It's Almost Easter

so in true "Mc Style" that means going back to catch up on fun fall and holiday adventures

Thanksgiving is a non-holiday over here and although there's plenty of Turkeys at the commissary and friends with which to gather for traditioanl feasts, sometimes, what you really want is an honest-to-goodness pumpkin patch.

This year, we found one. Pumpkin Island.

The crazy thing is that Pumpkin Island has pumpkins all year 'round. In the nice weather it's a pumpkin-themed beach club (don't ask, we're in Germany) But in the fall, they stack up the hay bales as pirate ships, carve a maze out of the corn field, and have pumpkins of all shapes and sizes for purchasing in the pumpkin patch.

We met up with some friends and spent a lovely couple of hours worrying about the youngsters as they climbed to the mast of the pirate ship and got lost in the maze on the big tri wheel scooters,i
but in the end we warmed up with hot chocolate and pumpkin soup and, for just a minute could've sworn we were kicking it up, American Thanksgiving style.

Christmas Markets

Between last year and this year we've made it to most of the local Christmas markets, and sampled lots of the traditional Gluwein. Christmas markets are lovely; they each have their own flavor, but I'm not quite sure I get the hype or why US tourists spend thousands of dollars, battle the usually crappy weather and the crowds solely to make Christmas market pilgrimages. We've yet to get to any of the markets in Bavaria, so perhaps those are different. They certainly are larger, but I don't know if larger equates with more hand made crafts and goodies or more traditional German woodworking OR if larger simply means more sausage, spirits, and "made in china" replicas?

However, as we ARE here, Christmas markets are fabulous wintertime diversions. Most of the small markets near us seem to function as local watering holes. The German version of Cheers, where you stop by and grab a drink and a snack on your way home, noshing with the locals, soaking up the ambiance. Each market has a distinct atmosphere, however, so read on for quick pics and over-brief summaries of the ones we've visited.

Geilenkirchen: A small, one weekend market, with performances by local groups and fundraising booths for local charities. Some food vendors, kid rides, and a flea-market esque section of retail booths

Aachen: the largest market closest to us with cool high energy buzz. Super crowded on the weekends and not stroller friendly (heck it was even dicey at times with B in the backpack carrier).

Gangelt: one weekend only, just one village up the road from us. Has a very small town feel to it, but in a quaint, the-neghborhood-has-gathered-for-the-weekend kind of way. Lots of flower and greenery vendors and fun rides for the kids. There's nothing better than soaking up the festive atmosphere while meandering the old Gangelt streets and you will run into most everyone you know, so it's got a great open-house feel to it too

Trier: the best market we went to. Trier is in itself a great city, about 90 minutes from here. This market looked the most traditional and of course strolling past the old Roman ruins Trier is famous for only added to the charm. The market takes over the main square and a side street or two and between the market's supersized German decor and the storefronts' decorated windows, it's lots of good holiday fun. AND the best market yummies we had, we had in Trier. Dan got a super yummy brick oven pizza and I sampled the kirsch dampfnuden, which was a sweet dumpling with a cherry sauce.

Monschau: We ended up in Monschau on a Friday evening, and I suspect the market would have been better by day. It was rather poorly lit, so it was hard to appreciate the beautiful town as we were weaving in and out of market booths. In the day time, too, the local shops would have been open, adding more browsing options. However, they did have lederhosen clad horn players, an incredibly tasty orange punch, and lots of fried dough to keep the wee one entertained. No carousel in Monschau either, so that's either good or bad depending on what your take is on buying kids tokens for the merry-go-rounds


Satzvey Castle: Kitchy and Romantic and I absolutely love it! The Satzvey Christmas market isn't that much different in character than their Easter market or their summer time viking, medieval, and renaissance fairs, but Satzvey Castle at anytime of year is a keeper. C gets to gorge on the waffles and have his face painted. He gets to watch the sword fighting, see the horses and try his darndest to pull that sword out of the stone. At the Christmas Market this year he even got to tell St Nicholaus about his Christmas wishes and explain how it was this kid with the slightly southern draw was Christmasing in North Rhine Westphalia

Valkenburg, Netherlands: The markets in Valkenburg are nice because they are underground in caves, out of the elements, and temperature controlled. The port-a-potties in said caves aren't so nice, but when you've got a 4 year old along, you do what you've got to do. One of the caves is Dickensian themed and you watch Scrooge's story unfold on the walls as you wander past

Maastricht, Netherlands: Each winter, Maastricht converts its main square to a winter wonderland, with lots of games and rides and even an Ice Skating rink, just a quick stroll from some of the oldest Roman ruins in the Netherlands and against the backdrop of some beautiful church facades, it's a must see. High energy, lots of families and fun buzz.



