Hey
Just wanted to update the world that I am still alive. Friday night my power cord decided that it wanted to start a fire. I was holding it trying to get it to charge...and I was like, "What's that smell?" OH, it was the other end of the cord letting out a lot of smoke! So I shut it off and ordered a new cord from Ebay. Boo.
Since then, I've realized how much I love my computer. Thankfully, I had something going on Saturday night, and last night I slept a lot. When I lose sleep, I really make up for it. Saturday night was fun, it was Chris's birthday party at the Mill. I ended up at the Works... good times all around. Hudson, Simon, Amanda, her bf, Meghan...and I think that's it all were at the Works. They didn't let the birthday boy in...not sure why. I haven't spoken to him, but he did text me saying he couldn't get in. I really like this group I hang out with. We have fun on Thursday evenings after seminar, and this is what that party basically was.
So that's about it from me. Hoping to get my computer back online soon. Need computer. Until then, it's a lot of walking to the library. Sigh.
23 November 2009
20 November 2009
Scotland Day 3
Scotland Day 3. It was Loch Ness day. Woohoo. Again, the day started early at 8:30am. We made one stop before going to Loch Ness, well the sight for Nessie. Loch Ness is like 23 miles long. We stopped at a little forest that had a river going through it. According to Chris, J.M Barrie used to hang out in this area and sit on one of the bridges. It was nice little walk at 9am. A little cold as there was frost on the ground, but still it was good. It kinda reminded me of the woods from LOTR.
After a nice little walk around, it was time for LOCH NESS!
Now, I've always believed in the Loch Ness Monster. Like since the days at the cottage and Grammy telling me that the lone duck/goose/whatever that roamed around in the mornings was the Loch Ness Monster. So this was cool. Unfortunately, I didn't see Nessie. Chris says you see Nessie if everyone believes...so there was a nonbeliever.
I loved Loch Ness. I wish we could have taken a boat out and explored more. That also would have given me another chance at seeing Nessie. But oh well. We did a dance trying to get Nessie to emerge, but it didn't work because of the nonbeliever.
Another stop we made this fine morning was Urquhart Castle. You have to pay to go in, so we just go to the parking lot and stare at it. Yes, people make you pay to explore a ruined castle. It's not rebuilt or anything... it would be like being charged to go to the Roman Forum. Now I just realized that they charge you to go to the Palatine Hill, but at least that has a little bit of a museum and there's lots to see. So anyway, the people who run Urquhart Castle hate the tour groups because we just hang in the parking lot. They planted little trees to get in the way of getting a good shot of the ruined castle, so now you have to climb on a little wall to see over the trees. You aren't suppose to climb on the wall, but it's the only way to get a good shot. Hahah, yeah I climbed the wall. The castle is also ruined because a king said to the people who owned there, "Hey, would you mind destroying your home?" And they said, "SURE!" They did a really good job of it.
Other than Loch Ness, our big stop of the day was at Culloden, the Gettysburg of Scotland (kinda). It's this big open field with flags to indicate where the two armies stood. This battlefield is the reason the Highlands are so empty. It was the last battle between the English army and the Jacobites. The Highland people didn't fight in the open fields, but in the hills which is probably the reason they lost. They liked to be out numbered, but this wasn't good. MT, Julie, and I were the only ones who walked the battlefield. Not really sure why, or where everyone else went. We walked out to a really big cairn for the clan members. Along the way, there was cairns with markings on them saying who died where. There was one that we found on the way back, that said, "Here lies the dead English soldiers." It was a really interesting field, and really sad. You walk the field knowing that this is the reason the Highlands are empty, because so many men died, but so many had to leave because there was nothing left for him. A lot went to America, or the men remaining ended up joining the British army. Ironic as that is. I enjoyed walking the field though...but then I like war.
So after that it was back to Edinburgh. We stopped for lunch at Kinguisse a cute little town in Scotland. We went to a pub. I liked Kinguisse, a small town with mountains on either side. There was one main street and it was so deserted because it was a Sunday.
We made a pit stop at this little town, which I don't think I know the name of, or did I take pictures of, but its where Bellatrix Potter was written. Cute little place, but they charged to use the bathroom. That was unexpected.
Then there was one last stop... more woods. It's called Hermitage. SO BEAUTIFUL! We took like a 45 minute walk and saw a really nice waterfall, river, and woods. It was a great way to end the trip. It was about an hour or two outside of Edinburgh and just so beautiful. I had a fun time climbing the different rocks and seeing the waterfall from all different angles. If I lived nearby, I think I would walk this area every day! I loved it that much.
