Scottish field trips?!?

Today while wandering through Edinburgh, we decided to stop into The Whisky Experience store. You can also take tours here and even ride in a barrel. Its of course quite pricey and we have not been through on the tour, but the store is interesting.
We got there and there were TWO separate groups of school children going through the store. Now the store does have some cookies and candy, but not much. Its really just lots of different whiskies.
I can never remember EVER going on a field trip like that in school.

Mike's Mom visit

I have, yet again, been slightly behind in reporting all our adventures. Mike's mom was here for about 7 days and left last Friday morning. It was great to see her after all these months. Here are some highlights of her trip... She flew in on Friday the 18th, since I was working, Mike took her out to see some of the city. George Square is really close to our apartment and is spectacular. Especially in the Spring time with all the flowers and activity warmer weather brings. Mike took her on the tour of the City Chambers, which is amazing. The exterior of this building is amazing, but then you walk inside and see all the mosaics, marble staircases, woodwork, etc. Nice to know my council tax payments are helping to maintain such a lavish building... Either way, the goal of tiring her out succeeded. We found it helps with jet lag and becoming accustomed to the time difference. That and as it was my last day of work, all my work friends were having a night out for me and another girl who was leaving as well. We had pints to consume! Didn't really matter to Lee... especially since Mike tired her out so much that she was falling asleep eating dinner. :)
On Saturday we were going to go see the Scottish Piping Competitions down in Dumbarton (a suburb of Glasgow) but it was raining horizontally, so we ditched those plans for indoor endeavors. We went over to the West End to see Glasgow University and the Kelvingrove Art Museum. We stopped at a popular restaurant for lunch called the Ubiquitous Chip in Ashton Lane (a small street filled with restaurants and bars). It was alright, but not my favorite Scottish restaurant by far. Then on to Glasgow University for a quick walk through the wonderful courtyard. It still reminds me of Hogwarts from Harry Potter.

At Kelvingrove right now they are doing an informative series on the Highlands life and culture. So on Saturday we were able to hear a harpist and a singer. It was really lovely and reminded me of all the different musicians from the Celtic Connections earlier in the year. The Kelvingrove has always been one of my favorite places in Glasgow. The art is in a beautiful old building and there always seems to be something new to see. It was slightly sad walking through the rooms knowing it was the last time I would see it in quite some time...

Sunday Lee tried her hand at driving a manual transmition on the opposite side of the road. Mike and I had been wanting to visit the Isle of Arran, which is supposed to be a miniature of Scotland, for quite some time now. Since Lee was only going to be here for a short while, and wanted to see standing stones, we decided to check it out with her. Unfortunately the only automatic cars that they had was a 2 seater Smart car. Not very big at all and no way 3 people could fit. But Lee was up to the challenge, so we went. It was a beautiful day out and the island is lovely. The stones above are in Machrie Moor. There are quite a few of them there, but we only saw these and another stone circle near the start of the walk. We were also able to stop in the distillery while we were there. We couldn't take a tour as it was too late and we needed to get the car back and make the ferry. We did try the Isle of Arran whisky at a wonderful pub called 'The Pot Still.' Even I liked it. It was nice a sweet, not peaty like the isle whiskies. Lee bought a sampler pack for Joe (Mike's dad), so hopefully he will like them.
We rented a car so we could tour around for a few days, unfortunately the car that was supposed to show up at 10am didn't arrive until noon. Car company's response: our bad. Thankfully we had a small car tour we could do for the day, so as soon as the car came we jumped in and headed for the Borders. We were able to see three different abbeys - Melrose, Jedburgh, and Dryburgh- , and one - Kelso- on the outside as it had closed. The three abbeys that we did see were wonderful. All in ruins, of course, but for being as old as they were, they had fared pretty well. We also stopped off at a couple of wonderful view points of the borders. One Mike and I climbed up a big hill in the middle of a sheep pasture. The view was great, but the sheep were vile. We were walking along, and started hearing a clinking noise... Yup, it was poop that had dried in the sheep's wool and made butt rattles. So gross.

On the way home, we got slightly turned around and hit the English Border. Opps... but at least Lee got to have her picture taken at the border!

On Tuesday we headed up to the Highlands. Most tourists cannot pass up a trip to Loch Ness when they visit Scotland. Lee was no different. The drive up to Loch Ness is not that far, but its long. There are not that many major highways in Scotland, and certainly none where we were going in the Highlands. The roads wound A LOT through valleys, next to lochs, and were very narrow. It makes for slow going. But there are beautiful stops along the way to Loch Ness. The lochs and mountains along the way are absolutely beautiful, and at one of these viewpoints we even saw a reindeer! How cool is that? I got pictures to show all my younger cousins, neighbors, etc. Really, just to anyone who will look. :) The picture above is from Glen Coe, one of my favorite stops along the way to Loch Ness. Its the sight of a horrid massacre and always feels sad and creepy. And the weather there has always been crap every time we go through it. Odd.

Unfortunately, we did not see Nessie this time at Urquhart Castle. The water was too choppy. You had to use even more imagination powers than last time we were up there. I thought I saw her a couple of times, but I was the only one. Then it was back down to Glasgow. We were able to drive through the Cairngorm National Park for a bit on the way back down to Glasgow, which was wonderful. We had not seen that part of Scotland yet, so it was nice to see something new. We tried to hit the Edradour Distillery in Pitlochery, but it was closed by the time we got there. My parent's neighbor, Jill, had recommended it to us from her travels in Scotland, but we'll just have to settle for trying the whisky. It was a slight disappointment, but it gives us something to do for next time! The town was very charming though and we walked down to the salmon fish ladder (no fish jumping though - but lots of fishermen) and had dinner down by the river in a wonderful little place.

