Scotland 9/23-28,2006

We're in Glasgow, Scotland in 30 minutes from Dublin's airport.  Left late and now we wait on board for a bus for about 15 minutes.  Into the airport, get our bags and now wait at least an hour for a taxi to our hotel.  The Amadeus Guest House is very nice at $52.64 each.  It's on a quiet street of older 2-story dwellings and very picturesque.  We're up on the second floor front with a bay window, table and 2 chairs.  I take the bed near the window and we're asleep.  Sleep very well.  We're up and have breakfast which is included with our room, nice ham, cheese, tomatoes, hard rolls, yogurt, fresh fruit, juice, hard boiled eggs, cereal and coffee or tea.  Head our to ride the City our.  It's a terrible raining day.  We finally figure out which is the stop for the tour.  Ride thru town and get off at the church, which is the oldest church in Europe.  It's a very beautiful Gothic architecture as well as the rest of Glasgow.  I buy a book of Celtic transfers for Amy, some post cards and a book of Scottish Fairy Tales.  Leave the church an go into the St. Mundo's gift shop and buy a couple more post cards and2 very inexpensive angel ornaments.  We get back on the tour bus ad it is the last one of the day!  We are surprised and very lucky.  Alex from the Amadeus has told us about 3 restaurants, 2 of Scottish food and more expensive and The Landowners where we can get 20% off the food with her card that she has given us.  We decide to go there for economic and it is close, behind the guest house.  I have mussel chowder (orgasmic!), salmon and Caesar's salad, pate that I split with Janeen, a glass of wine, tiramisu and coffee.  It was wonderful food.  We walk back to the room early, about 8 p.m.  Watch  TV show and then a BBC production of Jane Eyre which turns out to be in 2 or 3 parts.  Then to sleep.  Up early at 8 a.m.  Down for breakfast.  Talk with some California old cycler that can't stop talking.  Back up to the room  to shower, pack and take stuff down to the dining room to leave while we get the tour again.  The tour ticket is for a 48 hour period and we can still use it today.  You jump on and off where you please as the tour bus drives thru the city.  It's a nice day.  Call for the hostel and Janeen doesn't want to book it.  We go to George Square to the tourist office and wait in line.  No better price and it's now close to 2 p.m.  Have bought our train ticket to Edinburgh also at 16.50.  She wants to go back to the church and buy these ridiculous earrings by Macintosh, a famous Glasgow designer.  They are cheap copies!  So she gets off at the church and I ride on.  From George Square it's 2:15 and I get back to the Amadeus about 3:20.  Book our room at the hostel in Edinburgh and use the bath.  Janeen surprisingly gets back at 3:40.  We call a taxi and wait outside for a bit, her complaining that the taxi isn't here and we could have done it quicker at the corner.  He comes.  We get to Queens station and the platform has not been posted. I'm a bit annoyed with her.  I go sit where I can let my pack off and there is Upper Crust in front of me.  I'm hungry.  Have ate my bread and cookies waiting for the taxi.  I buy a BLT on a baguette and chips.  Get on the train and put my Aussie hat and bag u0p on the rack.  Big Mistake!  I'm annoyed with Janeen.  She sits across from me with her bag on the seat complaining about my bag by her feet.  I put it up on the shelve.  Then tell her to please quit talking to me!  I fall asleep on and off because I had not slept well the night past.  Woke up at 2:22, 3:23, 4:55 and so on.  We are approaching the Hay market stop and she thinks it's our stop.  I thought it was Waverly, the end of the line.  Ask the lady next to us, take the bag down where I have the paperwork on the hostel and she confirms it would be closer here.  Rush to get off and leave my hat on the shelf above my seat.  I look on the seat where I had sat but forget to look on the rack.  Get my pack on and get off the train, Janeen ahead struggling with 2 bags she's pulling.  At least she has abandoned the third bag!  As the train leaves and the doors close, I remember my hat!  DAMN, I am so mad now!  I get up the stairs and to the exit gates.  Talk to the officers there and wait for Janeen to go back down to get her big bag.  She finally gets here and I tell her to rest and watch the stuff.  I go back to the office to report the lost and left-on-the-train hat.  They give me a number to call and I do that when we get t the hostel.  Take a taxi in the rain to the hostel which is $28.20 each a nite.  Get checked in and rest for a bit.  We get lower bunks near the window.  I'm anxious about my hat so tell her I'm going to the train station's last stop downtown Edinburgh.  She goes with me.  Take the bus.  Get off down town and find the station.  Go to the office and they have nothing.  They check some where else and then send me to lost property.  He doesn't have it and is discouraging about the time frame of return should they find it.  We see Marks & Spencer's Food store so go in and buy for our dinner, a pear, Stilton & walnut salad, carrots ad dip, crackers and lemonade.  Back to the room via bus and eat our food in bed, finishing my wine and to sleep.   Up around 8, slept well.  Talked with a Korean girl sleeping above me and Sara from the Midlands before we went to sleep.  Put my clothes on after pee and brush teeth and go down to breakfast, eating my yogurt from M&S, my banana and almond croissant from Upper Crust.  