After we're finished with our time in Ireland, Claire and I take a flight from Dublin to Edinburgh. Even on the taxi ride to the hotel, we start to fall in love with the city. It seems so quiet for a city and everywhere we look we see something beautiful or steeped in history. We spend our first day walking around taking in all of the sights the city has to offer. We walk miles throughout out the city. It is the first big city that I feel like I could live in. If we were rich, I'd totally by a home in Scotland. Everyone we meet is very nice and helpful. It doesn't seem like it's possible to have a bad experience there.
On the second day, we've booked a bus tour of the highlands. The beauty of the lochs and mountains and hills is even greater than I had thought. I was worried that they would disappoint me like when you build something up so much in your head and then reality can never match it. The pictures we take as we stop in various places throughout the highlands look just like postcards but every time I look at them I'll know I was actually there. The bus driver is fun and engaging as a tour guide and the long day on the bus seems to go by too quickly. I wish I could spend days walking the highlands like some of my ancestors did. I feel at home in this place across the ocean from where I was born.
By the time us and the other passengers load up onto the bus after out last stop, the sun is setting. The driver announces that it will be at least another 45 minutes to an hour before we get back to Edinburgh. I sit by the window and watch as we pass by the last set of sheep and hairy coos that we'll be able to see and then the sun has set. The bus's aisle lights are dim and the only overhead lights are those that individual passengers can turn on just like in airplanes. What was once a steady rumble of talk has died down to a murmur as we all sit either asleep or simply relaxing from such a long day.
Claire leans her head against my shoulder, and I kiss the top of her head. She rests her hand on my thigh and gently caresses me through my jeans. Her hand movements are absentminded and with no other purpose than to be in contact with me. I put my arm around her so that she can snuggle up to me better. Her breathing deepens and I think she's fallen asleep when she sits up a moment and then looks around. She sticks her head in the aisle and looks up and down it before she turns in her seat and looks directly behind us. She stands just a little for a moment and looks at the seats in front of us. I frown in the darkness trying to figure out what she's doing.