(Nearly) favorite photos of places we visited our first year

A few weeks ago, I offered up my favorite family photos of our first year here in Scotland. See here and here. Now, for your perusal, are some of my nearly favorite photos of places we have visited in our first year.

These aren't necessarily my favorite places, per se, though some of them are. Rather, these are some of my favorite photos which I took of places. Some of the photos might be appropriate for a travel brochure. Others capture a mood or an ambiance. A few pictures offer something silly or incongruous that caught my eye.

Note that if you click on a photo you can see a larger version of it, as well as scroll through the others. It's a nicer way to see the pictures, but you can't read the captions.

In the next week or so, I'll post my very favorite photos. But I thought these ones were pretty good, too:

Glamis Castle, Scotland.

Looking across Barcelona's old harbor toward Montjuïc. (Barcelona, Spain)

The ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral. (St. Andrews, Scotland)

Stirling Castle, Scotland.

An unavoidably classic shot of Stonehenge, England.

At this point of your tour of the Louvre, even the decorations on the walls are weary. (Paris, France)

Kate's photo of Castle Stalker, of both Highlander and Monty Python and the Holy Grail fame. (Loch Laich, Scotland)

Fishing village of Crail, on the east coast of Scotland. (East Neuk coastline, Scotland)

Anstruther, another fishing village along the East Neuk coast. (Anstruther, Scotland)

Climbing the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey. (Dryburgh, Scotland)

A reflecting pool displays the ceiling of Salisbury Cathedral. (Salisbury, England)

I loved the juxtaposition of the modern street art with the old church. (Le Marais, Paris, France)

The enormous ruins of Fountains Abbey recede into the distance. (Ripon, England)

View across Loch Lomond while hiking on the West Highland Way. (Loch Lomond, Scotland)

Wells Cathedral, from the gardens of the Bishop's Palace. (Wells, England)

Kate's photo in the depths of Rievaulx Abbey. (Helmsley, England)

Courtyard at Versailles Palace. Billions millions thousands of tourists were milling about, but somehow I got a clear shot without them. (Versailles, France)

Only Salvador Dalí could get away with this as art. (Figueres, Spain)

The glorious ceiling of Sagrada Família. (Barcelona, Spain)

Early morning over the Firth of Clyde. The hills of the Isle of Arran rise in the background. (Wemyss Bay, Scotland)

This photo of Notre Dame cathedral was taken from a moving cruise boat on the Seine. (Paris, France)

The back of St. Conan's Kirk. I like how the colored stone complements the changing colors of the leaves in early fall. (Loch Awe, Scotland)

Kelvingrove Museum, with a Malaysia vs. Scotland lawn bowling match on its grounds. (Glasgow, Scotland)

The ruins of Jedburgh Abbey stretch toward the sky. (Jedburgh, Scotland)

The fountain on Rothesay's esplanade. (Isle of Bute, Scotland)

Sunlight bathes the 160-foot-tall Old Man of Storr. In the notch between the cliff face and the Old Man and stands a hiker. (Isle of Skye, Scotland)

Want to see more? Here are the favorites from our first year in Scotland:





Favorite photos of places we visited our first year






Favorite family photos of our first year in Scotland






(Nearly) favorite family photos of our first year in Scotland

First post

We moved to Scotland six weeks ago. Most of our stuff is unpacked. We've bought furniture and appliances and a car, set up a bank account and mobile phones and satellite television. Yet I have a lingering feeling of disbelief. The reality of moving to a foreign country — and not just visiting for an extended vacation — hasn't sunk in. We didn't buy return flights to North Carolina? Our (small) allotment of vacation days isn't being exhausted? We live here now? We live in Scotland? A place with castles and whisky and golf and haggis and tartans?

Culzean "Castle," which is really a seaside country estate built on the bones of an older castle.

Our lives just took a turn onto the road less traveled. As expatriates, we're certainly not unique; a few million U.S. citizens currently live abroad. Moving to the U.K. barely qualifies as expatriating, but rather as expat-lite. Nevertheless, about 99% of American citizens will never live outside the U.S. borders.

Now we're immigrants. We have new cultural and legal rules to learn. I've had half of a year to get used to the idea. Excitement. Pride. Commitment.

Whisky with my haircut?  Well, if you insist.

More strangely: I'm also now a blogger?

Blogging unsettles me. I lean mildly toward introversion. I can barely muster the interest/effort/courage/witticism to post on Facebook a couple of times a month. I enjoy hearing about your life, seeing too many pictures of your kid, reading your amateurish forays into political opinions, wondering about why you're friends with that moron, blocking all the updates about the games you play, hitting "Like" to support big events in your life. However, I'm not especially keen on sharing those details about me.

Yet here is my first blog post.

By blogging, I want to accomplish several goals, whether concurrently or variously or just occasionally. I hope it can help keep me connected to friends and family, to let them vicariously experience our lives in Scotland. Meanwhile, although it is unlikely anyone outside my small circle will read this blog, the possibility exists and so I will try to make it accessible to others.

Blogging also will help chronicle the life of my young son, Jackson. Since I'll be spending most of my time as a stay at home dad, my blog will be filtered through the challenges fun of raising a toddler.

Jackson monkeying around in the fishing village of Anstruther, home of the best chippie in Scotland.

Viewed in another way, if I get hit by a bus, this blog may help little Jack know something about me when he's older.

I'm going to try to share some insight into visiting and living in Scotland, and by extension into visiting and living in the U.K. and abroad generally. We plan on traveling throughout Scotland, the U.K., and Europe. Despite the challenges of setting up life here and my wife starting her job three weeks ago, we've already spent time in the last six weeks as tourists in Edinburgh, St. Andrews, Stirling, and Glen Coe, as well as exploring our home city of Glasgow and environs such as Loch Lomond.

A view down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

I'm a history buff and will delve into historical trivia. I'm a musician who hopes to hear great music in the concert hall and find great bands in the pubs. I love museums and architecture and paintings and cathedrals. I'm a sports fan who just this week attended the British Open and a Celtic football match.  I'm a political junkie who will follow British politics, including next year's referendum on Scottish independence. I'm looking forward to describing the myriad flavors of crisps, what it's like to wear a kilt, and just how remote the Outer Hebrides are.

Mattie, Kate, and Jackson posed on the 700 year old Swilcan Bridge on the Old Course in St. Andrews. Most Sundays the Old Course is open to the public for picnics, dog walks, and tours.

And, admittedly, blogging gives me something to do.

With luck, I'd like to inspire you to move abroad. You might have pondered it already. Perhaps dismissed it as impossible. Maybe somewhere in this blog you'll find a nugget to help you.