Land of Scots and Redcoats

In trying to summarize my trip to Scotland, I'm feeling uninspired.  I just can't figure out what angle to come at this from.  There were only two of us on the trip, so a lot of "people" pictures would get boring.  We saw a lot of scenery from the train or bus, which means we saw some awesome sights but we struggled to get good pictures of them because of the window reflections.  I'll just get started and see how it turns out.

Basic trip background:  I traveled with Sharin'.  She put up with me the whole trip - can you believe that?  We flew into London, went up to Scotland and toured around, then came back to England, saw a few things, and flew out of London.  This was the first overseas trip I took where I actually had to do a lot of my own planning.  That consumes a lot of time.  We had a train pass where we could travel for eight days on the train pretty much without restrictions.  We did not attempt to drive in the U.K.  Many pairs of holey socks and underwear were disposed of on the trip.  This helps to lighten your backpack load and leaves room for souvenirs.  Our journey began the late afternoon of Thursday September 2nd and ended late evening/early morning on Monday September 13th / Tuesday September 14th.

For those who like to skip the details, here are the top 10 best things about the trip, not necessarily in order of importance:

1. Fellowship with God's people.
2. Attempting to play the bagpipes (shockingly, it turns out I'm not a natural at them)
3. Bicycling in the highlands
4. Stonehenge
5. Roman Baths
6. Staying in a hostel  (maybe not the best thing, but definitely memorable)
7. Beating Sharin' at Rook on the train  (sometimes)
8. Fireworks in Edinburgh  (probably the best I've ever seen)
9. Oliver
10. Castles and Palaces

For you detail people, you can see a bunch more pictures if you e-mail me or leave a comment.  I'll send you the link.  Below is the more detailed narration and a few pictures.  I'm sure I haven't been able to include all the details, but that's OK because I still need a few tidbits of conversation starter if I actually see you in person.  I did decide to take the people picture approach because I found there were more people in my pictures than I had originally thought.

Thursday 9/2:  The 'rents of Sharin' dropped us off at the airport.  While waiting for our delayed flight, we booked our hotel for Friday night in Edinburgh.  Almost as soon as we clicked the "purchase" button, they came on the microphone to say our flight was essentially canceled due to mechanical plane problems.  Bummer.  We worked our magic with the customer service person on the phone and she managed to get us on a different airline routing through Chicago instead of Philadelphia, and we got to the U.K. only two hours later than originally scheduled.  There was some confusion about exactly what flight we were on and a tight connection in Chicago, but we made it to London Heathrow without incident, with our checked bags, and lacking some sleep.  Score!

I don't have any pictures from that day, so I'll take this opportunity to showcase one of my best Scotland scenery photos taken near Fort William.

Friday 9/3:  Leaving the airport, we figured out how to get into London on the train.  We arrived at Paddington station, and after asking a few people and wandering around we finally figured out how to get to King's Cross station for the train ride to Edinburgh on the express train.  Being Friday afternoon, we were lucky to find a couple seats that weren't reserved where we could sit for the duration of the trip.  Did you know they have "quiet zone" cars on the train?  Anyway, we arrived in Edinburgh.  We exited the train at the Waverley station and had to ask for directions to our hotel (more than once).  We finally found it after walking a mile or two.  It turns out we could have stayed on the train for one more stop and been a block or two from our hotel.  Supper that night for me was some delicious Aberdeen grown Angus fillet mignon.  The guide book said Aberdeen Angus is the best steak you can get there.  It sure was awfully delicious and tender, and it appears as though Scots like their black pepper, which I don't mind because I do too.

You can look at Sharin' in the foreground if you want, but try to focus on the Upper Crust bakery sign in the background.  Not only did they have great sandwiches in the regular daytime hours, but their breakfast egg and cheese sandwich was to die for.

Saturday 9/4:  The first order of business was to go to Starbucks to use the internet and reserve our hotel for that night.  Little did we know that there was a festival in Edinburgh that was ending that weekend, so most places were full up.  We reserved a place online, but the place didn't get our reservation.  Luckily they had a last-minute cancellation and were able to accommodate us.  The rest of the day we spent doing a self-guided walking tour of the city.  I had genuine fish and chips for lunch.  I like the breading most places in Scotland seemed to use for their food - it was one of those airy, lighter type of breadings.  We also took a guided tour of the Edinburgh castle, which was the birthplace of the King James who commissioned that one version of the Bible to be translated.  The world duathlon was going on, so we stopped to cheer a couple USA guys on to the finish.  We ate pizza that night.  It was typical European pizza where a 12" pizza usually only feeds one.  We didn't know that, so we ordered one for both of us and had dessert to supplement.  The pizza had really thin crust with sparse toppings and a minimal amount of cheese.  The "American" pizza there has pepperoni and cheese.  That seems ironic, doesn't it?  I always think of pepperoni as Italian.  We also got the meeting arrangements figured out that evening.  The shower?  It was very low water pressure, but at least the water in the shower was cold.

A guy at the Edinburgh castle.  That's not Oliver, in case you were wondering.