Liege, Belgium (about 45 minutes from us): One big party with lots of different foods and wines to try. Typical candies, soaps, and knitted hats, but Liege has a number of fun city walks to take in and among marketing, namely the 406 steps of the Montagne de Bueren. Worth the climb for awesome city and river views. Then, instead of climbing back down, take the long way around, past the ruins of the citadel and the modern hospital through a nature reserve back to the city square for another glass of gluwein and Belgian chocolates to see you through the afternoon.

the MC guide to DISNEY (with munchkins)!

During our recent trip stateside we took C for his first visit to the "House of Mouse". I'm a bit of a Disney freak, went every chance I could as a kid and had season passes for several years in college and as a young adult, but this was my first visit as a parent. I've had a long-held theory, after witnessing years and years of Magic Kingdom meltdowns, that there's simply no reason to take a kid to Disney World until s/he can get through the day without a nap. Now, after experiencing WDW with a kiddo, I think the theory still stands (of course if you live close by, with season passes, or have an xtra adult on hand to head back to the hotel pre-meltdown, that's a different story.) I followed my own advice and left B at home, just so as not to have to deal with his theatrics.

Other tips:
Don't go during summer, don't go during Christmas, don't go on a holiday weekend, don't go on the weekend. **DO** go on weekdays mid January to early March, May, or October

Take in as many snacks sandwiches and drinks as you want. Disney doesn't care, and you'll feel a lot better spending 4 dollars on that Disney shaped popsicle if you didn't just spend 12 dollars on chicken nuggets and fries

Even if your youngster walks everywhere and has for years, take or rent a stroller. You can get from Big Thunder Mountain to Space Mountain far more quickly if you're not paced by little legs. Disney is exciting, overwhelming and tiring for the wee set, and if you're in for the long day, everyone's gonna need the break. Not exaggerating: it's completely normal to see kids as old as 8 or 9 in strollers. BUT, the ultimate reason to take a stroller -- you can leave bags/coolers/gear/whatever with your stroller. Without the stroller you either have to carry everything on every attraction or rent a locker way up at the park's entrance. Sroller = the ultimate packmule

FASTPASS -- use it anytime the standby wait is more than 15 minutes

If you stand in line to "meet" characters there'll be far less tolerance (not to mention time) for ride lines. There'll be lots of characters to see as you walk through the park, but if actually meeting characters is important to you, be sure to see Mickey and Minnie at toontown, but then consider going to a character breakfast or lunch.

Don't miss the afternoon parade. The kiddos love to be so close to the all the characters and it provided my kiddo MUCH needed downtime to be ready to go again into the evening. Watch it from Frontier land, the end of the parade route. It'll be far less crowded than Mainstreet. Be there 15 minutes early for a spot right on the rope line.

You can sit in Dumbo(and take pics in Dumbo) without waiting in line to fly Dumbo.
The Aladdin flying carpet line is always far far shorter. If Dumbo is a must, think about hitting it during the fireworks.

Stay on Disney property and take advantage of early/late park hours

The monorail might look cool, but the ferry boat is far more stroller friendly.

If you park in Minnie or Mickey and have the kid in a stroller follow the footpath and *walk* to the transportation and ticket center, far faster and easier than hassling with the tram.

FWIW -- C's favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear and he liked Big Thunder Mountain (AKA Cowboy Mountain) far better then the Barnstormer coaster in toontown *AND* Big Thunder Mountain is a Fastpass. We waited close to 30 minutes for Barnstormer, not worthit, IMHO.

City of Lights

yep, you guessed it -- More Catch Up. September, a gorgeous month over here, brought us a second visit from the grandparents and with it a five-day, grown up only adventure to Paris. Admittedly, I felt a bit guilty leaving Grandma and GP to fend for themselves in a foreign country where they couldn't speak the language with two high-energy grandsons, but with the closest hospital programmed into the GPS and the names and contact numbers of every neighbor within shouting distance, well, I went anyway, figuring they'd have plenty of time to regroup once they got back stateside. I'm still not sure I got all the stories of what happened those few days we were away, but everyone was in good spirits with all limbs and digits attached when D and I got home, so the rest we'll chalk up to my boys and the old folks making memories together.

