September 19 - Getting Sunburned Touring the Isle of Mull

Barcaldine Common Room

After a fairly restful sleep in the castle (alas, made no aquintenances with ghosts) we woke to cloudy, moody, skies this morning.  I took a quick tour of the castle interior before heading outside for a jaunt before breakfast.  Once I figured out how to open the castle door,
I wandered the gardens taking in the views.  It is quite a lovely place.

After breakfast (I had Scottish oat porridge with raisens an brown sugar and laced with, of course, whiskey, mmmmm) we headed to Oban to catch the ferry to the Isle of Mull, an island in the Inner Hebrides known for its scenic qualities, for a daylong tour.  Before doing that we had to pick up the car, with its brand-spanking-new , expensive (can't even bring myself mutter the cost out loud), Michelin tire from the Kwik Fix auto service center.  It got a little tense, dealing with Oban rush hour traffic, driving the wrong way on one way streets, figuring out where  to park one of the two vehicles (we were taking the other to Mull), and then, after paying for parking, the machine not issuing a ticket, and finally, getting to the terminal itself ("just follow the signs" we were told . . . what signs?) but it all got sorted out in the end and we managed to arrive just by the checkin-in deadline to queue up . . . and wait another 30 minutes.

Lismore Lighthouse

Oban from the ferry

After the morning logistical calisthenics, the uneventful 45-minute ferry to Craignure, Mull was appreciated.  The weather started to clear providing us wonderful skies of clouds and blue.  As we sailed northwest through the Sound of Mull we passed by small towns, the Duart and Dunstaffnage castles, and the Lismore lighthouse, a rather more modern, ill-fitting Mediterranean structure among the various basalt buildings, but picturesque nonetheless. 

View from the Mull west coast

Almost too soo, we arrived at Craignure, disembarked, and proceeded to drive along the coastline north to the port town of Tobermory.  The drive was, well, interesting.  In many places it was a single paved lane with pullouts.  At most places you had good site distance, but at the remaining few blind hills and curves, well you just muttered a prayer and held your breath.  Good thing Alison and I were in the back seat and found the scenery was captivating.  I imagine that the local island population organize their travel around the ferry schedule, for people coming the opposite direction had to wait quite a bit of time while our caravan of cars passed through.  We got wise to this, checked the ferry schedule, and made plans of when to return that avoided the ferry traffic.

Tobermory

Tobermory

In about 45 minutes we entered the Town of Tobermory, known for the mysterious destruction and sinking of one of the Spanish Armada fleet that happened to be carrying a hoard of 30 million ducats in gold coin in 1588.   Tobermory is a photogenic "wee bit of a town" estiblished by the English government in the late 18th century as a fisheries community, focusing on herring, but, due to lack of expertise in boat-building (kind of a major oversite don't you think?), this industry never got off the ground.  However the kelp boom (first I heard of that) kept the economy going in the production of soap and glass.  After that industry collapsed in the early 19th century, the town began to develop tourism as its primary source of income.

Tobermory's honorary mayor

The four of us wandered the main street of Tobermory for a couple of hours, meeting the honorary town mayor, an orange cat (there are actually many orange cats in this town) with his own facebook page, taking photographs, souvenir shopping, visiting the museum where, despite the efforts of the kind gentleman staffing the desk, we were still unable to figure out how castles were built, and then taking a bit of lunch at the local bakery.

Aros Park

We then proceeded to head back the way we came, stopping at a pretty park, Aros Park, managed by the Scottish Forestry Commission.  The island is dotted with many of these parks and despite the nippiness in the temperature, we witnessed a few hardy Scottish folk enjoying a picnic in the park.

View of Duart Castle Looking West

We continued heading south to the Duart Castle, a 13th century fortress and ancestral home of the Maclean Clan.  The castle is situated nicely on a promotory near the southeasternmost point of Mull with excellent views both north and south along the Sound of Mull.  The self-guided tour was well done, providing a linear history of the structure itself, as well as describing the lives of the original inhabitants.  There were also a number of displays presenting information about the Macleans, including the family tree and even present day descendants and aspects

Duart Castle Looking NW

about their lives.  Unlike the community fortress/garrison that is Edinburgh Castle, this is what I envisioned a castle to be, more of a fortifed family residence.  After spending quite a bit of time wandering the grounds and taking photographs, we headed back to the Port of Craignure to catch our 5:00 pm ferry back to Oban.  It would have been nice to stay longer, but we were glad for the time that we had on this little island.  Though it had been raining, just before the ferry came in, the sun came out a we received yet another rainbow, like the island wish us a fond farewell.

