Yesterday we went on a tour of the sites around Edinburgh. The tour guy jokingly said,we came to Scotland but ended up in England. Actually we started in Edinburgh and went through the Lowland as opposed to the Highlands. It’s a lot of farms and a-lot of sheep. We started at Alnwick castle and its amazing gardens. We spent three hours there and could have spent even more, easily! We had a quick bite to eat then went on to Holy Island. The castle, reminded me of the shack on the island that the Dursleys take Harry to, to get away from all the owls, only much bigger! Speaking of Harry Potter, Alnwick Castle was used in both Philosopher's stone and Chamber of secrets. The Outer Bailey is where the kids take their first flying lesson. We were lucky the rain held off and we got took some great pictures.
Alnwick Castle and Gardens
Holy Island’s castle, the one that looked like the Dursley’s summer house, was fun to visit, but we had to hustle because it’s out on a point that quickly becomes surrounded in water.
Holy Island
That about sums up yesterday. Today was OUTLANDER day. If you are a fan of the show or the books this is the tour to be on. We set off for Lallybroch which is Jamie’s ancestral home. Really it is Midhope castle. Not really a castle in the way we might think of them. It was used in the show but really just the exterior and they created a fake door. This one dates back to the 1500’s you can imagine they don’t love it when Hollywood comes in and messes up their historical monuments! We learned that they took a cast of part of a wall and recreated the walls to look like the 1500 century walls. This is all done back at the set that they film most of the interior scenes for the show. 
Lallybroch aka Midhope Castle
Next it is on to Blackness Castle which is really more of a military fort.
You may recognize this view as it is where Jamie is flogged by Black Jack Randall
Next stop was Castle Doune which was used as the Mackenzie castle. Dougual and crew were now where to be found but we did come to appreciate modern plumbing. Fifteenth century even for the Lairds was pretty gross! Last but not least was the little town of Culross in the Kingdom of Fife. It was much smaller than in the show. Seeing the post in the center of town where they nailed the kids ear was creepy no matter how tiny the town was.
Oh btw remember that comment about missing seattle sun? Yeah it poured here!
Oh well it’s still Scotland!
On to Paris!
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