As you might recall, we tried to go to Paris earlier in the year and were foiled by illness. I had been as a highschooler and had already seen the highpoints: the Eiffel tower -- before you had to wait in line for two hours, the Mona Lisa -- before she was behind a thick pane of glass, MonteMarte -- before it was completely tourist trappy, Notre Dame, etc, etc, etc. But Paris was the top of D's gotta go list and as we'd already done so many of the things at the top of mine (and it's only a 5 hour drive) off we went. I didn't expect to love Paris, but love it I did, and we're already planning a quick trip back with the kids so that C can see the Eiffel tower and eat the best street-side crepes known to man.

We tried to take advantage of the fact that we were traveling light (no kids and no kid gear)and ride the train, but as we planned this trip last minute, it cost several hundred euro more for round trip train tickets than it did to pay for gas, tolls, and parking. We parked at the Charles De Gaul Airport and took the Metro into the city. We stayed in the Latin quarter, and I loved the Latin Quarter. Most of the tourist sites we wanted to visit were in other sections of the city, so we got a taste of those quarters as we were sightseeing, but the energy in the Latin Quarter is fun. Markets, bakeries, eateries aplenty, grocery stores, even a Starbucks or two within a short walk of our hotel, so when we were done for the day and wanted to grab a late dinner, we didn't have to puzzle over where, we simply had to grab the Metro back to our hotel and then wander for a block or two until we found something we liked.

Paris was fun for us for an altogether unexpected reason: we felt more at "home" in Paris than we have since we got here last year. D had taken enough French that his language skills were passable, but as September is still a busy tourist month, we heard more English around us than anything else. Parisians have a reputation for being pushy and rude, and not at all friendly, but let me tell you, compared to the austere personality that is de-facto around these parts, those Parisians, at least the ones we encountered, are down right vivacious and congenial.

Each evening one museum stayed open late, so we tended to get going by 10 or 11 AM, grabbing a pastry and coffee as we walked to the train, sightsee until 4 or 5 (snacking from street vendors when we needed to refuel), zipping back to the hotel to rest/shower/change and then go to a late attraction: a museum, a seine river cruise, etc, then back to the Latin quarter to eat a real dinner.

The first evening we climbed the Eiffel tower.

The next day we started at Notre Dame, buying our Museum pass (a MUST for any sightseeing visit) and then after marveling at the cathedral, ducked into the small Archaeological museum next door. Each trip we take, there's a surprise--something we happen upon that isn't in all the books, but turns out to be a really cool experience. In Paris it was the Archaeological Crypt museum. The museum is 1 story underground, and is built over an existing archaeological dig of Roman-era ruins. The larger "story" behind the museum is to trace Paris's growth and development from Roman times through the age of the Cathedral next door (a long time, mind you, as it took close two 2 centuries to build that Cathedral next door). I'm not schooled in artifact discovery/preservation and maybe the whole museum is nothing more than a good show, you know like Disney World or Vegas--a Baudrillard-esque simulation of the "real thing" manipulated to be more real than the thing itslef, but still....what a cool idea. Bring the museum to the artifacts, rather than the artifacts to the museum.

Then, we meandered more of the area around Notre Dame, and stopped into avery famous English-language bookstore. Funny Story: I had been trying to get a copy of the book my book club was reading that month. I didn't know much about the book, hadn't looked it up, had heard it was rather controversial, but whatever. So I asked in Shakespeare and Company if they had the book, lo and behold they did. So I bought it. As the man's ringing me up, he asks if I want him to stamp the book. Sure, I say, thinking to myself -- oh cool, what an awesome souvenir. Fast forward to the next week when we're home and I start reading said book....It is hands down, the most horrid, awful, book I've ever encountered (now think about who I am and my background and all the varied things I've read over my life) and that's no small feat. Puke in my mouth, kind of disgusting. Couldn't even bring myself to finish it, even using my survive grad school technique reading the first and last sentences of each paragraph. It's the type of book I'd be horrified if C plucked it off the bookshelf one day and started thumbing through it. But yep I bought it and had it stamped at the famous Shakespeare and Company so now I feel compelled to keep it. That'll teach me to pay more attention (**Note, I"m purposefully not naming the book, because it's so not worth it, but I also don't want search engine hits on it either. Said book, however, was a European bestseller, which leads to whole'nother, rather interesting line of inquiry, but I won't go there now). Anyhow, after my quick duck into the bookstore, we toured palaceSainte Chapelle.

