Visit to the Edinburgh Zoo

We set out to find the Edinburgh Zoo and what a prize! Beautiful setting amidst green forest and hills and many wonderful animals. There were few visitors so we got a great, close-up view - especially of the lions. Check it out!

Laura's 1/16 Scottish Don't You Know!

Here's Laura in Edinburgh sporting her Ogilvie Tartan (the Richardson clan fell under both the Ogilvie and Buchanan clans). She was very keen to dress Scottish style when we went out for dinner.

Stunning Edinburgh

We were blown away by the magnificence that is Edinburgh! The massive, ancient, gorgeous Edinburgh castle towers over the city sitting on an extinct volcano and led up to via the "Royal Mile" consisting of old shops selling tartans, antiquities, and keep-sakes; cafes and pubs with age-old tales. Edinburgh is full of character and impressive architecture at every turn. We ran into the Fringe Festival (theater & shows) with buskers from a show performing in the streets to entice you to buy tickets. It made for very exciting strolls.

We went to Glasgow, Scotland

We set off for Glasgow, Scotland for Ian's International Pain Conference on our 3'rd day in GB. It is a beautiful city though quite a business spot. Laura and I found the Museum of Transport on one day.

We walked over to beautiful Kensington Park the next day. Laura was swinging and bagpipes were playing in the background - no kidding! Ian took some time from the meeting and we visited an amazing Science Center. Food was amazing and shopping too.

We also hooked up with Liz and David from Kingston attending the Pain Meeting. We lunched in the Willow Room designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh famous for his black and white linear designs.

Oxford, England

We're loving Oxford after 10 days here. Beautiful, ancient buildings, gorgeous architecture, a castle in the middle of downtown, tons of restaurants of every ethnicity (thank goodness -bangers & mash got old right away). Oxford University is impressive with 36 separate and very distinct colleges some dating back to the 1300s - boasting alumni such as J. R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, Sir Alexander Fleming who invented penicillin, along with 16 Prime Ministers of the UK.

Our 2 bedroom apartment is tiny, but cute and bright with a nice new kitchen. It's in a cool area of Oxford called Jericho (tiny streets with shops, pubs, cafes, etc.) and walking distance to most everything. Laura loved her bedroom right away, especially once we embellished it with beautiful heart stickers and a high school musical blanket (thanks again Sydney, Camille, Janice & Len).

Laura started swim lessons right away this week, and starts school at St. Barnabas Primary on Sept. 3rd. We still know very little about the details, but just found out from a Mom at swim class that hers is one of few schools here that has no uniform. That was a shocker.