Scotland!

It has been a while, but we had a great time in Scotland. We arrived back nearly a week ago, but I have been busy with work, and not mentally with it enough to do justice to a proper entry, so I hope this goes ok!!:-) [Please note that this entry has been written over several days, and is in fact being posted online on the 3rd of September]

We left London on the sleeper train at 23:45 on Thursday evening. The train was excellent. We had a drink in the bar to start off our trip (Scotch for Scott and a Baileys for me). Then it was to bed! The beds were narrow, as was the whole cabin, but they were nice and long. I slept well. We arrived at 7.30am or thereabouts. We had a small breakfast given to us on the train, which was a nice bonus! We dumped our luggage in the left luggae bit of Edinburgh Waverley station, then it was off to the Scotsman's Lounge. We were told to go here by a Scottish colleague of mine form work - mainly to check out how many black eyes the barman had and to report back to John! The barman seemed to be without black eyes, and we moved on. We wandered up and down the main drag - the Royal Mile for a bit.

First attraction of the day was The Real Mary King's Close. We thoroughly enjoyed this. When the government built the Royal Exchange building in Edinburgh in 1753, they levelled the buildings on the site and used them as foundations. In other words, there are part streets and houses underneath the building! They were called "closes" and they ran from the main street right down the hill to the then lake (which was drained later to become the main train station). I have ancestors who lived in Canongate, which is just down the Royal Mile a little, and according to one of the certificates I have, lived in Shoemakers Close. So for me, going to The Real Mary Kings Close really gave me an insight into what kind of living conditions my ancestors would have had to contend with.

From there, as the rain had set in, we went to the Whisky Heritage Centre. We were going to go to the Castle, but we figured that we could not enjoy the great views over the city due to the rain, so we would attempt it when we were back in Edinburgh on our way back to London. The Whisky Heritage centre told us about the history of whicky and how to drink it (I don't like the stuff, but it was interesting to see the difference adding water makes!!). After that we popped across the road to a tartan mill. It was a touristy place as well, but it was interesting to see the working tartan looms. It was lunch, then off to pick up the car. We had hired Nissan Micra. The car was black, compact and very economical. It was Scott's first time driving since we had left home (so this was the first time driving for him in a place other than Australia!). It was a bit of a stressful drive to Stirling as it was raining really hard, but we made it to Stirling. Found the B&B then headed back into Edinburgh. Seems like a waste, but we wanted to find the hotel while it was still light! Dinner was with my mum's cousin Veronica and her husband Simon. We were a little late for dinner, which we felt really bad about, but the traffic was something else! We had a lovely view of Edinburgh Castle throughout our dinner, except when it was consumed by a fog which apprently came off the see (called a har, but I am not sure how you spell it). It was fascinating to watch the very well lit-up Castle disappear into the fog, to re-emerge later on! Dinner was pleasant and it was lovely to meet more family on the other side of the world.

Saturday morning we headed off early to Roslin Chapel, which is 7miles south of Edinburgh. Of Da Vinci Code fame (well, recently anyway) it is popular with tourists so we were determined to get there early! We were successful in avoiding all the American tourists. The chapel itself is stunning. The carvings (absolutely everywhere!!!!) are detailed and very interesting - even supposedly one of corn which was carved before Columbus got to America. We listened to a very informative talk on the building and then had a wander about. The whole place is covered in a free-standing roof to protect the stone. The stone was covered in a thin concrete wash in the 1950s and todays conservators are getting rid of it. The concrete does not allow the stone to breathe or dry out. The roof will allow the stonework to dry out, then the concrete will be removed using lasers - not sure how this works, but it is very interesting!! We could see Rosslyn Castle (the ruins thereof) from the walkway of the temporary roof. From there, avoiding the incoming tourists, it was back to Stirling. We climbed the Wallace Monument, and had a look at Stirling Castle. The Wallace Monument is about 200 feet tall (with winding, narrow, stone spiral staircases) and overlooks the town of Stirling. Stirling Castle was interesting - we did a guided tour. We were able to see the restoration work they are doing there. The conservators are taking the castle back to how it would have looked in the 1500s. From there we had a look at the Bannockburn visitor centre and battlefield. And for dinner we ended up in a town called Culross - a town restored by the National Trust. It is on the northern side of the Forth river and was very pretty. We ended up in a charming pub by the riverside (well, the river was just over the train line!!). We ate haggis for the first time - much better than I expected it to be, in fact, Scott and I really liked it. In the ladies toilet, there was a man in my cubicle! Well, he was painted, but he had a kilt on that you could lift up!! ;-)

