Hen Parties

We took the short flight from Belfast to Edinburgh accompanied by at least two large Hen Parties. One group of girls really looked terrible. In fact, they looked like they had caught the wrong plane. Had they been heading to Boston for the SlutWalk, I would have expected their attire. On the other hand, the other group of girls was pretty cute...t-shirts and all. Nicola's Hen Party 2011...One Hen, Lots of Chickens, and No Cocks! Brilliant, I think.

Mom fell in love with the UK upon arriving in Edinburgh. We stayed at a fantastic little B&B in Edinburgh called The Hedges. The owners Heather and Ian are amazing. Heather is precious! And Ian makes a killer breakfast! Not only did we love our B&B, we loved Edinburgh's architecture. It really is a beautiful, and VERY lively city.

Our first real day in Scotland we spent driving to Blair Atholl, home of Blair Castle. This is where our link to Scottish royalty comes in. Blair Castle is an extremely neat place, surrounded by peacocks as well. (I collect those, remember?) Blair is a very different kind of place, even from the outside its far different from any other castles I've seen but no less resembles those of fairytales. Thank goodness the walls were covered with pictures of the Murray family to whom my mom finds her linkage to Scot Royals.

Blair Castle

We also stopped by Pitlochry for a quick snack and Dunkeld (where our ancestors were married and buried).

Dunkeld Cathedral

Then back to Edinburgh we went in time to catch a fabulous dinner at Conan Doyle Pub where I experienced "haggis" for the first time. After dinner, we had tickets to see Grease (the musical) at the Playhouse. It was the most entertaining thing I've seen in years. Multiple Hen Parties joined us for the show, and every single one of them sang along. They knew every word to every song, just as we did. People were even dancing at the end...forget a standing ovation, just dance to the Grease Remix (yes, the one we hear on the radio on this side of the pond every summer).

Grease is still the word!

Before leaving Edinburgh we took a bus tour, just to make sure we had actually SEEN the sites we were SUPPOSED to see. We also spent some time talking with Heather before exchanging friendly hugs and off we went to catch a train to London.