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Published: January 27th 2006
Dr. Who Museum
We finally found it or did it find us???Someone finally gave Buff correct information about the Dr. Who Museum. It's in Blackpool, England and rather than stop in Liverpool we are going to Blackpool. Little did we know how popular a town it is, especially on a weekend. It's a seaside resort town sort of like Santa Cruz or Venice Beach times 100! Shops to buy everything and anything. Beach and wharfs along the Western coast of England. Hotel after hotel, and B&Bs, self-catering cotttages - 3,500 of them it turns out. Restaurant after restaurant. Even it's own version of the Eiffel Tower. We walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked (we had a map of the town center that we never even got to) but finally heard that distinctive music of Dr. Who. We made it! Had to drag Buff out finally, still lots of hours to Aberfoyle and our next cottage. We took a cab back to the car in the public parking lot where we had found one of the last spaces to park. They were building more (badly needed)parking lots.
We arrive at Bo Nan Taigh (never did get a chance to ask Mr. Stuart what the name meant) and
Bo Nan Taigh
The kitchen in the cottage, everything was practically brand new. it's even newer than Blossom. Wow! It's right outside of Aberfoyle, a small village in the Trossachs region of Scotland. Both cottages had the neatest combination washer/dryer appliance we had never seen before. This one worked - the one at Blossom had leaked - so we caught up on 2 weeks worth of laundry and watched BBC on the telly - which is great by the way.
Next day we awake to the most awesome scenery, and head off to Loch Lomond. We have a very scenic drive up the East side of the Loch after visiting the Balloch Castle visitor center and gateway center to the Trossachs. Buff is starting to pep up, yee I think his Scottish blood is a brewing.
Good thing we did Loch Lomond Sunday. Monday we saw the first bad weather of our trip and actually wore our rain jackets. But the rain didn't stop us as we visited the Wallace Monument (Mel Gibson's Braveheart character was based on him) and Stirling Castle. Buff went all the way to the top of the monument and said it was like the high platform scene in Lord of the Rings with Merlin, except instead
The Trossachs
What a beautiful area of Scotland. of battling a foe, Buff was being knocked sbout by wind and driving rain. He made it back to me safely (waiting on the 2nd floor).
Then across the river and Stirling to the castle. We almost had the place to ourselves it was raining so. I think this was my favorite castle, because of a tapestry project. It will take years, but they have weavers re-creating a series of 6 tapestries "The Hunt for the Unicorn". They were done in early Christian times and have alot of Christian symbology. Two are completed. The 4 remaining you can see the entire creative process from photographing the originals, matching colors, dyeing yarn, a weaver making a small sample tapestry as the primary weaver weaves, to work out any problems, (two weavers to watch!), and of course seeing the big tapestry coming to life. It was fascinating. Buff can have his cannons and armory. This was "hecka cool" as the kids say.
We have had the best food (and beer) in Scotland. Buff tried Haggis with Tats & Neeps (Mashed Potatoes and Turnips) and liked it and I've had no trouble getting vegetable dishes here. We found a very nice
Loch Lomond
This is the area Sir Walter Scott was writing of in The Lady of the Lake. place in Aberfoyle that was recommended by previous visitors at the cottage. The place was nearly empty, but don't you know they seated us next to a couple from San Francisco? We had to laugh.
We visited Duone Castle - Monty Python used it quite a bit when they filmed "In Search of the Holy Grail" and had fun remembering the scenes including the trojan rabbit; and if you can't remember, the gift shop had all sorts of books about the film. Then we did what they call the Trossachs in miniature drive and went up to Callander, saw Rob Roy's grave - he's been likened to Scotland's Robin Hood - and then Loch Katrine. Tomorrow we drive back down to London.
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otis
non-member comment
about the picture with the waterfall.... could u both just take one more step back? ... it will make the picture a bit more interesting. {: