Thursday, August 7, 2008

Edinburgh to Galloway

Hello lovely people,

Rest easy, because this just might be the last email you get from me about my travels (for some of you that will be a welcome relief, I know...)! Today is Friday, we head South from Edinburgh to the Borders/Dumfries/Galloway region, stay down there for tonight, and then come back up to Glasgow and fly home on Sunday. Yay!

Edinburgh was easily the best city that we saw on the trip. However, cities were my least favourite part of the trip. But considering I am *still* awed and excited to be in Scotland, it's really all good. Edinburgh Castle wasn't terribly impressive, but we may be coming to the point where we have seen so many castles and churches and galleries and museums and historical sites, that it's a bit of overload. C'est la vie... I'm not going to complain. ;)

Today is the 8th day of the 8th month of 2008, which I gather is a very very lucky day for Asian culture. My cousin Mike is getting married today, so I hope that the luck works in his favour to make everything go smoothly. From what I hear, Vancouver is looking rather gorgeous as of late! Should be a lovely day.

Christine & I have been trying to add up how much we have spent here to make sure we have our stories straight when we get to customs (cough, cough), and more importantly, trying to see where it will all fit! All I have to say is, whisky is big and heavy, not to mention expensive. It better not break!

One thing that doesn't often happen here is when we go to a restaurant and pay with a credit card, there is no place to add a tip. I never really realized how much I appreciate having that little gratuity line, because I am trying to travel here with as little cash as possible, and sometimes that has meant a meagre tip or worse, none at all! With food being as expensive as it is, I kinda just wish the tip was included in prices -- wouldn't that make everything so much easier?? Anyways.

Being that Christine has so many food allergies, we have been virtually unable to share food. Or at least, she can't have anything that I can eat -- which is good in a way, because it keeps the money thing very separate and "yours/mine" issues very clear, but I feel bad that I can't give her some of my treats or share an entree when neither of us are particularly famished. Ah well. I am just happy that she stayed healthy. :)

So, highlights of the trip? Barra. Love Barra. All the islands, for sure -- Orkney and Iona and Skye... but Barra still is my favourite. The people were also a highlight -- I love the people here. And the landscape -- wow. The museums and galleries and castles etc. were great too (except for the overload). Still haven't found that deep-fried Mars bar, but despite that, the dinner at Iona was the highlight for food.

And with that, I am off. Hope to see y'all soon... expect photos to come sometime in the next few weeks. :)
Cheers
xo
Elaan

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Edinburgh

Hello hello

Yesterday and today was Edinburgh. We got into the city later in the evening and Christine did an amazing job of navigating the craziness of downtown (one-way streets and festivals and bus-only lanes and people everywhere and bridges and basic insanity) and I was the stellar co-pilot! Woo! Anyways, we had to stay in a hostel last night, which we were NOT looking forward to (the B&B's have spoiled us), and with good reason... it was the same sweaty stinky noisy sleepless experience. The difference was, it was located RIGHT on the Royal Mile! Which is the main strip of downtown.

Unfortunately we had to leave our car several blocks away, and so we had to get up this morning at 7am to go move it before it got towed. That's okay, we didn't really need an excuse to get out of that hostel. We decided to drive straight to the Marriott and hopefully leave our bags and car while we found food and maybe also our way back into the city. The Marriott was a package deal we got with our tickets to the Military Tattoo (big military band, music, marching, dancing, singing performance that is apparently quite famous, although neither of us had heard of it before we started telling people that we were going to Scotland, and then many of them said "are you going to the Tattoo?" and "you HAVE to go to the Tattoo!" -- so, we got the only tickets left, which were a package deal with the Marriott hotel).

So, we get to the Marriott totally exhausted from not sleeping at the hostel, and have a super awesome gourmet breakfast... yummmmm... and then they manage to get our room ready quickly so we could get in there. SO nice! We showered and napped and Christine even went for a swim. Ahhhh, luxury. Hostels are bollocks and rubbish I say! We got onto a handy-dandy bus that took us straight downtown and went to the National Gallery. Wow... I don't even know what to say about that place. Amazing and stupendous. I could have spent all day in there. Except that they don't let you wear your backpacks on your back (or front, or one shoulder) which is annoying. What the purpose for that is, I have no idea.

We also went to the Fruitmarket Gallery. Weird stuff in there. Weirder stuff in the gift shop even. Brits have some messed up sense of humour... sometimes it totally works and is hilarious but other times it just crosses the line or doesn't make any sense. Like a card that said "catch the ball, because if you don't your wife will leave you and take the kids". Dub-tee-eff?! Anyways. Just sayin'. Weird.

