Honeymoon in Scotland

WOW! What a whirlwind 3 1/2 weeks! I apologize ahead of time for this extremely long photo blog post, but I figured this would be the ONE time I can post a ton of photos. This post will take you along on our trip overseas to the beautiful country of Scotland. We had such an amazing time!

Before I get started on our honeymoon, I wanted to post a video of our 1st dance!




The day after we got married, we stayed in a hotel near the San Francisco Airport called the Hotel Sofitel.



Cool reflection in a small lake near the hotel.



Our plane at San Francisco Airport that took us to New Jersey.



SFO after takeoff.



San Francisco is such a beautiful city from above.



Right before we got into the clouds I was able to get this really cool photo of the Bay Bridge and the surrounding San Francisco area.



After BARELY making our flight connection in New Jersey, we took another long flight to Glasgow, Scotland. Here is the line for customs at the airport.



Outside the Glasgow airport.



We finally found the rental car place and after taking a few practice laps around the lot to figure out how to drive the car on the other side of the road and the other side of the car, we headed towards our hotel. This is the Central Rail Station in downtown Glasgow.



Our hotel we stayed at is the Grand Central Hotel. It was by far the nicest hotel we stayed in on the trip.



Cool building.



This building is where the Glasgow City Council meets. We took a tour of the building the next day, so more photos from the inside later. Stay tuned! :)





Some more cool spots in Glasgow...





On our first day, we were completely tired and our body clock was all messed up so we finally checked in to our hotel around 3pm and slept from 4pm until 6:30am the next day. When we woke up, we walked around Glasgow some more.

Here is a bridge crossing the River Clyde.







Small car.



We went back to the city chambers building, but due to a scheduled protest, they had cancelled the tour for the day.





Free is good! This is the Glasgow Modern Art Gallery and it was really cool inside.



Looking up from the bottom floor.



Another bridge crossing the River Clyde.



The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. Very cool shaped building.







Walking towards Glasgow University, we crossed this cool pedestrian bridge.





Safe to cross.



Beautiful Kelvingrove Park near the university.







Very cool quad on campus.



Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum as seen from campus.



Last shot of campus.



Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum was also free. NICE!







Gotta get a shot of a Glasgow PD sub-station.



Stopped for lunch at a cool Italian place.



Outside our hotel.



One of my co-workers is from Scotland and his sister still lives there, so we met up with Christina McNiven and her boyfriend Matt for dinner on our last night in Glasgow.







After dinner they dropped us off at a bar near our hotel called the Horse Shoe Bar. Upstairs, they had karaoke. So of course I had to drop "Bust A Move" by Young MC on them. They loved it!





The next day we went to Edinburgh, but before we left, we FINALLY got a tour of the city chambers. Very nice on the inside!









Tour guide Nicole on the left.









Outdoor small diagram of Glasgow's city centre.



Headed to Edinburgh in our cool car!







Our hotel in Edinburgh was right in the city centre.











Bagpiper street performer.



The Edinburgh Castle was closed by the time we got there, so we walked around the outside of the castle. We went back the next day to go inside.















Woke up the next morning to go on a walk to find a Starbucks.







The Scott Monument before it started pouring rain. I went to the top later in the day!





Stairwell at our hotel.



Walking to the castle we passed a red phone booth.



Watch out for the police!



Views from the Edinburgh Castle.













Aimed right at the Scott Monument.









Inside the castle there used to be a prison.





The castle is situated on "The Royal Mile" a popular street in Edinburgh.





We walked over to the Scott Monument. They gave me a certificate that I climbed up the 287 steps to the top. Fun facts about the monument: first stone laid on August 15th, 1840. Completed in 1844. Height to the top: 200 feet.

View of the Edinburgh Castle from the top of Scott Monument.




Soccer stadium.



More views.









Shadow of Scott Monument on the ground.



That hill off the the right is in Holyrood Park, where we would next.





Small staircase down.





Over in Holyrood Park, near the Scottish Parliament, is a huge hill that people can walk up. This guy takes in the view.











Right after we took the above photo, a girl yelled, "Uh excuse me... can you please help me?" To my utter shock, we looked down and a woman younger than us was climbing up the SIDE of the very STEEP side of the hill and not up the path we were walking! CRAZY!!! I helped her up and suggested that she take the safer route down the mountain.

Views from where we stopped climbing.









Thumbs up for heading down to safe ground.



Ultra-modern Scottish Parliament building. It got a lot of grief from the locals because they thought it was an eyesore to the rest of the city which is steeped in historic buildings. I can see how they would feel that way. It's a gorgeous building though.





The hill we climbed.



Can't remember the name of this palace.



Parliament chambers.



Spectator chairs.



National War Museum.



Time for a break!





View from our hotel room on our last night in Edinburgh.



