The traveling teacher

Edinburgh Castle From royalty to witches to murderers and body snatchers, Edinburgh aka Dun Edin (fort on the hill) aka Auld Reekie (old smokey/old smelly) is a charming city with beautiful buildings and a history longer and more dense than the towering 14 story buildings that once stood inside the Flodden walls. It is no wonder that JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series from this city!  From the castle, which is set upon an extinct volcano, you can look down the lava flow known as the Royal Mile, past Arthur's Seat (a second extinct volcano and the highest viewpoint) to the Firth of Forth. Calton hill is another viewpoint offering sweeping landscapes, both towards the old city (delineated by the Flodden wall), and towards the Firth.  Scot Memorial Although this was my second visit (and likely not the last) to Edinburgh, I was amazed once again by the beauty of the old buildings and overloaded with new information. I have now visited at the end of w...

For the last couple of weeks, I have been touring Scotland and England, returning to some of my old haunts in London, and exploring other areas, including the Highlands and the eastern county of Norfolk, in England. It was a whirlwind tour, covering a lot of ground in the UK, and my brain was a bit overwhelmed by the history, but I enjoyed myself. First, let me say, that this post will be a little different than some of my other travel posts. I will have detailed posts on everything we did in Scotland to follow, however, today's post will be more of an overview, and a reflection on my trip, so don't be surprised if it is a bit disjointed! I started off my journey with a 20 hour layover in Toronto, Canada. This was a result of booking the cheapest flight to LGW (Gatwick) that I could find (round trip only 650$ incl taxes! For other Canadians, you know this is a steal of a deal!). Now most people would not be thrilled with such a long (or short) time in Toronto (I arrive...