Mumford, Stonehenge, and Back To Site

Mumford & Sons In London!!!!

Saturday morning we caught the train back to London, saying goodbye to Scotland which we both fell a bit in love with on our trip.  Mumford & Sons was headlining an outdoor festival at the grounds of Olympic Park.  The show was amazing, although we could have done without the outdoor festival atmosphere.  We're both past the age when 50,000 drunk idiots who don't know the lyrics and talk during the slow B-sides is fun... (we were never really the type to think that was fun)

Can't wait to see them again outside a festival atmosphere.

Me trying to avoid skin cancer... notice the noodle bar in the background. Amanda has a "Fish or Noodles" song and dance from the 45 minutes she spent deciding between eating fish or noodles.  Please ask her to do the "Fish or Noodles" dance.

Stonehenge

 

And like most tourists in England, we took a 5 hour trip to look at some stacked rocks that we don't understand the significance of.

Amanda and I at Stonehenge.  The first people who took our picture had us in the middle as a closeup so you couldn't see the stones... we let them get ahead and asked for another couple to give it a try.

Just a picture I liked from my last breakfast in Scotland.  I love being the western world.

Whose foot is whose?

 Back To Work

After all that it was time to head back to work.  I imagine the next 7 weeks will have minimal blog posting, but I will try to fill you in from time to time... Starting August 30th Amanda and I will be in Italy together for 10 days can't wait to share it with you all.  

Amanda Gets Her Afternoon Tea & Other Adventures In Scotland

Life Changing Mustard

Early on in our trip we dined at a restaurant that brought out a mustard dish and told us it was French Mustard, it was excellent.  Shortly thereafter we dined at another restaurant that brought out what they told us was English Mustard, once again, excellent.  And then on our next meal stop we found plain mass produced mustard packets out on the table, to our disappointment after succulent mustard experiences thus far... we were shocked to find that their fast food restaurant mustard packets pretty much blow away premium American Dijon mustards.  We ultimately resolved that we can't go back, and from now on we were going to have to buy imported English mustard.

The Drive to Stirling

We've been treated to some beautiful sights on the road thus far, but none beat the drive from Fort William to Stirling passing through the Glencoe Mountains. We didn't make very good time as we stopped about every 5 miles for about a 20 mile stretch.

And the amazing part is... these photos don't do it justice.

Amanda is doing a panoramic with her iPhone... I'm going to try to combine some pictures into a panoramic with third party software once I'm back in the Middle East.

Here is that panoramic shot. Click for full resolution.

More beautiful Scotland.

Amanda has pointed out that I make a face when I look in the mirror.  It always makes her giggle. This is me trying to replicate my mirror pose, and make her giggle.

Eventually we needed to stop pulling over every time there were pretty sights because... "It's Scotland... it's all pretty"

The 'How I Met Your Mother' Bet

For quite a while I have theorized the possibility, I stress possibility because I don't think I've ever claimed it to likely be correct, that the conclusion to 'How I Met Your Mother' might not have Ted ultimately end up with 'the Mother.' 

Components of this theory include the possibility that the children do not have the same mother, the mother dies a tragic death, and various other ridiculous theories I've had.

Thus Amanda and I have placed a bet...

At 30 to 1 odds Amanda has wagered that the following 3 conditions will not all be met...

1. 'The Mother' dies a tragic death. 
2. Ted ends up with Robin
3. Only the daughter is a biological child of 'The Mother.'

What we have not decided is what we are betting 30 x 1 and would love suggestions.  Please keep them PG.  Tickling for set periods of time has been considered, as I hate being tickled and Amanda loves tickling. I recently discovered a ticklish spot on Amanda and now finally have a chance to combat her.

More Castles

Upon reaching Stirling, and struggling to find parking in a thriving downtown wrapping around castle hill we enjoyed the sights of one of Scotland's most historic castles, and views of one of it's most important cities, Stirling.

The views of the city were excellent and it was interesting to see a royal castle restored to capture the living conditions of the time.

Here are some views we were able to take in.

One of the castle buildings and garden.  The queen could look down from this garden and watch her husband the king hunting in his own personal park below.

The William Wallace Monument in the distance.  After being here I can't wait to watch Braveheart again.