.That evening we tackled the Louvre -- Rick Steves tells you about a way you can use your museum pass to avoid the crowded security lines at the Louvre, but in doing so, you sacrifice your chance to walk through the famous glass pyramid. However, the lines were close to nonexistent at night, so we went through the grand entrance, rather than through servants quarter. We're not big museum people. We want to see the things we need to see. And although you could spend a whole day in the Louvre, we're the type happy enough with a couple hours. We dutifully made the rounds, seeing the couple of Michaelangelo sculptures, the Delacroix paintings (which we'd funny enough already seen at a traveling exhibit in Philly), Winged Victory, Venus de Milo,and of course, Mona Lisa, the grand dame herself. Then we wandered the bustling evening square outside the Louvre and back towards "home" where we ate the best Sushi I've ever had. Maybe it's just 'cause we haven't had sushi in a while --absence makes the heart grow fonder at all -- but still.

Day Three was our Museum day: We began the day atop the Arc de Triomph, wandered the length of Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde. Then we, almost unknowingly, wandered into my favorite museum and favorite "artsy" moment of the trip. We popped into the Orangerie Museum, only because it was covered by our Museum pass, it was right in front of us, and I needed to use the facilities. Yes, I knew the Waterlilies were there, but I've already spent over an hour of my life in the impressionist wing of the Met in New York with a monet-obsessed buddy, so really, how many Monets does one need to see in one lifetime.

I stand corrected. The waterlilies are breathtaking. Not sure I realized they were mural size (admittedly, art appreciation wasn't my favorite class in college). The entire museum probably had only ten people in it and the Waterlilies are its only major work, but definitely one of Paris's gems, hidden in plain sight. Then we mosied a few blocks to the Orsay, home of the late 18th century artwork. To me, the building was more impressive than the art, converted train station and all, but again, not the artsy type.

That evening, a thoroughly enjoyable dinner at Cafe Du Marche and a lovely stroll through the famous Rue Cler neighborhood back to the Seine for an evening boat ride, one of the highlights of the weekend.

Day Four: We caught the train out to Versailles. I've spent the last twenty years wanting to go to Versailles. Mythologized as the place is I expected..... well, more. The Gardens were impressive and the fountains were running so that was nice, but the palace itself, a tad underwhelming. Again, it was great to see it in a "put a name with a face" kind of way but..... We spent the first three hours, exploring the gardens and the Queen's private residence, and I felt badly we didn't save more time for the palace, but turns out I needn't have worried. We spent thirty minutes in line at security and ,maybe, 45 minutees walking the palace and we had seen enough. If you go: Buy tickets ahead of time. The palace is include in the popular museum pass and you buy garden tickets at the garden gates, and that way you don't have to wait in the ginormous Versaille ticket line.

That evening we braved the craziness and went to Montemart. Some Paris visitors say they don't like the atmosphere in the Latin Quarter because it's just too touristy at every turn. Well, I think Montmarte is the most touristy place in all of Paris. Don't get me wrong, 2o years back it was still touristy, but I remember it as festival/artsy touristy. Now, it's just South of the Border touristy or Panama City Beach at Spring Break touristy with tacky souvenir shop after tacky souvenir shop. Maybe the difference is just me, but I'd be willing to bet it's not all me. But, Montmarte is grand for its stunning views of the city and the church is lovely, so go see them at least.

. Day Five: We spent the last morning in Paris in the Paris sewers. The sidebar picture is me doing my best Jean Valjean carrying Marius impression. D, having worked before in a sewer plant, was rather fascinated by it. Me, not so much. Too stinky. I've always been disappointed that I didn't buy a copy of Canterbury Tales the day I ended up at the Cantebury Cathedral (and I'm not sure we'll make a trip back to Canterbury simply for me to buy said book), but I certainly wouldn't make the same mistake in the Paris Sewers. I hustled through to the gift shop at the end, ready to plunk down my euro for an overpriced copy of Les Miserables but alas, they weren't selling one. Inconceivable. After our sewer tour, strolled the Marais neighborhood (home to the 18th century Parisian intelligentsia, lingered in Place des Vosges, and then walked through the adjoining Jewish quarter to the Holocaust memorial. Then we hopped the train back to the Latin quarter, quick ducked into the Pantheon to see Foucault's Pendulum and then back to the hotel to collect our luggage and out to the airport to collect the car.