On our way to St. Andrews, we crossed the Forth Road Bridge. Next to it is this awesome looking rail bridge.





Rail bridge.









An example of the roundabouts all across Scotland on the highways and the city streets. You drive in turn left and take whichever exit you need. We were headed towards Glenrothes.







Scotland is so GREEN!







So we get to the small town of St. Andrews that only has three main streets, and we come across what could possibly be the funniest street name ever!



Grabbed a bite to eat at the Victoria Cafe.



Then we headed over to the golf course called simply "The Old Course". It is basically the OLDEST course in the world, and is home to British Open every couple of years. It has a TON of history and it was such an awesome experience being able to see it. We went on Saturday and there were players on the course but we could kind of walk around and watch them play. Sunday the course was closed and no one could play and it allowed the public to go on the course and walk around. More of those pics in a bit. These are from Saturday.



18th green.





Putting green in the foreground, North Sea in the background.



1st tee box.



One really cool thing is they have a miniature golf course right next to the regular course. We didn't play but it is really cool to watch how people putt on the large hills at the course.





Some parts of the course are private.



After visiting the course, we walked over to St. Andrews University, where the famous William and Kate met several years ago. Very cool campus.





Next we went over to the ruins of the St. Andrews Cathedral.













Ruins of the St. Andrews Castle.









A really cool, spontaneous thing happened after we passed the castle. On the campus of the university, it was the last day of finals for many of the students. We came across a groundskeeper and he said that it has been a tradition of the school for 20-30 years that after the last final, the students must cross thru this quad where fellow students who have also finished their finals wait for their friends so they can throw water on them. Sounds fun, but it was raining and cold that afternoon, but it didn't deter folks from participating. They came with various sizes of containers, from water bottles to huge plastic containers to wash their friends.









This girl got water first, then a friend got her with a container of flour.










The next morning, we got up and on one side of the city it looked gloomy, and where we were at it was sunny and clear.









I told you earlier that St. Andrews was closed on Sunday. So here are some images from our walk around the course.





The famous bridge on the 18th hole.



































Groundskeeper mowing the green.



Dog chasing the groundskeeper.



Deep bunker.







18th tee box.













Angry bird!



After leaving St. Andrews we took a short drive up north to a city called Dundee. When we got there we at a place called The Town.















On the eastern tip of the city, there is a castle called the Broughty Castle.







The River Tay is in Dundee as well.













The view from our hotel room. The ladies at the the Hilton Dundee hooked us up with a "Honeymoon Upgrade" (which we were lucky enough to get throughout our trip!) and they gave us a two-room suite.



The Tay Road Bridge.





View from atop a hill in Dundee.







One really cool thing about Scotland is how long it's light outside. The sun usually sets around 9:30pm, and it doesn't get completely dark until around midnight and then it starts getting light again around 4am. This photo was taken around 11pm.





About 20 minutes north of Dundee is a castle called the Glamis Castle. Along the way I stopped to take a photo of some of these guys.





The long driveway to the Glamis Castle.



















On the castle grounds, they have a herd of Highland cattle.



The property where the cattle are is huge, and there is plenty of grass, but this one really wanted the grass on our side of fence.

















After leaving the castle, we headed 100 miles north to Aberdeen. This day, by far, was the most windy! The entire rail system in Scotland shut down for the day because of sustained 70mph winds. We had stayed at the Hilton in Dundee, and the ladies there were nice enough to call ahead to the Hilton we were staying at in Aberdeen and the service staff was nice enough to place two towels in the shape of hearts on the bed.



Some sights in Aberdeen.









Came across the Aberdeen soccer stadium.













After leaving Aberdeen we had the longest distance to drive on the trip to the west coast. Along the way we stopped at the infamous Loch Ness. Seeing how big that thing is, I have NO idea how anyone could've spotted the Loch Ness Monster.











Along the Loch Ness, there is a castle called the Urquhart Castle.



Then we drove through some mountains to get to the Isle of Skye.







A short distance away from Isle of Skye is a castle called Eilean Donan Castle.











Rain then sun brings out some beautiful rainbows.







Isle of Skye bridge.































On the long drive back down to Glasgow, we came across this rock garden.











Ashley did an awesome job the entire trip with navigation and directions.



One of the two Glasgow soccer stadiums.







The People's Palace at the Glasgow Green.









Crosswalk bumps.



Stayed one more night at the Grand Central Hotel.









The other soccer stadium on Glasgow.



Huge police department.



The end of the trip.











Our last night we met up again with Christina and Matt and shared with them our trip.









Nice to know Scottish security let this dude through!



Good-bye Scotland! We had so much fun!






Thank you for taking the time to take a look at our photos. We had such an amazing wedding, and an awesome honeymoon. Thank you to all our family and friends for making it so special!