Perthshire, Scotland

Our next day was spent exploring more of Perthshire. Starting from our hotel, Loch Rannoch, we bussed to the Crannog Center. This Iron Age outdoor living history museum was filled with lots of interactive areas despite its current small size. I love museums like this so I was very excited for the visit. It was really interesting to learn about pottery, textiles, food and other things from the Iron Age. This museum is currently expanding to a larger site to include rebuilding a replica crannog. This will be high on my wish list for a return visit to Scotland!

We also visited a park with a beautiful waterfall! Unfortunately, this was a quick stop so we did not have a lot of time to explore the trails. It was a beautiful day for a walk in the woods, though!

For lunch, we stopped in Dunkeld. Charles and I enjoyed our sandwiches and soup at a little café with a charitable cause. The café also had a super cute shop where we picked up some postcards and a souvenir for ourselves.

After lunch, we had a walking tour that included the Dunkeld Cathedral and surrounding area.

Onto Perthshire, Scotland!

Sadly our time in Inverness came to a close and our group was off to the next destination--Perthshire! 

On the journey towards the hotel, we made a few stops. The first was to a cooperage. They make and refinish whiskey barrels for distilleries. We were able to watch as they worked while learning more about the process. 

Another stop was to see a sheep dog demonstration. Wow! Those are smart dogs! The sheep dog owner also has a baby coo (Highland cattle) that we were able to meet. Charles had the opportunity to feed her, too.

After dinner at our hotel, we were treated to a show from famed female bagpiper, Gilly. She was so entertaining! She told us about how she became a bagpiper (to get a guy) and all her adventures as a female piper. She has so much personality and it was fun to listen to her stories in-between her bagpiping.

Inverness, Scotland

After our two nights in Glasgow, we headed to Inverness to start our tour with the Rick Steves tour group! We had originally booked a train from Glasgow to Inverness, but after some record-breaking rain, the trains were cancelled. Luckily Charles did his research and booked bus tickets as a backup before they sold out. 

We arrived in Inverness and quickly walked from the bus station to our hotel to meet up with the group for an orientation. We were supposed to arrive an hour earlier, but arrived right at the start of the orientation so we had to go in soaking wet from the rain. We met everyone, including our guide, and received a nice introduction to the tour. We checked into Glen Mohr for our two nights and relaxed for a bit before our group Inverness Orientation Walk and dinner at The Mustard Seed.

Our hotel was situated right by the river. Due to the heavy rainfall, the river was dangerously close to the banks. 

The next day was filled with lots of activities! After our breakfast at the hotel, we were off to Loch Ness for a boat ride to Urquhart Castle. Unfortunately, no one spotted Nessie. 

This little bird was happy to hang out while tourists (like ourselves) snapped his picture. 

Another stop of the day was to Clava Cairns. Have you heard of Stonehenge? This place is similar. No one knows the purpose of these stone mounds and structures. Our guide encouraged us to come up with our own theories while walking around the area. I am amazed that this place is completely free to visit. 

Another stop was to Culloden Battlefield. Honestly, my expectations for pretty low for this stop. Why would I care about a battlefield? However, after spending an hour with our battlefield guide, this became one of my favorite stops of the trip. She provided us so much interesting history about the Jacobites and the history of the battle. It was also interesting to think about how history could have been completely different if the outcome of the battle was different. Would America be what it is? Would the French Revolution happened? 

At the battlefield, stones were added to represent several clans that were part of the battle. These were added much later on and not necessarily historically accurate. I looked for clan markers for my ancestors, but did not spot them. Mixed clans it is!

Throughout the tour, our guide gave us snacks and treats to try. This was our first taste of whiskey and Scottish tablet. Tablet is the Scottish version of fudge.

Oberammergau, Germany

Charles had a work trip to Oberammergau. For years, whenever he has had a work trip planned he asks if I want to go. In the past, I had work or some other commitments that prevented me from tagging along. But this time nothing held me back! 

He had been to Oberammergau once before, but in the winter, and raved about it. I was excited to visit this time of year. Germany is beautiful in September and October. 

We stayed at Hotel Garni Fux and had a spacious suite. This was our view! Oberammergau is a small town and everything is walkable, so I don't think you can go wrong choosing any hotel in town for the walkable convenience. Hotel Fux was no different, but the place was great! Our stay included breakfast which was the perfect way to start my day. 

Hotel Fux was dog-friendly which suited Suzie perfectly. She spend a lot of time snoozing the day away in comfort.

Everywhere you look in Oberammergau there are beautiful flowers! 

I explored the church and churchyard while in town. 

