Tulips and Tartan

Jeremy and I decided that we would make more of an effort to go places and take advantage of the time we have here in the UK.  Late last month we went to Keukenhof, Holland to the tulip festival.  The theme this year was Great Britain, land of the great gardens.  We happened to go on the weekend when they were celebrating the theme, each weekend they did something different.  They had a bag piper, Irish dancers, the royal guard, a beetle and double decker bus they decorated in flowers and a mosaic of flowers of big ben and other famous London attractions.  A couple days later the Dutch Queen abdicated her throne to her son so the weekend we came was particularly crowded.  Jeremy had to speak in church on Sunday and we got a late start Friday night since Romeo had surgery earlier that week and wasn't doing well so we had to get him in for a last minute appointment before we left.  As a consequence we could only get as far as Dover the first night and had to drive the rest of the way there and back on Saturday.  We didn't really have time to tiptoe through the tulips it was more of a fast walk.  Gwendolyn was a pretty good sport considering a late night the night before, and an early 5 am wake up call.  Those who know our little girl know she takes her beauty sleep serious so that was about 4 hours earlier than she would have preferred to rise.  The ferry had a play area which was nice since it was about a 2 hour ride from Dover to Dunkirk, France.  We had to make some modifications to our car, especially the headlights so we didn't "dazzle" the French drivers according to the instructions of the headlight stickers.  We also had to purchase a breathalyzer test as part of the kit to travel in France.

The 2nd Councilor in the bishopric found out we did all that basically in one day to get back for church and advised if we ever go back, or anywhere to go for more than one day.  We had to agree.  We're just fortunate Gwendolyn was so easy going about the whole thing.  That was a lot of car time.  This last weekend we were in Scotland with Jeremy's brother and wife and her sister and husband.   We went to Edinburgh and saw the castle and crazy Scots wearing kilts in the frigid weather.  The castle in Edinburgh is nothing like Windsor castle which is besides being a fortress also a place of elegance and for entertainment.  The castle there was strictly a fortress and would have not been very comfortable to live in at any time.  There were interesting elements but overall it wasn't the best place to take any kid under the age of 10.  There were some interesting shops in the area but we had a tired toddler that desperately needed a nap so we didn't really have time to explore the town.  I wish we had time to look through the museum which I heard was far more interesting than the castle, and free, but maybe we'll have another opportunity.  The following day we went to Inverness, home of Loch Ness and the beloved mythical lake dweller.  Instead of looking at old buildings we opted to do our own thing and explored downtown where Jeremy bought Gwendolyn a stuffed Nessie toy and Jeremy and Gwendolyn got a few Scottish Belgium chocolates, (a lot of them were various whisky flavors, but there were quite a few that were safe).  Jeremy also bought a wool shawl for me because I couldn't handle the cold any longer.  We also found a few more interesting things before we took off for Loch Ness so Gwendolyn could catch a nap in the car.  Sunday was the long drive back but we made it home well before midnight despite unexpected traffic.