Carolyn is part Scot - McEachern was mother's maiden name - but our Tacoma church was BIG on all things British, the high school having an alternate year, Christian heritage tour of England & Scotland. An eye-opener for me, the intellectual firepower of local sons - Adam Smith, David Hume - was striking, as was John Knox, the Reformer whose statue is at the Reformation Wall in Geneva, alongside Calvin, Luther, and Zwingli. Nice to see the larger story of reformed faith taking hold in northern Europe, then crossing the ocean.
First, however, was the ubiquity of panda images, since two bears were on loan at the local zoo - Sichuan Jack comes to Edinburgh to meet Chinese fellow travelers!
First, however, was the ubiquity of panda images, since two bears were on loan at the local zoo - Sichuan Jack comes to Edinburgh to meet Chinese fellow travelers!
Golf, whisky, Clydesdales, & Presbyterianism - all from a proud and extremely friendly people, with a landscape reminding us of upstate NY.
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St Giles, where Knox founded Scottish Presbyterianism and closed his preaching career.
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The stuff was everywhere,
Glenfiddich (on board) - 5, 10, 15 yr - flowing from the tap (sorry blurry).
souvenirs
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Edinburgh Castle
and a weaver of self-designed sweaters:
and I found some used and antiquarian bookstores like below,
where I found an 1811 Book of Common Prayer. For PD:
Peter Harrington's, whose children's books we all visited back in London,
which had this shelf of C.S. Lewis first editions, original covers and rebound leather of Lion WW, P Caspian, as well as Perelandra and theological works, such as a rare Screwtape!
Different cultures have different riches; England famous for its literature and prodigious oral skills, much owed to the defining power of the Book of Common Prayer. People identify the nation with writing. This eatery was filled with books and paintings of illustrious modern authors from the UK, such as Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, TS Eliot.
Not so known for cuisine, but this pig looked tasty! BTW, traveling to Normandy and now the UK has made the history come alive, realizing that the Norman defeat of the British in the Battle of Hastings introduced Latin/French into English. The language of the manor - French - culturally divided pork from pig, mutton from sheep, beef from cow.
We had a small world experience, running into Doug Bond in Edinsburgh!!! We shared a great evening of conversation and curry, adding to our food options with the boys, who did fine with the milder ones, rice, naan, mango lassi.
M has changed a lot, but certain angles make him look like the boy he was at 2. He seemed to turn a corner this trip with a new love of reading. We're hoping... 
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On to Ayr
Beautiful countryside reminding of Whidbey Island - note the yellow Scotch broom which they're trying to remove in WA. Here, created a colorful moss of color. Also note Clydesdales.
Below: Ailsa Craig, a volcanic "plug" whose granite is used for curling stones, now featured in the Olympics. 
Michael immediately wanted to visit the Carters in MN!
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I've sometimes tried to understand the bizarre nature of certain British men's fashion; the eclectic pairing of colors and patterns. My theory is that this comes from golf!
Little lands filled with greenways have created a mix-matched fashion palette, consistent with clashing tastes.
Culzean (silent z) Castle is a jewel of Scottish castles, which, like Ireland, seem to dot the countryside, providing wedding venues and extensive grounds, almost functioning as a national park.
More manicured and modernized, this castle bore less of a medieval presence compared to Swiss ones.
This trip was more at the mercy of public transport, involving intra-country flights and more logistics compared to car trips, but went smoothly, helping that UK children were back to school. We got some interesting - "why aren't they in school?" - stares along the way.
Good sign: M&J actually looked forward to going back to school. Most of Europe in a rainstorm, which we miraculously seemed to keep avoiding. Pepperdine student interns arrive in just over a week!
Then took easyjet - the popular discount carrier - to London. I mean, you can go roundtrip for $29, if you plan it right! Affirming Carolyn's musical roots, we headed to the Palladium for The Wizard of Oz, noting that the film's Toto was charcoal.
The boys love live performance and we'd love to do more of this back in SoCal. Theater teaches protocol, the ritual of performance, engagement with live actors; the idea of being "on" as a human-centered, as opposed to technology-centered, event - all that "all the world's a stage" sort of thing. If only the contemporary church took their cues from theater - rediscovering the Mass - rather than pop concerts and the comedy network.
to the incredible Museum of Natural History, which I dubbed, "the dead zoo."
pulling out drawers of leaves, bones, tortoise shell, etc.
with an escalator leading up to a molten core and planetary discovery. The other night, Michael's teacher had her astrophysicist husband bring his lab telescope by the lake, where we saw the moon's craters & the 4 moons of Jupiter.
We grabbed a bowl of udon noodles at ITSU, along with WAGAMAMA, a highly popular Japan-flavored food option. Not bad. 
Rennie Macintosh's Scottish work.
William Morris' Strawberry Thief textile pattern. The Victoria and Albert Musuem - next door to the MNH - displayed Japanese obi brocade as a botanical inspiration for these late 19th c artists. Morris designed a dining room space at VAM.
save this 300 yr old stray that Michael
Leslie judged each round of drawings; the tree round below, which Michael won. 
