Sorry for the delay! Here is week 2 of Scotland!

Sorry for the delay in getting my notes together for the second week of our Scotland adventure -- I had to get materials ready for the semester (syllabi, schedules, etc) and before you knew it -- bam!  A week or two has gone by!

So let's pick up where we left off:  After we left Islay in the Hebrides, we took the ferry back to Kennacraig on the mainland of Scotland (south of Inveraray in the map below) and headed north straight up to the Highlands.  The car trip post-ferry was about 4 hours or so.  We stopped in Oban (a place we had seen in a Rick Steves video) but I wasn't too impressed.  It was terribly crowded and we basically just stayed long enough to eat some lunch and then got back on the road.  As you can see from this map below, we basically took a straight shot up BUT the roads were in no way, shape, or form anywhere near being "straight"!  I think it took us a long time to be even a little comfortable driving on narrow, winding roads (and maybe, if truth be told, we never got used to it!).

As you can see from this map, Fort Augustus -- our next home base -- is on the south end of Loch Ness (which I learned ihas more fresh water by volume that all the lakes in England and Wales combined!).  We rented a condo in a renovated monastery -- seriously!  Check this place out! ( never got a picture but the former church in the monastery had been converted into a pool, stained glass and all!)

And here is perhaps the best picture of all -- the monastery is on the lower center -- so check out the view we had for the entire week! (And, no, we did not see the Loch Ness monster!)

We had a lot of mini-adventures while we used Fort Augustus as our base camp for a week!  We spent one day driving to the Isle of Skye (and we stopped at Eilean Donan -- I posted a bunch of those pictures of Facebook so I won't post them here.  Eilean Donan is the MOST photographed castle in Scotland so Google for pictures if you have never seen it before!  Spectacular!)

We did a hike on Skye and here is the view as we walked up a very big hill to get to ...

... this!  This rock formation is called the Old Man of Storr.  What this picture doesn't show you is that it was super windy and pretty chilly (about the only time in our entire trip that I actually felt cold).  Jim and I were able to stay on Skye for just a few hours but I would definitely like to spend a week or more on Skye in a future trip.  This looks like the perfect place for folks who love outdoor adventures!

We spent another day up near Inverness and went to the Culloden Battlefield.  This was basically the end of Prince Bonnie Charlie, who lost this battle (as well as the lives of 5,000 Highland clansmen) in 1746 as he fought the British for his right to rule the empire.  Culloden was probably the coolest museum I have ever been to -- there was even a small room in which you stood in the center and a small section of the battle played out around you (the four walls all were screens).   

So here is what I learned in a brief nut shell:  Prince Bonnie Charlie (the cute looking guy in the picture above) was born in Rome after his grandfather -- King James II -- was kicked out of England due to some royal fighting.  Charlie wanted the throne back so he secretly got into Scotland and raised his Standard (flag) in a place called Glenfinnan.  (I should mention that this location is south of Culloden by about two+ hours so we went to Glenfinnan and Culloden on two different days! -- but it was cool to visit two sites that represented the beginning and the end of a military adventure).  There is, of course, a lot more to these two sites and what they represented but I left Scotland knowing much more about the events surrounding Prince Bonnie Charlie and being annoyed at him for being yet one more rich guy who ended up not being accountable for his actions/ needs/ wants.

The picture above shows Jim with the Prince Bonnie Charlie memorial behind him.  By the way, Glenfinnan is also well known today because it was a location for the shooting of the Harry Potter films.  Recognize the bridge below?  (imagine a steam train on it!).

Anyhoo, it all  ended for Mr. Prince when he got to the moors of Culloden and his Highland clan army was pretty much slaughtered by the British.  He, of course, was chilling out in the back and escaped.  Idiot.  Side note:  Jim and I were both surprised by how often we heard allusion to a possible Scottish independence on the BBC.  Interesting that two hundred or so years later that this still a relevant topic.

The two pictures above are from a castle that we drove to because Jim knew someone at work who had a connection to the place via family.  This place was utterly beautiful.  On the drive there, we encountered hardly any traffic so we were somewhat surprised when -- just as we were nearing the castle -- we got stuck in a mini traffic jam when some guy was having trouble reversing his car (to let us through) on a one track road.  The parking lot had a bout a dozen cars but there were only a few folks walking around the ruins of this castle.  I have no idea where all those parked folks were but I was happy that they weren't at the ruins.  We basically had this spot all to ourselves.

Wasn't this place gorgeous?  This is a perfect example of the pictures not doing any justice to the actual place itself.  

