Nessie? Is that you? Scotland: Day 2

May 2: Ahh... the morning of my first ever, organized bus tour. I don't know that I'll be taking one again, but it wasn't too bad. Anyways, that's jumping the gun. We booked it online, and had nothing but a confirmation number and the name of a bus stop to meet at... that and some hope that it was all legitimate. Turns out, that's just how they do it there, and we hopped on the bus around 8 in the morning.

I was headed to the Scottish Highlands, and I was going to enjoy every minute of it despite the group of 7 or 8 really loud, obnoxious, chatty, 40-something Italian guys sitting behind me. :) Well, we're riding along hearing about all of the old Scottish folklore, and there are just these amazingly beautiful views. I don't really know how to explain it other than it was beautiful. Well, our first stop (and a few of the others, as it turns out... since we drove right past Stirling Castle.) was not so amazing and historical or breathtaking or anything. It was a coffee shop. On the plus side, I did get to meet Hamish(left) the highland cow. He was the cutest critter I've ever seen. Him, and some more of the thousands and thousands of baby lambs along the country side. Did you know that Scotland has more sheep than people?

Anyways, we continued, and along our path was the William Wallace monument, as well as Doune Castle (the one from Monty Python), and the bridge you have to cross to get there. Well, we continued on past beautiful vistas hearing things about Silkes, Mermaids, and other folklore. Drove through Glen Coe, Loch Lomond, and all of those other fabulously Scottish places. Little language lesson: Loch just means Lake. Glen just means Valley. Who knew? Eventually, we stopped for a restroom break at a place offering about 17 different free samples of Scotch whiskey. Hey, you have to experience the culture, right?

Then, it was off for the last leg up to Loch Ness. Along the way, we stopped at the Hidden Glen. It has some history of a massacre that was partially prevented by a boy having a premonition and telling everyone in his people to flee their city and hide in this glen. (left) But yes, it's true, I had hopes of seeing Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster. No such luck. After wandering around it for a while, we all hopped back on the bus, back towards Edinburgh.

On the way, we stopped to just enjoy some of the scenery and took a little hike through some forested area with a small waterfall. Along the way, we saw this absurd bridge. Apparently, it was built right after the collapse of another bridge in Scotland, and they wanted to be extra careful to make sure it would continue standing. The name of the guy who designed the bridge that collapsed? Botch. Ever wonder where we got the expression a Botch-job?

Ok, we were finally back in Edinburgh by around 8pm. We grabbed a quick dinner and headed to the station to catch the last train to the airport. Apparently is was the 40th birthday of someone, so we were "serenaded" for about an hour by a bunch of 40 and 50 year old drunk Scotsmen. There's an experience I won't quickly forget. Finally, we were at the airport, where I managed to sleep for about an hour. Bummer. We took an early flight back to Weeze, or at least that's what they tell me. I fell asleep on the plane before we even got off the ground.