Blogs from Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 377

Edinburgh is still great and still chock-a-block with tourists everywhere, the locals must hate it. Walking down the main drag along the Royal Mile there are thousands of people and every step there is a street performer or someone touting for you to come see their show. There are crazily dressed people, random zaniness and a great vibe - see pics. Tuesday was spent doing a few tourist things and visiting the Andy Warhol collection at the National Gallery. The exhibition included all the iconic pieces (the Campbell’s soup cans/Brillo pads/Coke stuff; the Marilyn/Liza/Elvis/Jackie Kennedy portraits) and also included some stuff I wasn’t aware of like his fascination with death, war and religion and the fact that h was a massive hoarder and hardly threw anything out and his collection included 612 archive boxes of ‘time ... read more

Ah... a month of freedom! My last month in the office has v-e-r-y slowly come to a close and I am now once again gainfully unemployed, enhancing my wellbeing and enjoying the northern summer. Work in Suisse starts at the beginning of September, until then Asia and I are putting our relationship to the test and will be travelling for a month in the UK and a few select spots in south-east Europe. We have a flght to Rijeka in Croatia, and a visa to pick up in Prague two weeks later.. where we'll end up in between times is anyone's guess :) It's amazing how long 4 weeks can take when you're waiting for a chance to do nothing. It wasn't all bad either.. I spent a week in a small village up at Loch ... read more

Monday, August 6th - Isle of Skye: I don’t really remember what we did on this day during the morning, so I’ll just go off of the brochure notes: “A full day on Skye to absorb the breathtaking scenery of this spectacular and history-steeped isle. Explore Portree, the tiny island capital, then visit remote Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chiefs of Clan MacLeod since 1200, and learn of connections with Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora MacDonald. Take in the views of the Cullin Hills on the way back to Broadford.” So, yeah, there you go. We looked at scenery and the fact that it was “history steeped” probably explains my lack of memory. I do remember Dunvegan castle (because it had the word “vegan” in it and that made me smirk and think of ... read more

Sunday, August 5th - Thurso to the Isle of Skye: This was pretty much a driving day- about 240 miles I believe. We stopped every hour or less and stretched our legs and took pictures. We stopped at Betty Hill and mom and I picked out the house we were going to buy (it overlooked Torrisdale Bay). We also stopped and took pictures of Loch Eriboll. The scenery was beautiful, so between that and the fact that none of us could keep our eyes opened, the drive was over pretty quickly. We were amused that Margie would mention that we were going to be seeing beautiful scenery and to enjoy it, and then she would put “Scottish Tranquility” into the cd p... read more

Week 2 Had a fantastic week with the Catriona, Alastair, Iain, Robbie and Angus just out of Glasgow where we visited Mount Suart House and the Isle of Bute, Charles Renie Macintoshs' Hill House, rode their horses and hung out on their massive sofa. Then spent the weekend with Iain, Robbie and Angus at Tom and Marys' home near Girvin where we helped out at the church fair. Then went to a Stand-up comedy show at the Edinburgh fringe Festival.... read more