We headed off into the countryside for another night in a castle, this one a smaller castle that had been occupied by one of the regional lords. 

Culcreuch Castle is said to be haunted by a phantom harpist.  To Amanda's disappointment and my relief, we didn't see any ghosts or hear any harp music.

We hiked around the castle grounds and saw this rainbow.

And we saw these sheep.  Sheep aren't a rare site here, but Amanda had been wanting a good picture of sheep so we were excited to come across them.

No New Damage!!!

After breakfast in the castle we headed out for the final drive on our journey, the return to Edinburgh. It was by far the easiest drive we had done, as it was almost entirely major highways with medians.  We dropped off the rental car and held our breath as the car was inspected and the receipt handed over indicating no new damage.  (I had nicked a couple of curbs and the inspector took a pretty close look at my tire before finishing his assessment.

Tea Time at the Castle

Our final attraction to see in Scotland was Edinburgh Castle and it did not disappoint.   Another beautiful castle situated on a hill overlooking a picturesque landscape and beautiful Victorian and Gothic architecture, Edinburgh Castle surprisingly provided the one thing that had eluded us our entire trip thus far... a traditional afternoon tea service.

Amanda had indicated early in the trip that she would really like to have an afternoon tea service, but we never seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and despite several attempts it had eluded us thus far.  After our guided tour ended in Edinburgh we found it was 2:00 in the afternoon and the tour had ended right in front of the Tea Room.  It was the perfect day to wrap up our tour of Scotland.

Lady Luckie preparing her tea...

... and enjoying a cucumber sandwich. 

The menu.

At first I was intimidated by this pink coconut covered pastry.

But then I dove right in.

We spent our last night in Edinburgh climbing up to Carlton Hill Park and taking in views of the city.

We are on our way back to London now and don't expect to be able to blog again until Tuesday.  Scotland has been an amazing place to visit and will be a cherished memory for the rest of our lives.  

The Continuing Scottish Adventures of Ryan and Amanda - Days 6 & 7

The Bed and Blankets

We last left you all after an excellent dinner in Foyers, a small Loch Ness community where we had settled in for a night in a B&B before continuing our travels.  The next morning we awoke early, as we almost always do here, mostly due to the 4 AM sunrise.  We packed up and waited a bit before heading into the common areas as breakfast was advertised to be served at 9 AM.

... let me back up a second... When we arrived at he B&B the night before a computer monitor was flashing a pointer towards the wall where a binder clip had an envelope with my name on it and the key to our room inside, we'd arrived late and never really thought much of it.

Well 9 AM came and we headed outside to the car, put our bags inside and ventured into the dining room.  Absolute silence.  We then ventured into the kitchen... no activity or suggestion that anyone was even considering cooking breakfast...  We looked at each other, shrugged, reflected on the fact that this hotel might be run by a computer.   The literature concerning the hotel said B&B, and since there was clearly no breakfast (or not a timely one by any means) we resolved that the second 'B' must stand for blankets.  Don't get me wrong, it was a nice little place (see picture above), and we'd probably go back... but we'd bring some pop tarts.

Castles

The next day's travel took us to Eilean Donan Castle, which we had missed out on the day before.  Click on the picture below to get the full view... my blog window won't do the panoramic justice...

The drive also gave us some relief from the prior day's challenge.  Wider lanes, fewer turns, and better weather made the driving experience much more pleasant... plus views like this didn't hurt...

We topped off the day with one of the surprises I was most proud of planning on our trip... A night at Inverlochy Castle Hotel in Fort William.

There would not be anything to complain about the next morning at breakfast...

We arrived downstairs to find a table by the window had been arranged for us without us ever telling them that we would be down for breakfast.  The table was prepared with a selection of jams and it wasnt long before we had juice, water, coffee, tea, and a pastry basket sitting before us while we decided on our cooked to order selection.

I selected the full Scottish Breakfast, including Scottish bacon, sausage, eggs, mushrooms, tomato, haggis   and black pudding.   Upon learning of the ingredients of haggis and black pudding Amanda mandated I brush my teeth 5 times before kissing me again... she settled on just once.

Before leaving we took a stroll around the grounds and took some pictures of the beautiful surroundings...