We went by the glen named after some Spanish soldiers that came to help against the British soldiers, but when they saw how many there was...they ran. The Highlanders appreciated the effort though so they named it after them. We went by a bridge built by Mr. Eiffel, and then entered Edinburgh. MT, Julie, and I hung around the city until our bus left at 10pm and came home. The bus was crowded and really hot.
It was a good trip though. So loved Scotland.
After a nice little walk around, it was time for LOCH NESS!
Now, I've always believed in the Loch Ness Monster. Like since the days at the cottage and Grammy telling me that the lone duck/goose/whatever that roamed around in the mornings was the Loch Ness Monster. So this was cool. Unfortunately, I didn't see Nessie. Chris says you see Nessie if everyone believes...so there was a nonbeliever.
I loved Loch Ness. I wish we could have taken a boat out and explored more. That also would have given me another chance at seeing Nessie. But oh well. We did a dance trying to get Nessie to emerge, but it didn't work because of the nonbeliever.
Another stop we made this fine morning was Urquhart Castle. You have to pay to go in, so we just go to the parking lot and stare at it. Yes, people make you pay to explore a ruined castle. It's not rebuilt or anything... it would be like being charged to go to the Roman Forum. Now I just realized that they charge you to go to the Palatine Hill, but at least that has a little bit of a museum and there's lots to see. So anyway, the people who run Urquhart Castle hate the tour groups because we just hang in the parking lot. They planted little trees to get in the way of getting a good shot of the ruined castle, so now you have to climb on a little wall to see over the trees. You aren't suppose to climb on the wall, but it's the only way to get a good shot. Hahah, yeah I climbed the wall. The castle is also ruined because a king said to the people who owned there, "Hey, would you mind destroying your home?" And they said, "SURE!" They did a really good job of it.
Other than Loch Ness, our big stop of the day was at Culloden, the Gettysburg of Scotland (kinda). It's this big open field with flags to indicate where the two armies stood. This battlefield is the reason the Highlands are so empty. It was the last battle between the English army and the Jacobites. The Highland people didn't fight in the open fields, but in the hills which is probably the reason they lost. They liked to be out numbered, but this wasn't good. MT, Julie, and I were the only ones who walked the battlefield. Not really sure why, or where everyone else went. We walked out to a really big cairn for the clan members. Along the way, there was cairns with markings on them saying who died where. There was one that we found on the way back, that said, "Here lies the dead English soldiers." It was a really interesting field, and really sad. You walk the field knowing that this is the reason the Highlands are empty, because so many men died, but so many had to leave because there was nothing left for him. A lot went to America, or the men remaining ended up joining the British army. Ironic as that is. I enjoyed walking the field though...but then I like war.
So after that it was back to Edinburgh. We stopped for lunch at Kinguisse a cute little town in Scotland. We went to a pub. I liked Kinguisse, a small town with mountains on either side. There was one main street and it was so deserted because it was a Sunday.
We made a pit stop at this little town, which I don't think I know the name of, or did I take pictures of, but its where Bellatrix Potter was written. Cute little place, but they charged to use the bathroom. That was unexpected.
Then there was one last stop... more woods. It's called Hermitage. SO BEAUTIFUL! We took like a 45 minute walk and saw a really nice waterfall, river, and woods. It was a great way to end the trip. It was about an hour or two outside of Edinburgh and just so beautiful. I had a fun time climbing the different rocks and seeing the waterfall from all different angles. If I lived nearby, I think I would walk this area every day! I loved it that much.
We went by the glen named after some Spanish soldiers that came to help against the British soldiers, but when they saw how many there was...they ran. The Highlanders appreciated the effort though so they named it after them. We went by a bridge built by Mr. Eiffel, and then entered Edinburgh. MT, Julie, and I hung around the city until our bus left at 10pm and came home. The bus was crowded and really hot.
It was a good trip though. So loved Scotland.
18 November 2009
Scotland Day 2
Hey,
Okay, so sorry for the delay, but I've been trying to get my piece ready to workshop, and now I've caught Ms. Sophie's cold. Errrrr. I've already been sick for the year, and yet I have another sore throat. Not amused. I suppose I can forgive her, because she is cute and on her way to becoming a big Disney fan. Her face lights up at the sight of Pooh Bear!!!
Okay so Scotland Day 2. It started early...again. We, of course, meaning MT, Julie, and I were up nice and early and ready to get the front seats of the bus. MT's knee was still hurting, so she wanted the seat at the front which gave her a little room to stretch it out. I was feeling good after the time in the pub, so all was well.
