Back in the U.S

Saturday, June 19th was the longest day of the year.  For Grace and me, it was also the longest day of travel....25 3/4 hours.  We set 3 alarms, each 15 minutes apart beginning at 3:30AM, to wake us..  We did not hear the first alarm.  The second, the hotel's telephone wake-up call woke us from a deep sleep at 3:45AM.   We got showered, packed and headed down to the lobby to catch a taxi to the airport for our 6:30AM flight on British Midlands Airline from Edinburgh to London.  Wretched time of the morning to get up.

4:30AM - In spite of the ungodly hour, we reveled in seeing our first Scottish sunrise.

Once at London Heathrow airport, we grabbed a quick bite to eat, did a little duty-free shopping to waste our 3+ hour layover, before realizing that we were in the wrong terminal to catch our Virgin Atlantic flight at 11:50AM.  We were in Terminal 1.  Virgin flies out of Terminal 3.  After several long walks down wrong corridors, we knocked on the door of an office (information desks were no where to be found) to ask directions.  The gentlemen thought at first that we were in distress, but once he found that we were merely lost Americans, he gently pointed us in the right direction.  Once we got into Terminal 3, we found out that we still had to check in with the boarding agent to ensure that our transferred bags would actually be transferred from BMI to Virgin.  I suppose this is a security measure, but seemed crazy to us, AND hampered our duty-free shopping, which by the way requires you show your boarding pass.  Heaven forbid that you somehow snuck into the airport, got through 3 security check points and bought something duty-free, thereby saving a pound or two.

11:50AM Virgin Atlantic flight #007 took off.  The 56mph head wind added some time on our flight.  12 hours to go. 

Some of you might know that while in Nairn, I slipped on the stairs and severely bruised myself.  The general location of the bruising is my sit-upon part.  So, it was with great fear that I settled down for 12 hours of sitting in an airline seat designed for a person half my size.  The first 3 hours were a great challenge, but I finally managed with both airline pillows tucked beneath me.

We landed at LAX about 3:20PM PST, retrieved our luggage, passed through customs and made our way over to Hertz to pick up our rental car.  The 3.5 hour drive from LAX to Fresno turned into a 5 hour drive, as traffic on the 405 freeway for the first 40 miles was 0-12 mph.  We stopped in Valencia for an In N Out burger and Starbucks (our U.S. re-entry food) and managed to hit Fresno at 9:30 PM, safe and sane.   Mission accomplished.

Grace and I both had a fab trip.  We figure we have about 5-6,000 photos and  purchased 1.5 triga-byte external hard drives to store them.  Stay tuned for more photos and anecdotes about our trip.

The Innes Saloon

Inverness, Scotland is the city where my grandmother, Elizabeth Grace Innes was born.  Although Grace has the same name, her mother Jessica did not know this when she began thinking of naming her.


The Innes clan originated in the Urquart and Banff, Scotland areas. 
 
While in Inverness, Scotland, Grace and I stopped in The Innes saloon. This saloon is on Innes Street.

We popped into The Innes and ordered cheeseburgers and 2 pints of Stella (Artois) beer.

The cupboard behind the ship on the shelf opens when the saloon is serving food.  This is where you order your food.  Those Scots are a creative bunch.

We finished our burgers, sat at the bar and spoke with the bartender.  She said The Innes was over 100 years old and was built in 1834.  She thinks that the saloon has always been called The Innes.  The building has stayed the same, but the interior has been updated (although not in the last 20 years).

According to my grandmother, Elizabeth Grace Innes, the houses on Innes and George Streets were built by and named after her father, George Innes.

This is 28 Innes Street.  I have a photo of Elizabeth Grace Innes and her sister standing in front of this house.

This is a street view of Innes Street.  The saloon is wayyyy down at the end.

Fort William and Scottish dogs

Day 5 of our Highland tour made a stop in the village of Fort William for lunch.  We ducked into The Grog and Gruel to grab some fish and chips, but alas they had not had their fish delivery that day, so we opted for  the burger with chips and the Chicken Pie (in the white dish).  Both dishes were good.  Food rating: 6 -- good food, but not much to write about.

Grace looks like she thinks I ditched her, but I was right across the way waiting for her to come out, so I could take her photo.

It was a sunny day and lots of people were out and about with their dogs.  There is something about Scottish dogs that makes me want to take their photo.  Most are some mixture of terrier and have crazy wire-like whiskers.

This little fella was a fisty little guy. 

And this one was a bit shy.  He turned his head just as I took the shot.

