Trip Notes - From Edinburgh to Dijon

Trip Notes:  From Edinburgh, UK to Dijon, FR

 

Our idea was pretty simple – explore a big chunk of Scotland and England before arriving in Dijon, France to begin school and then explore France, Switzerland, northern Italy and then more of France.  All with kids and all while finishing my MBA.

Turns out its lots of fun – and lots of work, especially the kid part.  Every day was planned, stops were short, we learned to get in early and get out before the tour buses and tourists began arriving.  Museums – nope…  but the kids loved castles and beaches in Scotland and even took to watching a 4D movie about the Beatles in Liverpool and had fun just running around Stonehenge.

We started in Edinburgh where we explored Edinburgh castle (saw Scottish crown jewels including the Stone of Destiny) and rode double decker buses, watched the buskers at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and of course, took in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo (pipe bands from all over the world).

I began driving on the wrong side of the road (the right side – or left side, depending on how you look at it) and made it from Edinburgh to Greenock near Glasgow in time for dinner at my cousin’s.  We accompanied them the next day to Inverary and a great drive through Loch Lomond National Park.  The following day we caught the ferry for Mull.

Mull and some of the other western isles are the ancestral home of the McFadyen’s (my great grandmother is from Tiree).  We arrived at our century-old hotel overlooking Tobermory late in the evening and awoke to awesome views over the harbour.  Hiking in the highlands, playing at the beach at Calgary, looking for our hairy coo, driving single-track roads and exploring Durart Castle dressed as knights and princesses were definitely highlights, but nothing compared to the hike to Moy Castle.  Originally built by Clan McFadyen, it transferred to Clan McLaine during the time of Robert the Bruce.  Moy Castle at Lochbuie is one of the most amazing, peaceful places I’ve ever been and taking my kids there was a highlight of my life.

We spent some time exploring Tobermory, (including buying 10yr old scotch from the local distillery) before heading out for Liverpool.  You pretty much have to be living under a rock not to know that Liverpool is where the Beatles started and Loretta, being a big Beatle fan, was all a titter to explore.  We went to The Beatles Story (massive Beatles exhibit) and stayed at Albert Docks and took Loretta on her own private tour of all the key places that meant anything to the Fab Four (think Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane, Cavern Club, etc.)

On to Stonehenge (amazing but busy) and London in time to explore the Tower of London (favorite – armour worn by Henry the 8^th) before packing for the bullet train through the Chunnel the next day.  Fast doesn’t describe it – my ears popped when we passed another train.  Kids loved it and we got to Paris in one piece, got our mini-van loaded and off to the airport just in time to pick up our air cargo’d bags and head to Dijon.  After a couple highway hours and a very frustrating 45 minutes driving through Centre Ville in Dijon we finally made it to our house just before midnight and the start of our four month adventure here in France.

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