Our first stop of the morning was the Field of Cairns and Loch Garry. Cairns are stone memorials to the dead, and there is this random field right by a loch full of cairns. These don't mean anything, well anything well known. It was beautiful though. The fog was still down in the loch, but rising. When we were leaving, I thought I saw a bridge going across the loch, but I couldn't be sure. It wasn't a large loch so it is a possibility that I saw something.
Part of the Field of Cairns.
Our next stop was unexpected. We went up this road, well road is one word for it...there was room for one car and our bus seemed a little too big for it. I believe it was off the road we were supposed to be on, but hey we saw a beautiful sight. We were across a loch from the Five Sister mountains. Guy wanted to preserve the beauty of his daughters so the faeries were like, "Sure we can do that for you." The next morning his daughters are gone and are mountains. Preserved forever. Gotta be careful with those faeries. So beautiful though. Both groups were there, and we had a fun time just staring and taking pictures. Here's one of the three of us.
So after the Five Sisters, we made one more stop before the Isle of Skye. A CASTLE! I really have a thing for castles. This castle, the Eilean Donan was used in Highlander (which I haven't seen), but I just saw it in another movie. Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I saw the movie the other day when I was in Ely, and I'm staring at the TV screen just thinking to myself...I know that castle. I thought it was unlikely that I could be right...but I was. I googled it. So when you watch that movie, the scenes with Mary Queen of Scots was filmed in Scotland at the Eilean Donan castle. Anyway, I walked all around the castle and was in heaven. It's in really good continue still. It was destroyed, but someone had a dream about what it used to look like and had it rebuilt. They found a sketch of the castle not too long ago, and the dream was pretty accurate.
So after that, we made our way to the Isle of Skye. I have to say this...I LOVE THE ISLE OF SKYE! It's so beautiful. It's all mountains and water and there is nothing wrong with that. I think Day 2 was the best day, and that's because everything was so beautiful. Loch Alsh was the most beautiful sight. I took a video there and like 25 pictures. We were in the land of the faeries, so as we through the gate we had to form a hug line. LOL! I was at the front of the line so I didn't have to hug anyone, just get a hug from MT. We stood by the cliffs and went down to get a better look at the waterfalls. There was even a ruin of a building down by the water and sheep were making a lot of noise. We took our group picture at Loch Alsh.
Hey,
I still cannot believe how beautiful it was. I could never tire at looking at the lochs and the mountains. We saw cool formations of mountains aka faerie folklore like the Kilt Rock or the giant and his wife's leg. I So love folklore. I think the most beautiful sight, other than Loch Alsh was when we went up higher int the mountains. A movies have been filmed up here and I don't blame them. It was amazing. I've been using that word a lot, but that's what it was. It took awhile to get up into the mountains, and the road up was really small. There was room for one car, and it had spots to pass along it. It was the most beautiful day...the visibility was good, it wasn't too cold, so aka it was a perfect day. Even Chris was impressed.
We stopped in Portee for lunch which was this really adorable town. It has the only high school on the Isle of Skye so some people have to travel an hour and a half to go to school. It's a really ugly building. We had a really good meal at the Granary. Most people ate there. The Isle of Skye is also where I stuck my head in the river, but that story was told on my video in the last post.
It really was an amazing day. There's not too much to really tell because we spent all day going from one beautiful sight to another. The best way to describe the day is to see the pictures of it. I loved sitting in front as well, we got to see some really cool sights. I admit to sleeping on the way back from to the hostel, but by then it was getting dark and a movie was on. That put me right to sleep. We were entertained all day by Chris's stories and jokes, and I think he was happy to have people sitting in front who did sleep the entire time like Days 1 and 3.
So that was Scotland Day 2 really. When we got back to the hostel, we grabbed dinner and hung around the bar. It was a boring night. A lot of people went to sleep early and a few went down to the town.
Okay, so sorry for the delay, but I've been trying to get my piece ready to workshop, and now I've caught Ms. Sophie's cold. Errrrr. I've already been sick for the year, and yet I have another sore throat. Not amused. I suppose I can forgive her, because she is cute and on her way to becoming a big Disney fan. Her face lights up at the sight of Pooh Bear!!!
Okay so Scotland Day 2. It started early...again. We, of course, meaning MT, Julie, and I were up nice and early and ready to get the front seats of the bus. MT's knee was still hurting, so she wanted the seat at the front which gave her a little room to stretch it out. I was feeling good after the time in the pub, so all was well.