Rainbow at Craignure Ferry Terminal

Having overdosed a bit on fish and beef these past few days, we opted for a recommended Italian restaurant where we ordered pizzas, pastas, and wine.  As we discussed the days events we were surprised to discover that a few of us had received a bit of color, not from whiskey or wine, but from the sun.  I can't tell you how fortunate we've been with the weather.  Though there has been rain almost every day, it never lasted very long, with the exception of our travel to Loch Lomand, and, on today in particular, it seemed to coincide with when we planned to be inside.  Hope this kind of weather holds up for the remainder of the trip.

Alison and Casey at Duart Castle

Though we had initially thought we'd head to a local pub for music and after dinner drinks, most of us were ready to fall asleep in our food so, instead, we headed back to the castle, and sat together in a pretty sitting area, enjoying a fire, and drinking wine (OK, just Alison and myself enjoyed the wine) while planning for tomorrow's activities.  This was our last day together.  Tomorrow, Casey and Alison begin to head towards London and Rick and I head further north to the Isle of Skye.  Thank-you Alison and Casey for your companionship during these days of travel!  Having you with us has enriched our experience of Scotland for you introduced to us activities and experiences that we would have otherwise missed!  How truly fortunate we are to have you as friends and we wish you safe travels and an enjoyable visit to London.  Love you guys.

September 18 - We've Arrived to the Scottish Highlands!

A good sign.

Rainbow across Loch Lomand

Oh my what a day!  It is has been full of ups, ups, ups, one down and then more ups.  It started with the gods gracing us with yet another beautiful rainbow and then sun, sun, sun, while we walked about the grounds of our hotel this morning.   It could only portend of good things to come . . . and it did. 

After a breakfast of tattie (potato) scones, sausage, and Greek yogurt, we hopped on the hotel boat for a champagne tour of Loch Lomond.  If you ever need a natural and cultural history tour of the Loch Lomond area, be sure to find Mark, a strapping, young  red-haired chap with a thick, but understandable, Scottish brogue who has a quick with and is in possession of endless nuggets of local knowledge.

Alison and Casey on the boat

Looking north across Loch Lomand

During the sunny boat tour we learned of wallabies currently occupying an island in the lake, geologic history (the highlands and the lowlands are spearated by an almost 3 million year nonformity), that the Culquhoun (Cal-hoon) Clan, who occupied and wisely mined and managed the lands on the west side of the lake, was able to secure peace 

with the McGregors, a warring clan, who occupied the east side of the lake, through bribery.  We also saw the remains of the precursor to a Scottish castle, the crannog, and learned that Bruce Willis was denied access to one of the top four elite golf courses in the world, located on Loch Lomand.  We also discovered just how beautiful Loch Lomand and its surroundings really are without the rain.

A gnome garden in Luss

Typical home in the Town of Luss

 After the boat tour we said goodbye to the comfortable Cameron House and visited the little Town of Luss.  The town of Luss, the ancestral home of the Culquhoun clan.  It is also said that the Luss family provided the Culquhoun clan most of the slate needed to house its miners.  Luss is a conservation district preserving homes in their original state.  We wandered through the community admiring the craftsmanship of the homes and the slate fences and also wondered how tall people ever survived in homes with doorways so low.  Perhaps they were no larger the size of the gnomes we found frequenting their gardens.

Falloch Falls

 We then drove north to Falloch Falls, one of the many falls in the Park, where, glory be, after 11 months of recovery from knee surgery, Alison was able to manage the uneven and slippey slopes of the trail!  Yeah Alison! 

I think what I found most surprising about the park was the prevalance of cascades and falls tumbling down off the treeless moorlands.  Looking across the moorlands you see them everywhere.  It is unlike anything else I've ever seen before.

Highland Scenery

Welcome to the Highlands!

