Moving to Scotland!

Since we haven't had internet for the past two weeks (which has been driving me crazy!), this post is going to contain a lot of activities.....

First, a nice moving team packed up our house and loaded all our stuff into a 40ft shipping container. Apparently it will come to port on March 9th and then be trucked to our village.  I can't wait!  Here are some of the moving pics.

We flew to Frankfurt on February 2nd and then arrived at the tiny Aberdeen airport on the 3rd.  Jared was fascinated with the plane :)

We love our cottage in a quaint village outside of Aberdeen. It is so neat to be able to walk to the store, hair salon or a restaurant.  Not to mention, my bus stop for work is like 100 yards from our house!

Here are some pics of our house and street (I'll post more of the village and our house later after our furniture arrives).  Also, an article from the village paper which I think is pretty adorable :)  I am definitely having to learn a few Scottish words!

On our first weekend in Aberdeenshire, Jared and I made it out to Crathes Castle (near Banchory) and Dunnotar Castle (near Stonehaven), after shopping for cars and stocking up at Costco. 

Here's a view of the grounds from Crathes Castle.  Ironically, I never to a picture of the outside of the castle....

 Jared and I pretending to be the Lord and Lady of the House.  You weren't supposed to take pictures inside, but our adorable 70 year old + tour guide in tartan pants snapped this for us.

Falls of Feugh on the way to a look out over the Caringorm Mountains

Dunnottar Castle (dates to a 1000 years ago!)

Mary Queen of Scots and William Wallace (aka Braveheart) reportedly spent time here.  It was really cool to see a rainbow coming off the North Sea and the ghostly castle ruins on the cliff.  We didn't hike down to the ruins, but plan to go back in the Spring.

This weekend we drove down South to Edinburgh. I thought Edinburgh was a beautiful city! As my Scottish co-workers would say, "It was fine, sooo fine!"

 We stopped for lunch by this river at one of the oldest settlements in Scotland, right outside Edinburgh.

 A view of the Castle while walking on Princes Street.  Fantastic focal point for a European city!

The Old Town

View from the castle.

 We saw the Scottish crown jewels which were hidden during WWII in case the Nazis ever invaded.

We had dinner in very quaint restaurant that only sits 24 people and is located in a cellar right off High Street.

Dubh Prais was wonderful!  I had sole with an Orkney cheese sauce (Orkney islands that is) and a Pinto Noir from Romania - will be looking for this wine again! They even brought us free homemade chocolates after we finished our meal. (I am sad, I can't find the picture I took of us there.. hope I didn't delete it).

The next morning, we had a full Scottish breakfast at our hotel (minus the blood pudding).  I ate haggis! It basically tastes like spicy meatloaf with lots of oatmeal in it..I just had a couple bites. 

After breakfast, we drove to Motherwells, a suburb of Glasgow to buy a very tiny car, a Honda Jazz.  It was a good deal and Jared will be taking the train one way from Aberdeen to Glasgow this week and then will drive the car back to Aberdeen.  So thankful for my sweet husband!

On our way back to Aberdeen from Motherwells, we drove through Stirling to visit Stirling Castle.  Stirling is also the site of a couple major battles in Scottish History, involving William Wallace or Braveheart. The castle was on the top of a hill, so there were beautiful views of the countryside around it.

 Jared by the mote :)

Traveling back to Aberdeen.

 After we got back, we ran to Tesco to get some groceries.  It's been a packed weekend, but I am so relieved to have bought a car!

Cheers! (Which means "thank you" in the UK)

UK Humor:
Juicy bits = pulp.  Just a little odd...