Our first stop of the morning was the Field of Cairns and Loch Garry. Cairns are stone memorials to the dead, and there is this random field right by a loch full of cairns. These don't mean anything, well anything well known. It was beautiful though. The fog was still down in the loch, but rising. When we were leaving, I thought I saw a bridge going across the loch, but I couldn't be sure. It wasn't a large loch so it is a possibility that I saw something.
Part of the Field of Cairns.
Our next stop was unexpected. We went up this road, well road is one word for it...there was room for one car and our bus seemed a little too big for it. I believe it was off the road we were supposed to be on, but hey we saw a beautiful sight. We were across a loch from the Five Sister mountains. Guy wanted to preserve the beauty of his daughters so the faeries were like, "Sure we can do that for you." The next morning his daughters are gone and are mountains. Preserved forever. Gotta be careful with those faeries. So beautiful though. Both groups were there, and we had a fun time just staring and taking pictures. Here's one of the three of us.
So after the Five Sisters, we made one more stop before the Isle of Skye. A CASTLE! I really have a thing for castles. This castle, the Eilean Donan was used in Highlander (which I haven't seen), but I just saw it in another movie. Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I saw the movie the other day when I was in Ely, and I'm staring at the TV screen just thinking to myself...I know that castle. I thought it was unlikely that I could be right...but I was. I googled it. So when you watch that movie, the scenes with Mary Queen of Scots was filmed in Scotland at the Eilean Donan castle. Anyway, I walked all around the castle and was in heaven. It's in really good continue still. It was destroyed, but someone had a dream about what it used to look like and had it rebuilt. They found a sketch of the castle not too long ago, and the dream was pretty accurate.
So after that, we made our way to the Isle of Skye. I have to say this...I LOVE THE ISLE OF SKYE! It's so beautiful. It's all mountains and water and there is nothing wrong with that. I think Day 2 was the best day, and that's because everything was so beautiful. Loch Alsh was the most beautiful sight. I took a video there and like 25 pictures. We were in the land of the faeries, so as we through the gate we had to form a hug line. LOL! I was at the front of the line so I didn't have to hug anyone, just get a hug from MT. We stood by the cliffs and went down to get a better look at the waterfalls. There was even a ruin of a building down by the water and sheep were making a lot of noise. We took our group picture at Loch Alsh.
Hey,
I still cannot believe how beautiful it was. I could never tire at looking at the lochs and the mountains. We saw cool formations of mountains aka faerie folklore like the Kilt Rock or the giant and his wife's leg. I So love folklore. I think the most beautiful sight, other than Loch Alsh was when we went up higher int the mountains. A movies have been filmed up here and I don't blame them. It was amazing. I've been using that word a lot, but that's what it was. It took awhile to get up into the mountains, and the road up was really small. There was room for one car, and it had spots to pass along it. It was the most beautiful day...the visibility was good, it wasn't too cold, so aka it was a perfect day. Even Chris was impressed.
We stopped in Portee for lunch which was this really adorable town. It has the only high school on the Isle of Skye so some people have to travel an hour and a half to go to school. It's a really ugly building. We had a really good meal at the Granary. Most people ate there. The Isle of Skye is also where I stuck my head in the river, but that story was told on my video in the last post.
It really was an amazing day. There's not too much to really tell because we spent all day going from one beautiful sight to another. The best way to describe the day is to see the pictures of it. I loved sitting in front as well, we got to see some really cool sights. I admit to sleeping on the way back from to the hostel, but by then it was getting dark and a movie was on. That put me right to sleep. We were entertained all day by Chris's stories and jokes, and I think he was happy to have people sitting in front who did sleep the entire time like Days 1 and 3.
So that was Scotland Day 2 really. When we got back to the hostel, we grabbed dinner and hung around the bar. It was a boring night. A lot of people went to sleep early and a few went down to the town.
11 November 2009
Video Post
While I try and remember what else I did on Day 2...here's a video post about one event that day.
10 November 2009
Scotland Day 1
So I just realized that I don't have a journal. Which is usually okay, but when I'm traveling how do I write? Um. So scrap paper it is.
Julie, Montana (or MT) and I are traveling through the Highlands. Eric and Mary did this same trip last week, but they rented a car. They had an awesome time, so I'm really excited. To help us journey through Scotland, we took a tour with Haggis Adventures. I'm not a big tour person, but this was the best way to travel around Scotland other than renting a car. We took a three day tour from Edinburgh, Fort Augustus, Inverness, Isle of Skye, and of course Loch Ness. Being the animal lover/folklore lover I am...Loch Ness was like heaven for me.