From there, we parted ways, Alison and Casey heading over to Oban and Rick and I driving around to scout out some possible photo shoot locations for next week.  Our wanderings eventually took us up into the highlands and arguably the most beautiful valley in all of Scotland, Glen Coe.  As we drove up north and west out of the park it, became more and more stunning, outside of the National Park boundary.  As we officially entered the Highlands we discovered

More beautiful highland scenery

an area replete with bogs, lakes, streams and mountains covered in heather and grasses, turning gold in the autumn season.  This area, though treeless, reminded me of the alpine areas of the Beartooths in Wyoming and Montana. As we proceeded west, heading down in elevation, into the valley considered Glen Coe proper, we were greeted by a stunning mix of lush vegetation, streams, cascades, falls and karst-like mountains; not triangular and rugged like the rockies, but bell or domelike features.  It was just a remarkable landscape and unlike one that I've ever seen before.

The gorgeous scenery of Glen Coe

Barcaldine Castle

Riding high, as we came out of the west entrance of Glen Coe, we managed to clip a curb perfectly and get a flat :-( Some of you may already know, this is not an uncommon occurence for us when we are road touring.  Fortunately, there was a gas, no, PETROL, station about 20 yards down the road, so we rolled in, changed the tire in 10 minutes (would have been 5 if I hadn't confused lefty loosey, righty tighty), and were off again, paying a little bit closer attention to the edge of the road.  Once we hit the west coast, we travelled south, to our accommodations just north of Oban, the Barcaldine Castle.  The Barcaldine is a a 17th century castle located near Oban, Scotland.  It was built by Sir Duncan Campbell between 1601 and 1609 who was later murdered and is now believe to haunt the castle searching for his killer.  The proprietors also said that the ghost of his wife sometimes plays the piano in one of the guest rooms.

 Unfortunately, we had little time to settle in and get to know the ghosts or the grounds .because we needed to dash off to the "Kwik Fix" in Oban to replace the tire.  We dropped off the car, and managed to make it to our tour at Oban Distillery, just a couple of minutes late, where we learned about Oban's technique for making single-malt whiskey.  Our perky tour guide in a pink tartan skirt (never got her name) gave us details on Oban's particular way of making single malt whiskey.  Apparently the key to Oban's distinct taste is in the shape of the huge copper stills, not where the barley is grown (unlike with wine, in that where the grapes is grown is the most important factor).  We got to see the mash, early in the process, foaming with yeast, and then afterwards when it is an orange liquid ready for distillation.  Oban only makes two whiskies a 14-year old single malt, and a 14 yr and 9 mo double malt.  Malt is the time it spends in the barrel.  The double malt spends 14 years in a "reused" American Oak barrel and then placed in a sherry barrel for nine months producing a smoother whisky.  We picked up one of those :)

Afer the tour we headed across the street to the port of Oban where we had a yummy seafood dinner, me sea bass, Alison salmon, and the boys fish-n-chips and then headed on home for an after dinner drink in the stately common room reviewing the day and planning our outing tomorrow, to the Isle of Mull.

September 17 - On Our Way to the Highlands

Getting prepared

Woke to another blue sky day, though, as it turns out, that was not going to last.  We bid farewell to the Hotel Caledonia and piled into a cab and made our way to the airport to pick up our cars.  We had originally intended the four of us to travel together in one vehicle, but because we part paths midway through the trip, Casey and Alison for London, Rick and I for the Isle of Skye, it was just easier if we each rented our own vehicle.

I must admit, I approached our driving through Scotland with great trepidation.  Not only does one drive on the left ("proper") side of the street, and not only does one drive from the right side of the car, the streets are extremely narrow, there are those ungodly roundabouts Europeans love so much (seriously, try going around a roundabout in the opposite direction - it is enough to scramble the mind), and I was extremely concerned about how to control one's automatic driving reactions in situations requiring quick thinking.

Railroad Bridge of Forth

 Rick was far less anxious about it than me, thank goodness, since he was driving.   However, I didn't help matters much with my own automatic responses of gasps, clutching the door, and stamping on the break every time I felt like we were going fly into a barrier when a large vehicle careened around a corner, half on our side.  It was not encouraging to see signs saying "Oncoming vehicles in the middle of the road."   Apparently Alison had similar reactions of her own and both men were ready to set us out on the road if we didn't reign in our terror.
Despite the driving challenges posed by both the road, other drives, and their neurotic wives, Rick and Casey managed to get us safely out of Edinburgh, accross the Bridge of Forth, and up into the area known as Fife, without incident.

