I like to think that there was an element of "inspired randomness" to our itinerary: a mix of vision accompanied with the act throwing a dart towards various mountainous regions on a map. In the case of Braemar, neither of us knew anything about it, but it seemed like a small town that was a great jumping-off point for Cairngorms National Park, which we wanted to explore. It was a memorable stay in a place we will never forget.

Our place

We stayed in a lovely old converted church right near the center of this charming town. That's our place on the second floor of this building.

Here is a view of the main living room (and workspace)

The bedroom, which had a nice view out to the Dee river.

Around Braemar

As usual, I commandeered a local coffee house to make as my workspace. The folks at The Bothy (a bothy is a Scottish mountain hut) were kind enough to let me keep coming in, day after day.

We had a superb collection of local hikes to do. We typically started each day with a 1-2 hour hike. One of our favorites was this river walk which took us out through meadows and along the Dee and Cluny rivers.

Another popular choice was the nearby nature area, which provided this good view of the the town from up above.

The town was a perfect size for us -- small and cozy, but big enough to have the important things. Here are two of them: a good butcher shop and a good pub!

One of things this town is known for is the famous Scottish Highland games that are held there in September. Unfortunately, we won't be there, but we did catch the tail end of some junior games as we came into town and saw the bagpipers marching through town as part of that.

We also visited the highland games centre, which had lots of history about the games, films of past events, costume exhibitions, and this:

Balmoral

We were so close to the Queen's summer digs, we thought it would be impolite to turn down an invitation!

The grounds and gardens were spectacular.

Here is something we thought funny - everything about the place was elegant and beautiful..except for this cheesy plastic-looking statue of a stag outside the front door that looked like it was stolen from a Woolworth's department store window at Christmas!

Another nearby town that we explored was Ballater, where we did yet another hike alongside the beautiful river Dee.

When you think of Scotland...

What do you think of?

Well, we would say two things:

• sticky toffee pudding, and
• whiskey

Check on number one.

As for number two, luckily for us there was a dedicated whiskey bar in the very fancy Fife Arms Hotel in town. We spent a lot of time in the lobby and various establishments within that hotel trying to act as if we were staying there. The whiskey bar was this amazing space within the hotel: a converted library room with a fireplace, polished mahogany detail and plush comfortable chairs.

In there, under the spell of a local Highlander named Angus the magic happened: we may just have fallen in love with Scotch whiskey! Angus danced about the room, grabbing bottles from this shelf or that and saying things like "This one tastes like the color purple" (what? How is that even possible) "this one tastes like a shed" (that was actually a compliment). After providing us with some initial training (to summarize: sip / swallow / sniff - the sniff is important to oxidize the alcohol on your pallette apparently) he gave us several really nice whiskeys to try. The finale was when he asked me, "would you like to try this one? It will melt your face." Yes, I did try the face melter, and it was a wonderful experience.

Til next time

We really enjoyed Braemar and the Scottish Highlands, but all good things must come to an end. We've moved on to the beautiful Lauterbrunnen valley in Switzerland, and specifically the mountain town of Wengen. We hope everyone back home is happy and healthy, and look forward to seeing you all soon! Sending out a hearfelt hug to you!