Home Again

I wouldn't say we're jet lagged, but since we've been home we're going to bed by 10:30 pm and waking up before 7 am the next morning without the alarm. The early bedtime is especially odd for Hans, who typically can't sleep before 2 am. I'm not complaining though.

The return was pretty rough. We stayed up all night in the hostel lobby before going to the airport at around 3 am, had to wait for security to open at 5 am, and flew to London at 6 am.

I didn't sleep during the transatlantic flight back to the states, so by the time we landed in Memphis at 7 pm I was pretty tired. Hans managed to drive about 130 miles as I nodded off uncontrollably before he had to stop at a rest area. I crawled into the back seat with the seats folded down and curled up with my travel pillow. Before I knew it Hans was telling me we'd been there 3 hours (it was now midnight). I took over the steering wheel and drove the last hour to Cape, punching my own leg to stay awake.

We picked up Bunsen at the vet the next morning and I think she was as relieved to be home as we were. Monday passed quietly.

I am still working on sifting through all the pictures and will hopefully have an album ready by the end of the week.

Scotland: Last Day

I have posted the pics for the 23rd and 24th. If this post seems a bit brief it is because we are up late killing time in the Edinburgh hostel before we go to the airport. Quite honestly, we're tired. It's time to go home and get back to our lives.

Driving back to Edinburgh

Our vacation is finally at an end. We returned the rental car gladly, put our luggage into storage lockers at the youth hostel we stayed at before, and walked back to the Old City. We passed the day by visiting some museums we’d already been to and some that we hadn’t. At the National Gallery we finished our introduction to the museum with the Scottish gallery.

Prince's Street Gardens and the Royal Mile

Later, we went to The People’s Story, an exhibit dedicated to what life has been like for typical Edinburgh citizens since the 1700s. In between museums we did some window shopping and walked up and down the Royal Mile. It was a beautiful clear and warm day outside, and it was nice just to wander the streets for a few hours. We also went back to the Museum of Scotland until closing time. We each properly stuffed ourselves at dinner since it was going to be our last proper meal in Scotland.

Go, Robot!  My God it's full of stars!

 Pub Time!

Since our first flight does not leave until 6:30 Sunday morning, we cancelled our final stay at the hostel here and have decided to hang out in their 24-hour lobby until we feel like going to the airport, whenever that is.

This is our last official post from Scotland but not the final word.  Thanks to everyone for the feedback on our blog and for being patient during the times internet access was a little difficult for us. We'll be in touch!

Scotland: Glasgow

This morning we drove to Glasgow without much excitement. Finding the hostel was a little interesting but we did not have to drive very far through town to get there. We walked around the University of Glasgow and went to the Royal Botanic Gardens. The grounds are free to visitors but the main attractions are the glass houses which have plant species from around the world. For whatever reason (most likely because most plants had peaked) we found the glass houses to have free admission also.

After looking at the cactuses, palms, ferns, orchids, begonias, and other plants, we went to the Museum of Transportation. There was a really neat exhibit made to replicate the way one of the major streets may have looked in 1920s, complete with a tiny cinema that played Looney Tunes and an old subway platform. There was a very interesting collection of old trams, trains, buses, motorcycles, and cars. The special exhibit was about shipbuilding and the old grand shipyards along the Clyde River. The rest of the afternoon was spend meandering among the streets. I had bought tickets to a play at the Citizen’s Theatre later that evening, so we took the handy (modern-day) subway across town to a large outdoor mall and browsed a few stores before finding an Italian restaurant for dinner.

 

The Harry Potter Ford Anglia

Later, we walked across the river to the theater for a showing of The Pillowman, a very dark comedy about a writer of short stories who is accused committing several child-murders (I said it was dark) that have occurred under similar circumstances as those in his stories. It was very well acted and engaged the audience easily, since the theater was a very small circle of stadium-style benches, creating an intimate atmosphere. Anyone who’s been to Cyrano’s in Anchorage knows what I’m talking about. During one of the intermissions I was talking to Hans and noticed he seemed distracted by something. I asked him what was up and he replied with a quiet “you’ve got big jumblies behind you.” I turned around to notice the very tall replicas of Greek statues. It was a very amusing moment.

Scotland: The Trossachs

Today was our second to last full day of vacation. Since we are off to Glasgow tomorrow, we decided to have one more last day in the countryside. We returned to the Trossachs via the resort town of Aberfoyle. Unfortunately, the weather was still gloomy and I was sad to be driving through the famous area of hills and lochs without being able to see much. After looking through a few brochures we drove a short ways to a trail that goes around Loch Ard.  We meandered about the Loch and took some pictures, not really in a hurry.

Yes, those are squirrels with light sabers and shooting lightning bolts 

 You can take the girl out of Alaska but then end up in a grove of Sitka spruce in Scotland!

That's how the saying goes, right?

