Scotland - Day 5 (Part 1)

I have officially reached the Highlands, marked by a road sign welcoming me! I arrived in Inverness this evening, known as the capital of the Highlands. It's a beautiful little city nestled along the Ness river. Ness, by the way, flows into the famous Loch Ness (Loch is the Scottish term for lake).
For dinner, I chose a restaurant along the river called The Kitchen, where I had a delicious steak followed by what I can only describe as the perfect apple crumble. The restaurant has three stories with large glass panes on the front overlooking the river. Here is a picture I took from my table - note the castle in the upper right.

More to come in part 2...

Scotland - Day 4

Today I spent the morning exploring St. Andrews. It's a fairly small town, but has some quite interesting remains of an old cathedral and castle. At one point in history, it was the Christian capital of Scotland. Some important relics, including some of the supposed remains of St. Andrew had been brought to St. Andrews, which also made it a key destination for pilgrimages. St. Andrew, by the by, is the patron saint of Scotland. If you'll recall, the Scottish flag is blue with a white X. But the X is actually a diagonal cross representing the martyrdom of St. Andrew, who was crucified diagonally at his request, as he did not feel worthy of being crucified in the same manner as Christ.

The castle remains were not terribly exciting, although they are right along the shore and so made for some nice photographs. However, the castle grounds also contain an ancient siege tunnel. At one point when the castle was under siege, the attackers had attempted to borrow under the castle with the hopes of laying explosives to bring the down the castle walls. What's particularly interesting is that the men in the castle heard the mining underway and began digging what is referred to as a counter-siege tunnel. After a couple missteps, they were able to connect with the siege tunnel and foil the plot. The cool thing about this is that the tunnels are still there, and you can climb down into them. You start from the castle side, where the counter-siege tunnel was dug. It was clearly done frantically, as it is very small - you practically have to crawl through it. But then you come to the original siege tunnel, which is quite wide and even had steps carved into it. Unfortunately, they've walled off the opening to that end, so you then have to crawl your way back out. It's not terribly long (it's amazing how close to the castle walls they started digging this tunnel), but it's still not for the feint of heart or claustrophobic. In fact, there's a big warning sign that says you may explore, but at your own risk. What particularly impressed me about the siege tunnel was that it, and the counter tunnel, were "dug" into solid rock. It would have actually been quite an effort requiring a number of tools and a bit of time. You can even still see the first two missteps of the counter-siege tunnel before they discovered the right direction to intercept the attackers.

My next stop for the day was Pitlochry, where I planned to spend the night. I decided I would take back roads to explore the countryside. Pitlochry is considered a sort of gateway to the Highlands. As I got closer along the back roads, they got narrower and narrower, until finally they didn't even have a dividing line for oncoming traffic and are barely wide enough for 2 cars. In fact, it got to the point where I was slamming on the breaks and veering as far off the road as possible. (This brings up another issue with driving on the opposite side of the car - I have a good sense of how far a car extends to my right, but very little sense of how far it extends to my left. It's not a transferable "skill", like shifting with the other hand, but rather a spacial sense that takes time to learn and hone. This made getting over as far as possible, without driving the car into a muddy bank, or worse, a stone wall, rather nerve wracking). To raise the stakes a bit, I started encountering one lane bridges that are raised, so incredibly hard to see what is coming the other way. And finally, I entered an area with unfenced grazing land for sheep. I'd read that sometimes sheep will wander onto the road so you have to be careful, but I didn't realize there weren't any fences, so the sheep could easily wander onto the road. They seems to like to stand or lay down right next to the road, making you wonder if they'll suddenly become suicidal right as you pass. In any case, narrow roads, driving from the right seat, and sheep so close you can reach out and pet them made for harrowing drive in Pitlochry. The whole experience made a sign I'd seen earlier in the day that much more ridiculous. It had read: "Watch out for red squirrels" with a giant explanation point below it for added effect. Really, squirrels!? I really couldn't are less about a squirrel wandering into my path. Good riddance is about all I'd think.

