Sept 26 Whiskey Country

It was so nice to stay at a great guest house and get comfortable for 2 nights.  The next week will be a marathon trying to see as much as we can in 6 days.  On Our way to the Highlands we of course had to have a couple of side trips.  Our first stop was the Blair Castle and gardens.  Great to stop and tour a castle fully furnished in the original furniture, from here we went to the House of Bruar The House is an expensive shopping center where you can purchase cashmere sweaters, fine woolen tweeds, food, chocolate all part of Scotish  tourism , we escaped with nothing.
After carefully driving the windy narrow roads we arrived at our next destination.  The Craighleche Hotel extremely expensive and our room was in the "garden level" detached from the hotel and  our view was the parking lot.  The whiskey festival was going on in Dufftown so we decided to take the bus about 6 miles to the party,  our patience  ran out and we hired a taxi.  We were too late for the party so instead went on a private tour of Glenfidich with a very knowledgableyoung  woman.  The tour took   us around the production site and in the end of course we had to sample some fine scotch.  We had a very nice dinner at the hotel and planned our next day of driving.

Sept 27, On the way to Isle of Skye

As i mentioned earlier the roads are less than desirable so that being said we decided to head directly over to the Isle of Skye and pass on a town called Loosiemouth that was a cute little port town according to the website.  This day of travel would take us by Loch ness, we didn't see the monster but the views were breathtaking around several small bodies of water.  We toured another castle called Elin De Castle this castle is said to be the moset photographed castle in Scotland.  Situated on a small island it was very nice for a castle.  After spending the day in the car we finally arrived at town called Kyleakin it is a small island with several B & B everyone seemed to stop there 5 tour buses where in the parking lot.  The Corrin B & B did what it needed to do clean, private bath and a bar across.  We headed to the bar and happend to spot the chef who had lagoustinas  still wiggling in the crate.  The mussels and lagontinas were excellent, nice way to end the day.

And so we Begin Sept 23, 2014

We chose to tour Scotland, Ireland and Luxemborg this year because these are countries we havent been too.  The flight from Mpls to Amsterdam was an overnight flight that went off without a hitch, after a small layover we headed to Edinburgh where we would begin traveling from Scotland to Ireland and onto Germany and Luxemborg.
Renting a car was not a problem and with an automatic, GPS, maps and alot of guts we took off headed to a small harbor town called Crail after getting lost , hitting the curb 2 times and almost taking out 4 people on the sidewalk we ended up at our first B & B.  The Hazelton Guest House is a lovely place with service beyond belief and huge amounts of information about the area.
Our hosts David and Karen were so helpful informing us of activities in the are and how to use mas transportation rather than the car.  After a 3 mile walk along the coast we eneded in a town called Anstruther where we spent time touring a Scottish fisheries musem, then hopped a city bus and headed to St. Andrew where we would tour and drool over the famous course and take in the sites.  The next day we would head up to the Whiskey country  

May 12, 2012 Heading Home

Great view of the lake

There isn't much to say about going home except that it does feel good. The flight was uneventful from Germany to the US except for the cute little boy who continued to kick the back of my chair for most of the trip.  We managed to catch an earlier connecting flight from Detroit to Minneapolis( sometimes you have to buy your way in).  A short taxi from the airport and all of the travel is behind us.  All the places we visited are still not as good as where we are. 

May 11, 20112 Train to Germany

  On the train to Paris 2 weeks ago we took the ICE train and from Paris to Germany we were booked on the SNCF the difference in the trains was unbelievable. The train was plush with in car service that included breakfast and coffee.  It takes about 3 1/2 hours and was so relaxing we even managed to have a little bottle of wine that  we purchased at one of the winery's.  After traveling in and out of the country and staying at various places it was good to be back home with our friends.  When we arrived in Frankfurt it was a balmy 82 and sunny.  Teresa met us at the house were we got situated and then walked into town to have a nice cold beer.  Greg was coaching softball and Teresa had a meeting, we met up with them at the school where we would partake in a hamburger, my  second one in 2 weeks and beers in the "teachers lounge".  Every Friday their faculty has happy hour in the staff lounge with beer and wine (gotta love the jobs they have).  Teresa mad  a reservation at a new place in town called the Lounge.  We arrived promptly at 7:30 ordered an appetizer and some drinks.  Time passed and Teresa and I still had not gotten our drinks,  about 45 min. later  we walked out, as we were walking out they were delivering the appetizer to our table, that looked delicious, the vision is ingrained in my brain.  Greg stopped at the bar to pay for the beers and explained our situation the owner was very understanding and comped the beers. .  We walked into town and ate great German food and called it a night, we will be heading home on an early flight.  So great to spend time with out friends.

Last Day in France May 10, 2012

May 10, 2012

Great lunch at a cute street cafe

Luxemborg Park

Our day would begin early so we could start the commute to Paris drop off the car as we were under a time constraint (Bob trying to save a day of car rental charges). We checked out and headed down the road, but missed the turn to Paris so had to back pedal for a few miles. Once on the freeway, things were looking really good until we got closer to the city. It took about 1 hour to go a few miles, this makes our rush hour in a snowstorm look like nothing. While stopping at a construction site our car was surrounded by people washing our windows and of course wanted money, we sped away quickly. Once inside the city with the GPS working overtime we drove directly to the train station to say good bye to our little car. It was too early to check into the hotel but were able to leave the bags in a secure area. Bob and I would spend the day wandering about Paris getting our last look at the city. Being this was our second visit in two weeks we mastered the Metro and the commuter train to get from one side of the city to the other. We stood in line for about an hour to try and get to the top of the Eifel tower but became discouraged when 25 people were allowed to go ahead of the line. We arrived back at the hotel and were able to check in. The hotel  Libertel Gare de L'Est Francais is directly across from the train station and from outside appearances and even the lobby things were looking good. After exiting the elevator it looked like a construction zone, no carpet, new sheetrock, and stuff all over. When we opened our room it was a pleasant surprise, completely redone, only negative things: no air circulation, no internet and lots of street noise. We decided to try one of the places Jan had recommended in her book for dinner , called Les Deux Magots, famous for famous authors, one being Hemingway. The weather could not have been better I compared it to a hot summer night, 75 and a touch of humidity. We took the metro back and amazingly enough the clientele was less threatening than during the day.



May 9, 2012 Road through BeojolaBeaujolais and Fonatainebleau

Today we would check out of the lovely chateau, but didn't leave before tasting some fine wine.   We were given instructions on  how to take a scenic drive through narrow winding roads, and small villages. The trip was suppose to take 1 hour but we spent too much time exploring out of the way winery's.  One that sticks out was the Hirsch winery privately owned by a charming 27 year woman and her husband she was interesting and so charming to talk to, because of limited space we could not purchase any wine.   Beaujolais wine area is a very charming area and interesting landscape.

Reality had finally sunk in we were leaving the beautiful countryside and heading to the big cities.  Before totally leaving we stopped and had a great lunch at a small cafe in a town called Armour.  Our French is still not so good and when we ordered we thought we were having salad and fish and ended up having a full veal dinner and salad with fish.  We arrived in Fontainbleau in time to tour the famous Chateau Fontainbleau it is huge like nothing I have ever seen. it is second to Versalie.  We checked into IBS hotel  a local change comparable to Days Inn, reality set in really fast, 1 bed filled the room, toilet that didn't flush and no ventilation.  I have to keep telling myself to look back and the great places we have been.  We walked to the main street where there were many of restraunts and enjoyed a foie gras appetizer, steak,  and wine.  Tomorrow we start the drive to Paris to return the car and explore some more areas of Paris.