Sunday we left Stirling and headed north into the Highlands. Had a quick look at Doune Castle where they filmed one of the Monty Python movies. Saw some cute bunnies hopping about too! The first Loch we came to we stopped at. Amazing scenery - not just there of course but all around Scotland. We drove around Loch Leven completely - did not see Castle Lochleven but it was supposed to be in the middle somewhere. Did not drive into Fort William, but to a place outside it. There we could take a cable car up the Nevis Range (Ben Nevis is of course, the highest mountain in the UK). We had great views from the top of Fort William in the distance, as well as lots of green hills and mountains all around us. There was a mountain bike course that seemed very popular (almost straight down I would imagine!!). Briefly spoke to a guy who said a professional can do it in 4 mins, whereas he does it in 30 as he stops on the way down. Amazing. Back down the mountain in the cable car and then it was on to Fort Augustus as the southern end of Loch Ness. We booked a hotel for the night (our three year anniversary) on the eastern sideof the loch in Foyers. Until then, we checked out Fort Augustus with its 5 locks in a row (to move between lochs of course!) with its souvenir shops (bought a poster for our walls) and many tourists. Drove to le hotel (overlooking Loch Ness, very swanky), had dinner there and went for a short wander after dinner to admire the views.

Monday morning we had breakfast at the hotel (which included haggis). We usually opted for a non-cooked breakfast as we are not used to it, but that day we thought why not. Well, we didn't need lunch!! We drove south around the edge of Loch Ness and around up the other side to see Urquhart Castle. It is completely in ruins as those occupying the castle set it alight to prevent the Jacobites from taking it over. Great views of the Loch. Our one grudge was there were too few interpretation panels. I am picky - I want to know what things were, what people might have done there. It gives me an idea, a picture, of what life was like, and what the castle might have looked like. Am I asking too much?? ;-) Anyway, that aside, we then drove north a little. Stopped off to do a cruise on the Loch - sadly no Nessie to be seen. Bought some souvenirs in the town, then continued on to Inverness. By the time we arrived it was nearing 5pm, so nothingwas open anymore. We kept driving and pulled off the highway to go visit the Culloden Battlefield. Again, very interesting (interpretation panels galore!!). Great to see how difficult it would have been for the soldiers to fight each other in the heather-filled marshy land. Heather is a lovely purple colour, for those who have not seen it. From the battlefield, we continued south (Inverness was the farthest north we got before turning south again) towards Aviemore. We had picked up a brochure the previous day about a steam train that ran from Aviemore, so we decided that we would stay there so we could take a ride. Had haggis for dinner in a local pub (shall be a picture somewhere!!).

Tuesday morning we were on the steam train at Aviemore for 10.30am. We went first class, and we had a compartment all to ourselves. The ticket included tea or coffee and shortbread, so it was tres civilised. The whole train journey was about an hour, going from Aviemore to Broomhill and back again. Broomhill, incidentally, was the station they used to film the Glen Bogle station in Monarch of the Glen. From there it was south to Blair Atholl. All the houses at PLC (my school in Melbourne) are named after Scottish castles. I was in Atholl house, so I had always been keen to see Blair Atholl. And I was not disappointed. The family Atholl are still around, and the castle shows off their collection of family heirlooms and the like. Tonnes of antler horns, knick knacks etc, but all very well presented. And we took a walk in the gardens and saw wild raspberries growing (I am such a city girl I had no idea how they even grew!!). From Blair Atholl we headed further south again, through Perth, and over the Forth road bridge (next to the Forth Rail bridge, a cantilever bridge that was the longest bridge in the world for many years, and a lovely bridge to see). Stayed the night (sniff, our last night in Scotland) near Falkirk. The lady in the B&B thought we were great, as all we wanted for breakfast was porridge!!

Wednesday we went to the Falkirk Wheel, which is basically an incredibly complicated looking lock which joins two canals - the Forth and Clyde and the Union canals. It is quite a spectacular piece of engineering. We did a boat trip up to the top and down again. Basically what happens is you drive the boat into the bottom of it like a normal lock, then you are rotated in a semi-circular motion, all the while staying upright in the boat and with no water slopping over the sides, up to the top. Once at the top, the gates open and you slide on through to the rest of the canal. Fantastic and really amazing to be inside as it is all happening. From there it was to Edinburgh, to drop off le car to Thrifty. Dropped off our spare luggage to the left luggage people again, and wandered to Edinburgh Castle. The views were great from the top, I am really glad we left it til then to see, rather than being disappointed on our first day. Edinburgh Castle was interesting, but we were really knackered by the time we got there. Once we returned the car, I think that signalled the end of the holiday in a way, and we started to grind to a halt! Our train back to London was at 5pm, or so I thought. Turns out it was at 5.30pm - no wonder someone else had our seats!!! So we got off the train at Newcastle and waited for our train! Hopeless ;-)

As I mentioned above, PLC's houses were named after Scottish castles. These are the ones we saw, or came very close to. There are 6 houses, so I think we did very well!! :-D
Rosslyn Castle
Blair Atholl Castle
Stirling Castle
Lochleven Castle

So there you have it, our trip to Scotland. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading! Sorry it has taken me so long to update.