In the end, my impression of Paris is that it's a friendly, beautiful city with architectural treasures hidden on every street corner. Beautiful churches and facades that in other cities would become centerpieces, pass without comment, simply because they find themselves in Paris, home to so many more famous monuments. We're already planning a trip back, as close as it is. So stay tuned for Paris, part deux.

You take the high road

More Catch Up......

In August the family Mc spent an incredible ten days in Scotland -- Edinburgh, The Isle of Skye, Inverness, and back to Edinburgh. Scotland has been on my must see list, ever since I discovered the Gabaldon Outlander series, back in our Tallahassee days. Having been there and done that, I think I must go back--and often. Mc... is Scottish in origin. As it's a name I inherited, I didn't go all gaga for clan roots and stuff, but still, the entire country is steeped in a profound sense of history.

We flew into Edinburgh, spent three nights in a rented flat in the northern suburb of Leith, a quiet residential neighborhood in a well-loved, but safe apartment that the landlord was kind enough to stock with rolls and milk and OJ, knowing we had wee ones and our flight didn't land until 10:30 PM and we'd be at least midnight getting from the airport.

We rented a car and D did a good job driving on the "wrong" side of the road:never once went the wrong way around a roundabout! He had a tendency to hug the left curb a little closely, a natural sense we suspect. As an American driver, you're used to being on the left side of the road, so you tend to put yourself there. Later in the week, when we meandered some of those steep highland passes, I found myself often repeating "close on the left, close on the left", but all in all, the driving was a non-issue (not that I wanted to drive, at all, mind you).

Edinburgh was busy and very crowded the days we were there. It was the Edinburgh Festival and the famous Military Tattoo. Kidless, we would have found last minute tickets to the Tattoo, but with the youngins in tow contented ourselves with photographing the parade grounds as we walked through Edinburgh castle.

Our first day in Edinburgh we walked the length of the Royal Mile, parking at Holyrood Palace meandering our way to the Castle and then back down. C was worn out from the trip, so spent most of the afternoon asleep in the stroller and missed the castle entirely. But never fear,there were many more castles to come. Fortunately, I had purchased a new, more comfortable, travel-friendly baby carrier for this trip, suspecting just such an occurrence. (Baby in fact spent nearly the entire trip tucked in my coat in his new carrier. Either we were places that were not stroller friendly or we were walking long distances and big brother needed to ride.)

Our second full day in Edinburgh we started the morning at the Royal Yacht Britannia, decommissioned in 1996 and now a Edinburgh-area tourist attraction. It was a fun outing. C got his own audio tour guide and kept himself busy looking for the next number in the guide, shouting gleefully when he found it. Supposedly his guide was geared for kids, not sure he listened to much of it though. The picture to the right is a picture of the officer's bar, but note the audio guide sitting on the bar. Yep, that's right, C set his down and walked off to find more numbers, leaving it on the bar. So we toured this section of the boat twice, backward and forward, once I realized we were down one audio guide.

After the boat tour and a quick lunch, we stopped by a local botanical garden, just in time to catch a free festival event--circus acrobats giving a short teaser performance, hoping to entice you into buying tickets for their main event later that evening. We went because we thought C would enjoy the performance and so that we could say we attended a festival event. From what we can tell the festival is simply weeks of performances. The Royal Mile is jam packed with ticket sellers, trying to convince you to attend their shows. With another day in Edinburgh we likely would have found a kid show to take the boys to, but as it was we made do with our abbreviated garden circus. After a quick nap at the apartment, we spent the evening strolling the "new" section of Edinburgh, beneath the Royal Mile. Had to eat at McDonalds that evening because none of the local pubs would allow us inside with children under 18. (Well, that and sometimes fast food is just easier. As I've said before my kiddos are awesome travelers, but at the end of a jam-packed day, there are just some battles not worth fighting)

In the end I enjoyed the Highlands far more than I did Edinburgh, but if I ever go back to Edinburgh, I definitely won't go during festival season. SOooooo crowded. Hard at times to navigate the stroller. We had to wait 45 minutes for a table at a burger joint at lunch. But I'm glad to say I was there and I can now place all the famous Edinburgh landmarks I encounter in books.

