obviously i'm not pulling my weight
Phew, it's been a good long while since I've written about our trip. Kind of easy to be lax about it since Erin is so diligent and entertaining. I should probably skip over to Prague up to now, but feel like I can't skip our two weeks in the UK, so indulge me...please.
On our way to Hamburg I remember telling Erin that we needed to slow down a bit. We had been traveling for 14 days and had changed locations 12 times. Every minute of internet we could get we spent planning our next transportation or lodging, or in the spare few moments quickly jotting down our experiences so as not to lose them in the jumble. We survived the next few days of Hamburg and Copenhagen trying hard to soak up the places we visited but with noticeable exhaustion, which may have tempered how we saw them.
Plane trips are one of the least enjoyable ways to travel. Nagging baggage restrictions, being carted around like sheep through security lines, dwindling services once aboard the planes, and the long distances from the cities where you actually want to be. But we made it to London, found our rental car agency and started our journey with Winnie, our (fiat) panda. The following weeks England and Scotland were a refreshing change of pace, if not necessarily slower.
On our way to Hamburg I remember telling Erin that we needed to slow down a bit. We had been traveling for 14 days and had changed locations 12 times. Every minute of internet we could get we spent planning our next transportation or lodging, or in the spare few moments quickly jotting down our experiences so as not to lose them in the jumble. We survived the next few days of Hamburg and Copenhagen trying hard to soak up the places we visited but with noticeable exhaustion, which may have tempered how we saw them.
Plane trips are one of the least enjoyable ways to travel. Nagging baggage restrictions, being carted around like sheep through security lines, dwindling services once aboard the planes, and the long distances from the cities where you actually want to be. But we made it to London, found our rental car agency and started our journey with Winnie, our (fiat) panda. The following weeks England and Scotland were a refreshing change of pace, if not necessarily slower.
It was serendipitously my brother Tony's birthday the day after we arrived so we changed our plans and stayed an extra day in London to celebrate with him and were even lucky enough to see my nephew Gabriel - which is a weird way to categorize him because he's closer in age to me than my brother. On his suggestion, we spent our first night on the road in Ullswater, Cumbria (in the lake district of England), a lovely transition to the hilly northern lands.
apparently all i did was sit, so here's erin standing.
My Highlights of Scotland:
- Standing on Hadrian's wall (still in England)
- Standing on Hadrian's wall (still in England)
oh, the spectacle!
- Watching the Scottish rugby team's last warmup game before the Rugby World Cup against Italy (I'm looking forward to watching the games while in Germany).
when was the last time you saw professional tug-of-war?
- The highland games in Crieff - I had gone as a child to the highland games in New Jersey, and it was so fun to see that while the games here were more comprehensive and homespun, the ones at home were not half bad.
-Tug-of-War was rad
- running and biking events were all-ages, and starting lines were staggered in some handicapped fashion i couldn't quite figure out.
- the heavyweight competition was all-day entertainment, especially the caber (log) toss.
- bagpipe and drum competition was always audible and fun
- also couldn't quite make out the rules of the dancing competition
-Tug-of-War was rad
- running and biking events were all-ages, and starting lines were staggered in some handicapped fashion i couldn't quite figure out.
- the heavyweight competition was all-day entertainment, especially the caber (log) toss.
- bagpipe and drum competition was always audible and fun
- also couldn't quite make out the rules of the dancing competition
sitting on the* coronation stone of scone (destiny).
- The Castles: We saw enormous royal castles (Edinburgh and Stirling), regional fortresses (Eilean Donan and Urquhart), and small, every-day castles (Corgarf and Hightower).
you get the drift...
- Amazing landscapes. The kind that pictures just can't capture. We drove through deep glens with high rocky mounts and rivers slicing through them; the sun set beyond the western shores of Skye; and cold, ominous clouds settling over Ben Nevis while we hiked down in a sunny valley.
- Distillery tours - Erin and I wish we could have gone to one place and just tried a bunch of different local whiskies, but it was nice to get a tour of a couple of them and learn how it's done.
the final resting place of Robert the Bruce
- The Bruce Festival in Dunfermline. The festival itself was much smaller than the highland games, but there were also a few lectures I got to see such as one on the Norman "invasion" of Scotland (they might have fought to get to England, but by the time they reached Scotland it was basically invasion by invitation). The Son of the head of the Bruce clan spent his time dispelling the "Braveheart myth." If you've seen the movie, Robert the Bruce was portrayed as an opportunistic power-hungry wannabe. sheesh. That was not on any of the plaques at Stirling or Edinburgh castle. Anyway, in case anyone was worried, he made some really good arguments to dispel that stance. So I still feel proud to be a Bruce.
next time...
We covered a lot of ground in the country, driving on most of the major thoroughfares and or trying to bypass them for the scenic routes. Liking the highlands so much, we didn't spend much time in the cities (Aberdeen, Inverness and Glasgow), but that was fine by us, although the one time we actually wanted pub food in Glasgow, we couldn't find it at all, and had to settle for Italian food (not the first, and inevitably not our last, i'm sure).
One disappointment was that although in a rugby hotbed, we visited too early in the season for me to finally strap on my boots and referee any rugby, so that will have to wait until we visit Germany. So until then, I'll let my kit (rugby gear) take up space and weight in my bag, but thankfully not stink anything up.
- SB
One disappointment was that although in a rugby hotbed, we visited too early in the season for me to finally strap on my boots and referee any rugby, so that will have to wait until we visit Germany. So until then, I'll let my kit (rugby gear) take up space and weight in my bag, but thankfully not stink anything up.
- SB
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