Scottish family tartans

When we go to Scotland, I will be looking at all things Scottish, one of them being tartan. So I thought I would share which tartans I would be focussing on, as these are the two family names who I have Scottish links to. The Kerr tartan, in which my dad wants a tie.
The Herd tartan. I did not know this existed, but there you go! Hooray fo the internet!

I had a smashing day off yesterday. I had Sarah and Orlaith over to our flat for a stitch and bitch session! Well, in reality, not much bitching, but lots of chatting and talking to and about Orlaith. She is lovely, getting to be very giggly and excitable, which makes her quite endearing. :-)

Sarah taught me how to knit with four needles. Sounds scarey, but in reality you knit with two and the other two are just holding the other stitches in place. I have started to knit a sock! I bought a sock kit months ago, with self striping wool. I am really enjoying it so far. I will probably take it to Scotland with me and see if I have time to do any knitting.

Speaking of Scotland, we leave tomorrow night! I am so excited! I think I will be doing all the driving, as there was a long wait for licences at the driving authority here, so it will probably arrive when we get back. But I am happy doing the driving. We will be on the sleeper train at quarter to midnight and arrive Friday morning at 7am.

Email me if you want something from Scotland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My museum has re-introduced bag checking on every visitor who walks thru the front door. This is due to the terrorist threats etc. Paranoia slightly, but still. I was on the bag check table today, and a small girl came up to me holding products from the shop. I told her she had to talk to her mum about buying things, as she had the money and I didn't have any. She kept at me (as much as a 4 year old can). I told her again to talk to her mum and ask her if she would buy them for her.

"But mum will say no"

So her solution? Ask a stranger to buy them for you!

I know who you are now. Thank you Parents!!

:-D

To M&P: Thank you for your love! But please, tell everyone who you are!!

xxx

Feeling a bit homesick today. Not sure why, just one of those days I think. I dreamt about my parents just turning up on the doorstep last night. I think it probably made me think/remember that that's almost an impossibility, seeing as though I am on the other side of the world from them at the moment. But, I spoke to them today, all is well with them. Just missing them and home and friends I think. Sometimes I wornder if people will forget me. Kind of an out of sight out of mind thing. I am sure it wouldn't happen, but I do wonder sometimes. Irrationally I am sure.

Had a wander about the shopping centre near work today in my lunch hour. I had a long lunch so I took full advantage and wandered about looking at the funny office workers, and the shops too. Decided I need a new pillow. I think I want to get highlights put in my hair again. Not sure yet. I will have to find a place that will do it cheaply!

This post is a bit random. I am feeling a bit random, a bit disconnected. I know this will pass. Just need a cuddle.

On the bright side, I have a phone date with my friend from home Maree! It has been ages since I have spoken to her. And I should get to speak to her kids as well - well, only two can talk as far as I know. Trinity is 9 now and Bowen is 4. Her third child, Corbin is about 10 months old, so not great to chat to on the phone yet.

Should be getting the internet at home in the next week or so - fingers crossed anyway. Our home phone number will not change, but we will be able to make international phone calls for free, as well as catch up with people on the internet with msn etc. I am looking forward to it, as I really miss having the internet at my finger tips!

Wednesday! Two more days til payday! I have been waiting a long time for this. Well, a month or so, but I'm not used to it. I have never, ever been paid anything other than weekly. It has been a steep learning curve. :-)

Not much to say really. Saw Sarah and Orlaith yesterday. They had gone to a movie with Sarah's friend and they dropped in to my museum afterwards. I signed all the necessary photographs and forms for Sarah's and Orlaith's Australian passports. It was lovely to see them. It is always nice to be able to show off my museum. They enjoyed themselves, and I met them after work for dinner. Orlaith was very happy and giggly which is nice.

Scott got in from work at 4.45am this morning. Poor thing.

We go to Edinburgh in a week and a day!

