Over our winter holiday break we went to England and Scotland to see friends and explore some new areas . (You can click on any of the photos to get a larger, more detailed view.)
We started our trip by arriving in England to meet our friends Chuck and Laura. We spent a couple of days at their house, including Christmas. We opened stockings (thanks to Chuck and Laura!) and Laura and I put together a proper Christmas dinner. We stayed up late into the night playing cards and drinking wine, and we opened lots of Christmas crackers.
Then we all headed north toward Scotland. Our first stop was in England at Hadrian's Wall. It was a VERY blustery day, but a cool location. Here's Cisco with Chuck, enjoying some male bonding :)
Before too long we crossed the border into Scotland. One of our first stops was at an old ruined castle (one of many we would see along our journey).
Then it was on to Edinburgh. We arrived in the evening and got up early the next day to explore the city.
Interacting with street performers...
Trying new restaurants...but maybe not these two... "Dirty Dicks" and "Filthy McNasty's" were definitely worthy of a photo opportunity, but not very enticing for their food :)
Little did we know, we had made it to Edinburgh just in time to kick off Hogmanay (a 4-day New Year festival). As we were walking around in the evening we saw big torches for sale and heard about a torch-light parade. We decided to join in.
As the torches lit, we began to see that there were a huge number of people taking part in the parade (a total...it ended up...of about 100,000)! Here are a couple of pics of the torchlight procession.
The procession seemed to go for miles. It was a really beautiful thing to be a part of. And everyone was super well-behaved with their 3-foot long torches! Not a single act of violence or stupidity to be reported :) Isn't that amazing?! At the end of the parade there was a fantastic fireworks show. This whole night was a wonderful, and unexpected, surprise (being as it was only December 29th).
We thoroughly enjoyed the evening's celebration. Then we got up early the next morning to hit Edinburgh Castle. One of the highlights of the trip, forsure.
Here we are heading across the moat into the castle.
Inside the castle, the architecture was really beautiful.
And the views over the city were spectacular.
Cisco and Laura decided to take their dutiful places and guard the gates.
And to entertain the tourists (Me and Chuck), they performed a changing of the guards ceremony.
There is always room for shenanigans when the Baines and Walkers are together. Here's Chuck, doing what he can to help out his friend, Cisco (inside the cannon). Thanks Charfu!
On our way back to the hotel, we had a big debate based over a sign we saw. Which one is well-hung and which one is tender? I have my opinions, but I might be a little biased :)
Edinburgh was amazing, but we had places to go and people to see so we said farewell. We headed to a small town called Dunoon to visit Kate, a friend from Scotland who we taught with in Cyprus. Here's the lovely view from our b&b room in Dunoon.
Kate generously invited us all to come spend the New Year with her at her parents' house where they host an annual Hogmanay bash. Here we are with Chuck and Laura (bottom right), Kate (top left), Rachel (red-head in the middle...who we also taught with in Cyprus), Nathe and Carly (left of Rachel...another couple we had the pleasure to meet while we were in Cyprus), and Ray (Rachel's significant other and one of our dive-buddies from Cyprus).
No Scottish Hogmanay party would be complete without a bag-piper. We had two!
And we thoroughly enjoyed learning to "Strip the Willow." It's a "simple" Scottish dance...although after all the champagne, some of us had a harder time learning it than others :) Cisco and Chuck definitely got the hang of it after taking a twirl with Kate.
The party was a blast and it was great fun to catch up with old friends and meet new people.
We left Dunoon on Jan. 2nd and decided to head up into the highlands. We had some things we were hoping to see...Highland Cattle being at the top of our list. It wasn't long before we came across some of the beautiful furry cows :)
How cute are they? And check out the babies...they reminded us of little bears.
Throughout our time in Scotland, we made a point of tasting different types of Scotch Whiskey. One of our favorites was called Oban (which is a town in Scotland). So...we thought...what a nice place to stop and spend a night!
Unfortunately, the distillery was closed...a tour would have been too cool. But the town was beautiful...right on the water. We had a relaxing evening and ate great food! This is a view from one of the higher points in the town. Our hotel was the red brick building closest to the water.
We decided to continue further into the highlands and were not disappointed with our journey. We found a gorgeous church on our way.
And more castles of course...
The landscapes were incredible!
We came across some beautiful wild elk.
And one of the highlights...getting snowed on!
We stopped at that bridge and it was barely sprinkling, then the snow just started dumping! It was really beautiful. And it made the landscapes all that much more fantastic. That's another elk in the middle of the picture below.
Here's what it looked like as we made our way back south toward England. Incredible colors!
We decided to spend one more night on the road, so we stopped in a town called Carlisle in northern England. Carlisle is home to a beautiful cathedral.
And a cool castle. We just can't seem to get enough of those castles!
Carlisle castle had a LOT of WW1 and WW2 paraphernalia...including these tanks. I think we all kind of look like we're ready to do kung-fu instead of real military fighting. :)
The whole trip was really fantastic. Christmas with friends when you're living 6000 miles from your family is really special. And we will never forget our New Year in Scotland. What a beautiful place...And the Scots certainly know how to show hospitality!
After a couple days in Prague, we headed to Karlovy Vary (a spa town) in West Bohemia. Here I am in front of our hotel.
The town is well-known for it's mineral springs and spa facilities. It had a beautiful mineral river running through it. The architecture was gorgeous, and the weather was fantastic. 
Another thing the town is famous for is Becherovka...a "medicinal" and "herbal" type of alcohol. People sometimes take it when they're sick here...and pretend that it's medicine. Hey...whatever makes you feel better! It happens to be one of Cisco's favorites :) 
Throughout Karlovy Vary there were various spouts spewing mineral water of different temperatures. People drink the waters for their apparent health benefits. However, the only thing we could definitely say is true about the water, is that it tastes TERRIBLE! We all tried it, but could bring ourselves to take more than just a sip. The spouts were beautiful though :)
Mom and Hannah spent 4 hours at the spa across from our hotel (just behind Cisco, here), enjoying massage, mineral baths, sauna, oxygen treatments, and more. It was fantastic...and cost only 50 Euros each. What a steal! Cisco enjoyed some alone time...we get that so rarely these days.
We headed back to Prague to find that the weather had drastically improved...Yay! So we spent some more time checking out the city. We went to the zoo...always a favorite! Here I am making friends with a GIANT raven. Yes...part of me thought he might bite my nose off...but the animal-lover in me just couldn't resist getting close :) He actually climbed up onto my arm just after this.
They had a beautiful collection of birds. Here's a pic of the Scarlet Ibis. Can you believe that color?!
There was a fun baby orangutan monkeying around...and driving it's mom crazy!
And a momma kangaroo with a darling joey baby in its pouch.
The next day we did some more wandering around Prague. We visited Prague Castle. 
Here's Mom and Cisco in front of St. Vitus cathedral in Prague Castle.
And back on the Charles Bridge enjoying music from an organ grinder.
The weather continued to improve...and by Mom's last day here, it was incredible! People were out in t-shirts even. Here's Mom and me in old square soaking up some sun.
And Mom with the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn in the background.
In the evening, we all headed to the park across the street from our apartment to watch the sun set...and enjoy a beer on the rooftop terrace in the park.
Time for one last photo-op in our park! Awe...isn't that sweet!
