A Scottish Ceilidh

Last night we attended our first Scottish Ceilidh (pronounced: kay-lay). I suppose it wasn't a true Scottish Ceilidh as it as a large group of International Students, but there WAS a Scottish band and they taught us how to dance a bunch of the traditional dances. It was held at St. Andrews in the Square, which is a spectacular venue. Whoever owns the place saved an old church from ruin by fixing it up and now its a music venue that can also be hired out. (Also, there is a GREAT cafe in the old basement.)

The band was wonderful and were really great about teaching everyone the dances. I was able to get up and dance one of them, with the International Director. Mike HATES to dance, so we were on the sidelines of the dance floor for the night. But, at least there was a fair amount of others that were doing the same thing. Two Scots crashed our party as well to promote their ceilidh later in the week. It was great! They showed up in full Scottish formal wear (kilt) and danced along with everyone else. It was a great night, but next time Mike has to dance!

Everyone trying to dance -- really with that many people on the dance floor (and after a few drinks) everyone just did their own thing yet still made the appearance of actually doing the dance... it was chaotic out there!

Because I am truly classy, Mike bought me a glass of wine for party instead of a beer. And in my own classy way, I spilled it within one minute all over the table and my sleeve. At least I only spilled a little bit!

Addendum: Mike would like me to point out that he DID volunteer to go out on the dance floor "if I really wanted to dance."

Gale Force Winds and Castles

Well, apparently gale force winds and Edinburgh Castle do NOT mix. We had decided to go to Edinburgh yesterday because on St. Andrew's Day, there is free admission. It is one of the most expensive castles to go to, so we thought we had beat the system. Until we got off the bus, walked against the wind up the hill, and were told that because the winds were over 50mph, the castle was closed. It may re-open later on in the day, but only if the winds get below 50mph. Needless to say, we were pretty bummed because the Castle was THE reason we were in Edinburgh, but the thought of being blown of the cliffs and falling to our deaths was not exactly appealing either. Mike thinks its was all a conspiracy, but I think it was Mother Nature showing us not to plan on anything without Her say.
So, we went to museums instead. That way the winds would not all of a sudden knock us down.

This is the National Museum of Scotland. It has just about everything in it. There is furniture, tombs, parts of churches, etc. We didn't tour through the whole thing though, because we were getting really hungry. There is a spectacular pub that we found just outside the Castle that serves affordable jacket potatoes. They are marvelous and HUGE. We had lunch at noon and didn't eat again until 7:30pm. They were so big that Mike couldn't even finish the whole thing.

We then treked over to the National Gallery of Scotland. The presentation of the paintings, sculptures, and other works of art was magnificent. Again, there was a lot to see and all that we covered was the ground floor and part of the first floor. The National Gallery consists of the buildings, all about three floors each so to ''see'' everything at one time, I think that you would have to run through all the exhibits. But its only a bus ride away.

Outside of the National Gallery was the German Market in Edinburgh. It is a lot larger than the one in Glasgow (probably because Edinburgh is the capital) and a lot more touristy. There were a few booths that we didn't have here in Glasgow, but everything was marked up at least double. For example, the five piece Russian dolls were 14 pounds in Edinburgh and 5 pounds in Glasgow. Quite a large difference. So we decided that we would buy anything we wanted in Glasgow. My wonderful husband did buy me a very delicious waffle with chocolate sauce on it.

We did find The Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling is reported to have written parts of Harry Potter. We had thought of having lunch there, but upon looking at their prices, we decided we would go back another day. After hearing stories of how poor Ms. Rowling was before the first Harry Potter book, I have no idea how she ever afforded eating or drinking there.

Sunday, November 19th

The Castle Maol was right outside our hostel. We stayed at the Kyleakin Youth Hostel, which was spectacular. Unfortunately we heard that the Scottish Youth Hostel Association is thinking of selling it. Silly idea since its a great location, but hopefully they will decided to keep it.

The Kyleakin harbour

We left Kyleakin early in the morning so that we would be able to make all of our 'touristy stops' on the way back to Glasgow. Here are pictures from our stops.
We again stopped at Eilean Donan Castle but this time in day light so that we could wander in the garden and really see the view. As I said before, Lady MacRae still lives there. I would love to wake up every morning and have her view, but the upkeep on a castle like that would be quite costly.
The Highlands from Carr Brae Viewpoint

This is a picture of Loch Garry from Glengarry. It is supposed to look like a map of Scotland. (If you click on the link you can again read about another Scottish legend.)
These are the mountains that make up the Nevis Range. If you look at the 'sunny' spot in the middle of the photo, you will see the peak of Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in Scotland.