Sit outside for a bit working on the journal and finish in the very nice lounge of the hostel.  We head towards the Internet and stop at a wonderful dessert place.  I get a delicious berry torte and buy a pretzel and a danish.  Eat the torte right there.  Janeen gets one and has it wrapped to go.  She eats 2 bites and carries it.  I'll never understand her!  I buy a sarong at the second hand store very near the Internet.  Go into the Internet and catch up on my emails.  I have quite a few but none from Amy yet.  Buy 60 minutes at L1.50.  Can't seem to open the maps from Miles.   do get his directions for when we arrive in Copenhagen.  Get them printed and somehow lose it later that day.  My time is up and Janeen is still on.  I go to the post office to buy stamps, 2 postcards, a letter to Ireland and a letter to the States.  I stopped in a jewelry store and see a cross for Amy that is very unusual.  It's natural peal.  They put a mollusk crosswise of natural peal.  I hope she likes it.  I think I'll give it to her for Christmas, her birthday or just when I return.  We get the bus to the Edinburgh Castle as it is now 4 p.m.  The castle closes at 6.  The castle is very interesting.  It sits majestically high on a huge rock mountain above the city commanding a fabulous view.  We see the crown jewels, not nearly as impressive or as many as the Windsors.  We see the exhibit on prisoners of war and the cell doors carved with names an actually an early version of our American flag carved on the door too.  We see the Great Hall with armour, swords and spears all lining the walls and on loan from London.  We see most everything before it closes but some how miss the apartments lived in by the Kings and Queens.  Mary Queen of Scots was born here and at the young age of only a few months old became the Queen when her father dies.  he was sent to France at a young age for education and returned around the age of 18 to rule the country.  We walk down from this impressive spot stopping at some of the shops having all the same expensive stuff.  We catch the bus but I check again on my hat at the train station, no luck.  Get off the bus at the grocery store next to the Internet and buy groceries for our dinner of rib eye steak, potatoes, mixed fresh great veggies and a salad.  I also buy a bottle of Merlot from South Africa for L2.99 ($5.62), not bad for Scotland.  We walk back to the hostel, past the Barclay church and thru the park over shooting the hostel and have to back track.  Cook our dinner in the very nice kitchen to this hostel which is closing on Friday.  It's in a row of town houses all connected on Bruntsfield Crescent, right on the park and far off views of the castle.  The area is called Hay market and is where the fee was brought into Edinburgh in the early years as the cattle were driven in here to this area before slaughter.  We have this great dinner and go to bed.  I did launder my pants and underwear and changed before going down to the kitchen.  Tomorrow we take the Highlands tour by bus all day.  Up at 6:30 a.m., take a shower and head for the bus stop.  Get a coffee and OJ en route.  Catch the city bus and we're at the meeting place by the castle 10 minutes before 8.  The tour doesn't leave until 8:20.  Donnie is our tour guide and he is very passionate about his country and share that with us.  He tells us first the guidelines of eating on the bus, none because of the smells.  Edinbough consist of 3 towns and 28 villages today.  Like every other city, it has gown outwards.  There was a lock here in the middle of town and was filled in in the 1700's.  In 1803 the houses were taxed on how many windows the building had and he shows us an example of how the people filled the windows in with stone.  Many have been changed back to windows today.  The saying "It's the pits, man" comes from William Pitt's statement about this tax!  We pass the "Roseburn Bar" and Donnie claims it's the best pint in Edinburgh.  The poet Robert Lewis Stevenson was from Edinburgh.  Caledonia was what the Romans called The Highlands, which means "Land of Trees".  The Pecti were the first people here and they came from Ireland, The Celts.  They were never conquered by the Romans and the story goes they frightened them too much as they painted their naked bodies and went into battle like that.  We drive past The Toby Carvery where you can get dinner for L10, all you can eat, and also the Centurion Pub, thru Mayberry the last village of Edinburgh wit single story 2-bedroom bungalows similar to Chicago Bungalows.  We pass by the Sterling Castle area where the malt is grown for the whiskey.  He shows us the industrial flat topped mountains left from the production of crude oil.  In 1424 the first Palace was built in Scotland.  He tells us about Mary Queen of Scots statement when she was being executed, "With my end is my beginning".  She knew her son would become the King of England and that is what she was referring to.  He tells us the story of William Wallace who was born in 1274.  He was 6;7", a huge man and in 1295 he was asking permission from the sheriff for something and he single handedly killed 3 guards and the sheriff.  He left the country escaping from this incident and in 1303 came back.  In 1305 he was captured and hung and quartered as an example to others.  He was never called Braveheart, that was Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland.  