The cellars

Dunfermline Palace

In Firth we visited the the Dunfermline Abbey and Palace, an impressive compound, established in the 11th century by King Malolm III and St. Margartet.  Most of what was constructed was built by their son David I, and Robert the Bruce, arguably a greater patriot and Scotland leader than Sir William Wallace.  Many of the Scottish kings are buried here.

How'd they do that?

Alison in a tight squeeze

We explored the remains of the palace, adjacent to the abbey, where you could see evidence of various reconstructions employing differing techniques and materials.  We puzzled over how they were able to construct the archways and domes, especially without the use of a keystone.  Most impressive was the cellar, with its columned a domed interior.  From there we climbed a narrow, narrow, narrow, (did I say narrow? - we were worried that Casey at 6'4" might not fit) stairway and made our way to the Abbey.  There we also saw evidence of different construction techniques and materials used through the ages.  The Catholic church experience much damage and destruction during the 16th century Protestant Reformation movement, but it is still impressive.

Dunfermline Church

From Dunfermline Abbey, we headed west, northwest towards our final desitnation of the day, Loch Lommand and the Trossachs National Park.  We had intended to stop at Stirling Castle, but due to the late hour, we decided that it would be better to proceed on so that we would have time to sightsee in the Park.  After taking a quick bite in the town of Callander, one of the many gateway communities to the Park, we procced into the Park taking the long route, heading north along Loch (Lake) Lubnaig, turning west near the town of Killin, then proceeding south along the west side of the Parks largest Loch, Loch Lommand.

The Scottish concept of a Park is much different from that of the United States.  In US parks there is no commercial material resource extraction, agriculture, large utility lines, or development other than at select locations and, even then, it is extremely small and controlled.  All of these things were prevalent in this National Park.  Upon further digging I discovered that the the Park was established  in 2002, long after much of the develoment I witnessed occurred and that the Park's mission is to "promote the enjoyment of the area and support the economic and social interests of the local community" a little different from our own Park's mission which is primarily to preserve the integrity of the ecosystems and limit human manipulation to the extent possible.  We later learned that most of the park is privately held by the Calquhoun Clan and that, over time, the Scottish government hopes to purchase this land.  In the meantime, restriction have been put into place to limit further development.

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Hotel Cameron, A Victorian Estate

View from Room - Promising Better Weather?

Unfortunately the weather gods were not in a kindly mood and from lunch on, it pretty much dumped on us.  Between the lousy weather and the challenging driving conditions, we were unable to see much, and were just happy to get to our hotel, the Cameron House, a beautiful Victorian Baronial Estate on the banks of Loch Lomond, at around 5:00 pm.  Perhaps the rainbow I saw from my hotel room portends a better weather day tomorrow?  Regardless, we'll be ready one or the other!  After a delicious meal in the Cameron Grill, the boys had Scotland raised beef, a leaner form of beef than what you typically find in the US (think bison), Alison had Lobster Thermador, and I had pasta with blue cheese and morels.  After lingering over after dinner drinks, we decided to call it a day a get a good night's sleep in preparation for another day of car touring.

September 16 - A Leisurely Day in Edinburgh

Water of Leith Firth

Dean Village

The morning started with a stroll down Leith Firth (River) beginning at a the quaint Dean Village.  From there, we walked along a wooded path adjacent to the picturesque but not-so-clear waters of the Leith.  While undoubtedly there is pollution, Rick said that what we were seeing was likely also the organic materials from the boggy moors so prevalent in this country.  From the path we entered the Village of Stockbridge, a stately 18th century Georgian community.  There we happened upon a lively farmers market.  The goods sold here are similar to those we find at home, fresh produce, pickled veggies, fresh baked goodies, cheese, though there were some exceptions like haggis-spiced ice cream and grey squirrel.  Not feeling terribly adventuresome, I opted for a croissant though Alison did try the ice cream.

View of Oldtown from Waverly Bridge

Squirrel anyone?