So let's start with yesterday and our 10 hour bus ride. It wasn't that bad. Of course, MT would say in response to that, "Because you slept for more than half of it." I admit, I did. I fell asleep around northern London, woke up for lunch, fell back asleep, woke up around Newcastle, and I think I was awake from then on. So for Scotland. What I saw was nice and Newcastle looks cool. I did have my eyes on the alert for Hadrian's wall, but we were close but not eyesight close. I did see signs for it...sooo close. One day I will make it to Hadrian's Wall.
Now, the one thing that really got me was the size of the roads. I thought I was on Pine Hill Road for more than 50 miles. It was horrible. That road makes me sick even when I'm driving and it went on forever. The drivers changed three times. We had a really good driver for the first part and then it just downhill from there. The third driver hit a curb or two. As we got near Edinburgh, we saw the fireworks for Guy Fawkes Night. They were alright. Nothing like the 4th of July or Disney.
Edinburgh was really nice. They are doing a lot of construction which made getting through the city really slow at 7:30pm. Our hostel was by the Royal Mile right in the old part of the city and by the castle. It was a sweet hostel. We stayed in the Latin Room and my bed was Pontinus Pilate. Sweet.
After we dropped our bags in our room, we explored Edinburgh. I brought the girls to The Elephant Head aka the home of Harry Potter. This might have excited me more than them, but based on their reactions at Oxford I thought this would be something they would both really enjoy. They were so-so about it, while I was jumping.
Even though it was dark, I really enjoyed the city. It's full of cobblestone, small side streets, and really cool looking buildings. I didn't feel that I was in the UK but in Europe. It's very Gothic style looking and seriously I could have been in Germany. I loved it. The castle is, of course, at the top of the city and MT and Julie did not enjoy the walk up. I was in full traveling mode- don't ask directions, don't pull a map out every 5 seconds, and act like you belong. Walk with confidence even though you have a huge bag on your back. The first person they saw they asked for directions. He was standing outside the bus station asking if anyone needed a hostel or directions, so he wasn't some homeless guy, but seriously guys. I blew him off, but they had no problems asking for directions. Yeah, I was going in the wrong direction, but I would have figured that out in a few seconds. They told me to calm down, but sorry not in the mood for people to know that I don't know where I'm going. My bags says I'm traveling, but not that I'm lost. Anyway, castle...cooool. I really want to go in, but it's not open in the hours we are there. But there are great views. We walked around the Royal Mile and just around for a few hours and then headed to the hostel. For the number of hours I had already slept that day, I slept well.
We got up early the next morning to take pictures of Edinburgh when it was light out. Again, so beautiful. We didn't go far from the Royal Mile which was god since around 8:10ish I realized that I had only one motion sickness wristband. Not good. I ran to the castle because they had been in my jeans pocket with my cell phone, and I took it out there. But I didn't see it in the parking lot, so I ran to the hostel and the guy gave me a key to the room I had been in. I found it in the sheets. Lucky, I know. I got back to the Haggis Adventure building about 10 minutes before we had to board.
Our tour guide was Chris. He was funny though only MT, Julie, and I laughed at the majority of his jokes. Some of them are just wrong or really bad, but he's up front about that. I like him; he tells god stories and he's interested in the history of Scotland. One of our first stops was the William Wallace memorial. Okay people of Scotland...why did you build a memorial on top of a really big hill? It took like 8 minutes to walk up and it was a steep hill. It's really nice though and you can see all of Stirling. The local high school is Wallace High School. Chris told us the real story of William Wallace and what Hollywood made up. He didn't say the Scottish mooning the British soldiers was made up...hahah. But yeah a lot was made up. Boo.
One of my favorite places was Glencoe. Chris told the story of the MacDonalds and Campbells. The MacDonalds lived in Glencoe and when William of Orange aka King William III made all of the clan leaders sign a proclamation of allegiance, the leader of the MacDonalds held out until like the last second and then went to the wrong place. Opps. So he was four days late signing it, but it was cool. Well apparently not. The King sent their rivals- the Campbells to kill them. For a clan, a huge number of men went like 130 or something to the MacDonalds in the middle of winter and asked for hospitality. That basically means shelter, food, and water. You can't turn down hospitality...it's tradition. So the MacDonalds put them up for 12 days and on the 12th night...the Campbells killed everyone. Well everyone who didn't escape, but since it was winter they died anyway. If you think elephants remember everything then you haven't met people in Scotland. Those who remain and have MacDonald blood in them still hate the Campbells. A Canadian man was traveling and stopped in Glencoe for the night. He tried to pay for a room with a credit card, but his last name was Campbell. The woman wouldn't let him pay for a room, but basically kicked him out. He was pretty rich so he went back to Canada after his trip and sued the pub. This case went all the way to the EU and they voted in favor of the pub. So now a sign outside says that they don't serve anyone selling stuff, Campbells or British people. They had to remove the British people part of it, but they don't serve Campbells.
