Isle of Bute

To keep our country mouse visitor happy, we took my mom on a trip away from the city to a nearby island. We used every form of mass transit to get there and get around once we were there -- train to ferry to bus to shuttle van. Luckily, the weather was perfect, cool but mostly clear, allowing us to make the most of a day outside, breathing in ocean air and exploring a new place.

Bute was (and still is today) a holiday destination in Scotland with easy access from Glasgow. The train station at Wemyss Bay connects to the ferry terminal through this gorgeous, Victorian walkway.

Then a short ferry ride and we arrived. On the pier are two fabulous Victorian buildings -- a visitors' centre and public toilets.

In the heyday, goldfish swam in the water tanks above the urinals.

Adorable family of swans swimming in the moat of the castle, described below

Off to the Rothesay Castle, which is the only castle we have visited that still has a moat with water in it.

Part of the castle was under construction

But the polite Brits wrote us an apology note

View back to town and over the Firth of Clyde (where the River Clyde joins the sea)

We set off up this street, reminiscent of Lombard in San Francisco, then walked through a wooded trail before doubling back to town in search of fish and chips.

Filled from our lunch, we took the local bus to Mount Stuart, where the gardens and house wowed us.

The house, built in Gothic Revival style, is a mixture of excessive opulence and quirky details. The ceiling of the grand hall has the constellations on it and each of the four sides has murals of the three signs of the zodiac for that season with its own particular color scheme (e.g., red for summer, blue for winter), then the ceilings on the next floor have small round skylights also colored to match the mural above. Such attention to detail! The carvings in one bedroom intersperse animals playing instruments with nature images, and the bed frame in that room has enlarged carvings of a few of the animals, including a bear playing the bagpipes. The house is quite gaudy is one sense and quite fabulous in another way.

The gardens were incredibly extensive. Our favorites were the giant rhododendrons and the Japanese garden. The boys opted to play outside rather than tour the house, which was probably a good choice since the elderly tour guide talked quite quickly in a monotone sing-song, which combined with his Scottish accent made for difficult comprehension. Yet, the rest of the people on the tour found him to be quite funny.

Waterfall in Japanese garden

The fish pond in the glass pavilion

Declan putting his new catapult to use

Boys showing just how tall the rhododendron is

Another wonderful Scottish island!