 St. Andrew's Church (the Episcopal Church)

I leave you with this little tidbit.  In a country where most houses and buildings are natural stone, except for the fishing villages where they whitewash the houses to please the sea gods and bring good luck, why would someone paint beautiful metalwork this hideous shade of pink?

Sky

Scotland has the most beautiful sky in the world.

Lambs and laundry

This is our second night in Portree, on the Isle of Skye, which happens to be very close to the ends of the earth.  Our room at the lovely Rosedale Hotel overlooks the harbor.  The bathroom window provides us with a view of several boats moored quite near.  It is unusual for us Fresno girls to have such an incredible view from the toilet. 

In addition to the view and proximity to the harbor, we delight in the shower with its easy on and off water valve.  Have we mentioned yet that our previous rooms either did not have a shower, or had a crazy silver button on the side of the valve to push to get hot water.  Now, this little button was not a guarantee that we would receive hot water, no-no.... it was just a request.  We might start the shower with hot water, but it was subject to change at any moment.  And, this particular shower had a dam (the little lip that ensures the water doesn't run out onto the floor) about 2" deep....and a poor drainage system.  Thank goodness for extra towels. 

We have a much longer story to tell about our electric outlet challenges, but that will have to wait for an evening when I have much more time.  Needless to say, we have brought and bought several converter plugs and appliances.  Stay tuned for that little tale.

Today, we set off from the village of Portree and headed north up the coast of the Isle of Skye.  Did I mention that it is at the ends of the earth?  Oh yes.  This is the place where Flora MacDonald hid Bonnie Prince Charlie from the Brits way back in the 1700s, until he sailed off to France.  Not a bad place to hide because back then, the only way to the Isle of Skye was by boat.  The bridge from Scotland to the Isle of Skye wasn't built until much later.  For years and years, the only way over here was via ferry.  When they decided to build the bridge many people were actually unhappy because it put many people out of work.   Electricity didn't get here until 1958.  Flora is a huge hero for saving the life of their Bonnie Prince.  She is buried in the Village of Uig.

If you look beyond her grave, you can see that yes, the Isle of Skye is at the ends of the earth.

One of the highlights of today was this sweet little lamb.  He was baa-baa-baaing for his mother, who since it is fairly close to weaning time, didn't pay much attention to him.  The lambs are wooly and clean.  The ewes are tattered looking as they shed their winter coats.  You can see him hiding behind the his mother.

So off we went to the top of a hill to get a good look of the valley that leads down to the ocean.  Next to the car park (parking lot) was a little shack offering the most amazing fair.  How many times in your life do you get a chance to order up a zebra burger?  Or a kangeroo burger?  All served with a fresh crispy salad for only 3.95 pounds.  Unfortunately, no one in our tour group took the challenge so we cannot report back on the food rating.

Although the second half of today's tour headed over to the west coast of the Isle of Skye, we opted out and choose to catch up on our laundry instead.  We paid 3 pounds and 40 pence (about $5) to wash a load and 20 pence for 4 minutes to dry, which worked out to take about 200 pence (about $3).  But, hey our clothes are clean and it is like a fresh start.

Tomorrow we head back to Edinburgh by way of Glen Coe, the Great Glen.  This will be the last day of our 5-day tour with Rabbie's tours and our driver, Liam, who just happens to look pretty damn good in his kilt.

Isle of Skye

Aaah, another long day of driving, hopping out of the caravan bus, dashing about to see the sights, hopping back on the caravan bus and more driving.  We left Inverness this morning and arrived in Portree on the Isle of Skye this afternoon at 6:30PM.  We saw rain and we saw sunshine.  We saw a castle, sheep, Highland cows (they say Hay-land Coo), a glen, too many Lochs (lakes) to count and a few Firths (Estuaries). 

This is one of the glens.  It almost looks like Grace has been Photo-shopped into the photo.  Gorgeous sweeping view with surreal clouds.

Can you believe this is real?  It looks like a painted mural.

"Partially destroyed in a Jacobite uprising in 1719, Eilean Donan lay in ruins for the best part of 200 years until Lieutenant Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap bought the island in 1911 and proceeded to restore the castle to its former glory. After 20 years of toil and labour the castle was re-opened in 1932."

We spent about an hour going through the public areas of the castle.  A portion of it is still a seasonal residence for the MacRae-Gilstrap family.  We were able to see the Great Room (sorry no photos allowed), a faux-kitchen from the 1920's (we snuck in a photo of a dead goose, see photo to the right), and a bed chamber with sitting areas and dressing areas.  The bed chamber has a little cupboard in the sitting alcove.  The docent said it was used to store the chamberpot until the maid came and checked to see if it was full.  He said having it enclosed cut down on the smell.  Considering that the castle was rebuilt in the late 1920's, it seems odd that they would keep the poop cupboard in tack.