Glencoe is sooooooo beautiful though. It was raining when we were there so I don't have that many pictures of it, but omg. It was a mixture of hills with really green grass and water. We stopped a few times to take pictures of the hills and waterfalls.
When we stopped for lunch, we met a cool Cow aka COO. Hammish. He was big. Not very adorable, but big. Chris fed him an apple and he came as soon as Chris started calling him. He's so famous, he has tee shirts, postcards, mugs all with his face on them.
We also stopped at a loch owned by Bond...James Bond. Yes, Sean Connery. It was once owned by Ian Fleming but after he died Sean Connery bought it. It wasn't raining then so I got some nice pictures of it.
We also went by Fort William where only a small part of the wall is left. There was more, but it was destroyed to make room for a MacDonalds and a grocery store. Well done. We saw a castle at Inverlochy. So beautiful and while in ruins still nice. We saw where they filmed the village scenes from Braveheart, a full rainbow, and our last stop was where they trained troops for WWII.
We stopped for the night at Fort Augustus which is near Loch Ness. It's one of the three forts that William of Orange had built. I ate dinner at a pub and then went to a show about clan life. It was so cool. The guy has original swords, clothes, and just stuff from the clans. He killed me five times with a sword that has died clan blood on it. I think the sword belonged to the clan leader of the Frasers. He beheaded me, put the sword right through my skull, through my chest...wait he might have beheaded me twice. I loved every second of it. Gotta love swords. He got two people to dress like clan folk and with the guy he told him that for the first time in his life he would be dressing like a real man. LOL. The guy then had to remove his pants in front of all of us cause Scottish men don't wear anything under kilts. He got to keep his boxers on, but no jeans. Thankfully (for him) he wasn't wearing any embarrassing underwear. The girl was like, "Do I have to strip too?" She didn't.
It was a great day though. MT fell at the William Wallace memorial and had trouble walking the rest of the day. Update on MT since I'm home now... they think she bruised it. She should be fine, but it's going to hurt for awhile. She could have done so much more to it though and she knows it.
That night was fun too. We hung out in the bar and had a pub quiz and everyone wore kilts. Yep I did. I had on a fake kilt, but I took off my jeans so it counted. LOL. We were in the bar until like midnight and I had only woken up that morning at like 6:30am. Well worth it though.
Julie, Montana (or MT) and I are traveling through the Highlands. Eric and Mary did this same trip last week, but they rented a car. They had an awesome time, so I'm really excited. To help us journey through Scotland, we took a tour with Haggis Adventures. I'm not a big tour person, but this was the best way to travel around Scotland other than renting a car. We took a three day tour from Edinburgh, Fort Augustus, Inverness, Isle of Skye, and of course Loch Ness. Being the animal lover/folklore lover I am...Loch Ness was like heaven for me.
So let's start with yesterday and our 10 hour bus ride. It wasn't that bad. Of course, MT would say in response to that, "Because you slept for more than half of it." I admit, I did. I fell asleep around northern London, woke up for lunch, fell back asleep, woke up around Newcastle, and I think I was awake from then on. So for Scotland. What I saw was nice and Newcastle looks cool. I did have my eyes on the alert for Hadrian's wall, but we were close but not eyesight close. I did see signs for it...sooo close. One day I will make it to Hadrian's Wall.
Now, the one thing that really got me was the size of the roads. I thought I was on Pine Hill Road for more than 50 miles. It was horrible. That road makes me sick even when I'm driving and it went on forever. The drivers changed three times. We had a really good driver for the first part and then it just downhill from there. The third driver hit a curb or two. As we got near Edinburgh, we saw the fireworks for Guy Fawkes Night. They were alright. Nothing like the 4th of July or Disney.
Edinburgh was really nice. They are doing a lot of construction which made getting through the city really slow at 7:30pm. Our hostel was by the Royal Mile right in the old part of the city and by the castle. It was a sweet hostel. We stayed in the Latin Room and my bed was Pontinus Pilate. Sweet.
After we dropped our bags in our room, we explored Edinburgh. I brought the girls to The Elephant Head aka the home of Harry Potter. This might have excited me more than them, but based on their reactions at Oxford I thought this would be something they would both really enjoy. They were so-so about it, while I was jumping.
