Training Camp

Thursday I went to the last day of Vikings training camp. It was hot and I didn't stay to long, so I went to lunch with my friend Patricia.

# 7 Tarvaris Jackson

It is hard to see but the ball is up in the right hand corner

#8 Ryan Longwell-in the white jersey

#7 Tarvaris Jackson - if Farve doesn't come back I think he is our quarterback

Look at #15's muscles

Great catch!

Nessie

Nessie!

Me on the boat cruise on Loch Ness

Remains of Urquhart Castle

More castle - I found out my neighbor is a direct descendant of the people who owned this castle back in the day. How crazy is that!

Me, castle and loch ness

national gallery of Scotland

The National gallery of Scotland surprised me with the artist that it had in such a small and free museum. I actually was going to pass on going to it but I was ahead of my schedule and thought it was FREE why not. It has Raphael, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Courbet and many more. Some of the paintings I can't remember who did them now...I knew that was going to happen.

FYI you can't take photos in the museum...you get yelled at. Thank good ness it was on my way out.

Monet???

Renoir??

I think I have officially seen every hay stack Monet has done now!

This painting I recognized but I didn't know why till I saw the artist was a Flemish painter. Not to mention I think I saw a similar one with a monkey I liked and Joe for some reason Joe didn't like monkeys. I think that is why this artist really stood out for me.

The skating priest. This was my favorite.

Just thought this was a cool photo

This guy was playing outside the gallery

St. Giles

St. Giles is like the Westminster Abbey of Scotland. The ornate spire is from 1495. Inside there is a chapel called the thistle where the queen holds a special ceremony like knighting someone but it is a higher honor.

ceiling of the thistle chapel

All hand carved wood inside

Doorknob

Stain glass window in the main church

Edinburgh Castle

The castle the symbol of Edinburgh sits on a rock above the city. It has been a fort and a royal residence since the 11th century. The tour books say you can spend several hours there...I think I must have missed something cause i was there less than an hour and I was bored.

I did however see the crown jewels, dog cemetery and the plaque to the witches these were the important things to me. Which all of the above the guide never should us...

Before the castle opened this man played the bagpipes up on a balcony of the castle

The castle up on the hill

View from up on the castle looking at monument hill

National war museum of Scotland

St. Margaret's chapel - you can really get married in here- it only holds 20 people though

Me in the wind and rain

My tour guide in wool plaid pants and a man that was nuts in shorts

A changing of the guards

Another view from up at the castle...remember i lost my luggage and it had my hair products in it, the wind and rain didn't help either

looking down at the dog cemetery - that is the closest you could get to it

The fountain/planter in memory of all the witches killed in Edinburgh

So I missed that they were having a 3 day music fest at night here...Rod Stewart, Jay Z, Beyonce and I can't remember the other act.

Guard standing out side the castle

Busy Busy busy

For some reason this week I am a social butterfly...I want to do quality blogs about my trip so hopefully I can get some done this weekend.

I did find out that the house next to me that was for sale - and got torn down when I was gone. The builders are selling it as a spec house for $759,000. I knew I should have bought that lot!

Hotels-Scotland

My photos are a little backwards...The first set is my Inverness, Scotland hotel then Edinburgh.

Outside of Rocpool Reserve yes it is small less then 8 rooms - voted best luxury hotel in Scotland

My room - I loved the down comforter - it was nice on the cold, wet and windy days or when I curled up and watched Grease on night.

The Shower had double rain shower heads

Patio area of The Glass House Edinburgh - it is actually up about 3 floors from the street

Outside of The Glass House Hotel - it has the original facade of the castle

Close up

My view out my patio - to bad it was so cold or else I could have used it.

Inside of my room - again loved the comforter- however the TV in the hotel sucked

Technical problems

If you can believe this my modem for my computer died on Saturday and they couldn't get it fixed till Monday afternoon. I was planning on getting some blogs loaded this weekend but that problem added a kink in my plans.

I will tell you my problems from my trip since I started with problems.

Lets start that the customs agent in Edinburgh thought it was strange for a woman to be traveling alone and questioned me for 45 minutes about Joe, his work and my finances. Then I went to the baggage claim and only one of my two bags were there. Why when my luggage was clearly marked priority...because British open was in Scotland. The made sure every one's darn golf clubs were on the plane but not my luggage. The other bad part is I packed one bag for Scotland and one bag for Paris...my Paris bag arrived with my warm weather clothes and it was 65 degrees, cold, wet and windy in Scotland.

My trip home from Paris was just as crazy as my trip into Europe. The Power went out in the airport, we had a baggage scary in the terminal, a man that was almost 7 ft tall couldn't fit in the coach seats and wanted to be up in business class. Finally someone gave him the bulk head seat so we could leave. Then a man passed out and fell out of his seat when we were about 3 hours into the flight. Oh did I mention it was a smaller plane and too 9 hours to go from Paris to Minneapolis. Oh I should have just gone to Amsterdam then home. Now I know not to do that again.

Also got questioned at US customs as to how I afforded my trip abroad.