Samantha in Scotland, February 2009

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Samantha visited Scotland for a week in February, 2009. She likes "going on trips". She got to do quite a few things she hadn't experienced before.

Below are some pictures with a narrative beside each one. Click on an image below to see a larger version of the picture. When viewing a larger picture, clicking "Next" allows you to look at the larger pictures one at a time.




Samantha enjoyed getting dressed up in a pretty dress and having ribbons in her hair, but she was not sure she wanted to be an a luncheon party where she only knew a few people.



Her birthday had been a few days prior to her trip to Scotland so she was asked to stand on her chair so that everyone in the room could sing Happy Birthday to her, then she sat down and blew out the candles on the chocolate cake.



At the end of the party she seems more content having her picture taken with the man wearing a Scottish kilt.



At a neighborhood playground she enjoyed the swing but was too shy to talk to the Scottish girl on the other swing.



Here she is standing beside the 600-year-old Stirling Bridge. At her age, life is what is happening now -- she isn't ready for history yet. On top of the hill on the other side of the river is Stirling Castle.



In the great hall of the castle she is sitting on the queen's chair while her Mama is in the king's chair.



But the biggest attraction of the castle was all of the great hiding places for hide-and-seek. Her mother walked past this cubby hole three times before she saw Samantha inside of it, in spite of her bright pink coat. It was a dark passageway from an inner courtyard to an outer courtyard (in this picture the camera has adjusted to the darkness by making the outer courtyard just a white glare).



With the camera flash turned on, Samantha can be seen in her hiding place, and the grass in the outer courtyard can also be seen.



Between the inner and outer defensive walls there was a grassy hill. After exploring for hiding places along the wall, Samantha enjoyed going up the hill.



Here she is running back down the hill beside the outer wall.



And now she is climbing up the rocky part of the hill with enthusiasm, which gave us an idea for one thing to do the following day.

On the upper left corner of this picture, the beginning of the Scottish Highlands can be seen through the mist.



We went to a puppet theater. It was a fun play staring "Nessie" the Loch Ness Monster, a lovable monster. In the puppet shop after the show, one of the puppeteers showed the Nessie puppet to Samantha.



A few miles from the puppet theatre we took Samantha to this hilly sheep field. At first she wasn't sure why that would be fun.



But then she started running up the hill.



Samantha beat all of the rest of us to the top of the hill. The sheep had run off before she got there.

The hump she is standing on in this picture is part of the defensive earthworks around a 2000 to 2500 year old village that covered the top of this hill. There are at least four similar ancient sites within a mile of this hill. But Samantha wasn't interested in the history.

However, the trenches between the rows of earthworks and the steep but grassy sides of the hill made it a fine place for hide-and-seek.



I didn't get any pictures of the hide-and-seek game, but she stood still for a moment when we started back toward the car.

Note that it was February. The grass isn't very green in the sheep fields in the winter. There wasn't much wind that day and the temperature was in the 40s if I remember right.



The next day Samantha got to ride on a double-decker bus.



She was anxious to go up the stairs to the upper level.



It was a tour bus, so there was no top on the bus.



Another tour bus came up behind us as we were about to leave. And there are the people on the sidewalk below.



And here is a picture looking up from the sidewalk.



Samantha rode on local trains several times but we only got one picture. This is after we had gotten off of the train at Busby station and the train is leaving.

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