Wednesday was another Borders day. We had to drive quite a bit to get down to where we wanted to be, but it was worth it. Lee reads a lot of romance novels, and apparently Gretna Green is in quite a few of them. It was a big place to elope so that family members could not stop the weddings. So Blacksmiths married runaway couples way back when in Gretna Green. We started looking at routes there, and when she found out Gretna Green would be so close, we had to make a trip over. It was interesting... nothing Mike and I would have chosen on our own, but it was definitely educational!

Then it was on to see 6 different castles - Lochmaben, Caerlaverock, Threave (pictured above), MacLellan, Cardoness, and Carsluith. It was a lot, but they were all close to each other so once we got down there, it was easy to see them all. And each one was very different from the rest. Lochmaben was incredibly ruined, but very pretty. We had to drive down a very small dirt track to get there, but its on a loch and has wonderful views. Threave was out on an island in a river and we had to take a boat out to it! It was a lot of fun. Caerlaverock was wonderful. The stonework was still very visible, as was the river harbor, and its situation was lovely.

After all those castles, we stopped at a very OLD burial tomb called Cairn Holy with standing stones outside of it. Lee had not been able to touch the stones in Machrie Moor on Arran, so she really wanted to see some more so that she could touch them. Our only other option for the day was a couple of standing stones out in a field. And it had been raining all week, and Lee's shoes leaked slightly. We were really glad that we found those stones! It meant for a much more comfortable ride home for her! The stones were wonderful and so was the burial tomb.

Her last full day here was spent packing and then talking a tour bus around Glasgow. Mike and I had seen most of what was on the tour, but it was a great way for Lee to see Glasgow, and it allowed us a last look at quite a bit of the city that has been home for the last 8 months. It was sad to see it and have to say goodbye to places that I have seen nearly everyday for months and months. I love this city and have loved living here. Like I said before, if it wasn't for the large amount of family members that I have left behind, I would have no problems living here permanently. But, I have missed you all greatly and cannot wait to see everyone again. Web cams are nice, but not the same.

After the city tour, we went out for one final meal at Cafe Source, which has become our favorite Scottish restaurant. The food there is spectacular and the Orkney Fudge Cheesecake is to DIE FOR. Really. Its that good. And the employees incredibly friendly, the building beautiful AND the prices reasonable. I will miss that place greatly as well as the rest of Glasgow.

Orkney, Day 5

We decided to try the Stacks of Yenasby again this morning. Orkney is not that big, so the drive over there was short anyway. What a great call. The water was much calmer and we were not blown away as soon as we stepped from the car. Always a plus. The views from the cliffs were absolutely breathtaking, so we were both really glad that we decided to try the walk again. We were even able to see The Old Man of Hoy on the Isle of Hoy. If we had the car a little longer, we would have loved to walk along the cliffs longer, but the car needed to be back early afternoon-ish and we still had more stops in the day. These cliffs are definitely a must see for anyone visiting Orkney though.

We then traveled over to Orphir to see Earl's Bu and St. Nicholas Church. All that's left of Earl's Bu is the foundation of the drinking hall. Quite interesting that that's all that remains... The Church was interesting too (seen on the right). Again, not a lot left of it, but its the only round church thought to have been built in Scotland. It was sadly destroyed to make a new church, that was again destroyed. At least a little bit is left! We then took a drive along Scapa Flow, made famous by World War II. The area is beautiful, and thankfully we drove it on a clear day and were actually able to see out into the bay.

We then rushed over to Deerness before we had to turn the car in. Its a bit of a hike out to this old Stone Age settlement, but its a beautiful hike and the settlement is a great viewpoint. At one point in time there was a natural land bridge out to the village, but over the last 5,000 years it has been weathered away. Go figure. Now there is a set of stairs down the side of the cliffs, and then back up. The walk up and down is beautiful and there is a rope provided to hold on to - there is nothing to stop you from falling over the side of the cliffs. The stairs down the cliffs are right next to the stairs the villagers used thousands of years ago to get to the water too. Very neat. And all that was before 1pm...

After dropping off the car, we still had 6 hours before the ferry arrived and no hostel room. We made reservations for dinner, checked out the movie theatre - there is only one screen and Becoming Jane was playing that night. Not Mike's first pick, but the bowling alley had closed the week before and we needed something to do.

We poked through town for a few hours before dinner, which is no simple feat since its a VERY small town. But the church there is incredibly beautiful, so we spent quite a bit of time there playing with the new camera and really looking it over.

Then it was on to dinner. We ate at the Ayre Hotel and it was wonderful. Mike had some sort of seafood medley that he loved. I ate the steak and ale pie with a pile of fries. It never ceases to amaze me... I have eaten more meat in the three years I have been with Mike than I EVER ate before hand. My parents spent years fighting with me to eat meat. But unless it was a meatloaf or hot dog, I was not interested in it. I can remember sitting at the table long after everyone else had left chewing the same damn piece of meat. And now I choose to eat it... Who would have thought?