Robert had requested that when he died he wanted his heart taken to Jerusalem and buried.  His loyal body guard was taken his embalmed heart thru Europe and was captured.  In tossing the case the heart was in, he spoke of "Oh, Brave Heart" and that is where that statement comes from.  This Donnie is an unbelievable source of information on Scotland.  Jacobite's were followers of King James who believe in the Protestant religion.  In 1407 the Kind declared no one could enter the village of Doune, Scotland with their fire arms.  They had to turn them in before crossing the River Teith.  That is where the saying "armed to the Tieth" comes from.  Kil before a name of a town means "of the church", i.e. the town of Kilmahog.  We stop in Fort Williams for lunch.  Very rushed.  A stop for buses and there are 3 buses here already.  We get in line to get our lunch and get fish & chips.  It's pretty good but have to rush it down and not enjoyable.  Stop in to taste the whiskey (Scotch) and it is good.  They have 3 to taste and I try 2, an aged and a liqueur.  We have no time to look at stuff here.  Back on the bus and another story from Donnie.  It's about Rob Roy Mac Gregor who went by his mother's name Campbell.  He was a short red haired man 5'2", a bandit really.  His family is from Strathbyre and buried here in Fort William.  He was an extortionist.  That is where "blackmail" comes from.  He would blackmail the local farmers by telling them he would protect their cattle in return for money.  The name "meille" is mail and the original cattle here in this region were "black".   "Mac" before your name means "son of".  He also tells us about many Scots who came to the US.  Our president McKinley's family grave yard is here in Scotland.  Witherspoon came from Gifferd, Scotland and was one of the creators of the American Constitution and Declaration of Independence.  The Chisam Trail came from John Chisam who came from the Highlands.  Blough Loch means "with a bend" and they get 12 pound trout out of this lock.  Strath means "wide valley" and glens are narrow high sided valleys.  We go by a 1607 old Inn with a thatched roof and wooden shutters on the windows.  Nic means "daughter of " and a woman might use that, i.e. MacDonald rather than MacDonald.  A tartan is the plaid of their clan and tartan means "checkered cloth" from the French word tarteen.  In 1747 there was a ban on wearing the tartan and no Gaelic speaking.  Crianlarich is a town we pass thru and it means "meeting of 3 glens".  In 502 the first Scots came from Ireland to Scotland.  The Highlands is famous for it's hospitality.  The Glencoe Massacre in 2/3/1692 insulted this hospitality.  The Campbell's were ordered to kill the MacDonald's, a breach of Highland hospitality.  There were about 40 of the family murdered early that morning after hosting them to food, drink and a bed!  3 sisters escaped over the mountains and then they names these 3 mountains the "3 sisters".  The town of Fort William is named after King William.  Glen Glay means "great".  A black house is a house with a tin roof, no windows and no chimney.  The word "threshold" comes from putting thrush on the floor to seal from the wind.  They used a netting around the bed that you pulled tight around you and that is where "sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" comes from.  Inverness is the capital city of the Highlands with 50,000 residents.  He shows us the Dores House built in 1814 and still owned by the same family.   Madonna tried to buy this house recently and the family would not sell it.  Aviensore is the ski area near here.  The river running thru this are is the Spy River and there are 34 distilleries on this river.  MacBeth was the King from 1040-1057.  He went to Rome for a year, came back and no one had taken over the thrown.  King Duncan's wife Margaret was made a Saint for the things she had done for Scotland, namely, changed the religion, changed the speech to the old Scots (Hungarian & Anglo) and changed the courts.  King Robert Bruce "Braveheart" reigned from 1306-1329.  We stop at Loch Ness and take a boat ride.  We go up the loch from the Lochness Clansman Hotel to Urquhart Castle and view it from the boat, taking pictures.  The ride is nice and not too cold.  A bit windy up front but no sighting of "Nessie" just in our minds!  I buy a cute magnet of her and some postcards and 2 note pads for the girls with Nessie on the cover.  We're back on the bus heading for Pitlochry.  We stopped in this town to look around, stretch an get dinner if we want but we have only 35 minutes and not enough time to eat in peace.  The town is very cute but only one store is open.  I buy a postcard, use the water closet and get an ice cream and a bag of chips.  We get back to Edinburgh about 8:30 p.m. and are dropped off downtown.  Catch a bus back to the hostel and we're asleep.  Very full tiring day.  It's a beautiful sunny day and we are flying to Copenhagen.  Checked the Internet first.  Bought a sweet roll walking back to the hostel.  Printed out 2 copies at the Internet of the information from Miles and bank info from Amy.  Taxi to the airport, get some chips and cappuccino at the airport as the plane is a little delayed.  The flight is nice and we're in Copenhagen around 4 p.m. or so.......next is Copenhagen.......and a wonderful visit with Miles, Anna, Rose and Isac Krizmanic......Copenhagen, Denmark.......