Well we’re back home, everything is unpacked, and will be back to work / a regular schedule starting tomorrow.
Overall, our trip was great other than for some conflicts that are prone to happen when you have 15 people staying in the same location for a week. I’m pretty sure though that everyone was able to do their top to-do item while we were there though. We needed at last one more week there though to see all of the other things everyone wanted to do.
During our stay, our party saw 3 different celebrities. We saw Colin Ferrell at the airport behind us on the way to Scotland. Goran Visnjeck (Dr. Luka from ER) was eating dinner at the same restaurant we were at for the wedding dinner, and Jessica Lang was in first class on our plane from London to Chicago.
Of note, several of the castles / locations that we wanted to go to were actually closed due to us being in Scotland during their off-season. At least where we where, many of the touristy locations are only open from April 1st through fall.
Castle Lachlan via Google Maps
The castle is located about 1.5 hours west from Glasgow.
We arrived on Thursday, but most of our activities actually started on Friday. Friday was a fairly casual day though and we spent the majority of the time exploring the local area around Castle Lachlan.
We also visited the original Castle Lachlan and family graveyard. The oldest date we saw in the graveyard was sometime in the 1700s.
On Saturday, we spent the majority of the day at the castle getting ready for Dan and Bridget’s wedding. We then went out to eat in the evening.
Dan & Bridget with parents. Since McNitts are a branch of the MacNaughton family line, Jim is wearing the MacNaugthon family tartan.
On Sunday, we toured Argyll visiting the original MacNaughton family lands, where the old MacNaughton castle used to be and took a look at the existing MacNaughton castle from afar since it is no longer owned by the family and it is not open to visitors anymore.
We also visited Inveraray Castle (closed), Inveraray Jail (did the tour), Dunstaffnage Castle (closed by the time we got there), and Kilchurn Castle (closed also).
Inveraray Castle
Dunstaffnage Castle
Kilchurn Castle
On Monday, we toured Dumbarton Castle which really was more of a fort than a castle. Below is a picture of a photograph and the majority of us walked the hundreds of stairs to get to the top. Its a scary adventure for someone who doesn’t like heights like me, but the pictures from the top of the hill are impressive.
Afterwards, we toured a local scotch whiskey distillery called Auchentoshan.
In the evening, I hosted the mystery dinner party (Maggie and Mark made the meal while I organized the mystery event).
Tuesday was finally my day to go visit the Burrell Collection in Glasgow. We also spent some time at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. A few of us visited these two museums while others went shopping in Glasgow.
I took over 350 pictures just in the museums, but below are a few of my favorite shots.
To view more photos, feel free to visit my Flickr archive at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenmcnitt/sets/72157623520873686/
Hopefully someday we’ll be able to go back to see many of the locations that were either closed or too far to go to for how long we were there.