I may end up finding more pictures from our trip to Fort Augustus to post later but after celebrating Jim's 50th birthday at a cute little restaurant overlooking Loch Ness, we left the next day to return the rental car in Glasgow and then hopped on a train to Edinburgh.  One of the first places that we visited was Edinburgh Castle, a place I had wanted to visit on a previous trip but I couldn't go in because the entry fee was too expensive for my student budget.  Here was the view overlooking Edinburgh from the castle walls:

Doesn't Jim look thoughful and pensive?

At one point, I leaned over and took a picture of the dog cenetary at the castle when ... presto!  I ran into Jan Zuke (and her husband Mark), a colleague from SWIC.  How crazy is that?!  And you have to understand that the castle was super crowded!

So the four of us decided to go to the tea room at the castle and had a nice little break together, sharing our travel stories!  We had a fun time!

Mark wanted to see the 1 PM cannon shot and so we braved the crowds and managed to see the whole procession pretty well!

One of our other Edinburgh adventures was checking out some museums including this one, the Museum of People.  I liked the weird wax figures like the one below -- I think it was supposed to be some 1980's Sex Pistols wannabe!

Jim and I spent one (hot) afternoon checking out Arthur's Seat (the huge hill that overlooks the city of Edinburgh).  We had a rough start because of the lack of correct signs but we finally made it to the top with everyone else.

The view, as you can see below, was simply breathtaking!

Next time I promise to talk about my favorite place that we visited -- Stirling Castle.  Here is a little teaser, though!  Check out the ceilings of this place -- so neat!

Islay, Part II

So, dear readers, when I last left you I had shared stories about our first few days in Scotland, particularly on the island of Islay.  We stayed on Islay almost a week and I can't tell you how much I loved, loved, loved this island.  I didn't think that I was going to like it as much as I did, mostly because all Jim had talked about pre-trip were the numerous whiskey distilleries on the island (and I don't like whiskey).  Well, I guess I have to eat my words because did encounter one whiskey that I like -- Laphroaig's Quarter Cask.

I discovered this whiskey when we did a "Water to Whiskey" experience at the Laphroaig Distillery.  Basically what happens here is that you start by going to the water source of the whiskey and end with the whiskey being taken out of the casks.  And the cool thing is that you get to participate in everything!  

So at the beginning of the day here we were (as group of 6) walking to the water source with our Laphroaig guide:

 

At the water source, we had a nicely packed picnic:

Later in the day, both Jim and I got the chance to cut some "peat," an important part of the whiskey process for Islay distilleries.  The peat gives the whiskey its unique earth-y taste.

I didn't get pictures of the whole experience because along the way we were also getting little drams of whiskey (and the peat field is where I realized that I liked the Quarter Cask and our guide was more than happy to keep filling my glass!).  We toured the distillery and got a close up look at the whole process of making whiskey culminating in us tasting three casks and then choosing one to fill up with our own bottle to take home!

So I guess the moral to the story here is that maybe you might up liking something that you never thought you would like!  (and there has certainly proven true in my recent appreciation of coffee!).

One more experience at Islay I need to metion -- Jim and I hiked the Mull of Oa (the "a" in this word is not pronounced).  Once home to over four hundred people who were eventually cleared of the land because sheep and cows were deemed more economically viable for the land (there is a whole story here), Oa is now home to the American Monument, a Washington-Memorial-like statue commermorating the 266 Americans who drowned when the HMS Tuscania  was torpedoed 7 miles off the coast of this penninsula in 1918.  It isn't the memorial itself which is so awe inspriuring (or the long mile uphill hike) -- the beauty is in the desolate beauty of seeing two coastlines on each side of you meet together.  Here are some professional shots:

Jim and I brought a picnic lunch with us and ate it at the steps of the memorial and then hung around for a bit and took pictures.  No one was there while we were in the area for a few hours.  I think that isolation adds something to the beauty (though as you can tell from the pictures above, I did have a little fear about falling -- keep in mind we were quite isolated with no chance of getting any help if one of us stumbled).

I tried to show the contrast of what Oa looked like in person versus the book but that didn't work -- note the cheeky photo below!

Jim walking around taking pictures while I sat on the grass so I wouldn't fall!

Oa is the one reason I would want to come back to Islay.  The pictures do no justice to this place -- it was just simply stunning (as in "I want to cry this is so beautiful").

We left Islay by ferry, arrived back in Kennacraig (where we had taken the ferry coming in to Islay), and then pointed our little Fiat rental towards Fort Augustus in the Scottish Highlands (on the southern tip of Loch Ness).  More about that adventure tomorrow ....

Cheers, Dianna

Our First Few Days in Scotland!

So in an attempt to get caught up in talking about our trip to Scotland, I am going to cut this discussion into a bunch of different parts. Today's reading for my dear readers?  The first few days of our holiday!

