Paula and Alex: Catching up.

Hi all!

Well, we have been slack on the blog front, haven't we? sorry. But no' so slack on the fun stuff!

I think I will start now and work backwards.

I (Paula) have just waved goodbye to our boxes that are being shipped back to NZ. I hope they get there! While Alex has been working this week, listening to worried teachers who are just back at school, I have been organising and binning (yes, Mum, I have thrown out CLOTHES and SHOES!!!) stuff to try and get it all down to a manageable amount.

Where as last week... well... Alex and I took off on Friday the 22 August to Edinburgh. Very exciting! We met up with Mel and Tim who were there in their campervan and explored some of Edinburgh. We also had a nice beer with Richard at a book fair???? (odd) but was good to catch up!!!!

On the Saturday night Alex and I went to the grand finale of the military tattoo. Which was amazing. Absolutely amazing! All of it. Although, I do have to say that the Norwegian Kings Guard were astounding. The drill was so polished and the band was fantabulous! sigh.

Anyways, on the Sunday, Alex, Mel and myself decided to fork out the money and visit Edinburgh Castle. The queue to get in sucked, but we were amazed at how all the people disapeared when we got inside! odd. We managed to get onto one of the free tours going, and then wandered about ourselves. very fun.

We then drove our way to Dundee and got in very late at night. ops. never mind.

Monday we decided that there was more we wanted to do back in Edinburgh, so we drove back and went to Holyrood Palace. Very nice. I loved the abbey ruins that were there. and walkign through the garden!!! We then walked a wee way up the royal mile and had a cup o tea.

We headed to Perth for dinner, and decided that if we were ever going to go again, we would stay in Perth, not Dundee. Less said the better. Perth also had a Hay street that we found by accident. And on Hay street, was the Black Watch museum. Better yet, there was no entrance fee to the museum, so we donated some money and had a good look abouts. I really liked the band figurines. (If I was a little kid, I would say I want one... hehehe.)

Tuesday was Alex's birthday, and we started with heading back to Perth to look at the Blackwatch museum and then to Scone Palace. We did get diverted and ended up talking politics with a guy in a Drum shop in Perth. Never mind. :)

Scone Palace was lovely. Wish we had more time, but it was very cool none the less.

We decided to drive north towards Cruden Bay after that, where I had booked us into a hotel for the night. Apparently (if you believe the story) it was the hotel where Bram Stoker stayed and got inspiration for the castle in Dracula. Slains Castle (or, actually, New Slains) was the castle for the Earl of Erroll, a 'Hay'. So, the 'family' castle for Alex. Although it is now in ruins as the roof was removed in the 1930's (I hope I have got all that correct!!!!) and it is securely fenced off. However, when we went exploring the next day, we found the gate to be swinging open. So... in we go... :) was fun!!! although some of that castle is very precariously perched on the cliff face!!!