Afterward, we went back to Aberfoyle and picked up a few snacks at the grocery. As we were returning to our car parked in the tourist info center lot, I noticed what looked to be a large bird flapping about in front of a large store nearby. I suddenly cried out for Hans to get out of the car and dashed over to see a small display of rescued wild birds. There was a Russian eagle, a Scottish hawk, some other kind of hawk or falcon, a horned owl, and a small barn owl. We arrived just as the caretaker was feeding the non-owls dead baby chickens. The eagle devoured its meal bones and all. The owls would be fed in the evening. After watching them for a while, we noticed a large pen where they’d be giving a sheep-dog demonstration. While there weren’t any sheep to herd, the dog guided a small flock of very nervous ducks about the yard, over bridges and through obstacles.

On the return drive to Stirling we took the scenic route through the Duke’s Pass of Queen Elizabeth National Forest. At this point the skies finally cleared a little and we were able to take some pictures of the excellent scenery I had been hoping to see.

Back at the hostel we did a last load of laundry and started to organize our luggage for the eventual departure back to the USA. Our vacation is quickly coming to an end.

Scotland: More Castles

The day went at a slightly slower pace but the hours were still fairly busy. After filling the Vauxhall tank with petrol we headed for the eastern banks of Loch Awe, on the edge of the area in Scotland known as the Trossachs. We were looking for Kilchurn Castle, another ruin but with more accessible areas than Dunollie. I was glad that I looked it up on the internet last night for information on how to get there because there were no signs whatsoever. We happened to notice a small road that looked as if it went toward the spit that sticks out into the lake. Luckily, it was the correct place to go and after walking out a ways, we found the castle. Except for a 15-minute period where a small tour group stopped by, we had the entire place to ourselves! It was another blustery and chilly day, but it was fun to have the run of a whole castle for a few hours. Right as we left it began to rain more steadily, so our timing so far seemed to be lucky.

(Click here for the link to our video of the castle)

(Link dead, work in progress)

Path to the castle

Barracks and other ruined parts 

Main living quarters 

 Views of the eastern mountains and Loch Awe to the north

 Fallen tower top in the middle of the yard (loosed by a violent storm)

Next, we headed southeast for Doune Castle. Hans opted for the audioguide tour while I dashed about with the camera. Since Hans took the tour, I’ll now turn this post over to him:

(Coconut sounds) The audio guide greeted me with Terry Jones’s soothing voice, assuring me that everything would not be silly despite his previous reputation. Doune Castle was used in Monty Python’s Holy Grail as the French Taunter’s Castle, Swamp castle and the Castle Anthrax. Doune was shot at from many different angles to create the multiple castles in the movie, every castle except Arrgghh, which we visited earlier.

Despite the modern day silliness associated with it, Doune had very serious beginnings. It was built by Robert Stewart, the Duke of Albany, the Second Son of King Robert II of Scotland, and Governor of Scotland for his father, brother (Robert III), and nephew James I, until his death in 1420 at the age of 80. He was the power behind the throne for so long that he was given the title “Scotland’s Uncrowned King” by history. Doune was to be his lordly residence for himself and his duchess. He had every intention of becoming king one day, so he would build his home accordingly. Doune has the interesting distinction of being one of the few castles that are unmodified from their original construction. Therefore Doune gives an interesting view of what the life of a late 14th century Lord would have been like.

The Duke never got to finish his lordly residence, as we can tell from several odd features in the castle: The south walls have four window openings in them, which as anyone who builds castles can tell you is not a good idea. Since there is no one who builds castles any more you will have to trust me on this. The Duke probably intended to have another building built within the walls. The additional building would have most likely been an even grander series of apartments for the Duke and his family, as the current Dukes and Duchess’ chambers (in the gatehouse tower) were rather small. The duchess also had to suffer the indignity of going to the bathroom in the hallway since her bed chamber was not en-suite.

As Dani was charging about taking pictures of everything in sight I took a slower pace, taking in the grounds and structures while Terry Jones kept me company. We spent a good two and a half hours in the castle trying to explore every room we could get into. The east wall, which was used for the French Taunter scene, was closed off for reinforcement reconstruction. So I didn’t get to call anyone an Animal Food Trough Wiper. However we did make it to the roof of the gatehouse tower which is a good 100ft off the ground. And now I will return this post to Dani.

 Monty Python fans should recognize some of the castle's features

One of the inner chambers and spooky shadows in one of the basement rooms

 Views of the village from the roof

The roof and battlements (check out those crazy stairs on the roof and indoors!)

But, father! I don't want to marry. I just want to....sing...!

We waved goodbye to Swamp-Camelot-Anthrax and finished the day in Stirling. Getting to the hostel was a little tricky. We went through a seemingly-endless sequence of roundabouts and took the wrong exit at one but Hans’ navigation skills got us to our destination just fine. The hostel happened to be down the street from Stirling Castle in the middle of the old medieval town site, so we went for a walk to the nearby Church of the Holy Rude, a nice vantage point next to the castle. Hans wanted to see the Old Stirling Bridge, so we walked down the old town hill toward the river Forth. Along the way we went through a park and crossed paths with a falconer, his bird perched clumsily on his glove as he huffed up the hill. When we came to the bridge I took a few pictures and we sat on a bench at the nearby park. I wanted to start eliminating our residual groceries, so we picked up a few simple ingredients for a meal and then went back to the hostel. Everything Pasta for dinner!  It was not long after eating that we both fell asleep with our room lights on.