Scotland: On The Way to Edinburgh!

You might be thinking, “What? They just went to Sardinia! And now they are going to Scotland?!”.  Let me explain why we chose to go to Scotland.

We woke up one morning and heard the bagpipes calling, so we headed up the island.

Maybe. But the real reason is the fact that I wanted to go to Scotland when it’s warmer (like 15C or 65F instead of 10C), and I wanted to go when the days are longer so we could maximize on our nature observing experience. I forgot one minor detail—August is by far the most expensive month to travel within the UK or out of the UK. So do not come to Great Britain in August. Seriously.

Our minds were set though—the kids were going to be out of school AND our great friends, the Alleys decided to join us!

This was our route on the first day.  A total of six hours or so. 

We set out on our journey quite early (as early as we managed to load up four adults and seven children and their stuff into two minivans). The drive was quite easy. Our first stop was Alnwick Castle—or Harry Potter Castle.

Alnwick Castle.

This is the Alley family, the brave souls who drove up from Germany to hang out with the Watsons for a week.

And this is the Watsons who were crazy enough to go on a trip the week they were moving houses.

Alnwick Castle has been in the Percy family for 700 years, although the castle itself has been in this place for over a thousand.  This castle is mostly famous nowadays because a large portion of Harry Potter movies was filmed here. Alnwick Castle was actually featured as Hogwarts in the first two films. This is also where the first Quidditch lesson and the crash landing of the flying Ford Anglia were filmed.

After catching a bit of a bird show, we joined a Harry Potter tour of the castle grounds. Although kids were exhausted, we tried to stick with the guide and listen to all interesting stories concerning filming of the movies as well as this castle’s history in general.

We knew that after a long guided tour, kids needed some entertainment. We found an area called Knight’s Quest. Up to this day, this is probably the best games/dress-up sort of area we have found in England. Everyone found something fun here.

 

Mark even grew horns.

Janeen and I felt like two medieval princesses for about ten minutes.  We had to capture this moment.

And Robert was the "bear who spoiled the raspberry bush” and did not want to get dressed up. So here we are, almost getting eaten by that dragon behind us with no Robert in sight.

Great acting, Alex

This was a bit weirdish—a pair of the minstrels (I believe, that is the word) wearing a fox and a cat mask, walking around playing their medieval melodies. They stayed in character the whole time.

And finally, something we did not get to do—Broomstick Flying lessons. We showed up when it was too late to sign up for a session…and although the guide said we should try to get in anyway, the kids were simply too exhausted. I cannot believe I am saying it, but it was TOO hot!

If you are a fan of Harry Potter, this is a must-visit sight. Great fun for kids, and a great stop on the way to Edinburgh. And that’s where we were going next—Edinburgh, Scotland.