Upon my safe arrival in Pitlochry, I made my way to Edradour distillery. It prides itself as Scotland's smallest distillery, where they still do it the old fashioned way. Only 3 people are actually directly involved in making the whisky. They do, however, have a very nice tour, where they show you most of the facilities, including their barrel storage facility, which included a 1966 barrel from the famous Glenfarclas distillery which they plan to age 5 more years. At that point, it will be 50 years old, and worth maybe 2,000 pounds a bottle. With roughly half of the whisky evaporated at that point, I still calculate that one barrel's dollar value to be somewhere around half a million, at the low end.

At the end of the tour, they take you to a store where you can buy all sorts of whisky. Edradour is reputedly rather difficult to find in the US, but it is possible (and frankly, it's only rated as mediocre), so I opted to buy one of their more unusual options, a cask strength 14 year old whisky that spent part of its life aging in barrels that had previously been used for Barolo (one of Italy's finest wines). As a whisky ages, it becomes smoother, and most base level options are aged 8-10 years, so this one should hopefully be fairly smooth, and unique. (Cask strength means that it hasn't been watered down to 40-43% alcohol for mass distribution; instead, it's more like ~54% and will benefit from adding water upon tasting).

While in Pitlochry, I grabbed lunch at a local deli. I asked for a recommendation, and was given an absolutely phenomenal sandwich featuring sliced duck. I'm not sure I've ever had sliced duck on a sandwich like this, but I would do it again in a second. Overall, it's a charming little town. Oddly though, on my way back from dinner at Victoria's, I wandered past a little takeout Chinese restaurant. Suddenly, I felt like I was back in Philly. It was very odd. It certainly does not fit in this charming little town at the edge of the Highlands, although it at least didn't have a bunch of shady characters hanging around.

Scotland - Day 3

Today was the day of reckoning. Knowing what awaited me, I took my time in the morning, which did at least give me the opportunity to line up several more of my B&Bs along my journey. (I've decided on a route that goes counter-clockwise through Scotland, starting in Edinburgh and ending in Glasglow).

At last the time came, and I took a bus to meet my destiny. Shortly thereafter with decidedly little fanfare, or instruction for that matter, I was handed over the keys to a black Ford Focus hatchback. Poor car. I'd asked for a small car when I originally booked it with an American saleswoman. By American standards, is reasonably small, but my British standards, it is not that small. I wanted small to navigate all of the narrow roads. In any case, I meticulously scoured the outside for dents and other damage, as I was sure I would leave plenty on my own and didn't want to get blamed for others' mishaps as well.

As my last question before being taken to the chopping block, I asked the attendant what the easiest way to Stirling was, pointing out that I had never driven on the other side of the road before. He said that it was simple. I only needed to go around an extremely busy roundabout and then make a right turn onto a heavily trafficked road. Those were the two things I wanted most to avoid as I was first learning the ropes: roundabouts (which way do I go around it?) and right turns (equivalent to our left turns - which way do I look?). And then he left me with a "good luck". Alas, I said screw that, I tried to make my own way that would involve mostly left turns - the easy ones. Making up my own route quickly turned into getting quite lost in Edinburgh, as I didn't have a good map and had turned down an optional GPS, as they wanted around $150 for one for 8 days. (I had pointed out that it was ludicrous to charge me that much to rent one when I could purchase one for the same price, but they did not relent. Business opportunity? I'll rent them for $100 a week, thus significantly undercutting the competition, and still have an incredibly lucrative business.) Moreover, my stomach was in my throat as I nervously chanted to myself: stay left, stay left.

Before long, I discovered that I was headed directly towards the castle and the Royal Mile, the busiest and most confusing part of the city. Change course, change course! Before long, I began navigating by the sun, which, with a little help from a cartoon map, finally put me on course towards my destination, Stirling Castle. And an hour later, I had successfully arrived at my destination, the favored castle of the Stewart dynasty.

