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Published: September 17th 2005
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Looking up at Castle Rock
From a gorgeous park that spans the north side of the Rock. Called Prince's Street Gardens, it rivals any public park I've ever seen for beauty Hard, to believe but Scotland is already behind me.
In London at the Park Lane now. I had dinner last night with my dear friends Bill and Muriel Kyle. I think I overwhelmed them with my chattiness since I hadn't had a proper face-to-face discussion in 8 days!
Heading out to Essex this afternoon to see four generations of the Kyle clan today.
Very excited to see Bill's parents - the coolest 80 year olds in the world. And, Muriel's Mum too. She just lost her husband of 59 (!!!) years about a month ago. I'll report on the Essex journey in a future blog.
Interestingly, Judy and I were here a year ago this weekend for Helen Kyle's wedding. Beautiful wedding in a centuries old hotel. Then, I got in a fight in a pub here in London on Sunday when I kept calling Colin Montgomery "Mrs. Doubtfire" during the final round of the Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills. I may have a had a beer or two - Judy says I was overly annoying, even for me. Maybe I'll go back to that pub tomorrow in commemoration...!!!
Again, random thoughts:
Friday dawned bright
blue and gorgeous in Edinburgh. You'll see that it gave me ample opportunity to take some finals pics before I headed to the airport. The camera probably holds as many pictures of Edinburgh Castle as all the others combined.
I can't help but be enthralled by the setting. It is every American child's vision of a castle: sitting high on a butte/mountain with panoramic views in all directions. Fairly necessary for a safe castle, one would think.
Castle Rock, as its called, falls gently away to the east - towards the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh as a city grew up on this slope. The main pathway down the slope is known as The Royal Mile. At the foot of the Mile is the Palace of Holyroodhouse - the Queen's official residence in Scotland. Mary, Queen of Scots was probably Holyroodhouse's most former resident.
Bizarrely, Scotland built its new Parliament building right across the street from Holyroodhouse.
Words or pictures cannot describe how unusual this series of structures is. Bill says it is a source of huge controversy and that his father will rant for two hows today about it if I ask. Hmmmm - should be
Ya Think So???
Too many women loving pregnancy so much, they're going for 12-15 month periods instead of 9?? interesting.
BTW, this was a result of the Scottish devolution brought about by Labour's win in the 1997 general election which ended 18 years of Conservative governing in the UK. It is Scotland's first parliament in over 300 years.
So far, in Germany and Scotland, the public transportation has been phenomenal. The trains, tubes, and buses are clean, quiet and run almost to the second on time. The train ride through Fife up to St. Andrews was a real pleasure as I said in my last post.
Intra-Europe plane travel, on the other hand, is less pleasurable. To get to Edinburgh from Berlin, I had to connect through Frankfurt, which is Lufthansa's hub. FRA may be the most muddled airport I've ever seen. Even though I was staying within the EU, I literally had to clear through Passport Control three times in two terminals. Strange.
And, LH's Business Class means nothing more than blocking out the center seat in an Economy style cabin. Delicious Meat and Cheese plate for a snack though.
Edinburgh Airport is newish and quite nice. Much smaller than FRA. I flew British Midland from EDI to London. I had heard very
One Side of the Parliament
I have no clue what it is supposed to represent...!!! mixed reports on BMI, but was very pleased with the service and comfort, even though BMI do Business Class similar to LH.
Arriving Heathrow at 6:00pm on a Friday evening! OY! Gotta tell you though, LHR has the most amazing people watching anywhere in the world. Just looking at the arrivals board is a shock for an American. Flights coming in from Tehran, Vladivostok, Tbilisi, Majorca, you name it. Very fun for me.
One cool thing from leaving Berlin. Whilst I was in the lounge for my flight to FRA to be called, they called the flight to Ulan Bator, Mongolia. With a stop in Moscow. Now, that would be a journey...
A thought on Berlin - Sex and the City must be huge there. I saw so many bizarrely dressed Carrie Bradshaw-wannabes it was laughable. I thought of taking a surreptitious photo or two, but didn't was to risk getting beat up by their boyfriends.
Big German election today. They may elect a female Chancellor for the first time ever. Germany is in the doldrums economically and probably needs a change. All of Europe is watching this one very closely.
On my cab ride
The Front of Parliament.
Notice the twiglike things covering the windows in the center of the building. Strange. from The Caley to EDI, yesterday I was treated to an amazing rant from the cabbie.
Through his VERY thick Scottish brogue, I think I ascertained that his wife of 20 years left him for her boss; his three teenage children were now smoking, drinking, and having sex as a result; he is absolutely destitute after having been comfortably middle class before; she is nothing more than a dirty "hooa" (you figure it out), and; her sister is a worse dirty hooa. Wow - I told Bill and Muriel that I could understand about 40% of what he was saying. So, I just nodded my head, made small affirming noises, and hoped he never asked for my thoughts/reactions.
Time to get out of here and head to the Kyle's.
Football Saturday. Go Illini. They'll get crushed at Cal.
More later. Thanks so much for all your messages - I very much enjoy reading them.
Please let me know if you have questions or want clarification on anything I've written.
Bye.
-g
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Pictures
Hi, You are taking really great pictures. Did Judy teach you how to use the camera before you left? I cannot remember you being a "picture taker"!! Continue to have a great time. I hope you gave my best to Duncan and Iza (and, of course, Bill and Muriel). Love DAD