Chapter Fourteen: Ayr

From Edinburgh we drove west through Sterling (the home of William Wallace, aka Braveheart), and up into the highland a bit.  We took a scenic route through Loch Lomand and north west of Glasgow. 
Eventually we made our way to the coastal city of Ayr.  Ayr is the home of famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns, but we had a more personal reason for stopping in this little city.  Daniel and I both had great great grand parents that were contemporaries in this town.  We do not know if they knew each other, but seeing the size of the town made us quite confident that they did.  Our first night there we stayed with some students studying film at the university.  We stayed up till the wee hours of the night (p.s. In Scotland they say wee in front of everything) discussing film and Scottish politics.  The next day we explored the city and went in search of some of my distant relatives still living in Ayr.  My mom was able to give me an address for these distant relatives, but we could not find a phone number and we did not know how accurate the address still was.  Still, I was determined to at least try to make contact and make a connection with my distant cousins.  I walked up to number 27 Marchmont street and knocked on the door.  A wee Scottish man came to the door and confirmed that he was Robert Grahm.  All I could think to say was, "hi, we're cousins!".  He was a bit surprised, of course, and invited us in for tea.  We proceeded to get to know them over tea and they convinced us to stay a few days with them.  They are both Historians and showed us all around the city and surrounding countryside.  In the evening they took us to quiz night at their local pub, it was fantastic!  We loved spending time with them and wished we could have stayed longer.  They were amazing hosts and it was so incredible to connect with long lost cousins from the mother land.  

Robert and Merry Grahm

Ayr at sunset

Discussing Scottish politics at Wellingtons pub

more fantastic street performers

Loch Lamond

Loch Lamond

The Loch

Patrick, our host in Ayr.

Eating in an old church.

fish and chips..........everywhere

Happy in Scotland.

Traditional English breakfast.  Daniel LOVES it!  Fried bread, mushrooms, boiled tomatoes, beans, sausage, ham, eggs and of course, tea.

Ayr

Coast of Ayr

Just a couple of romantic Americans sitting on the coast of their ancestors dreaming about the past.

I hand picked shells to bring back to each of my family members, but then I forgot them on the beach.

Wellies

Robert's little work shed.

Chapter Thirteen: Up to Scotland

We decided to be brave and rent a car so we could roadtrip around Scotland and have the flexibility to get lost in it's beauty.  Daniel actually adjusted really well to driving on the left side of the road and getting used to roundabouts and moterways. 
On our way up to Scotland we stopped in York (an old viking town), and camped in the peak district ( a national park region).  Our first stop in Scotland was Edinburgh, pronounced: Edin-Bura.  We adored this city and had such a great time exploring it.  There is a castle on a cliff where many Harry Potter scenes were filmed, and it is right around where William Wallace is from.  We arranged to couch surf with a man in Edinburgh, thinking he would be some Scottish guy in a kilt, but coincidentally, he was from India.  His name was Shakar and we had a wonderful time exploring the city with him and talking about India.  He cooked us a homemade Indian meal and showed us one of his favorite Bollywood movies. 
We loved our time in Edinburgh and would love to come back to it some day. 

Welcome to Scotland!

Edinburgh

Old town

William Wallace

Flags everywhere for the Jubilee weekend.

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A street performer

How tartans used to be made.

City view from a little mountain.

This is a shot of the little mountain we climbed to overlook the city

We found an unfinished Grecian tower on the top of another hill.

Scotland was not nearly as crazy over the Queen's Jubilee as England was, but still, there were quite a few shops who dedicated their window displays to the event.

Shakar made us a fantastic Indian dinner

Us with our wonderful "Scottish" host, Shakar.  He was a great guy and we had a wonderful time with him.

The Queen's swan.  In the UK all the swans belong to the Queen.  This seriously cracks me up!  I wonder if she has named them all!?

Portland Square!

Baked goods from Bakewell!

Remnants of a castle on the hill in York.

We had lunch at the oldest pub in York.

A man playing the piano in the rain outside of the Cathedral.  Loved it!

York Carthedral

We decided to get lost along the coast of the North Sea and found a darling little castle on the shore that we had all to ourselves.

Fields and fields of mustard seed.

Daniel decided to start his own women's footware company.

The castle where Harry Potter was filmed in Edinburgh.