11th April

Today we left for Scotland, at 6:30 in the evening we arrived. We found our way to the apartment and we looked around, and then started settling down in our rooms. There were four children including me. The children slept in the living room and I think we were the most tidy out of all the rooms. And at specific times we would have children's meetings and at those times, none of the adults were allowed inside the room.

12th April

Today we spent most of the day walking around and exploring Edinburgh. We saw a few men wearing kilts and we heard what bagpipes sound like. The men playing the bagpipes were wearing kilts and feathery hats. We visited the castle and the old town. We had to walk a lot. So far I love Scotland. I wonder what I will see tomorrow.

13th April

We left the apartment to go to the camping grounds. We slept there one night in our sleeping bags. I said it was a waste of luggage to bring sleeping bags and then not use them for the rest of the trip and have to carry them around. We got to see the Loch Ness. At one point my mother and I thought we saw Nessie's (The Loch Ness Monster) fin. It was green but we are still not sure what we saw. We then explored the Scottish highlands. It's called the highlands because it is full of hills! Many of the places we go to or explore there are men wearing kilts and playing bagpipes. We ate at an Indian restaurant in the evening for dinner. We took pictures of the Loch Ness and visited a castle and walked around a bit but most of our trip was in the car. The worst part was when my tummy started hurting in the car and when that happened you could do nothing.

14th April

We left the camping grounds to go to the hotel and on our way we stopped to see Oban. We tried lobster, crab, mussels and oyster. I had to spit the oyster out of my mouth because I did not like it and the taste was too strong for me. We also got to try and hold a live crab. I am not sure if the lobster was alive or dead but we also held the lobster. At the end a lady who worked at the seafood shop gave us some big white shells that we are going to paint. I got to share out the shells to all the children after we were back in the car.

15th April

We went through a town called Paisley on our way back from Scotland. We visited some cottages there on our way to the hotel. They were not just any old cottages. They were called Sma' Shot and were set up like a museum that showed us how people lived hundreds of years ago. One of them was a weaver's house. And another place we stopped at was a windy field with stones arranged in a circle. It was like Stonehenge. We played among the stones. Then we left and finally reached the hotel.

16th April

Last day… We woke up late. We finally got ready and went downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast we went back to our rooms and started packing. Then my father and his friend started putting luggage in the van. Then we set back for London. On our way we stopped at the lake Windermere. The view was picturesque. Then we had to get into the car and we only stopped one more time before we arrived home late at night. I hope I can move to Scotland someday because it was beautiful and I still need to see Nessie!

My trip to Scotland!

Anjali Ganguly Sarkar