I really enjoyed surprising Amanda with Inverlochy and so she put up with me taking some pictures of her, something she generally hates.

It began to drizzle in the walled garden, so I was fortunate enough to get a picture of Amanda looking cute with her yellow umbrella.

By this time Amanda had had enough of my photography and took the camera away.

She took this picture...

Tomorrow night... Life Changing Mustard, The Drive to Stirling, More Castles, Tea Time, and Ryan & Amanda's HIMYM Bet.

More On The Great Fleecing

Me putting on a brave face before I am deepicified.

Before and after.

A shot taken from the barber shop prior to the deepicification.

Epicness Vanquished... Amanda Victorious

A decisive battle was waged this week between the forces of epicness and Amanda... Amanda won...

In all fairness I was going to shave anyway, it was starting to annoy me, doesn't mean I don't miss it a bit.

We made our way into Scotland Monday morning... this is just one of many beautiful scenes from the train ride.

Edinburgh may be my new favorite place in the world.  I've never experienced a richer collection of history, culture, architecture, and landscape... then again I was there on a sunny day in July.

Once again, beautiful Edinburgh... we climbed up to the chapel on the hill in the background.

And here's the view from the top.

Amanda decided to celebrate her victory by having some Fish and Chips.

Today we made our way across the Scottish Highlands and visited Urquhart Castle, or the ruins of said castle... We had planned on Eilean Donan but complications with weather, me learning to drive on the left side of the road, and a serious misjudgment of the quality of Scottish roads caused us to cut that out of the agenda.

Castle Urquhart overlooks Loch Ness and was a pivotal fortress in the Scottish Wars of Independence.

... isn't Amanda cute.

After visiting the castle we headed to a bed and breakfast to settle in for the night... the way in included a 1 lane road curving around these beautiful Scottish hills.  Every 100 meters or so there is a "Passing Place" where you need to get over to before the car on a collision course reaches you.

But the journey was worth it because this is the view of Loch Ness from the B&B, and tonight we had the best meal so far of our trip at a small bar and grill in one of the hill communities along the way.

Ryan & Amanda's British Adventure - Days 1-3

Catching People Up

We met up Friday at Heathrow and made it to our hotel relatively easily.  It was a rainy day so we didn't venture into central London at all but just tried to get to sleep early and prepare for the day ahead.  Days two and three we wandered around London a fair bit, which we will try to chronicle in this blog.  We're currently enjoying a relaxing rail trip to Edinburgh where we will start the 5 night Scottish leg of our trip.

The Pro's and Cons of Beards - 

My beard is now at its all time most awesome.  Amanda rolled her eyes upon reading the preceding sentence.   Yesterday at the London Eye the ticket agent told me "not only do you have an epic beard, but an epic name."  I was left in total agreement, my beard is epic.  But my beard isn't 100% awesome all the time, as hard as that might be to believe... part of the price of epicness is that sauces, coffee, and foodstuffs have a tendency to get caught in the mustache; keeping the beard clean is a constant struggle.

Pictures For Friends and Family 

Amanda and I in St. James Park after viewing Buckingham Palace.  This picture was immediately dubbed Beauty and the Beast.

We took this picture just to show cappuccino froth getting stuck in my beard but this picture came out much better than the 'after' so I decided just to put this up.

Tower of London after seeing the Crown Jewels

I was left feeling very manly after Amanda did not recall the significance of this sign.  It wasn't long before she had maneuvered me into singing the muffin man song.

Mom & Dad, thanks for treating Amanda and I to some special treats on our trip.  Here we are enjoying the Champagne Pod on the London Eye.

View from the London Eye.

Enjoying a river cruise with Amanda.

Me enjoying a pint at the Anchor, a bar on the south bank of the Thames that hosted both Shakespeare and Dickens in their times.

Each time we went by the houses of Parliament and 'Big Ben' I just couldn't believe architecture that was on display.  Can't really think of anything in the states that compares.

Not sure exactly what the point of this was but it was on display in the White Tower Armory in the Tower of London.  

Psst... I'm not really on the phone!!! I'm just posing.

The Tower Bridge on our open top bus tour.

We saw Wicked Saturday night.  It was a fun show and was incredibly well done by the cast.