Searching for Nessie (Bus Tour #1)

Referendum results day dawned glum and wet–perfect weather, I suppose, for the almost fifty percent of the population who were terribly disappointed by the news: Scotland is, indeed, remaining a part of the United Kingdom.

We booked ourselves into a twelve hour tour, going up to Loch Ness and back again, with a few other stops along the way. It turned out to be a great decision. We went on the Wee Red Bus Tour, which, according to my handy-dandy photograph, is run through Heart of Scotland Tours.

Our driver, Patrick, was absolutely fantastic. He wore a kilt and matching socks (with tartan fringe!) and told us all about the three kinds of kilts that all good Scotsmen should own: one casual, for everyday wear; one formal, for weddings and funerals and other special occasions, and one for some other situation that I don’t remember because this tour was over a week ago, now.

On our way out of Edinburgh we passed these giant kelpie statues. In mythology, the kelpie is a water horse that kills unsuspecting humans. It is said that once you touch a kelpie, or climb on its back for a free ride, you can’t let go. It will carry you straight into the nearest body of water and to your death.

Our first stop was at a nice little brewery. They took us on a free five minute tour of their facility, which smelled simply awful (scent: 1 out of 10, do not recommend).

The brewery also had a nice little cafe where I purchased a mid-morning snack of mocha and cheese toastie.

We passed through a few towns on our journey, so of course I took pictures of random pretty things, like this river.

After a while the area became more mountainous…

And then, all of a sudden, we were very definitely in the Scottish Highlands!

We stopped again for a photo-op at the Three Sisters peaks. Only two of them would fit in my picture, though. That’s ok; we’ll call it one for me and one for my sister.

Two of the Three Sisters mountains.

Honestly, though, I think the valley between the three sisters and the neighboring peak was prettier by far than the peaks themselves.

At our next rest stop–a nature preserve and lookout point, we checked out the souvenir shop. I am not ashamed to admit I now own a “Wee Coo” key chain. “Coo” is how “cow” is pronounced in the Scottish accent. And I can’t turn down anything that says “wee.”

Here’s another pretty loch (lake).

 

And then, finally, we reached Loch Ness. There’s a canal running to (from?) the loch with gates that were kind of cool to look at. At one point we thought they were going to open, but no luck.

 

Look to the right…

…now look to the left.

This is Loch Ness: I was expecting to be way more impressed, actually. It’s just a big lake. I mean, it’s pretty, but it’s still just a big lake.

 

Since we were there, I decided to do a little Nessie-searching, with my own dark, blurry photographs for proof! Let’s see if you can find the Loch Ness Monster in my pictures, below.

Is it that, over on the right?

 

 

Nah, that’s just part of a tree branch.

What about in the middle, there?

 

No, that’s a piece of wood as well.

But this one–it’s the correct shape, right?

Unfortunately, it’s a duck

Maybe this one? You decide.

 

 

On the edge of the lake was this large building. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s kind of pretty in a Harry Potter sort of way.

 

 

This teeny-tiny little light house didn’t seem to be doing much, but it was day-time. Maybe it’s still in use at night. Although, the only boats that we saw going out were tour boats which stop at night, so I don’t think there’s much use for the light house anymore.

On the bus ride back we drove past some absolutely flat lochs that made for good mirrors of the surrounding mountains.

 

And a few more pretty mountains, of course.

 

 

We stopped briefly at the Scottish World War II memorial, which was very nice.

 

Also, sheep.

 

Also, highland cows. Highland cows have big shaggy bangs, and seeing them always makes me wonder if they seem to stand in one place all the time just so they don’t trip with their eyes covered.

Here, for your pleasure, is a highland cow trying to scratch his butt. You’re welcome.

As the light grew dimmer, we passed our final view. This bridge is very old, and sometimes considered one of the wonders of the world for its beauty and engineering. I thought it was interesting, but not quite at world-wonder level.