So we had dinner at a great little Italian joint called Rocco's and then headed to the Tattoo. It was awesome, amazing, marvelous, incredible and wicked. It also poured rain on us like God was trying to put out a fire in our souls (I have no idea where THAT imagery came from, honest). No but seriously, it rained so hard that people started leaving the stands (oh, did I mention it is an uncovered, outdoor performace that has never ever been cancelled in any weather conditions?) about 30 minutes into the 90 minute show. I was fairly miserable, but I kept my mouth shut and just focused on the excellent show. I tried with all my might to avoid thinking about how my shoes had become puddles for my feet, and how my jeans had wicked the water all the way to my waist.

I think the last time I was completely soaked like that was when I was a kid taking swimming lessons and they asked us to get in the pool with our clothes on so we could get the feeling of what it felt like. But, my core remained fairly dry -- that raincoat I bought the night before I left did a really great job. Not sure what I am going to do about my wet shoes. I may have to break out the hairdryer.

All in all, we have had really great bright and sunny weather, so I am not going to complain if it rains. We have been super lucky so far, so it is what it is. :)

We have tomorrow and Friday morning in Edinburgh, Friday afternoon and Saturday in the South, and then on Sunday we are back in YVR! I hope the nice heat wave you guys are having holds out until we get home. :)

Hope y'all are well, and dry, and snug
xo
Elaan

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Orkney to Inverness to Blairgowrie to Edinburgh

Hello everyone,

So on Sunday in Orkney we went to see the Tomb of the Eagles and a Bronze-age house, and we also stopped at a famous Italian Chapel that was made completely out of garbage and found materials during WWII. Very neat. Then we stopped back in Kirkwall, and went shopping. I must say it's the first time on the trip I really wanted to buy something for myself -- so guess what I bought -- a necklace and earrings, and a cheese board. Yes, I said cheese board. It's not just any cheese board though, it has ancient viking runes etched into it! So that makes it an ultra-cool awesome cheese board.

Anyways, with those purchases I think I have officially run out of money. Any time I consider buying anything it is usually at the expense of a meal or two, haha. So I think my purchases will stop there -- I just don't have room in my bags or money for anything else! Although Christine thinks we could buy another bag to check at the airport... but my motivation for being here really isn't shopping, so that's okay.

Yesterday at the B&B we were staying at in Inverness, they offered haggis as part of the morning meal, so I tried it!! I figured it was a safe way to try it since there would be lots of other food, and it was all part of the package. So, haggis... hmmm. It wasn't bad really. It kinda tasted like ground beef and barley put together. It sure wasn't my favourite, me being not a very big meat-eater anyways, but it was fine. I didn't finish it all. So now I have had the whiskey AND the haggis. I wonder if there are any other Scottish traditions to have before I leave here?

After breakfast we went down to Loch Ness to go swimming. Except... that it was freezing ice-cold. We stood in the water up to our calves and I swear after about 30 seconds I couldn't feel my feet anymore. So, we didn't swim. But we did dip our toes in the water!

After Loch Ness we went to Dundee (not a very pretty city, but family history abounds there for Christine). We also went to the famous Glamis Castle, which was amazing, and headed to a lovely B&B for the night.

Oddly, we have seen 4 or 5 instances of fighter jets?? in the sky while we've been here. Seriously, it's something out of Top Gun. Strange to see them flying so low. And we have also seen many instances of mating cows. Related? Maybe so.

Anyways, I must be going because my time is running out but tonight we head to Edinburgh! It's going to be fabulous! We are home soon after that. Hope y'all are well...
xo
Elaan

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Orkney rocks

Helloooooo...

So today we did Orkney... and tomorrow we do more Orkney, before we leave Orkney. We love Orkney. Today, was beautiful. We couldn't ask for better weather.

There were three sites we visited today that were more than 5000 years old -- older than the pyramids! Wow. Names won't mean much to you, but the Ring of Brodgar, Skara Brae, Brough of Birsay, Standing Stones of Stenness and Maes Howe were awesome. I attached the links so you can have a look in case you are at all interested in that stuff. We also went to the Orkney Museum, Earl's Palace, Bishop's Palace and Wideford Hill. We find again and again that our cameras just can't do it justice here. You will have to come and see for yourselves -- we recommend it!

The Orkney accent is different and much stronger than the regular Scottish accent, which makes it difficult to understand some people -- I find myself doing a little more of the smiling-and-nodding schtick, although this could be problematic since today I think a Scottish man was trying to get me to take him home with me, and there I was with my smile & nod... oops.

Tomorrow we are going to the Tomb of Eagles, Orphir Church (no, I won't be worshipping this time), Stromness Museum, and maybe some others... but we have to get back on the ferry in the afternoon, to go back to the mainland. We are pretty disappointed, because we really liked it here. So far, Scottish isles have really impressed!