It's Monday, and it's a rainy, cloudy, and generally dreary day. So much for summer!!

On Saturday we trekked out to Gidea Park in Essex to Sarah and Jake's house for a barbeque. My quinoa salad was very tasty. The ingredients were: quinoa, chickpeas, corn kernals, celery, mushrooms, lemon jiuce and chopped fresh mint. I was very impressed with it. :) And it was so easy as well. All I had to do was cook the quinoa and mix in the vegies. I didn't cook any of the vegies, so there were some crunchy bits and some soft bits.

The barbeque was nice. There were new people to meet and talk to, as well as others who we had met at the wedding. Orlaith was mega grumpy for the first little while, but soon settled after being fed. She was like a child possessed when she saw Sarah's plate had some avacado on it. She lunged at the plate, grabbed the avocado and started stuffing it all into her mouth. It was very amusing to watch, especially as her hand-eye coordination is still developing!! So I ended up with avocado smooshed into my denim skirt and she ended up with it all up her arms.

Sunday we hung around the house a bit. Then headed up to Canary Wharf for some lunch and some shopping. Whilst in HMV, Scott got a call from the partner on his case asking if Scott could go into work for a few hours. This was at 4pm mind you! But he went in, and was home again by 8pm, the partner told him to take a cab home which saves him half an hour in travel time.

And it is another week of work. :-)

Friday!

Go Nessie go!!! Someone had a little to much time on their hands methinks!

It's Friday, I'm in the call centre, and I am a wee bit bored!

But...on the upside, I get to catch up on emails, figure out where to go in Scotland and chat to Dad on emails! So not a day wasted at all. This afternoon I shall be looking through the genealogy files my dad sent me over so I can update my database further. I am hoping to have it all up to date before we go to Scotland in 13 days (not counting of course!!!!) so it's all done.

Tuesday this week I caught up with Sarah and Orlaith. We went to see Cars (still funny the second time) at a mother and baby session. It was nice to see mums out with their babies. I dare say it can be a bit lonely/frustrating/etc to be at home all the time with just one small person. I know Sarah says she craves adult company (not sure how much of that I can provide though!!). After that we had a look through one of the two health food shops at Stratford shopping centre and at the wool shop. Sarah is a vegan, so I introduced her to two new things. Chocolate covered rice cakes, which sound odd but are really yummy, and to tofu weiners (sausages) which you can eat hot or cold. They have a yummy smokey flavour to them. We grabbed some lunch at a cafe, where poor Sarah was unlucky enough to bite on an insanely hot chilli pepper. After drinking copious amounts of water, sucking on ice and drinking my rice milk Sarah recovered. I felt really bad for her, as all I could do was hold Orlaith and watch. :-(

After lunch we jumped on the DLR and headed to Greenwich. We sat in Greenwich park and watched the drunk teenagers and chatted. Time really flew, as by the time we got on the DLR again, after ditching the idea of grabbing dinner because of a tired and grumpy Orlaith, it was 7.30pm! I think next time we get together, I think there will be knitting to be done.

My latest knitting project is a knitted bunny, no reason, just because. I have never knitted a toy before. It was meant to be a girl bunny, but I have made him a boy. He is holding a beach ball and wearing bright yellow shorts. I will put a photo here when I am finished him.

Last night we caught up with our old landlady, Gayle. We trekked over to Willesden Green in north west London. We had not been back since we left there in September last year. Gayle brought her new man, Phil, who is really lovely. I am happy she is finished with Mark, the loser we used to live with. Mark, so I hear, is living in a caravan outside Chelmsford somewhere (Chelmsford is east of London in Essex, the home of chavs). *insert comment about trailer trash here* We had a fantastic night, catching up on the gossip. She loves Scott and I, not sure why!! We get along really well. She is 48 (??) but acts about 30. We were talking about the people we used to live with, whom I have not thought about in a very long time, so that was a bit odd really. I am glad we are out of the sharehousing thing though. Reminiscing made me realise this and be thankful that Scott and I are in a place of our own. It's funny, as yes in sharehousing you have the opportunity to meet people, but that is only if you get along well etc. I have made close friendships at my work, as well as keeping in contact with people who are over here from home. Scott is lucky as well as his work peoples are young and he gets along well with them.

Tomorrow we are going to a barbeque at Sarah and Jake's house. I asked Sarah if she would like me to bring anything, she said either a salad or a dessert. I have a packet of quinoa at home, so I might make a salad out of that. I will make it vegan so Sarah can eat it too.

Off to listen to the silent phones in the call centre and to play with my family tree.

xxx