The next morning we loaded up our car and headed out on the Highlands portion of our adventure. Our final destination that evening was the Isle of Skye--one of the most remote, but also most beautiful areas of the Highlands. The Isle of Skye is the only place in Scotland that a significant percentage of the population still speaks Gaelic. On Skye, in fact, Scottish kids can go to school in Gaelic all the way through university. We had reservations on a 16:00 ferry and knew we wanted to stop at Stirling Castle along the way. Stirling Castle was an important site in both of the Jacobite risings, but was also important in William Wallace's (Braveheart) story centuries before. We got an early enough start to get to the Castle by about 10 -- good thing too as the crowds when we left were astounding. (Same thing at Britannia, btw. We got there when they opened,but by the time we left --sardine city!)

C and Scottish castles are a good fit. German castles (at least in this region) are small and compact with a designated route to explore, often in cramped quarters. Scottish castles (at least the three we saw)are large and expansive with lots of room for little feet to climb and romp. D and I half-listened to audio guides while we followed C around the ramparts and into tunnels. He thought the prison cells were quite the thing and enjoyed testing out his balancing skills along the castle's walls. We could have easily spent another hour or so at Stirling but had to hit the road in order to make our 4:00 ferry. The road we drove en route to the ferry, lowlands to highlands, was a scenic route full of postcard views (the pictures don't do it justice), but it's also the route that parallel's the Hogwart's Express on it's journey from Kings Cross Station 9 and 3/4 to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

We made it to the ferry on time, had what I thought was a rather rough crossing, but a cuppa tea later, emerged onto the beautiful and breathtaking Isle of Skye. Skye has the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen, and I've spent a good deal of time in both the Rocky and Smokey mountains, not to mention a wee bit of time driving through the Alps. The Scottish Highlands is indeed God's Country. If you're going to the Highlands for the views, go to Skye (The Inverness area was nice, but the panoramas didn't compare at all to the Skye landscape). If you go: be warned that there's not a lot to do in Skye other than to drive and look, hike and marvel. There are one or two inn's on the island, a multitude of B&B's and a few hostels and while many of them are I'm sure, very nice, there's obviously no such thing on Skye as luxury accommodations. We stayed at a rustic "bothy", much like a camping cabin with a kitchen, bath and bunkhouse. We rented the 6 bed bunk-house for just us, so it was private and while I, personally, tried not to look too hard in the corners and crevices for fear of mold and cockroaches, C and his daddy thoroughly enjoyed the rustic adventure. (And B, bless his heart, has pack n play, will travel).

We spent two nights on Skye. The first night, arrived just before dinner and ate in one of the two local pubs (Here you could bring in kids, but only until 9PM). NO high chair, NO milk, NO juice, but the boys survived on boiled potatoes and fanta, while D and I had the most spectacular local catch--some kind of white fish and YUMMY! Skye is rather sparsely populated, but it boasts a town of decent size, Portree, and that's where we started the next morning, with a cooked breakfast in a local cafe (Haven't had scrambled eggs out since we left the States, so this cooked breakfast was in itself, quite a treat.) Then, we left Portree to embark on Rick Steves' recommended driving tour of the Island. We spent about 6 hours looping the Isle, stopping to ogle at waterfalls and walk out onto rock outcroppings. we wasted an hour at a little snack shack, that had the most varied menu I'd ever seen at a snack shack, everything from panini sandwiches to pasta primavera and fish and chips, but what they don't tell you on the menu is that it takes 45 minutes to get a grilled ham and cheese, but it was, no kidding, the ONLY place to grab grub for miles, so we lingered and let C run off some energy on the hills.
After lunch, we made a quick pit stop at the only public restrooms north of Portree (our starting point). Really Steves puts them in his guide book so you don't miss them. Holes in the wall, literally, but clean and with soap, so who's complaining. We encountered Castle Donvegan, cliffside ruins of Clan McLeod, not an official historic site, but only partially fenced off without a "no Trespassing" sign anywhere nearby. The boys had fallen asleep in the back of the car at this point, however, so D went exploring while I supervised naptime along the side of the road (D later reports that the climb was too steep for little legs, so it's just as well). Then, we headed back to our bothy, stopping to admire the cliffs to the sea as well as an example of the close-to-extinct croft system that used to drive the Scottish economy. Crofting is the Scottish version of tenant farming or sharecropping. Legend has it, btw, that the Isle of Skye is where Bonnie Prince Charlie came ashore during the 1745 Jacobite rising and where he escaped from after the clans' defeat at Culloden.