Also impressive are towel warming racks in the hotels and B&B's -- why don't we have those? They come in especially handy when you need to wash some clothing and it needs to dry quickly.

I have discovered that I really like rhubarb yogurt. And rhubarb jam. And I like that grilled tomatoes and mushrooms is standard breakfast fare here. I don't really like the bacon (it's thick slabs, more like back bacon) and the sausages always get delivered to me in varying shapes and sizes... I don't like that, makes me suspicious! Haha.

Cute story from today: we were driving along the country road (they are pretty much all country roads until we get back down to Edinburgh I think), and we see this huge crowd of big black cows huddled up at a fence. And there's a guy, a tourist with a camera, standing directly on the other side of the fence within about an arm's reach of the cows. Thing is, he's not taking photos -- he appears to be talking to them (or with them), quite animatedly. Funnier still, I kinda wanted to jump out of the car and join in the conversation. Just BE there, you know? :P Ya, so I might be crazy... but I feel a lot saner than I have been in a very long time. It heals your soul to be somewhere like this, it really does.

We stay at a different B&B in Inverness this time tomorrow. And they know we are coming late, so hopefully they won't be cranky. :)

We have heard the news about the sea-to-sky landslide and butchery on the bus to Winnipeg (very disturbing) -- hopefully there's more good news (and weather) in the works for you guys back home.

Hope y'all are well!
xo
Elaan

Friday, August 1, 2008

Skye to Inverness to Orkney

Hi everyone

We can hardly believe that it's August already! That means we come home in nine days... so much to pack in between now and then. Christine and I are actually really good travelling companions in that we seem to have the same disposition towards our activities; when I feel like eating, so does she, when she wants to get out of the city, I am in agreement, and so on. We have disagreed about precious little -- indeed, nothing really comes to mind! It's all good.

Some random observations:

The cool thing about driving around in Scotland is that all the signs are in Gaelic and in English, and sometimes you can see how they have just made up the English words to be as similar sounding to the original Gaelic ones... so you get some pretty funny place names. I really wanted to visit Tongue, but it just wasn't in the cards for today. ;) We did get to John o' Groats and Portnalong and Sligachen though.

And, as a few of you warned, there are roundabouts everywhere instead of stoplights, which is great -- there haven't really been any bottlenecks unless there was construction, although the traffic is much faster when there are two lanes rather than those treacherous one-laners. I don't much like those!

On the sides of the roads and beyond are sheep. A few times I caught myself thinking about the nice dog sitting there, and then realized that it was a sheep. Although they seem to gravitate away from human bodies, they are generally unphased by the huge motor vehicles hurtling down the road... sometimes they walk right down the middle, taking their sweet time. Christine calls those ones "kamikaze death-wishers"... and there are a few drivers like that here too.

I also really like how the outlets in the walls have switches, and you have to turn the switch on to get power, so that it conserves energy. Why don't we have those??

Midges suck, big time. They are tiny biting little bugs that get you. We hate them. They are everywhere. Smaller than moquitoes, and more insidious.

They offer English mustard and French mustard at the restaurants here. Ironically, it's the English mustard that looks like the regular yellow "French's" mustard I have back home in my fridge. French mustard is black. BLACK. Tastes like mustard, though, despite its look of tar. And no, I haven't had haggis yet.


Ok, so back to the travel update. I will try to be brief (hah!).

We drove from Skye and stayed at a B&B in Inverness with a mildly cranky lady who was mad that we were late checking in - she tried to lie and say that she had re-let our room but when we made to leave she suddenly found it to be empty. Hmmm. We didn't like Inverness much -- just a city with a mall, and it wasn't quaint or beautiful and there wasn't much there to see, or that we wanted to see.

Outside of Inverness, though, are some amazing sites. Like the Culloden Battlefield, which was the best visitor center and facility we have been to yet. Simply excellent. We also saw Cawdor Castle, where Macbeth is supposed to have been set for Shakespeare's play, and we went to Fort George but it was closed when we got there. We also saw Loch Ness (and Nessie, of course) and Urquhart Castle. Both were pretty good.

Today we drove up the east coast of Scotland and went to the most northern tip. We caught the ferry to Orkney, and we are here for 2 nights. We LOVE the place that we are staying at (not the least of which because they have fast & free internet), it's right by the water with amazing views and we are SO excited to be in Orkney. We have some very famous archaeological sites to visit tomorrow. On Sunday we go back to Inverness.

Today was the first day we got caught in the rain and wind... it was very hard to take good photos. Hopefully it's nice out tomorrow! I hope you guys are having great weather too!
xo
Elaan