The next day we got up early and attempted to drive out of the city. Ask Erin and Shane and they will tell you: Never Drive in Edinburgh!! It is a terrifying experience. Once we were clear of the city we headed to the Scottish highlands. The drive was gorgeous, full of heaths and snow covered hills and sheep. Pretty much everything you would want out of the highlands, ruins and all! We stopped for lunch in a very adorable town next to the river Spey. Everyone we encountered was very friendly and our lunch was delicious! Once we finally reached Elgin we checked into our new hostel, the Thunderton House. We got our own room and had access to a kitchen and a fairly nice bathroom. After dropping off our luggage we decided to head to the coast since it was so close! We ended up in the beautiful town of Lossiemouth. I realized how much I have missed the smell of the ocean, but none of us missed it enough to attempt jumping into that water. We walked along to the harbor admiring the waves and wondering at anyone attempting to take a boat in that water. After the sun went down we decided to find some food. We ate and an inn and had our first taste of haggis in the form of an appetizer called, much to our amusement, haggis balls. They were pretty tasty, as was the rest of the meal apart from when Erin attempted to eat a mussel. As well as a wonderful dinner we had an amazing cask ale from the pub next door. Overall we were very impressed with the cask ales in Scotland.
The next day we went to Loch Ness, which I was pretty excited about. We also took a look at the castle Urquhart. Sadly there were no signs of Nessie, she must have been sleeping that day. The lake was absolutely incredible though. I never realized how beautiful it would be in person. On our way home we stopped in a town to check out some Pict ruins. It ended up being another gorgeous coastal town where we also got to see an old Pictish well. To get to the well we had to knock on the door of a house to get a key. It was a little odd at first but in the end the woman was very nice. It was lucky we had Shane around though because he could fill us in on all the history behind the Picts, which I did not really know at all. After heading back to Elgin we stopped off at a Cashmere factory and then went for dinner.
The next morning we woke up and headed out to check out some of the famous Speyside Whiskey. We took a tour of Glenfarcals' whiskey distillery. I had no idea how complicated making whiskey is. I also did not realize that even changing the water source changes all the character of the whiskey, so the amount of water in the river even effects whiskey production. At the end of our tour we were able to sample 10 year old, 15 year old and 25 year old whiskeys as well as one brand called 105. The distillery is a family owned business and has been run by the same family for the entirety of its existence. After our tour it was on to Edinburgh. On the drive home we saw a red deer, many pheasants (in fact it is quite common to see pheasants as road kill!) highland sheep and highland cattle! Once back into the city though we checked into our amazing bed and breakfast! The place was adorable and they even gave us all our own fuzzy robes to use! We went for dinner at a pub down the street which was pretty delicious. I had a steak pie that I loved.
The next morning we had an amazing breakfast and met some other Americans staying in B&B. Afterwards we went out to see the city, and I got us more than a little lost. In the end we got there and were at the castle in time to see them fire the cannon. We got to see the Stone of Destiny and the Crown Jewels. We also got to enjoy the beautiful view from the castle. After the castle we went to find the statue of Greyfriar's Bobby. Then we wandered in to the Natural History museum and saw and exhibit on lighthouses and some ancient Roman and Pictish artifacts.
After we were done sightseeing we ate an amazing dinner in a pub called The Last Drop, which had a symbol of a hangman's noose on it. We spent New Year's eve tasting delicious cask ales in various pubs, including a few of Robbie Burns' favorites! And at midnight we watched fireworks go off above the castle. Then we made the long trek back to our B&B to pick up our stuff and head to the airport for our VERY early flight to Amsterdam. On our way back through the city we met many friendly people and we even came across a fox running across the road! It was a wonderful Scottish Hogmanay!
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