Our last tourist stop was to Glen Coe, which has an incredibly sad history of murder and treachery which can be read through the link. Other than that the Glen (valley in Gaelic) was beautiful.

For fans of Harry Potter -- this grouping of pine trees is where the scenes of Hagrid's house were shot for movies 1-3. If they filmed another while we are here, I am going. We were also miles away from the railway they used in filming as well. Very thrilling indeed!

This is the Hidden or Lost Valley where the MacDonalds hid from the soldiers during the massacre.

Saturday, November 18th

On Saturday we took a tour of the Isle of Skye. It was a little interesting taking a chart bus down some of the little country lanes. They were a lot like the roads in England, and after the trip this weekend I am convinced that being a bus driver in the United Kingdom (and probably the rest of Europe as well) is not my calling. Here are some pictures of what we saw Saturday:

These are the Black Cuillins. There are two ranges, the Black Cuillins and the Red Cuillins. Oddly enough people who are practicing for treks such as Mount Everest, come here. The weather was so spectacular that we were able to see these very clearly.
The Red Cuillins with the Black Cuillins in the background.

On the Isle of Skye, the primary language is Scottish Gaelic so all the signs and buildings were in English and Gaelic.

This is the Portree Harbour. Portree is the biggest town on Syke.

The Old Man of Storr If you click on the link it will give you the legend of the old man.

Kilt Rock and the waterfall The rock in the background (and below) is called kilt rock because it striped, like a kilt. It was a really pretty view, but after reading the website I am really glad that it wasn't too windy!
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I am sure that at one time this was a very impressive castle, but now the Duntulm Castle is in ruins. The view from the castle was amazing. Its too bad that the castle is now in ruins, but its probably too out of the way for Historic Scotland to make enough money on it to justify re-building it. In various links there is a lot of reference to the large storms -- they have knocked of the 'Old Man of Storr's' head, caused the castle to crumble even further, and helped discover fossils of dinosaur footprints in one of the bays. Apparently casts were made of the prints and then they were again covered by sand until someone could figure out what to do with them.

This is a traditional cottage replica in the Museum of Island Life but interestingly enough, houses like these are still in use today on the island.

Friday, November 17th

We left Glasgow at noon at travel the 200 or so miles up to Kyleakin, Isle of Skye. It is amazing what is a 'major road' over here. After Glasgow, the big towns up north are amazingly small. I think Mount Pleasant would be a big metropolis area compared to some of the towns that we stopped in. And the major roads we took were really small and winding. The bus would actually have to stop at times and wait for traffic to pass it just to ensure that accidents did not happen. Makes sense why all the cars are really small!



We actually ran into snow on the way there too. I didn't think that I would miss it this year at all. But I do. Snow is very beautiful in its own way and if its going to be cold anyway, it might as well be pretty outside. Since this was an International Student trip, it was funny to see people's reactions to their first snow. Mike and I and the others from Canada just shrugged it off -- it was only a light snow -- but many others were enthralled with the idea of snow and how one even drove in it.


The only 'touristy' stop we made on the way up was to Eilean Donan Castle. You may recognize the castle from various Hollywood movies. Though the only movie I remember Jim telling us it was in was 'Highlander'. Unfortunately the castle is closed to visitors right now, but in the daylight hours you can walk around the grounds and go to the gift shop.




As I mentioned before, Kyleakin is a small town. No grocery stores, etc. Just hostels, the locals, and three pubs. One of which is named ''Saucy Mary's.'' (After a Norwegian Princess that charged high tolls to go across the sea.) We felt that we had to go into it just once given the name. We walked in, and were the only patrons in the bar for most of the hour. Apparently there is some small town dispute regarding the owner, so none of the locals go there. There was supposed to be live music, but no one working there knew when it started either. We left and went to the other bar the rest of the weekend.