Oberammergau has a long history of woodworking. The Oberammergau Museum had great displays showcasing the talent. We purchased the combined ticket and visited the Passion Play Theater afterward. Save 1 Euro on the ticket if you're staying in Oberammergau, BTW. 

The Passion Play has been performed every ten years (with some exceptions throughout the long history) in Oberammergau since 1634. It started off as a promise to God during the plague. The most recent play was performed in 2022 (postponed due to COVID) and will be back on schedule again in 2030. 

We ate really well while staying in Oberammergau. On our first night in town we enjoyed dinner at Dumpling and Sushi. The avocado bowl was so delicious! I kind of wish we had gone back and tried other items from their menu. It all sounded so good.

We found this place while walking around town on the first evening and returned later in the week. They specialize in burgers and they were worth the wait! I had the Hipster burger which had a habanero-blueberry sauce. It was very messy, but very tasty! The crispy sweet potato fries were an excellent compliment; one order was enough for the two of us to share.

On a previous trip to Garmisch, we had visited the Ettal Abbey but decided to visit again while in Oberammergau. The inside is very ornate which seems at odds with it being a home to monks. Make sure to pick up some beer or liquor while visiting. 

Lastly, on our way home we stopped to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. It is one of those places you kind of have to see at least once while visiting or living in Germany and this seemed like the best time to cross it off our list. Even though I did a bit of research in advance, I did not realize the uphill hike it would take to get to the bridge for this viewpoint. Well, now that's done!

 

Kiel, Germany

Our penultimate cruise stop was to Kiel, Germany. We had a walking tour booked through NCL. Charles was feeling a little under the weather that morning, so I went on the tour without him. Our guide took us to see the highlights of Kiel including a couple museums like the Kiel Maritime Museum and the Kiel Stadt Museum. 

On the first Saturday of the month, this tower plays songs using their bells. We were lucky enough to be visiting Kiel on the first Saturday of the month and our tour guide made sure we enjoyed a bit of the bell concert. The music lasts for about an hour, so if you're visiting Kiel on the first Saturday of the month make sure to include this into your itinerary. 

After the walking tour I went back on the boat to check on Charles. He was feeling better after his nap, so we went back out to explore Kiel. We grabbed some pastries and coffee at a bakery, walked through the old botanical garden (where we encountered the snail) and visited the very small aquarium. 

Klaipeda, Lithuania

Our NCL cruise brought us to Lithuania as the next stop in our journey. Charles has visited Lithuania for work a couple times, but never near the coast. We disembarked in Klaipeda and had an excursion booked to visit Witches Hill. 

The excursion stopped at the beach for a way too short visit. We had just enough time to walk past the dune, snap a picture and then go back to the bus.

The main part of the excursion was to Witches Hill. It features wooden sculptures depicting folk lore for Lithuania. I was very much looking forward to this part because it sounded like a really fun combination of nature, art and stories. Our guide shared a few stories, but her storytelling skills were not fantastic. She rambled, so it was hard to follow along. 

Shortly after arriving to Witches Hill, it started to rain which then turned into a DOWNPOUR! We got completely soaked. Before departing on the excursion we decided not to bring our rain jackets. There wasn't a cloud in sight by the ship. Huge mistake! Because of the downpour, we were not able to hear all the stories throughout Witches Hill and were just a bit miserable through the rest of the walk back to the bus.

After getting soaked on the trail, our excursion brought us to a weather vane shop where they make beautiful, custom weather vanes. The stories behind the designs were really cool. 

The other thing the Baltic area is known for is amber. At the weather vane shop, we had the opportunity to try amber tea and amber schnapps. I did not try any. After being soaked through from the rain, ingesting more liquid did not sound appealing. The shop had a beautiful selection of amber items and we purchased a piece to use as a Christmas ornament. They also had a book of Lithuanian folk tales. Since we were not able to successfully hear the stories along Witches Hill, I thought the book would come in handy. 

Visby, Sweden

Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Baltic cruises would stop in St. Petersburg. To replace this stop, they added Visby to the itinerary. When planning ahead, there were no excursion options available through the cruise for Visby so we planned to walk around the town and see the sights for ourselves. Once onboard, excursion options opened up but we decided to stick to our own plan. 

Visby is right on the water, of course. Most of the town is hidden behind the old town walls, but when you get on the other side of the wall you can have this beautiful view. We walked along the water for a bit.

Visby also has a great botanical garden that is free to visit. Coming in June provided us the chance to see tons of different flowers in bloom!

The other gem that Visby had to offer was church ruins. I don't know why, but I love church ruins. 

And being in Sweden meant we just had to make a fika stop before getting back on the ship! We enjoyed cake and coffee from a little café with outdoor seating. I had carrot cake, but Charles made the best choice with this slice of chocolate cake.