Along the way, I had learned some interesting things about driving a car with the steering wheel on the opposite side (the right side). For one, it's not a mirror image of American cars. Some things are on the same side, but others are not. It leads to a lot of confusion, because even if you can compel yourself to do the opposite of what your instincts tell you, sometimes you find that doesn't work either. For instance, the pedals are arranged the same as in our cars. This in particular is a godsend, because I'm driving a stick, and if the pedals were different, I'd probably already be dead. It would have been too many things to adapt to at once. However, the stick itself is not on the left, so I've got to learn to shift with the other hand while driving with the right. The blinker is still on the left of the steering wheel, which is a little odd to me, and causes a lot of confusion because my instinct is to use the hand on the wheel. In my Subie (or any American manual), since I'm driving with my left hand, I can flick the blinker with my hand on the wheel while shifting with my right. But now, since the blinker is on the same side of the steering wheel as the stick, I have to remember to blinker before shifting, or vice versa. The result is that I'm not using my blinker a whole lot. Other smaller things include reaching to the left to grab my seat belt, only to discover its on my right. For some reason I can't get past it - I think it's because putting on a seat belt is so subconscious for me, it never even comes to the conscious level until I reach to the left and my hand grasps at air. On a more embarrassing note, by the end of the day, I'd walked up to my car on multiple occasions to get in and drive away to discover I was opening the passenger seat door. It starts to all become very confusing - stay left, but sit right, shift with the left, but continue to hit the blinker with the left, drive with the same feet, but only after putting on the seat belt from the other side. Oh, and I keep looking in my right side view mirror to see what's behind me because my instinct is to look right when I want to look in the rear view mirror. And in case you are wondering, the ignition is still on the right. Now I'm not saying any of the design aspects I'm struggling with don't make sense - only that it's very challenging to upend your instinct when it's only some stuff, but not everything. It's hard enough to reverse the thing, but less with discretion.

Stirling Castle itself was pretty cool and competes with Edinburgh for its share of important history. It got so crazy, Scots would lose it to the English, then regain it, at which time they would raze the bloody thing to prevent the English from taking it again. I think this happened at least twice. It's rather silly when you think about it. The castle was actually used to garrison Scottish troops until the 60s, so it's revitalization as a historic landmark is a fairly modern occurrence. In fact, the royal palace was just refurbished for a whopping ~$20 million and just 2 months ago inducted by the queen. One of the buildings they painted with a gold-colored plaster, which looks odd at first, until you learn that in its heyday under the Stewarts, the whole castle was actually this color to show off their power and riches (and poor taste in my opinion). I'm sure the gold castle on its hilltop did look pretty impressive.

Around the castle, you find lots of unicorns. They were a pretty popular creature at Stirling C, at least in part because they represent Christ. I don't totally get it, but I think it has something to do with purity and uniqueness. During the tour of the royal palace, I also learned that the fancy bedrooms the royalty kept, with their big beds surround by draperies, were actually not used to sleep in. They existed to display the power and wealth of the person, while they actually often slept in a small nearby room. Must be nice to have a "show off" bedroom you don't have to worry about having to neaten after using. At the castle I also had my first misunderstanding due to the Scottish dialect. When I asked where the tour begins, the woman said up past the archway and to the right by the whale. Huh? What? A whale in the courtyard of a castle, that's weird. After a second, I asked her, "by the whale?" "Yes, by the whale." "Hmmm, okay". "Oh, no, by the will, oh, I said that wrong, by the well." "Oh, the well, I see." Huh, wells in castles make far more sense than whales.

While exploring the outside of the castle, a rainbow began to form in the valley. And then I noticed, almost directly in the middle of the rainbow, was William Wallace's monument. It was pretty amazing, actually. It kind of sent chills down my spine. Here I was, looking at a rainbow immediately overhead of this beautiful Gothic tower memorializing Braveheart. Wow.

During my visit at the castle, I also began to develop a new pet peeve. Everywhere it seemed were people popping out dSLRs, some of them nice, taking pictures in well lit rooms with their flash! They were just putting the thing on auto and it was popping up the flash. Some of them were taking pictures of things 30-50 feet away. The flash was useless at best. I suppose I understand - they want a nice picture with as little effort as possible. And I've certainly been humbled by the manual settings on my camera the past few days, but it all seems rather silly. If you are going to invest hundreds to thousands of dollars in a camera, you should learn to use the thing. At the very least, crank up the ISO a bit and put the camera in automatic aperture mode.

