Today was our first full day in Perth, and we woke up to a sky full of rain.  So throughout the day we made sure we were inside whenever it was raining hard.  After a late breakfast (it was nice to sleep in a little), we headed out for a walk around town.  We started off by heading for the Blackwatch Museum, which was impressive.  They had several audio/video displays that went very well with the historical information presented.  I would definitely recommend the musuem. 

We then went to the Perth Museum, which hosted displays of the history of Perthshire.  It was fun to see how well this museum could cater to children.  One room was exclusively dedicated to artwork drawn by children who visited the museum, and in another room they had costumes so the children could dress up as characters from history.  I was a bit large for the costumes, so I didn't try them on.

We were hoping to visit Scone Palace next, but apparently the last bus to go there left at 1pm, and we got to the bus stop expecting to take the 3pm bus.  So instead we wandered around town and did some shopping.  I think we must have walked down every street in that city.

That night, Beth cooked up for us a true Scottish dinner, with haggis, neeps and tatties, as well as Irn Bru, the national drink of Scotland (well, at least it's very popular here).  I didn't like it, but Colleen did.  The flavor was a bit odd.

It was time to get out of London, so Colleen and I packed our bags and started to head out of town.  Yesterday we called up a friend of Colleen's who lives in Perth, Scotland, and Indigo said that we could stay with her.  Her legal name is Beth, but her bird name is Indigo (Beth and Colleen, or Kiska, worked at Camp Cherith together).  Beth has a good wit and we had fun bantering back and forth.

Colleen and I took the train from London up to Edinburgh - it was a rather quick ride, only a couple of hours or so.  From Edinburgh we took a train to Stirling, then to Perth, and Beth was kind enough to meet us at the train station.  Beth only lives one block from the train station, so we quickly walked back to her flat where we unloaded her gear.  We then walked all the way across town (it couldn't have been more than a mile - Perth is a small town) to a Mexican restaurant, where we had a fabulous meal.  We were all impressed with how the meal was plated.  I ordered key lime pie for dessert, which came with a tiny slice of lime on the pie, chocolate and lime syrup drizzled on the plate beneath the pie, and a dollop of whipped cream with a small slice of strawberry on top.  It was impressive.

After dinner, we went to Beth's aunt and uncle's home for a couple of hours.  Beth's cousin, Hannah, had attended Camp Cherith the last couple of years, and Hannah was rather pleasantly shocked to find Colleen at her home.  I had fun talking to Hannah's dad, who blows things up for a living.  Whether it be working to design better safety equipment, demolishing a building, or redesigning a waterfall in the wilderness, if it involves explosives, he can get the job done.  That would be a fun job, indeed.

I really didn't want to wake up today.  I was sleeping in such a comfortable bed, and it was nasty, cold and cloudy outside, and I was underneath a nice, warm blanket.  But I woke up anyway.

We were hoping to visit Scone Palace (pronounced 'Scoon') yesterday, but we missed the last bus to the Palace by two hours - so we went today instead!  This actually ended up being a better option, because Beth was able to drive us there and act as our tourguide.

Beth was quite an entertaining tour guide, particularly because she knew very little about the Palace.  She knew how to get around, because on several occasions she snuck onto the grounds with her friends - but I'll let Beth detail her prior escapades to the Palace rather than regaling you with them now.

As I mentioned, Beth was our tour guide, and the fact that she didn't know much about Scoon Palace didn't stop us from asking questions, nor did it stop her from giving answers.  Anytime she didn't know the answer (which was most of the time), she made something up, and because Beth has a good wit, her answers were invariably entertaining.

Scone Palace is where all of the Scottish Kings have been crowned, so it holds a rather important place in Scottish History.  The Scots haven't crowned any kings recently.  Instead, the Palace is open to tourists and rented out for lavish parties.

One other thing that's interesting about the Palace:  they have white peacocks.  These are not albino peacocks - they are white.  Apparently this is only one of two flocks of white peacocks that exist anywhere on the planet.

After the Palace, we went to lunch at a little cafe at Beth's church, then we headed off for Glasgow, where some more of Colleen's friends live.