Orkney, Day 4

We woke up this morning to winds and rain. Wonderful. But we were not going to spend the day at the hostel, so we bundled up, got out the rain pants (or water-proof trousers over here) and coats, and headed out for the day. We were going to the island of Rousay and had to be at the ferry by 10:45am. We some extra time - we got up early... again - so we stopped by Culwean Hill. At the top of the hill there is another cairn, and this one just has a box with a flashlight in it and you guide yourself through the VERY small corridor into the main chamber. I wasn't so excited about the small corridor, but I didn't want Mike to see something that I hadn't, so I was willing. We climbed up to the top, in the driving winds, and found out that the flashlight was not working. And its REALLY dark in there. No way I was going into some small, very dark hole in the ground. At least the views from the top were nice.
We drove to the town of Tingwall, which consists of the ferry dock and a house, to await our venture to Rousay. We overestimated our time and got there about 20 minutes too early, but we didn't want the boat to leave. Its the only one that leaves in the morning on a Sunday. We may have actually gotten on the ferry if we had not had the wonderful chance to see the waves slowly becoming larger. Then we saw some sort of white mass coming near and near to the dock... it was our boat. You could not see the big ferry because the waves were SO bad that they were encompassing the thing. Non-drowsy Dramamine knocks me out for hours, and I knew that I would be violently sick all day if I went on that boat. Even Mike, who has a stomach of steel, was doubtful of riding on the ferry. That was all it took for me to reverse and not look back. Above is proof that I was NOT a wuss. Later in the day we drove over to the cliffs of Yesnaby and the waves were coming over the cliffs. I cannot remember how tall they are, but they are quite high!
To continue with the Stone Age theme of yesterday, we decided to visit the Broch of Gurness. Its yet another village, but this one is built around a central defense building with outer buildings around it. And since the weather was so crappy, we again had it all to ourselves. Even the guy that was running the ticket booth stayed well inside. We may not have seen Puffins yesterday, but as we were walking up to enter the village, we saw a seal playing in the waves. We have no clue if it was a Gray Seal or a Common Seal, but the point is, we saw one. Not like the silly Puffins. The broch was really interesting, and the exhibit in the visitor center was really interesting. You even got to grind wheat into flour! And then in the broch, we saw the original flour grinder that was used all those years ago. Very cool place. We just stayed away from the edge since it was a slight drop off into the sea. There was no way I was getting blown out into that cold water. But the wind was SO strong that it stopped both Mike and I in our tracks. Then it started raining, and felt like little pelts hitting us. As we were leaving, another couple drove up. They took one look at us struggling to get the doors to the car open and launch ourselves in, and drove away. While we are ever willing for the weather to ruin our vacation, we decided to stay inland for the rest of the day.
We had a wonderful lunch at Julia's cafe in Stromness. The second biggest city in Orkney. It got us well out of the winds and rain that were battering us that morning. The food was wonderful, and the weather crap. We tried to do a few different things, but the driving winds were a real problem.
Surprisingly enough, this picture was taken inland... looks totally calm. Not surprisingly enough, we stayed inland the rest of the day.

Orkney, Day 3

The first stop of the day was to the Stones of Stenness. This is an amazing place. Its, sadly, not very complete, but the stones that are there are huge. They tower over Mike and he is tall (well... at least he is tall to me). Historic Scotland has placed cements markers where they believe the missing stones were placed, which is very helpful when trying to imagine what this wonderful place once looked like. This stone circle is amazing now, I can only imagine how wonderful it once was.
There is a small Stone Age village a stones throw away from here. If I could have lived in the Stone Age, that's where I would have liked to have my house. Stones of Stenness in one direction, the Ring of Brogar in another, surrounded by lochs and beautiful scenery...

The next stop of the day was to the Ring of Brogar. This circle is quite large, so obviously has more stones. But where at Stenness some of the stones are actually missing, most of the stone bases are still here. Some of the Stenness stones are missing due to new constructions being built. In many places (Roman Forum, old churches, here, etc.), when the building was no longer in use, people took the stones from there to build new things since it was easier than going to the quarry. The beginnings of recycling I suppose. Sucks for the rest of us who would like to see the place as it once was, but at least we get to see something!

Since we were out fairly early, we had these stone circles all to ourselves. It was wonderful... we could explore the circle, stones, and more. This circle also has lots of other stuff. It is imagined that at least one of the hills is a burial tomb. Maybe the religiosity of the Ring of Brogar kept the stones from being recycled...
To continue on with the Stone Age theme, our next stop was Skara Brae, one of the many Stone Age villages on Orkney, but the best example here. It was amazing, and all I could think of the whole time we were there is The Flintstones. The visitors center at this ancient monument is wonderful. It tells you all about what is known and what is supposed about the people of the village, has wonderful artifacts, and great interactive displays. No wonder it has won awards. Then you start walking on the path to the village, and step into a recreation of one of the house and the covered walkways that would have led you to the house. Very neat. Then all along the path, there are stone signs commemorating big moments in history to give you an idea of just how old this village is. It is incredible that all 3 of the sites we saw this morning were around 5000 years old. And they are still here today! Not all intact, but after 5000 years that's to be expected.

We decided to take a break from the Stone Age theme of the morning to take a walk looking for Puffins. The Puffins had recently been sighted on the mainland off Marwick Head. So, we headed to the cliffs and started walking. I was determined to see a Puffin - I wanted the hat pin. Unfortunately, the Puffins did not want to cooperate AT ALL. We saw lots of birds, but none of them Puffins. The one bird I really, really wanted to see... Maybe next time... At least the walk was lovely and the sun was shining.

Now back to Stone Age times... Maeshowe is a wonderful little chambered cairn. You have to book a tour time before you go though since the actual chamber is so small. The Tomb of the Eagles was smaller, but it is a ways out of the main area, this was right smack in the middle of it all. We were told by the nice (and very informative) tour guide that this is the best example that they have of this type of Stone Age construction. And it was amazing how it was constructed. The door lines up with the winter solstice and lights up the chamber. There are web cams set up in the tomb so that you can see it. This cairn also has Viking graffiti! And you can clearly see it all over the stonework inside. It was really interesting to see all the runes and pictures, and hear all about these old messages.

