Wednesday 3^rd July: The day before we already travelled to Leiden by train, where Martijn's sister and her boyfriend (then, now husband) lived. So, in the morning we only had to take a short train trip to Schiphol airport near Amsterdam. We flew to Prestwick airport, south of Glasgow. Our rental car was waiting there for us. Although our first hotel of our trip was sited near Glasgow, we had some time to spend. So we drove southbound through the beautiful countryside of Ayrshire. On the west coast we visited Culzean castle in Maybole, South Ayrshire. After a short walk in the country park we drove back north through the city of Glasgow to Cardross, where we stayed at the. From there we had a great view over the Firth of Clyde. In the village of Cardross we had a very simple, plain and cheap dinner in what looked like a scullery of a small family restaurant, but it wasn't too bad.

Thursday 4^th July: Our first English breakfast during our vacation trip - it was great. Our trip really started today driving through the land of Argyll and Bute. We stopped to view the beautiful very north end of Loch Fyne. And after another hour or so we were sentenced to Inveraray Jail. The last part of todays trip was very hilly and winding, but we made it safely to. We stayed at the Manor House hotel (for two nights) and this first night in Oban we had a very stylish dinner in the hotel restaurant - delicious but a bit too classy for us back then.

Friday 5^th July: In the morning we drove to the Sea Life Centre in Barcaldine along Loch Creran, about 20 kms north from Oban. They had great displays of fish, sharks and seals. For lunch we ate our very first haggis, Scotland's national dish. It is a dish consisting of the heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep, calf, minced with suet and oatmeal, seasoned with salt, pepper, onions and boiled like a large sausage in the maw of the animal. It's actually quite tasty, especially with a poached potato. On our way back to Oban, we bought a couple of nice blue Scottish pottery items. Back in Oban we went for a nice walk to Oban's highest point, McCaig's Tower. That is the building structure you see in Oban's logo as shown above. Before we went out for dinner we visited the acclaimed "World in Miniature" - a display of over 50 top-quality small scale exhibits. These have been put together by skilled local craftsmen. In some Chinese restaurant we had dinner. It's nothing like Dutch Chinese food, really.

Saturday 6^th July: Our trip continues northbound. After driving along Great Britain's highest summit, the Ben Nevis (1,343 metres), we drove along impressive Loch Ness. And we visited the visitor centre in Drumnadrochit. You can see and learn everything you ever wanted to know about Nessie. In the afternoon we arrived in Inverness. We checked in the Glendruidh House hotel and went shopping in the city centre. We spent lots of time at Marks & Spencer. For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant where they had an "all you can eat" buffet. It was delicious.

Sunday 7^th July: For breakfast we had kippers (smoked herring), because it was caught locally. On our way back south we visited the Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig where we were supposed to see the following animals: Birds (barn owl, duck, capercaillie, eagle owl, golden eagle, goose, grouse, sea eagle, snowy owl and tawny owl), Carnivores (arctic fox, badger, northern lynx, otter, pine marten, polecat, Scottish wildcat and timber wolf), Hooved Animals (bison, mouflon, Przewalski's wild horse, red deer, reindeer, roe deer, soay sheep and wild boar) and a red squirrel. Our impression of the park was some cattle, really. We were in the park at lunchtime, so we had a sandwich in their restaurant. Unfortunately it was a tuna one and we just wanted to get rid of our kippers taste. Oh well, we had to eat something. Further down south we stopped at the Bruar Falls, just north of Blair Atholl. And after that we still had some time to visit . The last part of today's drive was not so bad, to Aberfeldy, where we stayed at the Moness House hotel. On the TV in our room we could watch an extensive report on the Wimbledon (tennis) final game to see our fellow Dutchman Richard Krajicek win. That was unforgettable. For dinner we sat in the centre of the village of Aberfeldy with some chips we bought at the local fish and chips store. We certainly left out the fish...

Monday 8^th July: Another travel day today through the beautiful Trossachs. At the end of the morning we arrived in Callandar. We visited the great Rob Roy exhibition there. Then, after having an icecream, we went on a boat trip on Loch Katrine. At the end of the afternoon we arrived at our last hotel of our trip, the Lomond Country Inn in Kinnesswood overlooking Loch Leven. We had a great dinner there and went to sleep early.

Tuesday 9^th July: Scotland's capital city Edinburgh is our city trip for today. We enter the city by crossing the Firth of Forth, an inlet of the North Sea, via Forth Road Bridge. The city is situated a few kilometres inland from the Firth of Forth and is built on a series of hills that are actually extinct volcanoes. Edinburgh Castle sits on one of the capital city's many hilltops. We visited the castle for a short period of time and then we walked down to Princess Street and heard a bang. It appeared that every day at 1pm a castle cannon is fired - and indeed our watches showed 1pm. So, we went shopping down Princess Street and after having a late lunch atwe went to, After an exhausting day we drove back to Kinnesswood, had another great dinner at the hotel restaurant, and started to pack for the next day, because then we were leaving again.