Castle in the Clouds

While the majority of Scots were out voting, we spent the afternoon touring one of the main attractions in Edinburgh: the castle. Unfortunately, it was a little cloudy.

The great hall had a really cool ceiling; it’s actually the only remaining ceiling of it’s kind in the area.

Then, back into the fog we went.

Inside one of the exhibits I found this informative display:

It’s a fork, everybody.

The jail was pretty cool, as well. There was a reconstruction of the original conditions,

a couple wooden doors with designs carved into them by the prisoners, including this early rendition of (supposedly) the USA’s stars and stripes:

(on the left)

There was also a model ship that prisoners had built during their free time.

As you can see, they had a lot of free time.

Many prisoners also produced crafts for sale, which they passed through the bars of the prison walls during a designated time each day.

Then there was this sign, explaining how the French government made sure the French prisoners were living in relative luxury, while still not actually getting them out of prison. (That’s ok. The prison was eventually shut down in part due to too many French prisoners managing to escape.)

After seeing the castle, we went down into the city for dinner. This lady was giving ghost tours:

We tried some haggis with mashed potatoes and turnips with dinner. It was weird, and kind of tasted like chopped liver. Not terrible, but I wouldn’t eat a whole plate of it myself.

And then we went to bed.

Goodnight Edinburgh!

Political Passions

First off, I’d like to say that the only reason you’re getting these pictures now (after the voting is over) is because for some reason (wifi? wordpress?) I could not upload them in real time. And even though the referendum has been decided, I thought you still might like to see what the atmosphere in Edinburgh was like on voting day.

On our way to Edinburgh castle we passed a group of reporters who just seemed to be waiting for people to go crazy.

We also passed a nearly unprecedented number of street-bagpipers.

And lots of people wearing shirts, holding signs, or waving flags to indicate which decision they advocated.

This person is waving a flag with lion on it. It’s something like the crest of Scotland; not currently an official flag, but used quite often in-country.

Here, someone waves the Basque separatists’ flag. Basque, Italy, Catalan, Spain, and Flanders, Belgium all have their own separatist/independence movements, and many came to support the Scottish and encourage people to vote “Yes.”

Below, supporters of Scottish independence have laid out candles in the shape of the unofficial flag of Catalan, Spain (left) and the flag of Scotland (right).

Graffiti was scrawled in chalk all over the stone city; “Yes”es and “No”s warring for supremacy, and occasionally responding to prior writers’ opinions.

This group celebrates with a bundle of “Yes” balloons in the colors of the Scottish flag.

Although the shop is empty, the owner or workmen have hung “Yes” posters inside the front window.

 

Scottish Independence?

We just left Cambridge, and I have some London and Cambridge pictures left to show you, but I’m a little backlogged and I think you should see these new posts right away. Because I am now in Edinburgh, Scotland. And the referendum–whether or not Scotland will secede from the United Kingdom, is going to the popular vote TODAY.

So, first, let me show you what England looks like on the train: (hint: it’s mostly sheep and cows and one field of miniature horses that I didn’t manage to snap a shot of. Sorry. They were cute.)

In Peterborough we saw firsthand the dialect differences between the US and England:

“Well jeez! Sometimes you’re just not in a very friendly mood!”

We got in to the Edinburgh train station last night, and as we were walking to our hostel we passed the hill with Edinburgh Castle on top; it’s in the center of the city, and visible for quite a distance. Well last night someone was projecting a huge “NO” on the hill. “NO” as in “Vote NO on the referendum tomorrow.”

A few minutes later the projection was gone. I guess they got caught.

Even the local burger place got in on it; they were running a “Burger Referendum” and each of the two specialty burgers bought–named, of course, after the main pro-UK and pro-Independence politicians–got tallied up, with the winner to be announced today.

So the people vote on the referendum today, and the votes will be counted by around 3a.m., and announced officially early tomorrow morning. Stay tuned!