The final stop of the day was to the Brough of Birsay. (Another spot where Puffins sightings are likely... we didn't see them there either.) You can only get here when the tide is out, or by boat. A walkway is provided for anyone wishing to make the walk out to the little island, which I suppose is quite nice, but I would have LOVED to play on the rocks too. I think Mike liked that the walkway was there, so that I couldn't play in the rocks. That way I didn't accidentally maim myself by slipping and we didn't end up with a suitcase full of rocks. I still peered into the tide pools though. So, we started walking out to this old settlement, on the wonderful walkway provided for us. In theory its great, in reality its a slimy slippery path of cement. We both nearly broke ourselves before we realized just how slippery the path was. After our slow walk out to the island, we were able to explore the settlement. This one still had the foundation of the church present, but most of the old houses were just slumps in the ground now. It was quite interesting to see, especially after our travels in England. A friend of ours took us to an old settlement in the National Park and kept pointing to hallows in the ground and talking about houses, etc. At that point I could not imagine how he would know that that may have been some one's house. Now it all makes sense.

More Adventures...

So... Mike's mom arrives tomorrow and we wanted to pre-cook dinner since its rather time consuming. But we didn't have onions. Then the landlords called and said they want to start showing the apartment... we need small amounts of paint to touch up some tape that won't come un-taped to the walls. When we got here, we accidentally bought double sided tape at the store, but it worked well for what we wanted it for. Given that it was cheap tape, it has stuck to the walls incredibly well. We tried washing it off and the paint washed off, not the tape. We just cannot seem to match the paint, so we needed to try another color.
After dinner we hopped on the bus and in no time were in and out of the grocery store and waiting for the bus. Now here is where the adventure starts. Mom may want to stop reading, as it involves talking to strangers. Her number 1 no-no. She still tries to get me to practice "YOU ARE NOT MY MOMMY! YOU ARE NOT MY DADDY!" whenever I leave the country... or go on any vacation for that matter. Anyway -- so we are sitting there waiting for the bus. Its getting slightly dark and neither of us want to walk through the part of town we would need to walk through to get back to our apartment at this time of day. Two kids come up looking for change for a 5... we don't have it, but the guy next to us does. They kids stay, start talking to us. What to know what we think a NED is. Mike actually answers the boys... they think his answer of non-educated delinquent is funny. Apparently this is not what they think a NED is, but they never did answer us when we asked, just pointed out all the expensive name brands they were wearing. (Probably "fell" off a truck.) They were actually pretty nice, and just wanted to know what we thought of Glasgow, Scotland, and the differences between the USA and here. But we have heard stories of NEDs being really nice, kicking the crap out of you, and then handing you your glasses as you are searching around for them and apologizing. All while not stealing a thing. Then these boys got on the same bus as us... I was never so glad that neither of us had our wedding bands on in my life. But again, they were incredibly nice. Wanted to know about some rumor they heard about kids in the US getting guns at 13 (although it's more than likely not a rumor) and chatted us up about slang and how we get on with the accent over here. When we go to the bus station, they shook our hands, and headed out for their night of debauchery - one of the guys had just gotten out of jail, so they were celebrating.

Orkney, Day 2

Orkney is an very small island, but its main attractions are out in the middle of no where. We knew that we wanted to rent a car once we got there, and the lady that owned the hostel we stayed in (the Peddie Hostel - a great place to stay) had told us it was cheap and we would have no problem just renting one once we got there. What she didn't take into consideration was that the Monday was a national holiday and there was a rugby competition going on that weekend. As we started calling around, our frustration levels started rising as no one had anything to rent to us. One company had a manual transmission car (the most popular here) but it has been years since I've driven one and at best I am a beginner. Our final attempt before just taking the manual car produced great results though. The had one car available and it was an automatic! WOO HOO! I really thought that we would be walking everywhere and not seeing a lot of Orkney. No we just had to wait for the car to be available for the day, so we explored Kirkwall. The Cathedral of St Magnus there is wonderful. The stained glass windows are amazing, and Mike finally figured out how to take great shots of them with the new camera. It is amazingly old with lots of memorials on the walls, and a wonderful area created by children in the late 1980's during a pilgrimage. The stone work on the inside and out is incredible as well. Needless to say, I highly recommend stopping by if ever you are in Orkney.

This is the Bishop's Palace. You get entrance to the Earl's Palace along with this place. Both are incredibly old residents of at one time the Bishop, and then eventually the Earl of the area took over the Bishop's residence and made the newer Earl's Palace. It was really interesting to see. There were petrified wood chunks in the Bishop's Palace, but it was not as well intact. The Earl's Palace still had quite a bit of the original structure, but it was fun to see stairs to nothingness, floating fireplaces, etc. and imagine the opulence of once upon a time.

As soon as we got the car, we headed the south of South Ronaldsay island and to the Tomb of the Eagles. Its a little privately owned burial tomb that is run by two sisters. Their father found the tomb after a big storm and they are incredibly knowledgeable about the tomb, the people, and the artifacts that were found at the site. They give a great hour long lecture before they let you out to walk to the tomb. You pull yourself along the tunnel into the tomb. Its great fun.

This was on our way back into the mainland. Its called the Italian Chapel and was built by the Italian POWs that lived on the island during World War II. It was made by connecting two of the army issued barracks and a TON of dedication. The inside is breathtaking and the outside is wonderful. One of the men even stayed behind to finish this church after they were released. Amazing.

