Scotland, a "Winter Wonderland".

Sunday, 2 a.m. Nov.28

On Friday we arrived in Edinburgh. Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. we walked to the train station to catch a train. Walked out the door and there was snow on the ground with black ice under the few inches of snow. I grabbed Greg, hung on tight as we left.

We never ate until we got on the train. Then I brought out the blueberries. Greg put his claw in the blueberries and then shifted the blueberries

into his other hand before he popped the lot of them into his mouth. Twice he dropped some blueberries. I demonstrated to him...use your pinchers, two fingers, pick one berry and pop it in your mouth. It works! Then you don't have to wash clothes in the laundromat so often.

After the third station stop, I saw Greg rubbing his hands together and saying, "This is fun! Only 22 more stops to go. I'll travel with you anytime. I just love trains."
There you have it Gabe, your grandfather loves trains and he is 68 years old. Our train section was very cold so I brought out a couple of extra large scarves and put them on my legs but Greg seemed to want to share my scarves. I brought plenty to go around.

I am still not good at the writing and picture thing so I am just going ahead. Please fix this Arta before anyone sees it. The world was a Winter Wonderland! Snow, colors, lochs, trees, craigs, mountains and such different scenic views. This is the second time I have taken this trip in 7 months and it gets better every time.

We saw many groups of deer and moose through the moores.
There were pine forests which the government has planted. It even looked like there were pine beetles at work.

It took just over 7 hours to get to Mallaig, Scotland. It was a little chilly. Notice my nice new leather coat bought in Turkey. Oh that's right. You can't see it for the scarves I have wrapped around me for warmth.

One of the guards as he walked by told us there was a great view coming up and there was just a 2-3 second window to take the picture. We tried! Then the guard invited me to step outside with him at one of the stops. He commented on the train ride being the most beautiful in the world. And then he said, "I get paid for doing this job and seeing this view every day. I get paid well!"

The streak that you may see going right through the photograph is a streak of ice on the window. We ate cheese, crackers, yogurt and even bought a sandwich at Mallaig.


We also bought a litre of orange/juice drink for Greg. He tasted it and said it was so sweet and the label said no added sugar. So I took a small glug. It was strong, sweet and sour. So Greg continued to drink the orange until halfway through the litre bottle I read the label. It was suppose to be mixed 1 part to 4 parts water. That accounted for the strength. Next time we will read the labels.

I commented to one of the conductors that it was a lovely day. He said, "Aye, it's nice, eh?"

And yes, it was a most beautiful day!!