After the castle, I made my way to my B&B in St. Andrews on the eastern coast of Scotland. It's a very charming little town, perhaps most famous for its golf course (its supposedly where golf was invented), and more recently as being the alma mater of Prince William. Upon arriving, I called the host and learned that the key was behind a fold out door. I retrieved it and then opened the front door and went upstairs to purvey my digs for the night and take a leak. Then I went back outside to unload my car. Oh no, I'd left my the key on the dresser in my room. I was locked out again! But then I remembered that there was a second key behind the door, to room 2. I grabbed it to unlock the front door, and viola, I was back inside. So I went back to my room to grab the key and noticed that I had left it (and used the restroom in) room 2, NOT my room. I quickly retrieved my things from room 2 and sought out my proper room. Two crises averted!

I then went to a local restaurant called the Doll House for dinner, where I had a wonderful salmon filet. Seafood really is excellent in Scotland. Upon returning to my B&B, I noticed that they had coupons on the counter for one free drink at the Doll House. Ah well, maybe next time.

My closing thought for today is that the British really do LOVE traffic circles. They pop up all over the place. And I'm beginning to love them, too. They are far more convenient than stop lights. There's lots of evidence that they reduce seriously car accidents among other advantages. If I started a political party, it would be the party for building more roundabouts.

Scotland - Day 2

So sorry for the delay in getting day 2 posted. It's been a whirl wind of sights and traveling and booking the last of my accommodations. Word to the wise: even if your trip is more or less last minute, book stuff before you leave.

After breakfast, I returned to the city to explore the western side of what is called the Royal Mile, which extends slightly uphill for roughly a mile from the royal palace Holyrood, where the royals tended to prefer to spend their time when safe, to the Edinburgh castle. Along the way, I stopped in at St. Giles Cathedral, where famous Scottish preacher John Knox was said to have preached from. (John Knox, interestingly, was a protestant minister who was captured in St. Andrews and forced to row in the galleys of a French ship for several years, after which he was released, studied with the Calvinists, and then returned to Scotland and ultimately Edinburgh). The steeple of St. Giles is quite unique - it is open with only framing supports, looking much like a crown.

Next I proceed to the castle itself, which is quite the popular tourist attraction - I had to wait in line for ~45 minutes. Note to self - next time, don't get distracted, but go immediately to the most popular attraction first to beat the crowds. I spent several hours at the castle, which is quite impressive and has a rich history of wars and sieges. There's even a little chapel on top where you can get married (there was even a ceremony going on during my visit). Supposedly it's very popular among brides' fathers, as it only seats about 20.

After the castle, I made a short trip to the National Museum of Scotland to learn more about the early history of Scotland. I unfortunately got there too late to see everything I wanted to, but between it and some other sources, I've become to develop a much deeper appreciation for Scotland's history, which I will briefly butcher below.

To start off, I'll point out that while I have always appreciated Scotland's desire for freedom, I never truly understood the extent of it. I suppose I just thought they were of English decent, but didn't like the way the English went about things. In reality, at least prior to the last few centuries when the cultures melded further together, Scotland was mostly populated by peoples distinct from the English. The reality is, even the Roman empire couldn't successfully conquer Scotland, instead building Hadrian's Wall at what is roughly the Scottish border to defend from the "savages" to the north. There were several groups of people who lived in different areas of Scotland, including the Norse, the Celts, and the Picts. By the 10th century, Scotland had a Gaelic culture and was more or less united under the Mac Alpin dynasty. As England grew in strength, in continually tried to conquer and rule Scotland, but Scotland eventually one its freedom under Robert the Bruce (of Braveheart fame). Ironically, James VI of Scotland (son of Mary, Queen of Scots) inherited the throne of England and thus, despite England's never-ending efforts to control Scotland, it instead became ruled by a Scottish king. At this point, of course, everyone in the royal families of Europe were so inter-related that the whole concept of nation battling nation turned into a tragic farce of familial in-fighting. In the early 1700s, Scotland and England were officially joined to form Great Britian - Scotland had relented because its leaders and merchants saw England as an opportunity to grow their wealth. Only recently, has concept of a Scottish "devolved" government really gained momentum, most noted by their new parliament. Of a related note, England and Scotland have not always been one landmass, which was quite surprising to me. Perhaps its Scottish propaganda, but they claim that Scotland and England were at one point two separate islands, and when they finally collided, the resulting force is what created the mountains in the north, known to us as the Highlands.

