Greetings from the Lakes District

Greetings from the Lakes District
Wow! What a time we are having!!!! Edinburgh is a fantastic city (sorry Davey, but it is) and we really enjoyed our time there. The castle has to be seen to be believed and we had a fabulous tour guide who also took us around the old and new cities - the "new" city was built before Captain Cook was out of nappies... Anyway, all in all a wonderful time. Gary & I also went to a pub for dinner where we totally bamboozled the bartender with our accent - Gary ordered a chardonnay and the guy thought he asked for a "Shark 8". I insisted on pointing to the menu to order my meal - I've seen what can happen, heh Davey? He was a really nice bartender though and it turned out he was Irish and had just moved to Edinburgh and got a job that very day as a maths teacher - he may have been put out when Gary said -"you don't look like a maths teacher" - I'm sure he's still wondering what they do look like!We headed for the Scottish highlands yesterday and heard lots of history from our guide - many battles, massacres & intrigue! I was a bit crook yesterday (but I'm fine now) and so I missed the whisky distillery tour but Gary seemed to enjoy it, including the samples! We also visited Blair Castle which was spectacular and witnessed some breathtaking scenery. Our day was topped off with an excursion to a disused 1700's fort and a toast to Bonnie Prince Charlie with Drambuie (which he invented), complete with bagpipes etc. (As I was under the weather I was treated extra-specially and was given (forgive spelling) Irn-Bru which Davey had told me so much about...it was quite nice. It is a Scottish soft drink which is more popular than coke, Pepsi etc). All that was topped up by a highlight dinner with the piping in of the haggis etc last night. Gaz & I both had haggis (which was surprisingly nice) and we also kicked off the dancing (as all the other pikers were hanging back - you need aussies to get these things going!)We have had a great day again today - the scenery was spectacular, travelling south from Scotland down to the Lakes District in England. We had a cruise on Loch Lomond and Gaz asked me where Nessie was - I wondered why the Loch Ness Monster would be in Loch Lomond...but who am I to say??? With the seat rotation in the bus, we were in prime position today, the front seat! Gary lasted about an hour and we had to swap - too many hills, sheer drops from cliffs etc and he could see everything way too much! Not to worry, the views were unreal and I was blown away by this area here - it is exactly as I had imagined the English countryside to be - narrow lanes with hedges and stone fences, sheep grazing...rain falling...Actually the weather cleared up beautifully by this afternoon and we had sunshine coming through the lakes. It is amazing - all the villages around here are the names of streets in Lakelands - we are staying in Windermere and have seen Ambleside, Ulverston (our street), Grassmere, Buttermere etc - Beatrix Potter lived at Hawks Head!We are going on a steam train ride and boat cruise on Windermere tomorrow and then on to Warrington for one night and then on to Dublin - the Gaz is starting to get very excited about setting foot in Ireland. I found out a bit about the Ross clan while I was in Scotland - I really need to pay more attention to the whole family tree thing!!Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone - thanks for your emails - I do appreciate it!LoveP&G