John and CJ's Scotland Adventure: September 2013

September, Sightseeing, Shopping, Seafood, Sweets and Scotch.

September 1st was our 12 year Wedding Anniversary,

so we decided to go on a weekend holiday to Oban.

It was suggested by the locals as "The Place to Go".

It was a cloudy, rainy drive there but the sights were still amazing! John stopped to scope out a few of the many world class trout streams in the area.

Oban is a lovely resort town on a horseshoe shaped bay.

We enjoyed walking downtown enjoying the sights and doing a little shopping.

Now it's time for the Oban Distillery tour.

The Distillery was established in 1794.

It has only two pot stills, making it one of

the oldest and smallest in Scotland.

After the Scotch tasting it was time for some sweets, so we headed to the Oban Chocolate Company.

Our Anniversary Gifts to Ourselves

Oban is known to have the best seafood in the UK, so we decided to find a seafood restaurant for our

Anniversary dinner celebration.

We made dinner reservations for The Seafood Temple.

It is a very small quaint restaurant located a little bit out of town. It received a very high rating from Trip Advisor

with 4 1/2 Stars. (#3 out of 68 Restaurants in the Oban area) It is very small and only seats about 20 people. They have 2 nightly seatings so we were very lucky to

get a table.

A fabulous view from our table

We hit the town to see the local sights before heading back home.

Dunollie Castle

Dunollie Castle was originally built in the 13th Century, however the current ruins come from structures built in the 15th Century. Dunollie was the stronghold of the MacDougall Clan who played a crucial role in Scottish politics up until the very end of the rule of clans.

Of Course we found a Beach!

Ganavan Beach

McCaigs Tower on Battery Hill

John Stuart McCaig started to build this as a monument for his family, and provide work for the local stonemasons during the winter months. His plans allowed for a museum and art gallery with a central tower to be incorporated. Inside the central tower he planned to commission statues of himself, his siblings and their parents. His death brought an end to construction with only the outer walls being completed.

We found this beautiful bridge on the way home. This is Clachan Bridge or the "Bridge Over the Atlantic" that connects island of Seil with the Scottish mainland. It was completed in 1793 and remains in regular use today.

Looks like this could be my next painting

After a long day of driving we finally got to The Firkin Point

The weather has been really nice here the past few weeks with only a couple of cooler rainy days. We have been trying to get out in the evenings after dinner to take walks and enjoy it while it lasts.

We hopped the train to Glasgow to do a bit of shopping last weekend. I know, we have done A LOT of shopping since we have been here. So not like us, but yes, we are stocking up on warmer clothes.

We found a wonderful Italian restaurant for lunch. We will definitely being putting this on our "must visit again list."

Now it's time for shopping.

My shopping crazed friends would love "The Glasgow Style Mile"

3 Story Forever 21

5 story Debenhams Department Store
After a long day of shopping it was time to find dinner and drinks before we had to hop the train back home.
Being a Saturday night it was not an easy feat, but we did manage finally to snag a table at a place called Horton's.

Sunday we hit yet another mall in Clydebank to get our cellphones hooked up. YAY! We now have UK Cell service! Not that I have anyone to call in the UK but at least I will know where I am when I get lost!

We move into our house in 10 days! It will feel like a mansion compared to this little flat. (This place gets smaller everyday.)
I cant wait to get all of our belongings and see what we actually packed!