As we walked out of the castle, there was a little cockatiel parrot kind of bird sitting on the stone wall.  He was chirping his little heart out and everyone stopped to take his photo.  All he needed was a little tin cup to collect some coins.

Grace and I think he must be someone's pet.  He was so tame and we were able to get very close. 

The town of Portree was once a herring fishing village that was subsidized by the government, but the herring industry died out from over fishing.  The locals continue to fish, but the majority of the fish here are farmed salmon.  There are huge, unmanned floating fisheries in the middle of the bay.  Evidently, the fish food is dispensed automatically and the fishermen just show up to harvest the salmon.

We are still getting used to the 11:00PM sunset.  It is 10:27PM and there is still some day left.  The long, long days would be a child's dream come true.  Mom says, "Come on home when it starts getting dark."   However, for us it feels like we just managed to get dinner and now must go to bed.  Tomorrow is another full day of sightseeing.  The Isle of Skye beckons....

You call this breakfast?

You might have heard that we were staying in a B&B in Edinburgh.  What you didn't know was that that second B stands for Breakfast.  Our hostess, Jill includes breakfast in the cost of the night's stay.  This lovely breakfast came with a silverware set-up to rival The Waldorf Astoria.  There were spoons for everything.  Three spoons for the jams, 2 large spoons to eat with, a spoon for your coffee, a spoon for the fruit...BUT, we never had enough and found ourselves wiping them off so we could have one more spoon.  There has to be a limit to the number of spoons you might for a simple breakfast, right?

The first two mornings, we had fresh Scottish strawberries, 3 choices of mystery cereal (all in glass jars with no names), croissants (plain and chocolate), some strange bread-like roll with sunflower seeds and poppy seeds on top (the same 2 kept showing up reheated and presented as new for three days), marmalade, strawberry jam and apricot jam, orange juice, yogurt and coffee.  The yogurt was called Greek yogurt.  Oddly enough its consistency and taste were exactly like cream cheese.  I'm not talking about sort of like, I'm talking exactly like.  We saw the container and it said "Greek yogurt", but this was like no yogurt we have ever had.  What do you do with the yogurt once you have taken it?  You mix it with the mystery cereal and strawberries and call it a parfait.

We are Starbuck fans, so when someone serves us a coffee press without giving instructions, we are somewhat lost.  Is there a way to keep it from making an inch of sludge in the bottom of your cup?  And, when you want a second cup, do you just jump up and make your own?  Turns out, yes you do.  But, watch out because there is a formula for the number of spoon fulls of ground coffee to hot water.  And, if you get it wrong, the coffee is either so weak you think it might be muddy water, or so much you get the caffeine rush of your life.

Jill has offered to cook us a hot breakfast every day...in addition to the spread above.  Last night, we agreed to let her cook the breakfast, but did tell her that the fruit, croissants and coffee were almost too much already.  But, hey when someone insists on making you breakfast, you let them.  Since we had to leave this morning to catch our tour bus, we asked Jill to have breakfast ready at 8AM.  At 8:02, we sat down to the same fruit, cereal, breads, jams, and coffee we have seen the last 3 mornings and watched as Jill baked the rasher of bacon, poached eggs (over cooked to the level just under hard-boiled), 2 baked tomatoes and a baked mushroom cap.  The bacon was good, the eggs do-able, but what is it about a baked tomato and mushroom that the English and Scots feel they have to include with every breakfast?  By U.S. standards, these are not side dishes that would normally be included with breakfast.  Would it be rude to ask them to hold the tomato and mushroom?  I hope not.

Our driver, Liam from Rabbie's Highland Tours took off at 9:00 AM today.  First stop, the edge of the Firth of Forth to see the train bridge and the car bridge.  The car bridge is, according to Liam,  "modeled after the Golden Gate bridge" (the most beautiful and most photographed bridge in the world), but much smaller and only similar in that it is a suspension bridge, but who are we to quibble about that. 

The suspension car bridge over the Firth of Forth

Next stop, Dunkeneld Cathedral on the River Tay.

 Tonight, we are in Invernesss at a hotel on the River Ness.  We have an early start tomorrow, so bye for now.

Odd translations and weird sayings

Base = pizza crust
Mind the step = Watch your step
Toilets = restrooms
Hair appliance = hair straightener
Chips = French fries
Rape = a type of vegetable oil
Surveyor = real estate agent
Flat = house
Solicitor = attorney
Crack = fun

Tow-MAAAA-tow = tomato.  If you say it like we do in California, they misunderstand you and think you said potato.  The ma part is verrrryyy, drawn out.