Our bothy was not in the main town on Skye, we were in Portnalong, not more than a village, really, but a village that also houses the only distillery on the island. Our last morning on Skye, D toured the Talisker distillery while the boys and I played for an hour or so at the local playground. Kids under eight weren't allowed inside. Then it was off, over the relatively new and picturesque Skye bridge, past the Eilean Donan castle (as seen in Highlander, the Movie) to Urquhart Castle on the shore of the Loch Ness and into Inverness for the rest of our stay.

We skipped the "official" Loch Ness tourist traps, but C had a marvelous time looking for Nessie as we climbed the castle walls. The picture to the right is C in the Loch Ness.

Inverness: 4 Nights at a lovely townhouse just outside the city itself. Rick Steves warned there's not a lot to do in Inverness itself, and he's right but there is a lot to do nearby.

Day One we rewarded C for being such a trooper with a day at an amusement park. It was actually more like Bouncy House City, ala Monkey Joes, but he went nonstop for 5 hours. D liked it too because they had a grown up ropes course, rappelling, and a flume ride he and C went on together. The front half of the park is the play area and the back half is nature trails. So, B and I wandered the nature trails and then had a long lunch in the cafe that had free wifi while I checked email and goofed around online.

Day Two we made it to Culloden -- a very very kid friendly museum, btw. There's a self-paced indoor part, that takes about 30 minute to go through, showing a timeline of events, both from the British and Jacobite perspectives. A movie that's too violent for the munchkins, so skip it with the under 10 crowd, but dress up trunks with soldiers uniforms and hands on rifles and bullets. Then you pick up a GPS and head out to the moor. The GPS, talks to you automatically based on where you are on the moor. The moor is huge and flat and C, in his yellow raincoat, could go anywhere and we could still spot him. (Likewise he could still spot me in my green raincoat). He took a siesta on a rock for 20 minutes when he got tired, and simply wandered the paths the rest of the time.

Day Three: we shopped in down town Inverness, bought a cashmere scarf for myself, cute litte hats for the boys, a signed copy of Book 3 of the Outlander series in a Scottish Borders. (We meandered forever in that same Borders, the first English language bookstore we'd encountered in forever, spent an hour in the kids section, thumbed all the travel guides, read the backs of the best sellers, drank the coffee). Next it was off to the honest-to-goodness mall. Then, strolling the river walk by the River Ness and sampling the local Chinese food for dinner. After dinner, headed to Clava Cairns, a prehistoric cluster of rock formations, just a block or two from our apartment.

There was one other family at the site(a Spanish family) and C had good fun talking to them, using his minimal Dora/Diego, mommy-prompted Spanish. C and their daughter chased each other around the rocks for a while, playing hide and seek among the ruins and C, of course, had to gather a stone on the ground (not one form the ruins) to bring home with us to add to his collection.

The next morning we loaded up to begin the drive back to Edinburgh to catch our evening flight home. We had enough time en route to stop one place, and decided on Pitlochry, a completely *charming* village full of boutique shops and Scottish souvenirs. I wanted to bring home a kid-sized set of bagpipes on clearance in one store, but D wouldn't hear of it (or rather I think he was afraid he'd hear nothing but them, once we got back). D kept up with the boys while I shopped, then we strolled over to the river and followed the river to the dam and its accompanying fish ladder, bribing C the whole time with the promise of ice cream and playground time. "If you're too tired to walk to the fish ladder, then you're too tired to have ice cream or play on the playground" He quickly found his second wind.

As we made it to the playground, I used my last diaper for B. So I dashed off to the closest grocery store while the boys played. Of course at this small-town grocery the smallest package of diapers I could by was a 64 pack and I really only needed 2, maybe 3, to get us home, which left us in the parking lot stuffing an entire package of diapers into our already over packed luggage.

In the end, we took the high road and the low road. We found the banks of Loch Lomond and they, as well as the rest of Scotland, are very bonny indeed!