Our first goal on this trip was to spend about a week on the island of Islay, one of the islands that make up the Inner Hebrides in the highlands of Scotland.  As you all know, Jim was turning 50 during our trip and he wanted to enjoy the peaty whiskies famous in this remote area!

So here is how our adventure started:  We left Saint Louis on July 4 and arrived in Manchester, England, at about 7:30 AM on July 5 (Friday).  Our first day had all kinds of challenges!  First, since we couldn't get a direct flight from Saint Louis, we went to Chicago first and then our second flight took us over the Atlantic.  That second flight was on an older plane with very little room for movement (I have flown a lot and never been squeezed that much!).  The woman in front of me decided to push her seat back (though everyone else seemed to understand that doing this would severely impact the person behind you) and I couldn't even cross-stitch.  Instead, I pretty much stared at the woman's forehead for about eight hours.

Once we landed, things didn't get much better (at first).  The airport in Manchester seemed a wee bit understaffed so we had to wait in a customs line for about an hour.  After making it through this first hurdle, we then tried to buy train tickets to Glasgow (where we would be staying the night) but quickly discovered that there had been a fire on the tracks near the airport and the trains were not running.  A railroad employee suggested that we take a local bus to the Manchester Picadilly station and then we spent the next hour or so on a crowded, slow-going local bus that dropped us off -- finally -- about two blocks from the train station.  After a hike up a hill, we made it to the station, purchased our tickets, and found ourselves on a crowded train.  Once we transferred to another train, we were finally able to sit down and I think the both of us at that point were pretty darn tired (after being up for about 24 hours at this point).  The best part of the day was making it to our hotel room in Glasgow.  We were smart about it and booked a room at the Grand Central Hotel, steps from where we got off the Manchester train.  The room was great -- here are a few pictures:

We walked around Glasgow a little, finally eating at a pub that reminded us of the Dubliner back home.  I think we both slept pretty hard though it was difficult to sleep in a place where it didn't even get dark until about 11 PM.  The next morning we were supposed to pick up our rental car right outside the hotel but apparently there had been changes made that we were not aware of.  To make a long story short, the hotel helped us contact the rental car people and we finally got the car stuff worked out and pointed our rented Fiat 500 toward Kennacraig, a ferry terminal about 3 hours away.  Since it was about 11 AM by the time we left Glasgow, we had plenty of time to explore before meeting our 6 PM ferry.

I should mention at this point that Jim caught on to driving on the other side of the ride with a manual transmission (so imagine having to shift gears with the other hand!) quite quickly -- and well!  Though I was super nervous most of the time because of the narrowness of the roads, Jim did a fantastic job the entire time dealing with my nagging about how close we were to shrubs/ stone walls/ cliffs/ curbs.  I know it wasn't easy to take on most of the driving (OK, all of it) but he did an outstanding job!

On our way to Kennacraig, we stopped at a castle that a friend has a connection to -- Dunans.  We were able to only take some pictures from the outside but this brief stop was a nice way to kick off all the castle watching that we would be doing during the entire trip.  Here is the Dunans Castle from a little stone bridge:

We then continued down the road, stopping finally for lunch at a castle we just happened to stumble upon and saw signs for -- Inveraray Castle.  We were pretty hungry by this point so we stopped in the cafe first and I then discovered that this was the very castle in which the Christmas special from the third season of Downton Abbey had been filmed!  Egads!  How could this be?  How did I not know this?!  I managed to get through lunch quickly and then we were off to tour the whole castle!  Amazing!  I loved it!  

After spending some time touring the castle and the gardens, we jumped back in the car and made it with plenty of time to spare at the ferry terminal in Kennacraig -- and then we drove onto the ferry! (which was actually sort of interesting for the inventive way that these folks loaded the cars!)  Jim got lucky when we were sitting in the lounge upstairs) and managed to watch some qualifying for the next day's Formula 1 car race:

By the time we got off the ferry (it was about a 2 hour trip), it was raining on Islay (the island that we were to spend the next week on!) but we found our B&B pretty easily.  I loved Kathy's place (if anyone is headed to Islay, I would recommend checking out the web site for Octofad Farm!).  She made the BEST breakfast!

The next day was a Sunday and we started our rounds of the whiskey distilleries!  Since several of them were closed on Sundays, we made it to two on this first day:  Ardbeg and Lagavulin.  Jim had a nice time at both and then after Lagavulin we had a nice walk around the front and explored an ancient castle in ruins (the third picture):

We stayed on Islay for almost a week, spending our time at seven of the eight whiskey distilleries and exploring these amazing historical spots.  I can't even list everything that we saw or did but here are some of the highlights from the first few days:

Kildalton Cross and Church:  This was our first adventure in "single tracking" it down a narrow one lane dirt road!  But wow!  What a place!  These pictures show Islay's most famous treasure, the ninth-century "High Cross of Kildalton."  What is amazing, of course, is that the cross is unbroken and well preserved enough to enable us to see a lot of the detail (which suggest the idea of sacrifice).  The cross sits in front of the ruins of a church, a late medieval roofless ruin (with some interesting grave stones).