From there we proceeded through Newtown on our way to the National Scotland Museum.  Apparently my lack of toiletries was beginning to cause concern among my companions as they energetically assisted me in finding a pharmacy to replenish my supply lost at the hands of Heathrow Security.  Once that critical task was accomplished, we carried on south to Oldtown across the Waverly Bridge, into the tourist trap that is the Royal Mile.  It was 11:30 so we thought we might pop into a pub for a bite.  We found the Mitre Bar, a nice-looking 19th century pub, nearby and was drawn in by its advertisement of fish-n-chips.  We promptly learned that on Sundays, in Edinburgh, breakfast doesn't begin until noon.  Um, then, isn't that called lunch?  Also, that taps don't begin to flow until 12:30, I guess a Scottish version of Pennsylvania's blue laws.  Nonetheless we sat a spell, drinking water and diet cokes (that seemed so wrong), and enjoying the ambience of the "old" bar, before proceeding to a restaurant recommended for its fish-n-chips.  What that restaurant lacked for in ambience (a fast-food style . . . that served beer and liquor) it made up for in good food, though, according to Rick, not as good as the fish-n-chips served at the Frying Scotsman food cart near Stark Street in Portland :-)

After that we proceeded to the Scottish National Museum.  Among other things, it has quite an impressive display of of artifacts from Scottish History and it was great to have my readings in Scottish history reinforced by what I saw there.  I just wish it could have been a bit more organized.   While Scottish history was presented sequentially on each of the 8 floors in the museum (beginning, oddly, with -1, then 0, then 1-6) the material on each floor was NOT presented sequentially within the floor.  So, for example. the floor intended to cover 900 AD to 1600 had displays jumping from 1000 AD to 1300 AD back to 900 AD.   Nonetheless, it was still informative, though, alas, there was no mention of how castles were built.  This was originally an interest of Casey's and I have adopted it as well.  How did these huge suckers get built in the 12th and 13th centuries?  No answer as of yet and so the quest continues.

Hiking up Arthur's Sea

After a few hours we headed out and were welcomed by rain.  It was rain just like what we get in Portland, light and not soaking.  Being a little tired, we decided to head back to the hotel for a little rest before dinner.  Rick and I rested a little, but quickly got our second wind and decided to NOT be beaten by the hike on Arthur's Seat.  So we donned our hiking clothes, hailed a cab to take us to the
Holyrood Palace from where the hike begins.  The rain had stopped, though it was still cloudy.  We decided to take a different route, one recommended by the locals and the guidebooks, which took us past the Salisbury Crags, an interesting geological feature, that was historically heavily mined, but still impressive.  As it turns out, this route was much longer and steeper than the one we tried on Friday.  There are steep rises ascended by stone cobble steps set into the hillside and the very last ascent involves a bit of scrambling.  Nonetheless we made it to the windy top and were rewarded by a great view.

Heather

 It was kind of cool to do this at the end of our short stay in Edinburgh because we were able to pick out the places we visited and realize that we've learned quite a bit

Windy at the top!

about the inner city's geography.  We then made a mad dash down, taking the shorter route, stopping at the ruins I saw on my way up on Friday, which turned out to be the remains of St. Anthony's church.  We snapped a few photos, made our way back to Holyrood Abbey and were fortunate to quickly hail a cab and get back in plenty of time to clean up and meet Alison and Casey for drinks before dinner.

St Anthony's Chapel (Ruins)

We had INDIAN for dinner and thank you Casey and Alison for being adventurous enough to give it a try with us.  We went to Kasturi, a recommended restaurant just around the corner from our hotel, and we had a delicious meal of various curry dishes and naan.  The piece de resistance (and what made up for the continuing loop of Karen Carpenter songs) was that dessert came with souvenirs - ice cream served in little plastic animal-shaped cups.  You had your choice of a cow or a penguin.  After a few glasses of wine each, Alison and I thought this hysterical.  We ordered one each, but, alas, they had none of the cow, so we accepted two penguins.  I guess Alison and I appeared so downcast that there was no cow that the waitstaff dug around in their supplies and found a cow and gave it to us (with ice cream) "on the house".  Let's see if those little figurines make it all the way home.  Then it was back to the hotel to prepare for our departure, the following day, from Edinburgh and make our way to the highlands.

