Day 8 or day 1 take yer pick!

:)
Posting from Glasgow's Starbucks. Imagine that. Us. Finding a Starbucks in Glasgow. Starbucksdar. Like coffee radar.

Breakfast at Ballochneck was astounding (only got a pic of the toast -- sorry). So was the big fluffy down bed. Zowie!

So, just poking around Glasgow today. May do a distillery on the way back to Ballochneck later, but probably tomorrow.

Feels good to be wed. :)

And finally

The food. :)

A wonderful day. We miss you all.

The cake!

I now present

Mr. and Mrs. Elser

Where the reveling will later occur...

Did I spell reveling right? No matter.

I can't believe this is Fiona and Donnie's home!

Patience

Morning prep

We are here at Ballochneck. The girls are upstairs having their makeup done. They had their hair done up earlier this morning at the village down the road (Arnprior). Les and Pam both look great. :)

The manor is phenomenal. I'll post a couple pics here. Fiona and Donnie, our hosts, have a Bull Terrier and a Black Lab which they brought in for a couple minutes to meet us. Made me miss Simon and Herman. Feo, too.

The guests will start arriving in about an hour and a half. The big moment comes in about three hours. I imagine Chuck and I will jump in our kilts in about two hours and fifty seven minutes. ;)

Then the vows and we can relax.

Wedding Day

:)

Day 6. Wedding Eve.

Feels like it should be an official holiday. Wedding Eve. It's our first weekend day here (well, first we have any non-jet lagged memory of) and the town was abuzz with people. Shoppers everywhere. Lots of drinking (boy they get started early) and the weather just as suddenly turned from late fall feel to early winter feel. The air has a nice chill to it and the skies opened up a couple times with a nice cold rain. It's been absolutely beautiful (but we are the kind of folks that find the idea of a Florida vacation abhorrent ;) ).

Today we stayed local. Slept in and grabbed an early lunch. Then we all did our own thing with Chuck heading back to the apartment, Pam going shopping solo, and Les and me finishing up some last minute stuff. I got a quick haircut and then we spent a couple hours sightseeing and shopping downtown. We saw a cat that needed petting then picked up the cake at Marks & Spencer and met up with Chuck, Pam, Lesley's aunt MaryJo and her two friends Judy and Alba (or Alva, or... ? Nice lady regardless :) ).

Chuck treated us all to a nice dinner (yep, I had Haggis) and we are now back at the apartment, packed and chomping at the bit for tomorrow.

Tomorrow. Can't wait for tomorrow to be today.

Day 5. Let the prep begin!

This morning started off with a jaunt over to Callander to feed Hamish and check out the woolen mills. It's amazing how many Hamish toys and shirts and other memorabilia can actually be made. But the guy is cute ( as is his girlfriend and their little one).

After Callander we took Les and Pam to Arnprior for their hair trials while Chuck and I picked up our kilts. Being a knife collector I was aghast to learn that Scottish law prohibits renting the sgian dubh with the kilt. The sgian dubh (skeen-doo) is the traditional Scottish dirk/dagger worn in the kilt sock as part of the whole ensemble. The Brits are so worried about knife crime (90+% of which is committed using kitchen knives, but I digress) that they have banned renting of this piece of their heritage. Instead you get a prop that looks like one, only isn't. Bah! So I bought a proper one (Oh ouch. Twist me arm! ;) ).

Les and Pam both looked stunning with their hair all done (sorry, no pics) and Chuck and I looked like, well, guys in kilts. :p

We wrapped up the evening with a trip to an Irish pub of all things where I had... More haggis (which I also had for lunch, but in a pie crust - yum!). :D

Tomorrow we pick up the cake and pack for the wedding/honeymoon.

Day 4. The other coast.

Of course, I suppose a country that has a coast everywhere but to the south really only has one looooong coast, but by "other" I mean west.

Today we took a long and leisurely drive to the northwest and through the uplands and southern highlands to Fort William. I have to say, not that I am an expert, but I think the most beautiful country in the world are the highlands of Scotland in the autumn. I was awe struck. Or as they say here, positively gobsmacked. I really have no words in my meager vocabulary to aptly describe the grandeur. Images of mountains and fog blanketed lochs, valleys of every green, gold and red hue imaginable, and air so crisp and clear -- memories that can keep my dreams full for the rest of this life.

Then there was the Jacobite train to Mallaig. More highlands vistas and of course the Glenfinnan Viaduct. Or also known as the Harry Potter train and viaduct. Very cool, but the scenery was just too much competition for Mr. Potter. Even the best CGI from Dreamworks (or whoever did it) just can't hold a candle to these lands. Mallaig is a coastal fishing village so the views of the sea and the rivers feeding it were nearly as spectacular as the highlands themselves.

On the way back we stopped in Callander for dinner and snapped a few pics of Hamish. Hamish McKay Denovan is a Highland bull. Cutest bull I'd ever seen. We're hoping to go back tomorrow time permitting to feed him and do some sightseeing in Callander.

So for now Hamish will have to feed our critter fix, and the scenes from today will have to feed our souls.

As for the pics, the best are on the camera so the blog will have to suffer (though the one of Lesley's dad Chuck and his reflection came out pretty good for a camera phone). Pics can't really do the Highlands justice, anyway. I did include the obligatory pics of lunch (more fish and chips) and dinner (more haggis).

Day um three?

More rest. Only woke at four this morning. That meant we were up for Chuck's home made breakfast. Yum. The man has a gift.

Went to St. Andrews today. Got to play around in the sea, visited St. Andrew's Castle and St. Andrew's Cathedral. Got pictures of the Old Course, of course. The Castle was way cool. Followed a mine shaft under it from when it was besieged. Very creepy.

Best part of the day was visiting Di Gilpin's studio. Di is a world famous knitware, pattern, and hand-spun yarn designer. We got to see some of her latest fashions and ended up buying enough yarn for an army of Scotsmen's kilt hose (though I think it's technically enough for one pair), a couple patterns, some knitted gloves... and a sweater that is just phenomenal.

Meeting Di and Kristen really was a huge highlight. Such genuinely nice people. I'm sure if it wasn't already growing dark we would have stayed much longer. I know Lesley was really touched.

Anyway, on to the pictures. As before, I have no idea what order the software will put them in, but all I got with the phone cam was the surf and coast, the 18th at The Old Course, and a couple of Di Gilpin's studio. :)

Tomorrow the Jacobite Train!

Day 2 Sterling Castle

Day 2 I think.

This jet lag is a killer. Got a full day in today, though. Of course, our day started at 2 am! :p

Spent the better part of the day at Stirling Castle and the nearby cemetery. Beautiful! Sadly, all my pics are on my real camera so all I have for you today are food pics. Breakfast (including black pudding and fried bread), lunch (fish & chips), and dinner (chocolate cake). :D

What are the odds this Blogger app uploads the pics in the proper order?;)