Claggain Bay: After our visit to Kildalton we continued down the single-track dirt road to Claggain Bay -- lots of pretty stones and forever to be remembered as the place where we were attacked by kites (the bird, not the toy).  We must have been too close to a nest but check out this beach!  Isn't it beautiful?!  And keep in mind that during all of our adventures in Islay we would see -- at the most -- maybe two other people!  This is quite an isolated place!

Finlaggan:  This was the administrative capital of the medieval MacDonald Lords of the Isle.  This place was just simply magical in a way that I can't explain.  Between the 12th and 16th centuries, this "island" was busy with the comings and goings of so many people.  The island has the remains of several buildings (a church and a great hall) and you can see the stones of numerous other structures from different periods, too.  And, again, Jim and I virtually had this space to ourselves!

 (The view as you walk toward Finlaggan)

Kilnave:   It took us quite a lot of work on another single-track dirt road to find this place but it was well worth it -- perhaps one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen in my life!  Kilnave is a late medieval chapel set in a magnificent scenic location (just on the east side of Loch Gruinart).  Jim and I were the only people there and, again, it was amazing just to soak in all the history.

Well, this blog post covers just the first few days -- there will be lots more to come (including more pictures!).  I didn't think that I was going to be that excited about Islay because we were coming here for whiskey (and I don't like whiskey).  But little did I know how amazing this place is -- and that there might even be a whiskey that I do like!  But more about that later!

I'll try to update when I can!

Hey all!  We are off to Scotland today but I wanted to be sure and thank everyone for your encouragement and support and I finished doing revisions on several of the key chapters of my dissertation.  I have no idea what the final outcome is yet but I know that I did my best and that these chapters are much better than what I did originally.  I will be taking this long awaited break to visit my "motherland" (my grandmother's family emigrated from Hamilton, Scotland to Canada many years ago) and to just simply take a break from everything.  When I come back, I will attack this whole dissertation one more time and get it done.  My hope is to defend in about September and graduate in December.  Go n-éirí an bóthar leat  (Galeic for Bon Voyage!)   :D

The Party is Over!

The title of this blog posting refers to two "parties" -- the dissertation-alooza and Jim's surprise 50th birthday party!

Let's talk about Jim first!  I had been planning this party since late last year.  Jim is not big on parties and surprises but I wanted to do something special for his 50th birthday.  Since I knew that we were going to be in Scotland during his actual birthday (July 17), the party had to take place before we left -- so viola!  June 29th was the last Saturday before we would be leaving for our trip.  I was pretty stressed out (mostly because I was also working as hard as I could on my dissertation) but it was also hard to juggle keeping a secret, dealing with catering problems on my own, making sure folks would come to the party, coordinating the decorations and the cake, setting up, and just doing everything I could to make sure everyone had a good time!  But I think it all came out successfully!  Here are a few pictures (I took some before folks got there but then didn't take any once people arrived -- I was too busy mingling with all the wonderful people who came!):

The party was at the Dubliner, a bar/ restaurant that we frequent on Washington Avenue, about two blocks from our place.  I had just a few decorations including this banner I had made!

In lieu of gifts, I asked folks to bring donations for "Stray Rescue," the great downtown organization that Stella, our fabulous pooch, came from.  By the end of the party, we had collected $220  

I used dog bowls from the Dollar Store for candy and little mints that said "Happy 50th Birthday":

The birthday boy himself!

Jim walking into the party!

And check out this fabulous cake (it was a cake replica of Jim's D600 Nikon camera!)  Not only did the cake look great but it tasted fabulously!   (It was made by "Cakes by Nette")

I am happy with the way that the whole party turned out -- I am not sure how many people were there (maybe 45-50?) but I think a great time was had by all!

And the other party, you ask?  Dissertation-alooza!  The day before the party (Friday), I finished the revisions of Chapter 5, the last chapter that I needed to edit before our upcoming trip to Scotland (on Thursday!).  I feel like Chapters 3 (Methodology) and 4 (Results) are the strongest -- perhaps not fantastic but I think pretty darn close to "good enough."  I might need a little more guidance for Chapter 5 (Analysis) but I did the best that I could.  The best part, of course, is that these chapters no longer look like the old versions, making them stronger versions of what it is that I want to say.  I hope to defend my work in September so I just hope that all the work I did this last month did the trick.

So now -- I pack and figure out what I am going to bring to Scotland for three weeks!  More to follow soon!