2017 Scotland/Paris

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All photos for this trip can be found in our
2017 Scotland/Paris Photo Album
Some are also shown in our weekly blogs.

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This was our first ever visit to the UK.  The Scotland part of this trip had three main objectives:

1. Tour around Scotland with extra focus on the islands Outer Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetlands.
2. Reconnect, in Aberdeen, with Brian's high school friends who he had not seen in just shy of 50 years
3. While in Shetland, Kris to attend Shetland Wool Week.

We accomplished all three.

After spending a few days in Edinburgh we embarked on our tour. This part was 10 days and covered some 900 miles along with 4 ferry rides, ending in Aberdeen. This map shows the general route. Google map only allows 10 map points but it gives a pretty good idea of where we went.

We spent two full days on the Outer Hebrides islands of Louis and Harris and another two full days on the mainland island of the Orkneys. As with the rest of Scotland - beautiful!

In Aberdeen we met up with sisters Ann and Helen who Brian went to high school with in Kitimat, BC. We had a wonderful dinner with them the night we arrived in Aberdeen, then another fine home cooked dinner with them and their fellas when we returned from Shetland.

Alan and Andy in the back. Kris, Ann and Brian in the front

Helen took the group photo, so here she is :-)

 From Aberdeen we flew to Lerwick on Shetland. The main purpose for this 10 night stay was for Kris to attend Shetland Wool Week 2017...

... and for Brian to just tour around the Shetland mainland. On the last day we drove (along with 2 ferry rides) to the most northerly settlement in the UK where Brian put his feet in the very cold North Sea...

After Shetland Wool Week we flew back to Aberdeen for one night then flew to Paris where we had booked an apartment for the next 10 nights. Paris is a great walking city and has great metro and surface (bus) transit. We partook of all three, doing sightseeing, shopping, flea markets and, of course, sidewalk cafes for some great wine and people watching in the evenings. The highlight in terms of tourist activities was seeing the Eiffel Tower at night with it's 20,000+ lights on...

From Paris we took a high speed train to Frankfurt, Germany for a couple of days of shopping before flying home: Frankfurt - Heathrow (London) - Vancouver - Comox.

Here's our weekly breakdown of our trip...

Week 1: Courtenay BC to Fort William Scotland
Week 2: Fort William to St Margaret's Hope (Orkney)
Week 3: St Margaret's Hope to Lerwick (Shetland)
Week 4: Lerwick and Shetland
Week 5: Lerwick to Paris France
Week 6: Paris to Courtenay BC