(Mike has been uploading pictures like mad. All 430 pictures can be seen on flickr.)

Orkney, Day 1

I am taking a small break from my search for a "real job" to write a string of posts that I have been putting off...

As I said before, this vacation had a horrid start. The camera was stolen, the crappy 35mm film camera was in the apartment - a 3 hour journey away - and we were scheduled to be on the ferry to Orkney in a few hours. We had no idea where anything in Aberdeen was either and Tourist Information was closed for lunch. Great.
Thankfully we found a Jessops and they were having a sale. We got the camera, camera bag, and 2GB memory card all for the original price of the other camera (and it was 3 years old.) Would have been nicer if we could pay for it in the States where everything is cheaper, but such is life. And this camera kicks the old camera's ass. So, we have pretty much gotten over the fact that some jackass stole our old camera. I hope it brings him/her nothing but bad luck though. At least we didn't loose any of our pictures... and there is nothing incriminating on the pictures that were left on the memory cards stolen with the camera.
After lunch, we headed out to see the "Granite City." We soon came to understand why its called the Granite City. Everything is made out of gray granite. Not even pretty granite with flecks of color... just gray. At least it was sunny out, when we returned from Orkney it was a cloudy, dreary day and the gray buildings were just depressing. But we have decided never to return to Aberdeen anyway. The camera was taken on our way there, and then when we were waiting for the bus back to Glasgow, a bird took a humongous poo all over our bag (and a bit on Mike's head, and three other ladies). This bird must have been massive OR had a massive bowel obstruction. It was disgusting. I will take these as signs that God clearly does not want us to ever visit that city again.
There are a few beautiful churches in Aberdeen, the best one is a ways outside the city centre, so we were not able to see it. We tried to see St Andrews Cathedral (the mother church to the USA Episcopal Church), but we were in Aberdeen on an election day and this church was being used as a ballot site. We walked in and the people running the check-in table stared at us, started whispering to each other and laughing. Nice. Thanks to those people. When you visit my country, we'll be sure to be as nice and welcoming. So, we left that one. It was really interesting though. The ceiling was really intricately decorated with various coat of arms of the American families and Aberdeenshire Jacobite families.

The next stop we made was to Provost Skene's House. This was really neat. They took the old Provost's house and redecorated each room around a period in time. There were two dining halls of various eras, bedrooms, etc. Most of them were 17th and 18th century (so Mike tells me) but there was one more modern room. Here there was an AMAZING room called 'The Painted Gallery.' When they were re-modeling they started peeling back plaster covers and found beautiful paintings. Most of the panels were able to be saved, thank goodness.


This is the Kirk of St Nicholas. Well worth the visit. We were greeted by a wonderful lady who told us all about the church - its history, the excavations, a pretty chapel donated to them, how to see the rest of the church, etc. The excavations were in the older part of the church, and it was really ripped apart. But the nice lady told us all about that and how fun it was to work there with it all going on. They have pulled out lots of stuff there. You are able to see down into the work being done too; sadly, there was no work being done that day. The rest of the church was very beautiful and we would have loved to poke around more, but it was just about time to head to the ferry. We definitely did not want to be left behind!
There were lots of musicians on the ferry for some reason. The folk music festival on Orkney doesn't start until the 24th, but maybe they were getting there in plenty of time. They could have been going up to Shetland as well. Who knows... but either way, we had a wonderful time listening to all the groups playing. This was the largest gathering of musicians. They were set up in the bar area and played for most of the trip to Orkney (about 7 hours.) I had taken a motion sickness pill, so I sadly could not enjoy it. And Mike said there were people dancing too... the price I pay for not puking.

Ah... the NEDS

An amazing thing happened. Someone other than Mom, Becky and Steve read this blog. Someone I have never met before, and not just so that they could tell me I was an idiot, read this page. Besides for that one person, and this new person, it has only happened once before. And that was just because the person Googled themselves. So, naturally, I was amazed that I could write anything that someone other than one of my family members would read. ANYWAY, this person gave me a link to a hilarious audio clip of the Neds that populate our area. (Non Educated Delinquent). The clip is hilarious and further evidence of why at times we nod and smile when people talk to us. Although we rarely talk to the Neds, they do hang out in the park in front of our apartment on nice days, drinking their brain cells away, more than likely smoking some illegal substance, and peeing all over the benches. Its classy. Inevitably the Police are called, and last time one was belligerent enough to be carted away... at least they provide entertainment.
Either way, here is the clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh4-r2TZdXM We could even decipher parts of it! (Just a forewarning -- do not listen to it if you are going to try to understand it and can be easily offended. Oh... and over here, 'fanny' is not another word for behind. Lets just say its not a nice word.)

Back from Orkney

Well, we are back from our five day trip to Orkney. It was absolutely beautiful and we only had one crappy day. The winds were so strong, small drops of rain felt like pelts hitting us. Not wonderful, but it was better than massive rain and thunder. We just stayed away from cliffs. I will post on all of that later.
Now we have gone all over - Spain, Dublin, Rome, London, England, and numerous cities in Scotland - and never had any problems with theft. We drive three hours north to Aberdeen, and the camera gets stolen. I was asleep most of the time from the affects of Dramamine, and Mike was enthralled with a book. We had thrown all of our stuff at our feet in our mad run onto the bus. When we got off the bus, it wasn't there. F*^$in people. We searched the bus, checked with lost property on the off shot that someone may have turned it in, but with no luck (neither Thursday nor today.) While it was a great camera to start with, the thing was three years old and on its last leg. The irritating part is we just bought a new 2GB memory card for it and a tripod. At least both of them together cost less than $40.
So after frantically searching to no avail, we brainstormed options. (1) Go on vacation with no camera and just take "mental pictures" of Stone Age relics. (2) Buy disposable cameras and pay to have to film developed. (3) Buy a regular camera, buy film, and then pay to develop the film. Or (4) buy an inexpensive digital camera and memory card. In our 4 1/2 days in Rome, we took about 650 pictures. We went out to buy a new digital camera. We got a spectacular camera and another 2 GB memory card, AND it was all on sale! After a day of feeling very guilty - and stupid - (I was technically the last to touch the camera), we both got over it since our new camera is so spectacular. Like I said, the old one was three years old, and buttons were starting to stall at times. We would have had to replace it anyways, we were just hoping to pay for it in the States, where it would have been that much cheaper.
Now the only thing to feel guitly about is the fact that the old camera was a Christmas gift of Mike's... opps...