Even though it was dark, I really enjoyed the city. It's full of cobblestone, small side streets, and really cool looking buildings. I didn't feel that I was in the UK but in Europe. It's very Gothic style looking and seriously I could have been in Germany. I loved it. The castle is, of course, at the top of the city and MT and Julie did not enjoy the walk up. I was in full traveling mode- don't ask directions, don't pull a map out every 5 seconds, and act like you belong. Walk with confidence even though you have a huge bag on your back. The first person they saw they asked for directions. He was standing outside the bus station asking if anyone needed a hostel or directions, so he wasn't some homeless guy, but seriously guys. I blew him off, but they had no problems asking for directions. Yeah, I was going in the wrong direction, but I would have figured that out in a few seconds. They told me to calm down, but sorry not in the mood for people to know that I don't know where I'm going. My bags says I'm traveling, but not that I'm lost. Anyway, castle...cooool. I really want to go in, but it's not open in the hours we are there. But there are great views. We walked around the Royal Mile and just around for a few hours and then headed to the hostel. For the number of hours I had already slept that day, I slept well.
We got up early the next morning to take pictures of Edinburgh when it was light out. Again, so beautiful. We didn't go far from the Royal Mile which was god since around 8:10ish I realized that I had only one motion sickness wristband. Not good. I ran to the castle because they had been in my jeans pocket with my cell phone, and I took it out there. But I didn't see it in the parking lot, so I ran to the hostel and the guy gave me a key to the room I had been in. I found it in the sheets. Lucky, I know. I got back to the Haggis Adventure building about 10 minutes before we had to board.
Our tour guide was Chris. He was funny though only MT, Julie, and I laughed at the majority of his jokes. Some of them are just wrong or really bad, but he's up front about that. I like him; he tells god stories and he's interested in the history of Scotland. One of our first stops was the William Wallace memorial. Okay people of Scotland...why did you build a memorial on top of a really big hill? It took like 8 minutes to walk up and it was a steep hill. It's really nice though and you can see all of Stirling. The local high school is Wallace High School. Chris told us the real story of William Wallace and what Hollywood made up. He didn't say the Scottish mooning the British soldiers was made up...hahah. But yeah a lot was made up. Boo.
One of my favorite places was Glencoe. Chris told the story of the MacDonalds and Campbells. The MacDonalds lived in Glencoe and when William of Orange aka King William III made all of the clan leaders sign a proclamation of allegiance, the leader of the MacDonalds held out until like the last second and then went to the wrong place. Opps. So he was four days late signing it, but it was cool. Well apparently not. The King sent their rivals- the Campbells to kill them. For a clan, a huge number of men went like 130 or something to the MacDonalds in the middle of winter and asked for hospitality. That basically means shelter, food, and water. You can't turn down hospitality...it's tradition. So the MacDonalds put them up for 12 days and on the 12th night...the Campbells killed everyone. Well everyone who didn't escape, but since it was winter they died anyway. If you think elephants remember everything then you haven't met people in Scotland. Those who remain and have MacDonald blood in them still hate the Campbells. A Canadian man was traveling and stopped in Glencoe for the night. He tried to pay for a room with a credit card, but his last name was Campbell. The woman wouldn't let him pay for a room, but basically kicked him out. He was pretty rich so he went back to Canada after his trip and sued the pub. This case went all the way to the EU and they voted in favor of the pub. So now a sign outside says that they don't serve anyone selling stuff, Campbells or British people. They had to remove the British people part of it, but they don't serve Campbells.
Glencoe is sooooooo beautiful though. It was raining when we were there so I don't have that many pictures of it, but omg. It was a mixture of hills with really green grass and water. We stopped a few times to take pictures of the hills and waterfalls.
When we stopped for lunch, we met a cool Cow aka COO. Hammish. He was big. Not very adorable, but big. Chris fed him an apple and he came as soon as Chris started calling him. He's so famous, he has tee shirts, postcards, mugs all with his face on them.
We also stopped at a loch owned by Bond...James Bond. Yes, Sean Connery. It was once owned by Ian Fleming but after he died Sean Connery bought it. It wasn't raining then so I got some nice pictures of it.
We also went by Fort William where only a small part of the wall is left. There was more, but it was destroyed to make room for a MacDonalds and a grocery store. Well done. We saw a castle at Inverlochy. So beautiful and while in ruins still nice. We saw where they filmed the village scenes from Braveheart, a full rainbow, and our last stop was where they trained troops for WWII.
