Edinburgh: Great Scot!

After London we traveled north to Edinburgh, Scotland. We heard bagpipes, ate haggis and dressed up in kilts. I'm heavy on pictures, light on words. The pics are probably more interesting than my patter anyway. So here's what we saw...

Edinburgh Castle

Then the sky went black. Rain poured down. We thought Claudia would appreciate her rain cover.Wrong. She went crazy and tried to rip it off. Here she is, after she and the weather calmed down, identifying where she breached the cover. She was proud.

And just like that, the rain stopped.

And the sun came out. And Claudia started smiling again.

The sun cut through the cloudy sky and shone down on Edinburgh Castle. Beautiful.

Claudia ran around Princes Street Garden, dancing, singing.

The next day, we went up to the castle. Claudia pointed the way to the Scottish crown jewels. They're actually older than the English crown jewels because the Scots cleverly hid theirs from Oliver Cromwell, who destroyed the original English jewels. We also saw the Stone of Scone (the Stone of Destiny), that sat under the coronation chair of Westminster Abbey for several hundred years until Queen Elizabeth II returned it to Scotland... on the condition it be returned for all future English coronations.

Claudia riding a canon at Edinburgh castle.

Luckily, she didn't get too close to the real life bagpipers we encountered.

A view of the Royal Mile.

Royal Mile and the Hub

Having fun at the Camera Obscura museum.

This was probably Claudia's favorite place.

Lots of lights and visual effects. And she could run, jump & scamper.

My favorite thing at the Camera Obscura. Russell's under there holding her up.

This is where J.K. Rowling wrote her first Harry Potter. She came here everyday, with her baby pram, and wrote all day. She was on public welfare, freshly divorced, and driven. She's now the richest woman in the world. Yes, she even beats out Oprah! Naturally we went in there for inspiration.

Claudia sat in the special elephant chair and counted elephants in the glass cases.

Sweet little Greyfriar's Bobby. This is a monument to the little Scottish dog who sat by his owner's grave for six plus years until he passed too. Pretty sweet story.

Daddy + Bop

sunny skies & St. Giles

another double decker bus ride

The Britannia. It's officially decommissioned in Edinburgh, but it once served as the British royal family's personal yacht for several decades and 900 voyages. For Prince William and Prince Harry, it was a childhood playground, for Queen Elizabeth, it was "the only place [she could] truly relax" and for Prince Charles and Princess Diana, it was where they honeymooned.

Claudia received a special call while aboard. She's holding the audio guide. We told her the narrator was the Queen, calling her to give her a special message.

I can't remember what this thing is called, but it was also on the royals' previous yacht, which was owned by Queen Victoria. Claudia hugged, kissed and cuddled it.

Daddy and Bop

The sea air agreed with her.

Holyrood Palace, the Queen's official residence in Scotland

ruined abbey of Holyrood, destroyed by the English during the reign of Mary Queen of Scots

the Queen's gardens

Behind Holyrood sits King Arthur's Seat. It's a dormant volcano. This is the big hill they ran up in Chariots of Fire. Here's Claudia getting a head start on Daddy. Daddy is pushing the stroller, looking at me, probably thinking I better go catch Claudia.

Scotland had a nasty practice of executing women as witches. They executed more women, per capita, than any other country in Europe. As a result, Edinburgh is fabled to be haunted. I'm always interested in a good ghost story, so we went on a (family frindly) ghost tour. Here's our guides and Claudia swatting at them. She wasn't scared one bit and mostly laughed the whole time.

The National Museum of Scotland was great... and free! Here's Russell, holding Bop, checking out a dino.

This was the natural history wing featuring the animals.

Daddy and Bop making an important call.

Mommy & Bop on the train ride. All done in Scotland!

PreK. First Day. Hey Hey!

At 8 o'clock sharp, Monday morning, August 29, 2010, Claudia ascended the ranks from nursery class to PreK-2 (three days a week from 9 am - 3 pm). I prepared for the worst, as Claudia has become attached to my hip over the past nine weeks of summer, and, simply put, my sweet girl is not good at goodbyes.

We got dressed. Claudia was thrilled to finally wear her apple tee. Things were looking pretty good. She said she was "excited" and kind of posed for a picture.