Pants

Apparently "pants" here means "underpants." Just found this out last week too.

No wonder the salesman in the outdoor gear shop gave us such a weird look when we came in looking for "rain pants." His response, "... ohh... you mean water-proof trousers?"

And we thought that was hilarious!! I can only imagine what he was thinking of our water-proof panties!!

Falkirk Wheel and Glasgow

26 March 2007

We didn't have to return the car until noon, and since they gave us the car on near empty, we of course had to return the car with just as little gas, if not less. So, we headed over to Falkirk to see the Falkirk Wheel. Its this amazing system for a loch between two canals. The arms can each carry so much weight and it lifts the boat from one canal to the next. You can go on a boat ride on the Wheel, but we got there before they were really starting them. We got there early enough to see them testing it though, and the people that arrived after us had to wait until people started going on boat trips in it.

For the rest of the day we visited a pub, The State, so we could all have more real-ales. We have hooked Mom and Dad on them, and then sent them home to the land of no real-ales. Maybe they'll come back to visit... :) We did some souviner shopping, had tea at The Willowtree, which was quite nice, and toured through the City Chambers. The tour was absolutely wonderful. This building was built ages ago, but is incredible still. Lots of marble and lots of money put into it. Its nice to know my city council taxes go for something. We did get the nice tour guide to give Mike and Dad hat pins.

The Highlands

23-25 March 2007

We were able to do SO much in three days, it was amazing. I have uploaded the pictures onto Flickr. We saw lots of lochs, the Glenfinnan train viaduct from the Harry Potter movies, castles, lots of mountains, lots of ruins, Isle of Skye, stone circles, standing stones, symbol stones, and more. We saw hawks, sheep, Highland cows, and STAGS! Dad was so incredibly excited to see the STAG! I almost drove off the road when he yelled WOW!! LOOK AT THE STAG!! Goes to show you can excude the enthusiasm of a 5 year old at any age. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Mom could have seen a bagpipper in a full kilt walking out of the mist of the moor while playing something haunting. She was very specific about this, and needless to say, it never happened.

Parks and Chapels

22 March 2007



Mike had class this morning, so Mom, Dad, and I headed over to Pollock Country Park. The park is easy to get to and is a great city escape. I had been to the park in November, so it was wonderful to be able to walk through it now when everything is in bloom and green. On the left is Mom and Dad on a really neat park bench. I love the otter carving.

The Pollock House was thankfully free still. Come April 1st it will be £8 to get into and will stay that way until November. Now that we have gone through it, I am glad I will not have to pay the rather steep entrance fee. The house was great and beautifully decorated, but not really worth the £8. The outside is gorgeous though. They were just starting to plant the flowers for all the gardens. I would love to go back mid-May to see everything in bloom.
Then we headed to the wonderfully eclectic Burrell Collection. I not only love the building (huge glass windows looking into the woods and rest of the park), but the collection itself is amazing. Anything you could think of that may be classified as art is here. Old stained glass windows from Churches, wall, doorways, window frames, spoons, vases, tapestries, entire rooms, furniture, etc. are all here. And barely half of the entire collection is on display. It is absolutely amazing.

Then I got to try my hand at driving on the wrong side of the road. On the highway. At least then I couldn't accidentally move into oncoming traffic. We went down to Roslin to see the chapel made even more famous for being in Dan Brown's book and then the movie, The Da Vinci Code. Its out in the middle of no where in this beautiful valley. Unfortunately the chapel was packed with people. Since its new found popularity, tour companies pack buses full of people and cart them down there. We tried to explore and stay away from all of them, but it was rather difficult. This is just one of the many pictures I took of the interior of the chapel. All the detail work was absolutely amazing.



The roof has to be redone on the chapel. At one point in time, in order to restore and preserve the ceiling, Historic Scotland put a coating on the ceiling and walls. Unfortunately this coating did not allow for any moisture to leave the walls. SO... when it rained the moisture just stayed and therefore everything was green. According to one of the workers there, it was so bad that they used to marvel at the detail work of the sculptures by comparing the carved ferns to the actual ferns growing out of the walls. While they are gathering funds and doing repair work, there is a massive umbrella-like covering on the chapel and scaffolding that you can climb up and walk around the top exterior of the chapel. It might have been disappointing at first to walk up to all the scaffolding, but it was great to be able to see all the stone work that closely. And the view of the valley was great!


Then we walked down into part of the valley to examine the castle ruins. This was one part of the ruins, and the biggest section. There was not a whole lot left, but the walk was great. It would have been nice to do more of the path, but there were signs all over the car park saying that they would lock the rental car in at 5pm. Granted the village is small, but I really didn't want to invest the time walking all over it looking for someone to unlock the gate.

