More from Edinburgh

We went to visit a girls residential school yesterday afternoon in a town outside of Glasgow. We were all very impressed by the atmostphere there - very much like a home and completely different than most residential facilities at home. The teachers and administrators all said that they were able to see a great deal of improvement in most of the girls who came there and allowed themselves to be helped and it is rare for any of them to be on any kind of medication, even for depression. The child welfare system is very focused on the needs of the child and the family, and procedures are quite different from ours. Two of the girls gave us the tour of the facility yesterday and they did a great job. The manager prefers for the girls to give tours to visitors because it helps to build their confidence.

Plans have been altered and we will be traveling to London this weekend instead of the Highlands. There is a large music festival on the Isle of Skye, one of the places we were going, and we were afraid there would be no place left to stay at this point. So, we are off to London early tomorrow morning and we will go the Highlands next weekend.



New Parliament building in Edinburgh. Scotland established its own Parliament in 1999.









A pub in the Grassmarket district of Edinburgh.








The name of the hostel where we stayed in Edinburgh.







A view of Edinburgh










Gardens at Holyrood Palace.