September 15 - Where are my Sunglasses?!?!

We have been blessed with a sunny, sunny, not-an-iota-of-a-cloud-in-the-sky sunny morning!  I'm wearing-sunglasses-in-my- room- while-I-type-this-sunny.  Looks like a great day to go walking in Edinburgh.

Breakfast Stop

Met up with Casey and Alison for coffee at Cafe Nero waiting for the restaurants to open for breakfast.  On Saturdays most places don't open for breakfast until 9:00 am.  Starbucks doesn't even open until 8:00 am . . . on weekdays.  I don't think I could survive here.  Portland has definitely spoiled me for early-opening or even 24-hour coffee-shops.  For breakfast we went to the Urban Angel and had a delicious breakfast of free range eggs, bacon, sausage, homemade bread and organic butter.  Our charming  server, who wanted to make sure that we drank water because it was healthy for us, informed us that everything was acquired locally, making us feel as though we never left Portland. 

Edinburgh Castle

It was then off to Edinburgh Castle.  It was quite the education.  I've been a bit narrow in my understanding of castles, thinking it as primarily a fortified residence complete with spires, but Edinburgh Castle is really a fortified community complete with a dog cemetery.  We focused on investigating the oldest parts of the castle, David's Tower and St. Margaret's chapel and then proceeded to the Scottish Crown Jewels - I should clarify, the sword scepter and crown seen as a symbol of Scottish identity, the Scottish Memorial, built to honor the 148,000 men and women who have died in combat since WWI, and the the prison facilities. I was surprised how well prisoners of war were treated, receiving more food a day than what I can normally eat, including meat, bread, and dairy products among other things.  There was an exception for the Americans who were considered pirates.  They were treated somewhat more poorly receiving only a pound of bread a day :-)  Criminal punishments were rather severe though, with some offenders receiving up to 2000 lashes of the cat-o-nine tails until it was limited to a more humane 200 lashes. 

A small portion of the Whiskey collection

From there we proceeded to the Whiskey Experience which was very touristy and kitchy, even consisting of something akin to a carnival ride in a "whiskey" barrel, but it did a great job of explaining the making of single malt whiskey and blended whiskey, the character of the whiskey from different regions and we tasted whiskey in the room containing the largest collection of single malts and blends in the world.  Interesting information I learned includes, peat is burned during the drying process to give some whiskeies their flavor, whiskey ceases to change in flavor once it is bottled, unlike wine, due to the removal of all organic elements during the distillation process, 2 percent of whiskey in the barrels and bottles evaporites a year (called the "angels share"), 90 percent of all whiskey sold is blended, they recommend mixing a little water with your whiskey to open up the flavor.

The Closest we got to traditional music

The rest of the day was spent walking the streets, taking in the sights (including a territorial smackdown between two street performrs, a guy playing a guitar consisting of wooden lathe attached to a piece of luggage, and another guy playing the bagpipes - the guy with the gerry-rigged guitar won), souvenir shopping, and "nipping into the pub for a pint or two".  Decided that I'm not a big fan of Scottish beer.  It is much lighter and thinner than other beers I've had on my travels.  Since single malt whiskey is fairly inexpensive here, I think I'll stick to that.

For dinner, we went to a nice restaurant picked out by Rick called The Honours.  This is appropriate given that we just viewed "The Honours", another phrase for the Scottish crown jewels, at Edinburgh Castle.  The meal was delicious, the best part of which was the apple and caramel souffle.  After debating how much to tip and, consulting "Trip Advisor,"  tipping the recommended 10 percent, we left in search of traditional Scottish music.

