoirse Ronan.
This was on a bench on the Castle grounds.
Dan and I wanted to bring it home and put it
in front of the Allegheny Sandwich Shoppe.
Overlooking Edinburgh
Had lunch at this pub. I had a "Big Peat Scotch Whiskey Sour,"
and trust me, it was appropriately named.
With a Scottish street musician.
I had to buy that "Scotland" stocking hat to ward off the cold and wind that day.
Can't wait to wear it on the golf course someday
On Tuesday morning, we left Scotland for a trip along the Irish Sea where we boarded a ferry boat that would take us to Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Irish portion of our journey will be the subject of a future Grandstander entry.
A rest stop and photo op along the Irish Sea....
....that included this view of the Ailsa Craig, a huge rock of an island off the coast which is featured whenever the British Open is played at Turnberry in Scotland.
Too bad it was a misty day when we were there, so I couldn't get a real good photo of it.
The ferry boat that would take our bus and us into Belfast.
John played the theme song from "The Love Boat" as we drove up to the dock.
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