Near Glasgow is a city called New Lanark. This part of the city is a recreation of a milling village. You can go through a factory, mill, tenements, etc. We got there too late in the day for it to be open, but we were there to see the Falls of the Clyde. Mike and I had read that we would be able to walk less than a 1/2 mile and see at least two of them. Not so, and the path was quite uphill and as it was becoming dusk, we decided to just see the falls that were easily within reach of this little village. Being stuck in the woods after dark with no flashlight did not sound appealing.

Glasgow Green and our 'Surprise' Night

I have obviously delayed in posting tales of mom and dad's trip over here. (1) Because, again, Mike was using the computer for REAL work, and (2) I had my first real bout of homesickness sense coming here. I have been the one saying how much I would love to move here, yet with the departure of mama and dad, I could not stand being so far away anymore. So for a couple days I wallowed in homesickness, and then got over it. There's too much still to see here, and its not forever. We'll be home in 4 months. Saying that... here is the first installment in our tales.


The first day that they were here, Mike took them to Glasgow Cathedral where one of the Rectors took them on a personalized tour of the Cathedral. You have no idea how jealous I am that I had to work. Not only did Mike get only child time, but they also got a great tour of the church. They also got to venture through the Necropolis and see a lot of the beautiful old monuments.

The next day mom, dad, and I wandered down to Glasgow Green and the People's Palace. Mike had to do some schoolwork, so it was MY turn for only child time. Not going to lie, I LOVE only child time. We were hoping to stop at the Police Museum, but as it was not yet Easter, it was closed. The Park Rangers were starting to plant all the flowers in Glasgow Green, and its always a pretty park anyway. Its right along the banks of the River Clyde, which is a dirty river once it hits Glasgow, but its still picturesque. I had not been in the Winter Gardens yet as last time we were there, a wedding was about to take place and they were trying to take pre-wedding pictures. The Winter Gardens cannot compare to the Botanic Gardens in the West End (nor Meijer Gardens), but they are still nice. This photo is of two of the three wire sculptures depicting the different parts of the Glasgow's Crest: the bird, tree, fish, ring and bell. The rest of the People's Palace was really quite interesting. Its a museum telling the social history of the city. You get to learn about the different industries, the tenement houses, fairs, businesses, etc.


We had lunch at a West Brewing Company. Mike has been seeing signs for it over the past few months, and has been dying to go. It was really great. I felt a little under dressed in my jeans and fleece, but the prices were reasonable, and the food and service was great. Its right next to Templeton's Carpet Factory. This picture was taken right outside the gates for the restaurant, with the factory in the background.




We took our time walking back to our apartment as we went through the older, more ornate, Merchant City on our way back. The buildings are spectacularly made and everything seems to be so ornate. Its one of the many parts about this city I will miss when we return to Michigan. On our wanderings, we stumbled across a park/old graveyard behind the Ramshorn Theatre. It was really beautiful and the gravestones seemed so old. Some of the lettering was so worn that the only way to read the writing on them was to follow the path of the moss.

After that, it was time to head back to the apartment and get ready for the surprise evening we had planned. Mom and Dad knew that we were taking them out to an authentic Scottish restaurant for dinner at Cafe Source, but after that it was a mystery. We had a spectacular meal, and everyone got to try haggis. I am still surprised that I like something made of organs I would never normally touched and all cooked in a sheep's stomach, but I do. And its a taste you just cannot describe, nothing else tastes like it. If you're in Scotland, its a must try event. Dad and I tried very traditionally Scottish stovies, while mom and Mike got lamb and fish. Surprisingly the lamb had lemon on it and not the fish. Thankgoodness we asked, or the trip could have been a disaster!

Then we were on the the "surprise" of the night. Months ago Mike and I had read about Ceilidh dance lessons at St Andrews in the Square. It is a beautiful venue, and it sounded like a blast. Mike knew mom would love it, so we made it a big secret. I must say, neither of us knew how it would go since all of us had NO experience with traditional Scottish dancing. It was a BLAST. It was two hours of exercise and it was cheaper than a movie or dinner out, and just as fun. Even my husband who HATES to dance, had fun. We might even go back another day.


After all the hard work, and given the fact that they happily danced with us, Dad and Mike felt the need for a beer. We brought them to a great Irish themed pub where they were able to try the new Guinness Red. We all agreed that the regular Guinness was much better. There might be a reason its only in the UK for the moment. We have a friend who lives in Dublin and even he has not seen it yet.

Bragging

Mike had been asked to read a paper of his for a series at Plymouth University. He read a modified version of his thesis, and it went wonderfully. He HATES public speaking, but if he wants to go on with a PhD in history, he has to read papers at these kinds of events.

Either way, there were about 20 people there to listen to his paper, he was given lots of great research ideas, AND this flyer. :)

MP3 Players and other technology

I have recently been taking the MP3 player with me on my walk to work. I had forgotten about it for months, but just this week remembered that we DO have it and it is not being used at all. I love listening to music while I walk to and from work. The only hitch is that its all music I like, so I want to hum and sing along with it. I have no idea how people walk around listening to music of their choice without singing, dancing, or showing any emotion. I try, but then a song I REALLY like will start, and there I am smiling like an idiot and tapping my hands against my purse starting to hum along to the music. (I think I have caught myself before people hear...)
I think anyone with an MP3 player should walk around like the people in the I-Pod commercials. I think the world would be a much more interesting and fun loving place. Unless of course their music of choice mad them angry and want to beat people...
Maybe that's what the crazy looking guy I see every day is doing though... not talking maniacally to himself, but singing along to music... maybe...
On the subject of people appearing to be talking to themselves... I have no idea if its because we live in a big city, or just the recent craze, but many a person has the headset adaptor for the hands-free mobile phoning. I know we use them in the States for driving and talking at the same time as it frees up the hands. That makes sense. But its really odd to be walking down the street and see a single person talking to themselves. You really have to look to see if there is the hands-free set up, or they really are just crazy.