Monument to Sir Walter Scott

Despite my online research (and the hotel concierge's bad, bad, bad, advice) we were having no luck until we spoke with, what I guess is a bar bouncer.  He informed us that it was going to be real hard to find traditional Scottish music in Edinburgh, but he directed us to the bar, Ghillie Duh, saying that we could find such music there, and,  what luck, it was just around the corner from our hotel.  After conferring with the bouncers of Ghillie Duh, we were informed that not one but two bands were playing, and yes, indeed, it was traditional Scottish music, and he recommended the band, The Charlie Woods Duo, that would be playing in the basement.  So we proceeded on down and sat at one of the many available tables (Casey thought this was a bad sign) and settled in for the 1 and 1/2 hour wait for the band to begin at, glory be, 10:00 pm, occupying our time sampling more whiskey including a 12-yr old blend, a 10-yr old McCallen, and a 14 yr-old Oban.  We knew things weren't quite right when the "band" consisted of two guys wearing tight jeans and t-shirts and carried two acoustic guitars.  No bagpipes, no fiddles, no kilts.  When they began playing the Beatles "Saw Her Standing There" we knew that either we had not been clear on what WE meant by "traditional Scottish music" or we had been snookered.  Alison and I thought that they were not bad; the boys weren't so charitable characterizing them as "tolerable".  We stayed to sing along to a half dozen songs (by popular British and American artists), and taking in the Scottish nightlife consisting of many pretty girls in extremely high heals and short dresses and decided to call it a night.  Not quite what I was hoping for, but entertainingly nonetheless.

September 14 - Hop, Skip, Jump, Hop

So it was a hop, skip, and a jump . . . and then another little hop (Portland to Denver to Dulles to Heathrow to Edinburgh) over a looooong 24 hours but we made it here to lovely, partly sunny 56 degree (15 degree celsius :)) Scotland.  Other than experiencing the chaotic, disorganized reality that is Heathrow Airport and losing my plastic bag of toiletries at the security check-in, all went fairly smoothly.   Thank you, thank you to my husband for using the miles he earned during work travel to secure first-class tickets for the trip.  The "pod" on the 747 where you can stretch out completely was unbelievably comfortable . . . just wish I had been tired enough to have taken advantage of it!  I was able to review my book on the history of Scotland and assorted guidebooks in relative peace during the 7-hour trip so I think I'm prepared!

View of the castle (right) from our room

Our friend Casey met us at the Edinburgh Airport (I think I've said this before but it really is lovley to be met at the airport by friends or family) and we shared a cab ride to our hotel.  The charming taxi-cab driver whose thick Scottish brogue I could barely make out, corrected us that driving on the left side of the road was the "proper" side after we had referred to it as the "wrong" side.  Our room at the Caledonia has a phenomenal view of Edinburgh Castle, St. Johns , and Prince Street Gardens from the bedroom and the bathroom. 

We settled in and cleaned up (there are heated towel racks!) and,while I was waiting for Rick and Casey, I had a lively conversation with the waiter from the bar about healthcare (US vs Scotland's), Scottish history, and the various bank notes used in Scotland.  Still trying to figure out the money thing.  Though they use the pound, each of Scotland's three (I think) banks issues their own individual bank notes.  So there are three different 10 pound notes, 20 pound notes, etc.  The coins are all the same.

View of Edinburgh and Firth of Forth

Once joined by Casey and Rick, Alison would be arriving later, we set out to hike up Arthurs Seat a large dolerite crag (hill, Edinburgh has seven of them) that dominates the southern backdrop of Edinburgh and serves as the highest point in the city at 852 feet.   It was a little taller and much windier than expected . . . and we were much more tired than we realized so we got up to a saddle where we took in a partial view of the city amidst the the gorse and heather.  

Scottish Parliament

 We headed back down to St. Margaret's Loch occupied by numerous swans and ducks and then started heading back, walking past the funky modern building housing the Scottish Parliament, resurrected in 1999 after a 292 year absence, and through the tourist trap but picturesque section that is known  as "the Royal Mile" and stumbled upon small pub, The Bow Pub, that is actually on the cover of my "Pub Walk" guidebook.

Charming Streets of Edinburgh

Though crowded with locals, they were friendly, welcoming, and two of the more senior patrons, along with the delightful bartender from Austin, Texas, were delighted to educate us on the merits of single malt whiskey.  Rick, Casey, and I shared in what I would call a flight of single malts, one from the lowlands, one from Speyside (NE Scotland) and one from the highlands.  Rick preferred the Speyside and Casey and I both enjoyed the highlands.  One of the gentlemen encouraged us to try one from the island of Islay called, Bowman, I believe.  It is described as smokey, Rick called it charcoal and I would describe it as glue.  Nonetheless it was good to get the comparison and I thanked the patron for his recommendation.  One of the older gentlemen who had clearly been imbibing for quite some time, started to bend Rick's ear providing him numerous though relatively incoherent recommendations for local music and other pubs.  We had to make our departure to meet Alison at the hotel, but before leaving one of the gentlemen asked for a kiss, which I gladly bestowed on both.  A lovely, pub experience for all!