Anyway, with my brief history lesson over, I'll return to the day. Sometime around late afternoon I happened to see a man in a kilt (not uncommon here, of course) who looked as if he were sagging. It's hard to say, but it looked like his kilt was hanging awfully low on his rear end. I never thought I'd see that. There is a certain pride in a Scot wearing a woollen skirt, but what this man was doing was quite ridiculous.

Before dinner, I did a wee bit of shopping ("wee" is a required term here, it seems), including stopping at Caidenhead's, Scotland's oldest independent bottler, for a taste of whisky (not called Scotch, here, of course). And don't put an "e" in it, either. That's what the Irish do, and I imagine it would be met with strict censure here.

For dinner, I stopped at the Beehive Inn in Grassmarket (just below the southern cliff of the castle) for a quick meal prior to the next event of the day. I had a minced lamb pie, which was okay, but far less exciting than dinner the night before. I think the quality of the food was in some way a result of the restaurant in the inn clearly being owned by a corporation. In fact, sadly, it sounds like almost all of the local pubs have had to sellout to larger businesses, in many cases breweries, which has had a negative impact on the atmosphere and likely tastiness of the fare.

After dinner, I enjoyed the Literary Pub Tour, which involves two actors debating the merits and inspirations of some of Scotland's most famous poets and authors, while leading us to several pubs around the city. It was recommended by both of my guide books and turned out to be worth the praise. At a couple of the pubs, I sampled two whiskys that were new to me - Springbank and Laphroaig, the latter of which the barkeep told me was very smoky, which it was and is characteristic of the region it is from. My favorite of the pubs was Ensign Ewart, the cramped interior of which is rich with dark wood, swords, and pistols. It is also the closest pub to the castle.

At the very start of the tour/performance, a woman in the front row started to talk rather loudly to the man next to her. The performer took the occasion to remind everyone that it is in fact a performance, and he requests that people try not to talk during it or ask questions. However, just a couple minutes later, the woman began to ask him a question. I was embarrassed for her, but also though, "oh boy, one those, I hope she doesn't ruin the whole thing." But I was soon to learn that the whole thing was a rouse - she was in fact the other performer. The whole premise of the show is the one actor takes and edgy interpretation of the writers as inspired by the common man and his drunken rabble-rousing, while the other takes a more academic perspective and sees them as geniuses above the filth. Their bickering makes for quite an entertaining way to experience the city.

One point they make during the tour is that recently, a well-known Scottish writer claimed that a people cannot have a unique culture unless they have a unique language. Now many might then claim the Scots cannot have a unique culture because they speak English. However, this writer made the point that Scots don't speak English, but "Scots". It's similar to English, but has many words and phrasings (and intonations) that are quite different. One of the actors then proceeded to read one of this writer's poems in its original Scots and then translated into English. I hardly understood the first version, which he read in a dramatic fashion with a thick Scottish brogue, so I'm more or less convinced of the claim. We'll see how much I can understand once I move to the more remote areas of the Highlands.

Once the tour had ended, I snuck out of the last pub before grabbing a drink and headed home to promptly fall asleep. I hadn't stopped moving, really, since the early morning.

During the day, I also learned that the remnants of a hurricane had moved back across the Atlantic and was headed for Scotland. I couldn't believe it!? I never thought they came over here - wasn't Irene enough for me this year?

The Motherland - Day 1

So, I'm going to try to post my travels through Scotland (aka, the Motherland, because I'm of Scottish heritage) on my blog, which I know has been virtually abandoned recently. It's as much for me as for you, so that I have a record of what I did and where I went, so I don't mind if you find that these posts lack excitement (or make you jealous), and thus you skim or skip them.

Day 1 consisted for me flying out of Philadelphia on a direct flight to Edinburgh. Nope, scratch that - Glasgow. For some reason, I had convinced myself I was flying directly to Edinburgh, only to discover right before leaving for the airport that my destination was in fact Glasgow. Not to worry, as Edinburgh proved to be a mere 20 minute bus ride to the train station in downtown Glasgow and then a 60 minute trip by rail.

