Since Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy is actually being released, is there a chance that we may actually see Duke Nukem Forever released someday?

We had another breakfast of cereal and toast on Sunday, re-loaded all of our things into the bus, and headed out into the northern English countryside. Here's my last look at Leeds:

We drove for some time and the land started to change. We saw more and more hills, more interesting trees, and plenty of stone walls, which I love. A view from the bus:

The roads started getting more bumpy and had a lot of dips. We had a quick stop in a town called Settle, where I got some tic tacs and took a Dramamine to help settle my stomach. After a while, we made it to the lake district, and to Windermere ("mere" means lake). While some of our fellow tourists opted out and took the bus, a bunch of us went on a private tour of the lake and traveled to the other end of it. It was crisp, cool, and windy, but a beautiful day. Ric and I chose to stay up top on the boat so as to fully experience the ride, but most of our group went down into the enclosed area. By the end, my hands were numb, but I had plenty of great photos!

From there, we drove on through the amazing landscapes and even passed by Wordsworth's old house. It had rained a lot the day before and a lot of the fields were filled with water, and several rivers had broken their banks. While most of our group slept, I took photo after photo of the view from the bus:

Eventually we crossed into Scotland, where the first town we saw was Gretna Green. Young English couples used to elope there because they could marry by declaration in Scotland, so they would go to the first town, declare themselves married, then return to England, where the marriage was recognized as lawful. There were a bunch of little shops there, where we shuffled around a bit. We couldn't find much to eat that we liked, except ice cream. I chose honeycomb, which was incredibly tasty. We bought souvenirs for the family and some candy for the road, some of which was just like a favorite candy I always buy at places like Olvera Street, but just slightly different. I wish I had bought more! Outside the shopping area were some fields and some Highland Cattle, which we could take photos of but not get too close, since there was an electric fence:

We traveled onward into Scotland and reached our hotel in Glasgow. We all had a little bit of time to rest in our rooms. Ric and I watched The Simpsons and we had better TV choices there, so I watched a pleasant little Rita Hayworth movie called The Lady in Question. When it was time for those of us going to the traditional Scottish night of entertainment to leave, we all loaded back on the bus and drove out to Stirling. We stopped for some photos of Stirling castle:

Then we drove up to the Robert Bruce monument that celebrates the Battle at Bannockburn. On our way in, we were escorted by a bagpipe player. I could post a million photos, but I'll spare you. There was a large structure showing a Scottish flag, to commemorate when Bruce raised the Scottish colors, and there was a large statue of Bruce himself on his horse. Here's the bagpipe player:

We proceeded to the hotel where our night of entertainment was held, and had a great time. There was a welcome with bagpipes, the ceremony of the haggis (which included an Irish whiskey toast and reading of Burns' poetry about the food):

..more recitation of Burns material, and Scottish dancing (sorry for the poor photo - I didn't have the best seat when it came to lighting):

Overall, we had a lot of fun and also got to know a Canadian couple, the wife of which reminded us a lot of Ric's aunt K. Dinner included soup, haggis, pasta (for me), and chicken/ham (for Ric), and for dessert I had a citrusy torte.

We got back around 10:30. Ric went right to bed. I showered, then watched some of The Secretary while starting a journal of our travels, since we finally got to a hotel that had a pad of paper in the room. I went to bed around 12:30, I think.