Me with the best bagpiper in Scotland (he's not Oliver either), according to Gavin, our castle tour guide.  He said the authentic Scottish instrument is the Celtic harp.

Sunday 9/5:  We got up, packed our backpacks, and started to walk to meeting for about half an hour until we decided we'd be late if we didn't take a taxi, so we hailed one to get to the flat where meeting was.  After meeting, a young girl (Rosie) was graciously pressed into service to take us to the train station.  However, we got sidetracked on the way and ended up eating lunch with her and some other young people at Julie's apartment.  We were sidetracked even further as we hung out there all afternoon, went with Julie to GM, and then came back to Edinburgh to watch the fireworks that marked the end of the festival.  We had planned to leave that day but decided to stay on at the invitation of Julie to do so.  On the walk back from the fireworks to Julie's apartment we stopped to get a "poke of chips" as our supper.  When we arrived back at the apartment/flat we of course had to end the evening with some tea.  I must mention that Sharin' loved the UK for the simple fact that she felt validated in her love of tea.  One very real thought I remember from that GM in paraphase was "if we've really tasted the sweetness of the way, how could we ever leave the way of God?"

Howard (not Oliver), Julie, Rosie, and yours truly.  Paul went with us to GM, but he's not shown here.

Monday 9/6:  After more tea and some cold cereal in the morning, we walked to the train station and embarked on the ride to Inverness.  On the way we saw some great scenery:  a bridge across the firth of Forth, lots of harvested grain fields, straw bales, lush green pastures, sheep, heather, and the edge of the highlands.  Before leaving Edinburgh we had arranged to stay the night with some strangers who lived an hour train ride north of Inverness.  After an hour or so wait in Inverness where we ate a late lunch and saw a small bit of the town, we got on the train again and headed north where the strangers picked us up and took us to their house.  They weren't all that strange since they were friends, and a couple people at the house were visiting sista woikas.  We had a lovely evening complete with fellowship, mutton broth vegetable soup, mutton, beets, potatoes, and attempting to play the bagpipes.  That was the best mutton I've ever tasted.  It didn't have that "muttony" flavor I usually associate with lamb.  We also spent a good amount of time trying to decide whether to try to go way far north in Scotland and see Smoo Cave.  Our hosts had never even heard of Smoo Cave before (we read about it in the guide book), and after looking at the meager transportation options in that sparsely populated area, we finally gave up our dreams of seeing puffins and Smoo Cave.  We decided to head south and west the next day instead.

Our supper hosts for the evening.  We spent the night at their daughter's house in the same yard.  He's John, not Oliver.

Emitting a few squawks and squeaks.

Tuesday 9/7:  We were up bright and early to catch the 7:00 AM train.  Luckily our host only lived a couple miles from the train station.  We arrived in Inverness again, where we caught a bus to Fort William.  The trip to Fort William included a good view of Loch Ness.  I kept my eyes peeled for Nessie, but I didn't see her.  As often happens in Fort William I'm told, it was raining.  Sharin' wasn't keen on bicycling in the rain, so our journey went something like this:  train - Mallaig - ferry - Isle of Skye, Armadale - bus - Broadford - bus - Portree.  In some cases, there was much waiting involved for various kinds of public transportation.  While waiting at one bus stop, we met a college student from Princeton who was on a nine month trip to Europe, northern Africa, and parts of the Middle East while writing his senior thesis related to his major in Latin.  When we arrived at Portree, we found all hotels and BandBs full up.  To the gills.  And, we had neglected to make any kind of reservation.  So, it was the hostel for us.  Thankfully they still had open beds.  As a college student I may have enjoyed a hostel more, but in my old age I found it mildly interesting.  If we look on the bright side, the shower and water pressure at the hostel were better than the one hotel we stayed at in Edinburgh.

The lady in the picture is some random passenger on the train.  In the background is the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which was made extra famous because it's the bridge shown in the Harry Potter movie(s) when they're on their way to Hogwarts.

Pipers and drummers in Portree.  I didn't catch their names, so I'm not sure if any were named Oliver.

Wednesday 9/8:  We left Portree bright and early, which means we barely saw anything of the town, but I was anxious to get back to Fort William to go bicycling.  Our trip to Fort William went something like this:  Portree - bus - Broadford - taxi - Armadale - ferry - Mallaig - bus - Fort William.  During the taxi ride we learned there is some great hiking on the Isle of Skye that we unfortunately didn't get to partake in.  Maybe next time.  In Fort William, we found the bike rental shop, got some bikes and directions/suggestions on where to ride, and we headed out to ride through Glen Nevis.  The entire day resulted in some of the best pictures of the trip.  It was a beautiful sunny day, and I was glad Sharin' had talked me out of biking in the rain the day before.  On the bike trip we even managed to see a waterfall and some highland cows up close.  We returned the bikes, picked up some food for the upcoming train ride, and then embarked on the train for the ride to Glasgow.  Along the way we got several games of makeshift Rook in using playing cards and modified Tennessee for Two rules.  We also saw some awesome scenery with lots of lochs, moors, a nice sunset, etc.  We arrived at Glasgow and headed to our hotel for the night - the Crowne Plaza.  It was a star or two above the accommodations from the previous night.