Saturday, November 11th

On Saturday we headed to the Atlantic Coast. We started out going to a private beach of a huge estate. The owners allow the public on the beach every weekend and one day out of the week as long as they don't have any need for it. The beach was great. The Earth Scientist came out in me and I took pictures of just about everything. The other guys with us were even picking up rocks for me and pointing things out for me to take pictures of. It was wonderful! Mike was not really excited about all the rocks I grabbed for souvenirs, but at least it was a small bag. We spent quite a bit of time on this beach looking in at the rocks, climbing them, and looking in the tide pools. We even saw very tiny sea anemones!

Then we drove over to the town of Dartmouth which is another fairly small town (but much larger than Modbury.) Dartmouth harbor actually docked the Mayflower before it headed to America. Apparently it needed repairs and there is a plaque commemorating this event. There is also a pub that dates back to 1380 called The Cherub. Since I was there with three history geeks, we went. The bar still had a lot of the original interior, complete with low ceilings and doorways (for Mike, not me -- although I am 5' 3'', not 3' 5'', Steve!!) And of course, there was a fireplace. Both Mike and I enjoyed these small pubs a lot. The atmosphere in them alone could tempt you to stay in them all day and just watch the people. We then headed over to Dartmouth Castle. Unfortunately, it had just closed, but we were able to walk around outside the castle. The Graveyard was beautiful with all the celtic crosses and the views across the river and over to Dartmouth were stunning. The view was especially great as we were walking back and all the lights were starting to come on across the river (it was already getting dark.) We did stop at yet another beach so that James, Justin and Mike could through stones into the ocean. I have no idea what it is with grown men that makes them ast so young when they all get together, but it always makes me laugh.

Pictures of Beach

These boys were playing rugby on the beach. Not something you see much at home...

This is the size of one of the little country roads we were driving down in England. And most of the time the hedges were even taller. James is standing next to Mike and I.

Pictures of Dartmouth

The traditional red telephone booths of the United Kingdom dotted the countryside. Even in the smallest of towns there would be a telephone, complete with e-mail and text!

The plaque to the Mayflower.

Houses down by the harbour. I love all the different colors.


The Dartmouth Castle

Friday, November 10th

Our friends, James and Julia, live in a very small town outside of Plymouth called Modbury in Devon County. It was a picturesque England town. I loved it. You had to drive down very small lanes with huge hedges running along each side of the road. And when you met another car in the lane, serious maneuvering was in order. If we ever move to the UK, I want to live in one of these small towns.

On Friday we got around and headed over to Dartmoor National Park for a hike. We took the scenic route there and ended up in the little town of Meavy. We stopped there for lunch before we hiked and it was spectacular. The bar dates back to the 15th century and still has a fireplace in the bar for heating. Most of the people there seemed to be 'regulars' and knew everybody. One older man even showed up with his dog and a huge head of lettuce. There was also a Normandy style church is Meavy. There are many of this style of church doting the landscape across Southern England. We were also able to walk into this church. It was very small, but the stained glass windows were still amazing along with the rest of the interior.

The National Park was great. Its a lot different from ours at home. There are many functioning towns in the Park, and there was a maximum security prision. Apparently the moor is a great place to build a jail becuase its hard for excape. The landscape looks similar throughout and when the fog rolls in its hard to see anything and it can be easy to lose all sense of direction. Knowing that, we set off for or hike in fog. We started at this 'car park' in light fog. Luckily, these were the only trees for miles so it was easy to see where the car was. We hiked to the top of this tor. The view was not all that great, but at one time there was an iron age settlement here. All that is left now are piles of rocks and indentations on the ground where a building may have been. By the time we hiked to the top of the tor, and came back down again the ground had become very, very saturated and when we got back to the car we were soaked! Without it even raining. This walk is also supposed to include a loop through more or Dartmoor bringing you to stone rows and a stone circle, but given the mist, we decided that we would probably get quite lost. Already the 'car park' had disappeared from sight at the tor and you had to walk down it to see the shadows of the trees. We drove by the road in which the stones were supposed to be near and couldn't even see them. But, there is always a next time and we were able to see this...

Pictures of Dartmoor

This is part of the rubble that is left of the settlement.

There are also wild ponies that roam the moor along with the sheep. They did not mind at all that we were there unlike the sheep.

Mike, Justin, and James on top of the tor.

We found this sheep skeleton on top of the tor. It was picked clean and a pile of white fluff was off to the side of it... Sheep roam along the moor and many a time we came up to one trying to cross the road.