New Pubs

We checked out the pub, Molly Malone's this past Sunday. Its an Irish themed pub just a few blocks from our apartment. The weather was slightly crappy out, so what better to do than go to a pub? On the way out we met our little neighbor lady. She is an older lady that lives right above us. Whenever we meet her in the close, she chats and chats. On Sunday, she asked where we were going (like always) and we could not lie to her. I thought about it, but Mike told her we were going to Molly Malone's. We then found out everything she had heard in church that morning. I think she went home and prayed for our sinful souls going to pubs on a Sunday. We definitely felt slightly guilty after that, but went anyway. It was quite neat inside, and on Friday and Saturday nights they have live music, so I think we may head back this weekend to see if its any good. On St Patrick's Day the music and festivities start at 3pm here. I am trying to convince Mike to go, but the Scottish are serious drinkers and some can get rather violent when drinking... so, he's not sold yet.

Today we went to the Bon Accord. Its exactly in the middle of work and home. Could be dangerous for my walks home with Mike meeting me halfway... But... It was spectacular inside. They have a wide selection of whiskeys and have the real ales that we like. The real ales are really popular around here, and are usually better AND cheaper. The interior of this place is amazing. Their beer prices are slightly pricey, but their food prices are dirt cheap. We have heard that they will give tours of their cellar if you ask. We decided to ask when mom and dad are here. (Only 13 more days now!)

Total Eclipse

I know this picture is not great.. at all.. but I only have the digital camera.

There was a total lunar eclipse last night over Glasgow. Mike had read about it somewhere, but we figured we would not be able to see it. Many a time we have planned on something over here, and the weather has stepped in and ruined it. It has been fairly cloudy for the last part of the week, with only short breaks for sunshine. All yesterday afternoon, there was a pretty good cloud cover. Then as night fell, the clouds lifted and stayed away. It was a great night. Since the light from the moon was blocked, we were actually able to see some stars! With all the light pollution, we never see stars at our apartment. It will be nice to go up to the Highlands when mom and dad get here (only 15 days now!) just to see stars again.

My parents had been out one night and Pam was babysitting. When mom and dad got home, they always came in to check on us and if we were awake chat for a few minutes. I loved this part of them going out. I really liked Pam, but would usually stay awake just for this alone time with mom and dad. This night however, dad told all three of us to get up and put our coats on. We knew we weren't in trouble (this time), so we quickly complied. It wasn't everyday that dad told us to get out of bed after we were already there, it was usual the opposite! Mom stayed back with the babysitter and dad bundled us it to the car and drove us to the top of the street. When we would ask what we were doing, he just replied, "There's something I want to show you." We were pretty intrigued by this time, late night car rides were not a daily occurrence unless we were going to Illinois. We got to the top of the street and parked, by now the boys and I were really interested. We were told to look out the window and at the moon. We sat there for what felt like forever (but really probably only 15 minutes) while we watched the moon slowly become blocked and start turning a copper color. The boys and I were ecstatic to be able to go to school the next day and tell all our friends what we saw. When the teachers asked the class if we had seen it, we were able to raise our hands. And all thanks to our parents.

Mildew Wars

We love our apartment. Its in a great location, we don't look out on buildings, and its furnished and cozy. The one hitch is the mildew. Any of you that know me well, know I have a slight allergy problem. As a kid I was fine, then I hit my 20's... I can now produce enough snot for Mike to call me the "Snot Queen" at times.
We noticed the growing mildew problem about three weeks into our stay here. We talked to the landlords, and they claim that no one else has mentioned this problem. Apparently that automatically means its not their problem. We looked into buying a de-humidifier, but those are really expensive (about $200 US dollars). We weren't willing to buy it when for the same amount of money we could be in Italy. So, we opened all the window after showering, when drying clothes, etc. Then I went to work on the walls and ceiling and windows (yes, it was growing on glass!!) with bleach. This helped until winter hit and it was too chilly for open windows all the time.
Then one of the ladies at work mentioned that turning on a heater before you shower and during could help take the moisture out of the air. It did, but it only helped slightly. There was still water on the tile walls after you showered. And my allergies were getting so bad that the one Claritin a day was not working. So... again with the bleach on the ceilings, walls, windows, etc. until I was beginning to feel woozy from the fumes. The bleach and water mixture only worked for about a week, and then the blasted mildew would be out in full force again. It was getting incredibly frustrating since people are coming to visit us and our apartment has mildew all over. All we thought we could do was prepare them for the issue at hand and let them know that it was being battled... in vain.
About three weeks ago I read an article in a magazine about Green cleaning products. It outlined different recipes for making cleaning products that we environmentally friendly and supposedly worked well. I decided to give it a try. It couldn't make it any worse and the bleaching was not working at all, so what the heck. I just did the bathroom that weekend and I am happy to say that the bathroom has stayed mildew free for the three weeks!! The only set back was upon returning from Dublin we found that the decorative wall hangings in the bedroom has mildew starting to grow on them. Thankfully one washing solved the problem, so today its the bedroom that will be scrubbed with salt and vinegar. Doesn't smell all that nice, but its better than the horrid mildew. I cannot wait to live in a mildew free house, in a country where it doesn't rain so much and the humidity levels in the air aren't so high that mildew is a part of everyday life...