Scotland

Since I haven't had any pictures this month, this post shall have them in abundance.

Something I forgot to mention: we saw Avatar in 3D last Monday. It was an impressive thing, but I think that 3D cinematography needs to find it's sea legs before the medium really takes off. Certain 2D conventions, like changing the focus of a frame to direct the viewer's eye, don't really work in 3D (or, at least, I haven't adapted it yet).

So Wednesday morning, we left for Edinburgh. Our flight left at 6:30 in the morning and I was up at half three. We fortunately made it onto the correct plane and were in Edinburgh within two hours. Our hotel wasn't expecting us until noon, so we grabbed breakfast and walked around the neighborhood. Not a touristy location, but lots of cool shops. We checked in, napped, then headed into city center. Edinburgh's city center is a castle on a huge hill, something I feel we lack in America. Enjoy pictures:



The castle's hill was surrounded by a rather nice park. Statues and flowers and stuff.



One of the things I noticed about Edinburgh was how green the city is. Everybody has a little garden out front (all very well-maintained) and some of these seem like tiny parks. People stuff their interiors (by the windows) with flowers and bushes and trees. Streets were tree-lined, sometimes twice.

Things were mostly closed by the time we go out to the city center. The next day, we meant to go on a Highland Tour, a bus tour to see some of the countryside and the highlands. We tried walking to city center, but made a wrong turn (or, rather, planned a long route) and missed the bus - our early wake-up was in vain. Unyielding to despair, we walked to the National Museum. There were many fine works there, from Raphael, Titian, Da Vinci, and Boticelli.



And Harviestoun. Here's me enjoying a particularly excellent example of craftsmanship. From the museum, it was a short walk to the Walter Scott monument.


This spire's exterior was covered with character's from his stories. Fun. Even more so were the views offered from the top.



Old Town. Old. Medieval old. Edinburgh is filled with old buildings. Like this one, part of Old Town:


Point of interest: Old Town is entirely uphill, no matter which direction you travel in.


Princes Street, the main thoroughfare for the city now (the castle and Old Town would be to the left of here). Also, New Town. Not quite as old as Old Town, but still (mostly) a couple of centuries old.




More castle pictures! Woo!



Clayton Hill. Deceptively hard to walk towards, even if you follow the street leading straight towards it.


When we made it to the top, the views offered were choice. Here's Emer looking pensive as she gazes upon the city. From here, we booked it into Edinburgh castle.

The palace, where the crown jewels were kept.

The castle was (as you may have guessed in the previous pictures) quite large. The crown jewels of Scotland were stored there and I learned much about the history of Scotland. There was quite an interesting exhibit about when the castle was used as a POW camp during the War of American Independence. We stayed there, enjoying the castle until the place closed and we were kicked out. We were about to leave, but we noticed a crowd forming and decided to wait to see what the fuss was about. As it turns out, a new governor of Edinburgh Castle was being installed. Much pomp and circumstance.


There was a kilted marching band. Yes, that is a bagpipes and brass band.


The new governor, leading his escort. There was a regent of the Queen there. In part of the ceremony, he walked up to the castle walls and knocked on the gates. I kid you not, a guard appeared at the top of the walls and shouted "Who goes there?" This happened after a half hour of bagpipes playing right outside. Someone didn't get the memo about a new boss.

The next day, we woke up early again and made our way into city center. Emer insisted upon taking the bus this time though (it's only 1.8 miles to walk). We managed to catch our Highland bus tour and left for Loch Lomond. I have no pictures of this for two reasons. Firstly, midges were as thick as fog near the lake. Secondly, the batteries ran out. When we stopped for lunch and a hike at Loch Katrina, we picked up some new batteries and let the camera go wild.




As you can see, the lake was beautiful and the weather followed suit. The highlands were particularly awe inspiring. Our final destination was Stirling and Stirling Castle.


Stirling has a sweet cemetery.


Stirling, a tower whose name is unknown to me, and the Highlands.


Stirling palace. The castle has held a distinguished place in Scottish history, as the single road into the Highlands went through Stirling. Both William Wallace and Robert the Bruce fought important battles within a few miles of the castle. Despite it's significance, I felt Edinburgh has the better castle.


Stirling does have tapestries and an active tapestry workshop. This tapestry is part of a seven piece series "The Hunt of the Unicorn".



Another highlight of the third day was finally taking a picture of ourselves that looks alright. I've gone through a few dozen photos that only show half of my head, or only a single one of Emer's eyes are visible. It sounds like a simple task in theory, but you know what they say about theory and practice.

The next morning, we left for our (thankfully not so early) flight and enjoyed being back home. Yes, I had haggis. Every morning for breakfast. Delicious.

Tomorrow we'll be going into Dublin again, then I will be heading back to Dayton on Tuesday morning. This month has really flown by, but I can't complain. The month with Emer has been absolutely fantastic.