Edinburgh Castle

Whew, long day.  The weather has been perfect, so the city is bustling with city folk and tourists. 

To remedy our constant time question, we purchased a Swatch watch.   Grace is in charge of  answering, "So, what time is it now?"

This morning, we spared our feet and caught a cab over to the Waverly Bridge tour bus hub, where we hopped on the Edinburgh city tour bus.  For a mere14 pounds you can hop on and off for the next 24 hours.  After a 20 minute ride, we hopped off at Edinburgh Castle.  The Castle was a busy, busy place.  It is spread out and you can spend about a week walking from one end to the other trying to see it all.

For two hours, we dodged other site-seers and took in the Castle.  From ramparts to cannon balls.  Unfortunately, the Crown Jewels are in a special vaulted room and no picture taking is allowed.  We fully expected a bejewelled crown and found the pearl, gold and red velvet a bit disappointing.  Certainly, the Queen deserves better.

From the Castle we got back on the tour bus and saw the new Parliment Building.  Enric Miralles, one of the world's premier architects, developed a design that he said was a building "growing out of the land".  I'm not sure about it growing out of the land, but it definitely stands out from the surrounding buildings.  It is a purely modern design.

The tour bus swung by the coffee shop where J. K. Rowling began to write the Harry Potter series and her former apartment, as we are certain she has taken her millions and moved to more luxurious accomodations.

Cafe Rouge

Yesterday, we found a great French cafe for lunch.  The Cafe Rouge.  We were delighted find Croque Monsieur on the menu and order it in honor of Jessica.  The lightly toasted ham sandwich is topped with gruyere cheese melted in the broiler.  The skinny chips (French fries) are the perfect accompaniment.  At first we think it will be a gooey mess to eat, but find the French have concocted the perfect combination of cheese and bread and it is a one napkin sandwich.  Food rating:  8.5  the best so far.

Hector's Pub

Last night, we decided to hit a local pub and toss back a few pints.  Jill suggested we walk down the hill to Hector's, where she says she hung out when she was in college.  So, inspite of tired feet, we set off in search of Hector's.  Jill says not to go in Baillie Pub, but as we pass it, it looks inviting and we wonder what she knows that we don't. 

Hector's is busy on this Thursday night with people stopping to meet up with friends.  We walk through to the back in search of a seat and find the temperature gets warmer and warmer.  The table we find against the back wall is surrounded on two sides by a padded bench and throw pillows.  We sit and wait, but there is no table service, so we move up to the front and find 2 seats at the bar and order a couple of Stella Artois beers.  It is cold and refreshing in this warm pub. 

One of the bartenders in a Raca Wear shirt, has the most unusual dreadlocks.  They are culivated in a most fascinating way.  The hair from the crown of his head sprouts out in dreads, while the bottom is long and flows into dreads down his back.  Grace tries to secretly get his picture, but the flash gives her away.  We notice he is one of the few black people we have seen, and find that odd.

We order a Sharing Menu of mini beef burgers, lamb burgers, crudites (cut up vegetables), chips (French fries), calamari, and hummuus.  It is plenty of food and we like the lamb burgers best.  The chips come chrispy, which is good because in the U.S. I have to specially order them that way.  Food rating:  6....good, but not over the top good.

Soon, two fellas walk in carrying a large aluminium suitcase.  We guess it is a keyboard.  But no, it is a mixing board with two turntables.  Grace and I have a conversation about records and are eager to hear what he will play.  We wait and I comment, "I wonder when he is going to start playing?"  Gracy says, "He already has."  We find that hilarious.  Mr. DJ never does put a record on those turntables and before long we see the sky is turning and we set off to end our day.

Just what time is it any way?

The one thing we lack is a watch.  Back home, Grace and I both use our cellphones to check the time, but our Verizon phones do not work here...at all.  We are constantly looking for a clock or watch on some stranger's arm to tell the time.  8:05PM in the U.S., but the middle of the night here.  If you look outside, you can tell it is just before sunrise, which comes around 4:30AM.  Birds are chirping, giving further proof sunrise is near.  I am up with the birds.

