Scotland is an amazing country that has so much charm and beauty throughout. The people here have been quite friendly, which at times isn’t necessarily to our benefit – the Scottish accent is so heavy it’s often completely undecipherable as to what people are trying to say. In fact, Jason had to flat out tell a girl one her 4^th attempt of asking him a question “I see your lips moving and I hear your words, I just don’t understand a thing you’re saying.” Not the best way to make friends.

Edinburgh is a true jewel of the country. We of course did the musts, walking down Princes Street, cruising the Royal Mile, checking out the Edinburgh Castle, and wandering the streets. The amount of charm in this town is probably the most we’ve experienced in a city thus far. I felt like I was in a true European city experience, with all the history and battle stories to go along with it.

Speaking of battle stories, Scotland has a lot of history that centers on wars and conflicts, of which our guide on the Whisky and Waterfalls tour couldn’t get enough of – he’s definitely the dungeons and dragons type that gets really wrapped up in the gory details. I must say it was captivating listening to him recap war scenes from the mid-century, taking much time and care to describe the casualties of combat in painstaking detail; one story included the lovely image of a soldiers “manhood” being cut off and put in his mouth as punishment (let’s just say the children on this tour are probably having nightmares from the descriptions!)

As you might have been able to surmise from Jason’s last post, Glasgow wasn’t our favorite city. However, we did manage to get out of the city for a day trip to Loch Lomond, which is the second largest lake in the country. We were lucky enough to catch the Lomond Folklore Festival that happened to be going off that weekend, since everyone knows we’re real Folklore buffs. We managed to take in a performance of traditional Scottish dancing, as well saw the most amazing drum and bagpipe band rock out. I definitely dig the Scottish performers, who all really know how to work the stage. Check out the video clips of this.

You know the food in a country is definitely not the most gourmet when something as haggis takes center stage. It's also not the greatest sign when our waiter who insisted we must try it, had no idea what specifically was in it – that’s because it’s a combination of varied animal parts (depending on what you get) as lungs, intestines, liver that are ground up, mixed with oatmeal and then deep fried. I’m telling you, putting something in a boiling bath of oil and frying it, can make anything taste good. It was actually quite similar tasting to falafel!