The biking trail and view - I'm talking about the mountains!

Now that's goofy!  He wouldn't tell me his name, but I don't think it was Oliver.

Thursday 9/9:  Guess what we did this day?  You guessed it......more train riding.  This time we headed south to England and reached southern England by around noon.  Our original plan was to go to Stratford-upon-Avon to see all the Shakespeare stuff.  After getting maybe halfway there we re-examined the train schedule and our plan and decided to skip seeing The Bard's dwelling place and headed straight to Bath instead.  Well, as straight as the train routes would let us anyway.  We had to change trains in Bristol, and that was interesting.  The train was very crowded from Bristol to Bath with business commuters and some young college aged kids who were heading to a festival wearing their muck boots with a large beer stash - prepared for rain if it came.  The train was full enough that I had to stand for that trip.  Anyway, we arrived at Bath.  Yes, it's called Bath because that's where people went to take a bath in the only hot springs in England.  You can't swim in the original Roman baths, so we went to the modern one and soaked in the spring water there.  It was a three-story building with a roof pool with a great view.  There were also steam rooms and a mineral pool.  The steam rooms were kind of cool (even though they were hot) because they had essential oils mixed with the steam.  One of the steam rooms had a Frankincense scent, which I don't think I had ever smelled before.  Supper was Thai food, and then we took a taxi a few miles out of Bath to a country inn type of place for the night.

Part of the spa roof pool.  You weren't supposed to take pictures, but we snuck one.  Ssshhhhh.  Don't tell them.

A fairly typical train station - can you find Sharin'?

Friday 9/10:  I think this was the only day I had a proper English breakfast complete with hot tomato halves, sausage, eggs, white grapefruit, baked beans, mushrooms, tea, and some other stuff I can't remember.  Several other days for breakfast I had to rely on the stash of granola bars I had in my backpack.  My stash of granola bars and snacks was pretty deep.  Sharin' was amazed that I still had snack supplies right up to the end of the trip.  I did supplement my own snack stash with snacks I bought at the stores there.  Enough about food;  we left the inn and went back to Bath to tour the Roman bath ruins.  It was very interesting with lots of engineering feats to admire.  I would give it a "like" status.  You'll never believe it, but after the baths we got on the train again.  We traveled to Salisbury.  From there we took a tour bus ten miles or so out of town to Stonehenge.  That gets a "like" in my book too.  They don't know why it as built, but it was built thousands of years ago.  We're talking 3000 B.C.  Some of the stones weigh almost 55 tons.  Yet more things for this engineer to gaze upon.  Our entrance fee to Stonehenge included a tour of the original town site of Salisbury called Old Sarum.  After seeing all that goodness, we took the train into London, figured out the subway system, and managed to get to the hotel where we had a reservation for the rest of our stay in London.

The person of interest is that lady in the background dressed in a "period" costume from the era when the Romans occupied England.  At least I think that's when it's from.

Some girl who looked vaguely familiar at Stonehenge.

Saturday 9/11:  We consulted with the hotel concierge and discussed the things we would most like to see while in London.  The result was that we went to Buckingham Palace first.  In August and September, the palace is open to the public (for a fee of course), so we got to tour the state rooms and gardens of Buckingham Palace.  This fulfilled Sharin's request to see a palace while in the U.K.  From there, we headed to the Covent Garden subway stop.  We walked from there to one of the theaters where we saw the musical "Oliver" in a matinee performance.  How fitting is that?  Get it?  Charles Dickens, Oliver, London?  After that, we ate supper, window shopped a bit, and navigated the public transportation back to the hotel.

Please sir, I want some more - Oliver and me!

Sunday 9/12:  We left the hotel at 8:00 because we weren't sure exactly how long it would take us to get to the "tube" station where some other strangers were going to pick us up to go to meeting.  It ended up taking us a little more than an hour and a half.  We found out later that if we had done things right it should have only taken half an hour.  But, the good news was we made it.  Our taxi service so kindly invited us to lunch and offered to give us a ride to GM.  It was an enjoyable afternoon.  We learned about dry English humor and Armenia.  There was also a 92 year old lady who was there for lunch who was originally from Germany during World War II.  She had some very interesting stories from that era.  I don't have enough space to go into all of it here, but that lady definitely had some courage.  The snafus in our navigation of public transportation resulted in me getting a bit of a meager supper that night.

Our taxi service.  Megan and Deb O. from the cowboy state were in their guest book!

Monday 9/13:  The 26 waking hour day.  We left the hotel at 6:00 AM I think it was.  Travel went something like this:  Hotel - bus - underground/tube/subway - train - Gatwick airport - plane - Charleston, NC airport - 5 hours of waiting - plane - MKE airport - car - home.  The 'rents of Sharin' were very nice to bring my car directly to the airport so I could get home as soon as possible.  I arrived home very early on Tuesday morning (1:30 AM) in need of a vacation from my vacation.

For lack of any pictures from this day, here's one from the previous day of the German/English lady.

That's it folks.  If you see Sharin', don't take all her fun away - ask her about the trip too.  She can maybe tell some boring stories about me.