The north

During our time in Scotland we managed to see quite a bit of the country. We went on several day trips, a couple of trip to Glasgow where visited my family and we also had some overnight trips in the highlands. Niels and I went on two of these trips together and Niels went on a third with his John and Theresa.

The first two photos are of randon stops on our drive west on the first trip.



This is the west coast town of Oban where we spent the night.



The next day we drove up the coast a bit, explored a ruined castle, drove around the loch pictured below.


Then back south east through the famous Glen Coe (below).



On our way back to Edinburgh we came across the castle where they filmed most of Monty Python's Holy Grail - Niels got quite excited when they offered him coconuts...



View from the Monty Python castle.



The next three photos are of Niels' trip to Skye with his parents - beautiful scenery and close encounters with what has to be one of the most beautiful animals on earth.

On our final trip into the highlands we spent three days driving west to Ullapool, then up the coast to the very north of Scotland, then back to the east coast and through the Cairngorms and on to Edinburgh. The first two pictured were taken at Ullapool.

The following three photos were taken on the drive north from Ullapool.

The final two photos are of the beautiful wild beaches on the north coast of Scotland.

Edinburgh

This is a selection of photos from Edinburgh, where Niels and I lived from July to November 2006. The first photo is of Niels and Vinnie on Arthur's Seat. Vinnie is a guy Carly travelled with in Asia, she gave us his details when we were looking for someone for Niels to stay with when he was looking for a place for us to live in Edinbugh. Vinnie ended up being a great mate and I'm sure we'll catch up with him again sometime and sonewhere!!






The second photo is the view from the kitchen window in the second flat we lived in. It was on a street that ran off the Royal Mile in the Old Town. You can see Salisbury Crags in the distance.



The next two photos are of Niels playing. The one on the left is at the Jazz Bar and the one on the right is at the Gilded Balloon during the Fringe Festival

Above is the view down the Royal Mile to the Firth of Forth (which you cross over to get into Fife - seriously!). Our street came off the Royal Mile to the right here.

Below is a view of Salisbury Crags with the main train station in the foreground, then the Old Town.

The castle!

Two of my favourite Edinburgh views, first the view up Victoria Street from the Grassmarket, then the Grassmarket.


Views of the Old Town looking across Princes Park from Princes Street.

The Edinburgh Tattoo.

The last leg

These are photos from the last leg of my journey to the UK - from the Czech Republic to the Netherlands. Mum and I flew into Prague from St Petersberg. We spent a couple of days in the beautiful Czech capital (first two pics), walking the streets, visiting the castle, drinking beer and eating pickled sausages.

We then caught a bus down to a town called Chesky Krumlov (next five pics), which was recommended to me by someone, somewhere in Asia... it lived up to its reputation - similar to Prague but on smaller and, if possible, more beautiful level. We spent another couple of days there, partaking in the national summer passtime of rafting, wandering in some beautiful gardens, drinking more beer and enjoying pickled cheese (not sure what it is about pickled stuff, but it was really good!).

After Chesky we caught a bus, then train, down into Austria to Wien (Vienna). We spent a couple of nights in Vienna, which is a lovely city filled with horse and carts and guys dressed up as Mozart trying to get you to buy tickets to concerts. We didn't make it to a concert, but we did have a horse and cart ride!

From Wien, mum jetted off home and I jumped on a bus that was supposed to take me to Rotterdam to meet Niels for the Northsea Jazz Festival. I did get to Rotterdam eventually, but was about eight hours late as my bus somehow managed to crash into something while in a parking lot somewhere in Germany (I think). I then had to wait for about five hours for a raplacement bus to arrive, which was then caught in a traffic jam for about an hour. Finally I arrived

in Amsterdam to find the replacement bus was stopping there. I continuted to wait another two hours for a bus to take me to Rotterdam. Meanwhile, poor Niels was pacing the streets of Rotterdam searching for me, so, needless to say, it was a releif when we finally found each other!!
We had a great two days at the jazz festival, Niels seeing heaps of great music and me catching some as well. We fitted in a quick trip to Gouda (pictured below) in search of cheese - which we didn't find.














We also visited Den Haag (where we realised how good Australian beaches are) and Delft (pictured below).




After the festival we spent one night in Amsterdam, staying right in the middle of the Red Light District, which was goood fun. Then, the next day it was off the London and the start of a whole new chapter!!