While walking to school, she definitely seemed a little nervous.

But as soon as she saw her teacher, Miss Reka, who also taught her last year, all those butterflies flew away. Nothing but smiles!

When I picked her up, she didn't want to leave. I had to remind her about my promise to get her a special "first day of school" treat. We went to the ice cream shop for one scoop of raspberry. She came home and spun around in a circle for about 5 minutes. Here she is mid-spin! Dizzy and discombobulated.

It was a great first day!

London: Keep Calm and Carry Claudia

London! A very nice place to stop on the way to the Highlands! ;)  And, surprise, I took too many pictures, so, here's some collages of the highlights.

Claudia was impressed by the pageantry of the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace... the Guardsmen, the bands, the horses, the massive crowd. We found a spot on one of the walls alongside the road leading to Buckingham Palace for CC to sit on so she could see the ceremony and the parade. The busby hats the guards wore were her favorite part of the parade. :)

We all had some fun walking around Trafalgar Square and the parade grounds.  Poor CC had so much fun she passed out!  These moments make the funniest pictures, where we park Claudia, passed out in stroller, next to some monument. She did enjoy riding one of the giant lions and tossing coins into the fountains of Trafalgar Square before her nap. :)

We took Bop to Hamley's, London's famous old toy store. It opened in 1760! She rode a little toy car around the store for a few hours, until we coaxed her out of the store, stuffed pig, named "Hamley," in hand. I did my shopping at Harrod's. :) Claudia also tried out chop sticks for the first time. She did pretty great! 

Claudia ran wild through Kensington Gardens. The Princess Diana Memorial Playground was beautiful. It has a Peter Pan theme to honor J.M. Barrie, who was inspired to write Peter Pan from the Llewelyn Davies family he met at the park. By far the best thing about the playground is the well mannered children in it... so many "pleases" and "thank yous" being murmured as children came and went of the swings and slides.  

Here are some pretty shots taken from the red double decker bus we rode one day. Claudia loved seeing all the sights from up high. Russell, however, was convinced she was an inch away from jumping out of the bus the whole time. We kept a tight hold.

We all loved the Tower of London. We got there early, so we didn't have to wait in any line to see the Crown Jewels, including Queen Elizabeth's coronation crown. Claudia liked learning about the "Royal Beasts," (the Tower used to house all the exotic animals gifted to the royals), seeing the Tower ravens, riding the cannons and exploring all the secret passageways.

The London Aquarium had a pretty impressive collection of sharks. Claudia enjoyed her afternoon on the South Bank, visiting the fishes and eating her cheeseburger and chips.

The London Eye... it gave us amazing views of the city, but Claudia kept running towards the door of the pod thing we were in. I'm not big on heights or being suspended over water (hence my crippling fear of bridges), so I was mostly relieved when it was over!! 

The Lyceum theater that runs the stage production of Lion King in London had a special children's day matinee showing. CC had a great time and got a little stuffed Simba. When we got back to our hotel, we reenacted the "presentation of Simba" scene on the hotel bed about a hundred times. :)

My favorite part of the trip was the tour of the Buckingham Palace state rooms, the rooms where the Queen works, entertains and hosts private family events. They also had Princess Kate's wedding dress on display in the ball room. That dress!! I couldn't take any pictures inside the palace, but took lots in the royal gardens and also in St. James Park. That garden!!

Now, here's some random extras:

Claudia and Daddy dancing on this platform that shot out all kinds of neat colors (note Hamley tucked securely under Bop's arm). 

Daddy and Bop at the Tower of London.

Daddy, Mommy & Bop

Daddy and Bop waiting for the parade before the Changing of the Guard.

Claudia and her Union Jack

the Guardsmen marching

Claudia passed out in St. James Park

Claudia very much awake in the Tube. She sang lots of songs and got several claps and cheers. Basking the applause, she proudly reflected "everyone is cheering for me!"

And a souvenir photo from the Tower of London. Daddy is holding Claudia's toy sword still for the picture and she is not too pleased. London was amazing and Claudia has become the perfect little travel companion. The next stops were Scotland and Ireland... so more pics to come, just not as many.