The front of Jill's house (our second floor...their first floor, as they count the actual first floor as the ground floor) has two large windows overlooking the street.  An ancient ivy vine grows up from the street level, its truck thick and gnarled.  It frames the bottom half of the large windows.  In front of one window, right up close to it and where we would call the window ledge, is a duck's nest.  No ordinary duck, no sir.  A nesting duck with 2 large eggs.  Mrs. Duck is not on her nest at this moment, she is out and about.  Possibly she is in the park down the street or in the small creek near by in search of breakfast.  Her eggs are covered in duck down, warm I'm sure.  She won't be gone long and when she returns she will stand over eggs and roll them between her feet before giving a little duck butt wiggle and setting down on them.  Mrs Duck and I have something in common.  We are not asleep in the early dawn.

Yesterday, Grace and I went in search of an electric outlet adapter plug.  The one we brought met with an unfortunate fuse blowout when Grace plugged in her hair straightener.  At first it seemed no big deal, but then we realized that without it, we cannot charge computers, camera batteries, or ipods.  Disaster.  The whole electric outlet thing is a pain, but so far our only challenge of note.

We walked down to Princes Street to Curries Electronic store to find a new plug adapter.  We found that unlike our Fashion Fair Mall Apple store, they have the ipad in stock and ready to sell.  Adam (the young clerk) explained that we could replace the UK plug and SIM card once we got back to the U.S.  Poor Adam did not realize that our morning had included the electric plug disaster and anything that required taking the UK plug home with us was a complete deal breaker.

Mrs. Duck has returned.  She is disturbed by the light coming from this laptop and stood for a few moments giving me the stink eye before settling on her nest.  She knows I should be in bed asleep.

Princes Street runs along a large park in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle.  It is huge and runs along the hill for what seems like a mile or two.  The Queen's flag is not flying, so we know she is not home.

We come to Scott's Memorial, which is an imposing tribute to Sir Walter Scott and his stories.  That is it in the photo above on the left.  Grace and I pay 3 pounds each for the honor of climbing 287 stairs to the top.  I should note here that Grace climbed the entire 287 stairs, I made it up about 200 of the tiny, winding stone steps to the area at the top of the spires that circle it about 2/3s of the way up, but no further.  Youth is on her side.  From here, we see amazing views of the city and Edinburgh Castle.

Getting Ready to Start Day2

Aww, so the trip is going awesome so far. we are getting ready to start our 2nd day here, after a wonderful night of  some much needed sleep. Things are so different here and I'm loving it! Being here makes me Really see how Fat, lazy, wasteful and unhealthy we really are in America. the weather today is gorgeous i would say its about mid 70's. We are going to ride an open top bus today I'm so pumped I have never been on one! Then we are headed to a Castle not to far from where we are staying.  And the picture are coming out great I feel like every way I look it's a great shot, it's Amazing! I love it here. I may not go home ~Grace~

Edinburgh finally

10:25AM Edinburgh, Scotland
Although it is 3:25AM back in the good ol' US of A, it is the beginning of a new day here in Edinburgh. 

Yesterday, we arrived in London at 12:30PM and took another local plane into Edinburgh.  (Yes, the knitting needles made it through the security check, after a quick dismanteling and stashing along side my pens and pencils.)  We didn't see much on the flight between London and Edinburgh as it was a good chance to catch a quick nap. 

We caught a taxi to our Bed and Breakfast, where we were met by our hostess, Jill.  The accomodations are quite lovely and cozy.  Jill is a wealth of knowledge about Edinburgh, as she is a "surveyor" (local speak for real estate agent).

80 Great King Street

We dropped our bags in the bedroom and headed out to explore and stretch our airline travel-cramped bodies.  The streets are all cobblestones, cut into 3"x5" squares and quite difficult to walk on.  The cars make a funny wop-wop sound as their tires run across them.  We quickly learned to place each foot squarely on a cobblestone to negotiate without turning an ankle.

Along the way, we had our first kilt siting.  Whoot!

Jill suggested an Italian restaurant down the way.  We ordered the chicken cacciatore (slices of chicken breast mixed with penne pasta, tomatoes, capers and a light red sauce) and a small pizza (artichoke hearts, tomatoes, , watercress, and mozzarella on a hand tossed base, they don't call it a crust), along with a couple of Italian beers.  Rating on the food:  5...not the worse we have had and not the best.  Tomorrow we will be on the lookout for traditional Scottish food.

After dinner, we took a stroll around the block and marveled at the incredible light in the sky.  The clouds were back lit by the sun in a most surreal way.  Grace quickly pulled out her camera and got to work capturing a few of the old buildings: a school, The Salvation Army, and St. Vincent's Episcopal Church.

St. Vincent's Espiscopal Church

The days in Edinburgh are very long.  The sun rises about 5:30AM and sets around 10:30-11PM.  This is excellent as it will give us long, long days for exploring.