Our trip to Inverness and Loch Ness

Alianna's grandma and Uncle Ben (Mark's mom and brother) came to visit a couple of weeks ago. We went up to Inverness to celebrate Mark finishing his thesis. Inverness is considered the highlands. It was pretty up there. We stayed in the city and took a bus up to Loch Ness and a boat on the lake. Unfortunately Nessie was also on holiday, so we didn't see her, but we saw plenty of statues and stuffed dolls. We couldn't escape without one souvenir, so we got Alianna a Nessie bib.

This is the main castle in Inverness. It it now a court house. We were there on the one day a year they give tours, so we went and learned about the court system. No, the people on trial are not dragged up from the dungeon. But they do have some small holding cells that I wouldn't want to be in.

Mark's mom and Ben and us at the castle.

Here we are on Loch Ness. Loch Ness is quite a big lake and very cold. Many studies have been done to prove if the monster Nessie could really live there. Part of our tour took us through the visitor's center which scientifically explains. We were ushered through rooms each with a video talking about another study of the lake. A lot of time and money went into finding out if Nessie exists. They say no, but locals we met have seen him!

The castle in the background here is Urquhart Castle. It is a medieval castle very much in ruins. The tour guide says it is one of the most visited castles (I guessed because everyone wants to see Loch Ness and look for the monster and the castle has a great view of the lake). The castle is also one of the places with the most sightings of Nessie.

This is a better view of the castle.

Here we are on the castle site

with a view of the lake

This is one of the churches we saw. We toured a couple. One had a first edition King James version Bible. That was cool to see.

Alianna got tired out from all the touring.

Alianna found a beanbag her size at one of the restaurants. She loved it!

A nice night in Inverness

We went on a walk through some islands on the River Ness in Inverness. It was beautiful.

And there were all these really cool benches. They were carved out of wood and looked like they twisted and were tied in knots.

Back in Edinburgh we went to the Roslyn Chapel. If you have read the Da Vinci Code you will have heard of it. The whole chapel is under a plastic tent right now to dry it out so it won't disintegrate, so there was no where to take a great photo. This is one of the side doors.
Here we are by the front door.
We had a great time with family in town. Alianna loved it. They left in the morning and she was sad the whole day, moping about and looking for them.