I tried to sleep some on the plane, but what I did get wasn't "good" sleep under any stretch of the imagination. Upon my arrival in Scotland, it was chilly, gray, and rainy. So basically exactly what I expected. Once I made my way to Edinburgh, it was mid morning, and I was famished and slightly delirious from lack of sleep. I made my way to the tourist center (or should I spell it "centre"?) and learned how to navigate the bus system, which is as elaborate as it is confusing. Philly's bus system must in some way be modeled after Edinburgh, except in Philly you can't even get a single map that shows where all the lines go. In any case, upon getting where I was going sorted out, I made my way to a local shopping center to buy a converter for my power cables (which I'd somehow completely forgotten about during the 2 hour wait to my plane) and then had a crepe stuffed with cheese, ham, and mushrooms. Then I successfully caught a bus to my bed and breakfast and promptly took a 2 hour nap.

After 2 hours, I forced myself to get up, both because I didn't want to waste the day, and I wanted to try to adjust to the timezone as quickly as possible. I took the bus back to downtown Edinburgh and wandered around looking for the famous "Royal Mile" that leads up to the Edinburgh Castle, which sits atop the plug of an ancient volcano. I was far to mentally drained to take on lots of museums and such, so I headed downhill, away from the castle.

After window shopping a bit, I made my way to the new Scottish Parliament building. If you are not familiar with recent British, and more specifically Scottish history, not too long ago Scotland held a referendum which passed to create their own legislative branch. And when I say not too long ago, I am talking 1997, so this is new, exciting stuff. Scotland is still part of the United Kingdom, and the British Parliament still makes the most important decisions, especially regarding international issues, but it's still quite a big step for this little nation-state.

Speaking of which, I was surprised to learn that Scotland makes up approximately 1/3 of the land of the British Isle, but less than 10% of the population, at ~5 million people. While England is very densely populated, Scotland it closer to the density of the US (although still denser).

Back to the Scottish Parliament building: It's a very modern looking building, although it much of its construction is supposed to harken back to the land. It's interesting to say the least, with a very modern debate hall, which makes me wonder if, in 100 years, it will look more dated than historic. If you look at the whole complex from above, it is supposed to look like a plant, which it sort of does, so I'll give them that.

After my educational experience for the day, I decided to make the hike up to Arthur's Seat. It is atop a hilly network that's undeveloped and practically right in the middle of the city. You get fantastic views of the city and surrounding countryside, as it's probably the tallest thing in quite some distance. It was a much tougher hike than I initially expected, and after wandering around and taking many pictures for a few hours, it was time to find some dinner and then pass out.

Along the way back, I ran into an American couple who made for some interesting, if somewhat eccentric conversation. Highlights included me challenging the thesis of Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel (which was met with silence - I'm not sure if I was shaking their religion or they didn't understand my point) and the husband telling me how he was hoping we would someday advance the human knowledge and collaboration to a point where space travel would allow our species to continue and thrive. I think the latter is an interesting point, but he said it in such an excited, Star Trekie sort of way, that it made me chuckle to myself.

For dinner, I opted for a pub called The World's End. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the pub's name is a pretty cool reference to Edinburgh history. Part of the back wall of the pub is actually part of one of the original outer walls that surrounded Edinburgh. Because many people in Edinburgh rarely left the city, it was effectively their "world", thus the wall itself marked the end of it. At my waitresses insistence, I opted for the fish and chips. I'm usually not a huge fish eater, and I'm not sure if I've ever had fish and chips, but my neighbors at the next table also vouched for the meal, so I went for it. And it was delicious. Now granted I was very hungry after several hours of hiking, and half out of my mind with exhaustion, but I think in a better state, I still would have thought it quite good. I later also found out that this pub has a reputation for having some of the best fish and chips in Edinburgh. In fact, Scotland is known for having excellent seafood, which I hadn't really thought about since I don't eat it often, but completely makes since given that it's an island surrounded by waters known to be teaming with fish. I may have to try a couple more dishes from the sea before I head home.

Thus ended day 1. I fell asleep quickly, and only awoke a few times to turn over. I ended up in an absolutely tiny room with bunk beds, which is worth mentioning because I slept in the bottom bunk, and on awakening to turn over bumped my head on the top bunk each time. I had no idea I sit almost upright to turn over when sleeping, but now I most unmistakably am aware.