Alison, me, and dinner

Dinner

Alison arrived, bubbly and full of energy.  We were all fairly hungry and our interest was picqued by the Rutland Restaurant which had a cow statue showing the various cuts of meat in front of the establishment as well as another partial cow statue position coming out of the second floor of the restaurant.  Though very busy (it was a Friday night), they were able to accommodate us in the bar and though they normally didn't serve meals there, Alison charmed them into doing so.  She had lamb, the boys had rib-eyes, and I had gnochhi in a smokey tomato sauce, all accompanied by a nice Argentinian malbec.  Good friends, good food, good wine, good weather, good ambience, GREAT first day.

Grandma Corwin Lived in a Log Cabin and Had a Cat Named Napolean

Dry run packing finished, needed items purchased, spreadsheet of activities/restaurants prepared, will try to have my liquor shipped :-), and ferry ticket to be purchased tonight after I confer with fellow traveling buddie, Alison, over a dinner at PF Changs.  Rick and I will be traveling a week with Alison and her husband, Casey, through Edinburgh, Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, Oban, and the Isle of Mull.  Alison found the haunted castle, the Barcaldine, that we'll be staying in while in Oban.

Other to-do items that cropped up have also been addressed including having the dynamic duo, Kris and Krystle (K2), water our plants (there is a souvenir can of haggis with your name on it ;-)), determining where wireless is available during the trip (thanks Rick - good news is that it is available just about anywhere), figuring out hiking/sunrise/sunset locations on the Isle of Skye (thanks, again, Rick), placing reservations at recommended restaurants (thanks, yet again, Rick), and figuring out how much cash we need on hand and whether it needs to be in Euros, British Sterling, or Scottish pounds (and, once again, thanks Rick).

Wooden Quaich

Remaining things to do? Download some books onto my e-reader, put together a folder of critical information (various documents maps, hiking routes, confirmation numbers, etc), and finish researching souvenirs (yes I am that much of a type A personality).  There is some really cool stuff.  There is the Quaich which is a small communal drinking bowl, historically wood, now often silver or pewter, that came about coincidentally with the development single malt whiskey;  the spirtle, a tool used to stir porridge (oatmeal), and then also the sgian-dubh (pronounced skeen-doo), which essentially means "black knife" and is worn as part of traditional Scottish Highland dress tucked into the top of the kilt hose.  (Note to self, if I purchase any of these, pack in checked luggage along with the whiskey :-).

One of the Brodie Tartans

Of course when you google "Scottish Souvenirs," a plethora of sites for clan tartan fabrics comes up, which got me thinking about whether I have any roots in Scottish.  I am a mutt.  The only heritage that I am fairly certain about is that I'm German, English, and Irish  from my mother's side (Thank you Uncle Don for the geological information).  Hard to believe there isn't a bit o' Scottish blood mixed in there, though granted, historically, the Scottish and English more often than not were at odds with each other.  But, even more promising is my dad's side of the family.  Grandma Corwin's maiden name is Brodie, and wouldn't you know there was a Brodie clan in northeastern Scotland and they even had a castle though it may not be still standing.  Yes, my interest is piqued and I will definitely do a little more investigating on both sides of the family.  Grandma Corwin left a book of information about herself, which I am ashamed to say, that I did not read closely until now.  Comments of note - she grew up in an Indian cabin in Oklahoma, had a cow named "Buttercup" and a cat named "Napoleon" and when she was born (at home), her father had to travel several miles, on horseback, to reach a doctor.

I love how when life presents unexpected twists and turns it opens up realms of new knowledge and possibilities of which I was previously unaware.  It is invigorating, energizing, and adds magic and mystery to the world.  Who would have thought that a search for Scottish souvenirs would ignite a dormant interest and appreciation in geneology and start me on another journey to learn more about my family heritage?  Pretty cool.