Fringe Festival

Si guy outside our hotel in Edinburgh







This is where Rhys Darby was playing
Random guy with a piano on his bike!


We went up to Edinburgh on Friday night with the lovely ScotRail. We had booked a sleeper carriage with a bed, but arrived to find nothing but a chair next to 100 other people trying to get to Scotland for the Fringe Festival. The train journey was an overnight train going realllllllllllllly slow so people could sleep through the night. So not cool!

After arriving in Edinburgh at 7am on Saturday and luckily being able to check into our hotel early, we had a bit of a nap before heading out to the festival.

Such an awesome place to be when the festival is on! We saw so many gigs, free ones, cheap ones, funny ones, not-so-good ones.... the fringe has it all! We went to a few stand-up comedian acts, a Spanish flamenco dance show a show like 'Who's line is it anyway'.... and lots more!

Definitely recommend going up for anyone over this side of the world. But book accommodation and trains early as the city is packed!

The land of whisky and golf!

Pub in Inverary where we had lunch on our way over to Islay
On the boat from Kennacraig to Islay

The Machrie Hotel
Billiards room where we played after our lovely meal at Faulty Towers
Checking out the golf course as soon as we arrived
Pa pa taking a shot!
Bowmore Distillery





Beautiful old pub in Port Charlotte where we had dinner one night


That is a tornado in the distance! Simon was very excited to see :)

Lagavulin Distillery
Laphroaig Distillery


Ardbeg Distillery
Just writing this blog, I realise how much whisky we actually had!

We flew into Glasgow early morning Wednesday and hired a car for the three of us to drive to Kennacraig. A really nice drive through the National Park and stopping off along the way in Loch Lommand. We caught an early evening ferry from Kennacraig to our final destination - Islay baby! The boys were in heaven :) We spent our first night at The Machrie Hotel & Golf Course. Accommdation turned out to be Faulty Towers with our beds collapsing to the ground, shower falling off the wall and the hair dryer blowing up, but the all important whisky and golf were sensational...

Our first day the boys had a round of golf on the "challenging" course. No prize in guessing who won! hehe

The next few nights we stayed at a beautiful B&B in Port Ellen called The Oystercatcher. Run by an English couple who really made you feel at home. One of the best breakfasts I have ever had I think! Dad over indulged in the full scottish breakfast one morning, but after not being able to eat all the haggus and sausage, he went for a modest scrambled eggs the next day.

Both days we were visiting many of the distilleries the island had to offer. Bowmore, Lagaluvin, Laphroaig, Ardbeg... after we found out you could go in for free tastings without having to go around the distillery itself, the boys were pretty keen to try as many as possible. The trusty sober driver (me) got them around as many as we could around the island!

Blimmin great holiday away! xox

Paris!!!

Ummm crepes and cider.
What's that in the background?















Notre Dame!





Well, I finally got an opportunity to put my French lessons in to practice! A few days in Paris is never enough, but still lots of fun! We explored the French cuisine, tried to speak a few phrases, and visited all the touristy sites that Dad hadn't seen for 30 years!