Part 2- Edinburgh and St. Andrews

Around noonish Scotland time, 5 am our time, with only 2 hours of sleep under her belt, Bekah and crew had finally arrived! Now, for anyone who has ridden with Bekah, you know that she is not exactly "in love" with her carseat, so you can imagine my surprise when the minute Zack takes her carseat off the conveyor belt, she gives out the most pathetically-cute-tired-sillies-laugh and reaches out for her little piece of home! That carseat took on a whole new meaning and she assumed her role as it's sole rider confidently, happily and with so much relief, the situation was begging for a picture to be taken!! And note, this new found appreciation lasted the whole trip long! But, of course, touching down upon American soil once the trip was over completely ended that merry relationship!

When we got to the hotel, Bekah checked every nook and cranny of this new home of hers. Made sense, we would be there for 5 nights!

View of a the cute Scottish street outside our window. Did you know that those trees off to the right are private gardens? At first I was excited to take Bekah over to that "park looking area" to play, come to find out I would be trespassing! The people across the street own them, like it's their backyard! Interesting concept, and I understood it best when Zack reminded me that they were in Knotting Hill. (Remember, when Hugh Grant hops the fence and says, "Whoops a daisies?!!")

With our new squeaky shoes on (and some added embellishment thanks to our bow making friend Emily)  we set out for some sightseeing!

We headed over to Gramommy and Pops' hotel, and it sure was good to meet up with them!

The minute we stepped out of their hotel, Bekah got her first taste of bagpipe music and she was mesmorized!

We instantly fell in love with the city of Edinburgh. It is certainly metropolitan, but charming at the same time, and not as big as some European cities. Like other favorite European cities of mine, it had the quintessential castle at the top of the hill too. We would be going there in a few days, so we admired from a far that day.

It is appropriately called, Edinburgh Castle

It was built in the 12th century, but there had been a fortress  since the 6th century, built by king Edwin, from whom the city takes its name.It is actually on the core of an extinct volcano.

The two Dr. Burkharts:

Bekah's beloved Grandparents:

Oh how I love the pedestrian way of life over in Europe,  even the often not too reliable public transportation!

Cool double decker bus:

Eventually, sleep gave into this little traveler, and she was out once again!

And now, it is time to discuss the one of the slight parenting challenges that we had over there in the "land o pubs!" Pubs are fine and dandy, I actually was looking forward to having some fish n chips an a good dark beer, but when you are with a child, that doesn't really fly, especially when they are under 18! I had no idea that it was going to be so hard to find a decent restaurant that allowed kids! Luckily, Edinburgh has it's fair share of Italian Bistros, so pizza it was, two nights in a row!

Our evenings were spent just like that, walking around, looking for a place to eat, eating pizza, and then, due to the "child effect", we would, go home around 8pm! And it really wasn't that bad! It was fun to sit around and watch funny British TV or read a good book with my hubby! Luckily, we had a sitting room to put Bekah in, so we could stay up and hang out without worrying about waking her up.  Teehee, not like she was sleeping for too long those first few nights! Yes, that was another challenge, getting her on the new schedule! After sleeping for 3 or 4 hours, she would wake up, ready for the day! Jet lagged mommy and daddy did our best to "roll with it" and it wasn't really bad . . . . it was just really, really cool, when she went back to sleep eventually! I think the first 3 nights she woke up about 3 times, and stayed up for a good hour each time, as we rocked her, sang to her, tried to get her to sleep with us, giver her milk, read to her . . . something always eventually worked!

It was nothing that the excitement of being over there and a good cup of Starbucks couldn't take care of!

Jet lagged or not, Bekah was ready for the day, come morning, as she strutted her stuff through that hotel lobby, looking for her Pops and Gramommy!

We then,  drove out to the country, to see some small towns and St. Andrews!

Bekah was happy once again, to be strapped in to that carseat, especially since we turned her around for the VERY FIRST TIME!

Driving around the Scottish Countryside had to be one of my favorite parts, I felt like we were in a movie and expected a herd of sheep to block our path any minute! See how narrow the lanes were? That is a two lane highway! Anytime a car came from the other direction, one car would have to pull over!

 I always have fun getting together my "European wardrobe,"so  imagine how much fun I had getting together Bekah's Fall European Wardrobe! This would be outfit number two (including the pink and gray one I squeezed her into from last year that she wore the day before- it was  6-12 month outfit! whoo-hoo!)

We got out to stretch our legs in a town called Faulkland:

It was as charming as can be, with flower boxes, narrow cobbled streets and old quaint buildings,

just what you would hope to see in in a Scottish village : ).

Town Square with,

an ancient drinking fountain. She had just a discovered the drinking fountains at our neighborhood park and couldn't believe her luck that there was one in Scotland too, with a lion on it!

I've always loved exploring cities and towns with Zack, it sure was special with Bekah!

Just like her mommy and her gramommy, she paid particular attention to all the beautiful flowers!

If I lived in Scotland, with all that rain, I tell myself I would have a green thumb for sure!

Even though she was very tired and jet lagged, she was so interested in everything! Us Burkharts are hoping that she has caught the travel bug herself!

We then hopped into the car and drove to St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf way back in the 1400's!

That building is the Old Course Hotel

And did you know that Prince William went to college here too?

With all those golf swings behind him ( both good and bad : ) ), it was sort of like a pilgrimage for Daddy! Teehee!

 This bridge is on the 18th hole and is a very historic golf landmark. There are many famous pictures throughout the years of British Open Champions walking across the bridge to the 18th green.

Although we did not play the course, we were excited to learn that on Sundays, they close the course and let the public walk around on it, which was pretty lucky.

Everyone had to get their picture at the 18th green:

The clubhouse is behind, and only members are allowed in ( and I heard only men as well??)

Even Bekah wanted her turn!

She was actually quite fascinated by that flag blowing in the wind, giving us lots of great poses:

Famous deep bunker that has frustrated many a professional golfer over the centuries. Nothing Zack can't handle!

Bekah sure does know how to work those grandparents, she not only wanted Pops to push her, but she wanted Gramommy to hold her hand too! They were all to happy to abide!

When we returned to  Ediburgh, we got back to being the European pedestrian that we all love to be,

especially Bekah!

 Look at her, blazing ahead! Strolling the streets with that confident air and that camel trench on made her look so mature and funny!

But don't worry, we stayed only a few steps behind, not that she would notice!

It made us happy that our daughter loved to do what we love to do, explore new places! And Edinburgh was the perfect place to do it, because many of the streets were pedestrian only. But eventually, even Bekah tuckered out, and insisted on daddy carrying her, and let mommy push the empty stroller : ).

Beyond the beauty, excitement and history of that gorgeous country though, my favorite part of all, had to be all that daddy time my little girl and I got!

Stay tuned for the rest of Edinburgh, Part 3 and then, Vienna, Part 4!