La Casa Camerino: 2013 - August 7th-9th - Braemar (Bormoral), Loch Ness, Train from Ft. Williams to Mallaig

Leaving Edinburgh, we drove to Braemar and our beautiful accommodations at the Fife Arms Hotel(http://www.fifearmsbraemar.com). This will conclude our Royal Tour as visiting the site of the Queen in Balmoral.

The rooms are luxurious. The Coat of Arms in the lobby was the most unusual that we have seen. After reading the story, we still don't get how it relates, but think it is a great coat of arms!

Braemar is the village close to Balmoral, the Scottish Home to the Royal Family which was purchased by Queen Victoria in 1848 and encompasses just over 50,000 acres. The castle is closed to visitors in August as the Queen sets up residence for her month-long holiday. We guess she was busy dusting and cleaning the castle for the arrival of the Duke of Edinburgh who was joining her the next week or perhaps the arrival of the former Duchess of York, Sara Ferguson, and her ex, Prince Andrew. The news says that it was the first time in 17 years since their divorce that the Queen had invited Sara to come to Balmoral. Bottom line, we weren't invited in for Tea!

We did spend a lot of time visiting The Queen's Church by Balmoral, Crathie Kirk, in Braemar and Crathie Parish. There is a Royal section that the pews are covered where the Queen and Royal family sit when in attendance. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are honored in this section. It is beautiful House of Worship.

After a fabulous day and stay in Braemar, we were surprised by the next stop on the agenda going to Loch Ness. We had asked to see the famous lake of the monster in our original planning but had told Ray and Sandra that it was too far and that it could be skipped. But as such accommodating hosts, they found the way to include us seeing the famous Loch Ness.

Loch Ness is beautiful and really big ... 38km long and 230m deep; it is so large that it contains more water than all of the lakes, rivers and canals of the entire United Kingdom! We visited a Loch Ness museum and learned many interesting facts and also some stories of the famous lake. It was magnificent!

We had a great time walking the paths around Invermoriston and seeing the beauty of nature.

After a marvelous day, we settled into Fort Williams at the Premier Hotel for the night. We had a very special surprise (as if the entire trip wasn't special enough!) as Sandra had booked us on an exciting Steam Engine Train Trip from Fort Williams to the fishing port of Mallaig. One of the interesting parts of this train trip is that the old steam engine train goes across the 21 arched Glenfinnan Viaduct made famous to the world in the Harry Potter movie. It was the beautiful backdrop to the nail-biting scene where Harry hangs on for dear life from the door handle of the Weasley's Ford Anglia after it is almost crushed by the Hogwarts Express. The 84 mile trip has beautiful scenery to see from the train, The Jacobite, with a short stop at the Glenfinnan Station. The steam engine whistle and smell of slight sulfuric smoke are part of the charm of the trip.

Enclosed cabin on the Jacobite Steam Train ... recognize it from the Harry Potter movies? Where's the chocolate frogs for snacks?? Guess those Hogwarts kids bought them all!