First Full Day in Inverness The Morning

So the next morning we were up bright and early because we wanted to try out the Scottish breakfast and also get the day figured out.

 

The dining area was lovely and we had our Haggis for breakfast along with the traditional baked beans, tomatoes and eggs.

 

The brown stuff at the bottom is the Haggis.  It wasn't my favorite but I was extremely happy to get to try it.

At breakfast we met some other tourists who were not going to use their city tour, so they gave us their tickets. Since we decided on the shorter Loch Ness Tour, that meant we could take the tour in the morning and then go to Loch Ness in the afternoon. At the Victorian Shopping Center we saw this guy with the fright wig.

Here is a view of part of the city.

This is really what I will think of when someone speaks of Scotland. Green trees and water.

We headed to the bus station to pick up the tour bus.

The bus had eyelashes!

They drove us all around, past monuments and...

stores. Here is a kind of selfie I took in a big store window.

Here is the river Ness.

 

At the end of the circuit the bus took us to this location:

This was where an old wool mill had been.  Now they farm all the  work out to China (but they do send the wool across the sea to have it processed and made into sweaters. ) This was more like an outlet, then and of course they had a huge sale on, so Violet and I headed for the Clearance racks. I bought 5 sweaters here.

 

When we got back we were going to eat lunch at Nellie's, except they were out of the steak pie, so we ended up eating in our rooms instead.

I was on the look out for those shaggy Highland Koos, but I don't think I ever saw one!

Those colorful things are all electric wires. I sure wouldn't want that guys' job!

Look at these gorgeous thistles!

As we headed toward the Loch we saw lovely old buildings dotting the green countryside.

And then we saw the Loch! After the bus ride, they put us on a boat so we could enjoy the beauty of the loch and also head toward Urquhart castle.

 

Here is the castle from a distance (but I will talk about it in the next post.)

Unfortunately there was no sign of Nessie.

The water was dark and turbulent, though, so it is easy to understand how she might easily be perceived.

The boat brought us im to the ruins of the castle, where we stopped to look around.