We stopped for the night at Fort Augustus which is near Loch Ness. It's one of the three forts that William of Orange had built. I ate dinner at a pub and then went to a show about clan life. It was so cool. The guy has original swords, clothes, and just stuff from the clans. He killed me five times with a sword that has died clan blood on it. I think the sword belonged to the clan leader of the Frasers. He beheaded me, put the sword right through my skull, through my chest...wait he might have beheaded me twice. I loved every second of it. Gotta love swords. He got two people to dress like clan folk and with the guy he told him that for the first time in his life he would be dressing like a real man. LOL. The guy then had to remove his pants in front of all of us cause Scottish men don't wear anything under kilts. He got to keep his boxers on, but no jeans. Thankfully (for him) he wasn't wearing any embarrassing underwear. The girl was like, "Do I have to strip too?" She didn't.
It was a great day though. MT fell at the William Wallace memorial and had trouble walking the rest of the day. Update on MT since I'm home now... they think she bruised it. She should be fine, but it's going to hurt for awhile. She could have done so much more to it though and she knows it.
That night was fun too. We hung out in the bar and had a pub quiz and everyone wore kilts. Yep I did. I had on a fake kilt, but I took off my jeans so it counted. LOL. We were in the bar until like midnight and I had only woken up that morning at like 6:30am. Well worth it though.
02 November 2009
It's been three years since Spain
Yes, the title says it all. Three years since Spain. If I remember correctly, we were on our way to Barcelona today. We caught an evening bus, spent tomorrow in the city and caught a late bus back. On Guy Fawkes's Day we left Spain. Three years since that lovely night in Barcelona, which is all I'm saying about it. Weird.
Since I last wrote, I have been doing nothing...like I haven't left the house since ummm getting back from Spring Grove Thursday night. I'm very impressed with myself. I stayed up until like 4am on Friday night listening to the Avs, and Saturday was Halloween. Julie came over, we ordered Pizza Experts and watched scary movies. Kathleen is in Dublin right now having fun with Eric and Mary.
So we watched Silence of the Lambs (my personal favorite), Hocus Pocus, and Scream 1 and 2. Scream 2 took like 3 hours to download. I had one good version of it, but it was Spanish. Kinda funny to hear Foreman (Omar Epps) speak in Spanish. He's in the first victim in Scream 2, and then Will Smith's wife gets gutted next. Well not gutted, just stabbed 7 times at a movie she didn't want to go to. Julie and MT were so funny during the Screams. They were clutching blankets and MT suddenly moved and Julie SCREAMED! When we were watching Silence, MT asked what part scared Jodie Foster so much that she wouldn't do Hannibal, and I handed her Bowl Jr since it was at that part. It was when she walks into Buffalo Bill's house without realizing who he is. Opps. The whole rest of the night, MT kept saying, "Check your corner!" In Silence, when Clarice is training, she forgets to check her corner and she "dies".
It was sooo funny. We stayed up until 4am and then MT called it a night. Julie stayed in Kathleen's room and I didn't open my eyes until 1pm. Woohoo. I was impressed. Sunday was a thinking day, but I didn't get much thinking done.
Scotland is in two days. Looking forward to that.
And I think that's all I got.
Since I last wrote, I have been doing nothing...like I haven't left the house since ummm getting back from Spring Grove Thursday night. I'm very impressed with myself. I stayed up until like 4am on Friday night listening to the Avs, and Saturday was Halloween. Julie came over, we ordered Pizza Experts and watched scary movies. Kathleen is in Dublin right now having fun with Eric and Mary.
So we watched Silence of the Lambs (my personal favorite), Hocus Pocus, and Scream 1 and 2. Scream 2 took like 3 hours to download. I had one good version of it, but it was Spanish. Kinda funny to hear Foreman (Omar Epps) speak in Spanish. He's in the first victim in Scream 2, and then Will Smith's wife gets gutted next. Well not gutted, just stabbed 7 times at a movie she didn't want to go to. Julie and MT were so funny during the Screams. They were clutching blankets and MT suddenly moved and Julie SCREAMED! When we were watching Silence, MT asked what part scared Jodie Foster so much that she wouldn't do Hannibal, and I handed her Bowl Jr since it was at that part. It was when she walks into Buffalo Bill's house without realizing who he is. Opps. The whole rest of the night, MT kept saying, "Check your corner!" In Silence, when Clarice is training, she forgets to check her corner and she "dies".
It was sooo funny. We stayed up until 4am and then MT called it a night. Julie stayed in Kathleen's room and I didn't open my eyes until 1pm. Woohoo. I was impressed. Sunday was a thinking day, but I didn't get much thinking done.
Scotland is in two days. Looking forward to that.
And I think that's all I got.
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