Surprisingly good weather. I expected it to rain constantly. Still is fkng cold though. I don't understand why everyone is walking around in T-shirts. I'm wearing a sweater and a coat...
Thursday I went up to Inverness. Train ride started 06.53 (gasp) and was a good one. I enjoy sitting in the BusinessClass section of the train except for the business *people* constantly on the phone going "What? What? Hello? Can you hear me? I'm in a tunnel. Oh, you're back! Right. I was just saying - hello? ..." Amazing how they ignore the signal bar in the phone display showing there just isn't a good enough signal for having a phone call.
Anyway, the trip as such was great. There is a part just north of Edinburgh which is beautiful! It stretches from Pitlochry up over Blair Atholl. Hilly, lush and dramatic landscape. I want to come back with a car and drive around. Especially Pitlochry looked like a one-pub-only kind of place.
Inverness as a city wasn't that impressive though. They've knocked down too many of the original buildings and the modern ones are plain ugly. The atmosphere so present in Edinburgh is no where to be found in Inverness. There is a nice walk to do, following the river and then passing over two small islands. There were a couple of trout fishers standing in the river, but none of them had any luck catching one. Overall the day in Inverness was a bit disappointing: The castle allows no visitors (but it is possible to walk around it), the town tour bus was out of service, the cathedral had a wedding dress show (and wouldn't pay to see the church), the cathedral tea room looked like a waiting hall, the pub didn't have any salt&vinegar crisps... Ah well. At least I've seen the city now.
Coming back to Edinburgh I had a very nice meal at a Fish & Seafood restaurant. And not only was the food good, I also had an excellent time watching French people coming in there and not speaking english. They seemed very upset too when the waitress couldn't understand what they wanted. Good fun. I'm thinking about ordering in Swedish from now on. I did like the waitress though, she went over to the bar and fetched the barman who spoke french. Then she took their orders while he translated.
Friday I "did" Edinburgh:
- Glanced at the Castle (too many tourists there for my liking)
- Had a quick tour inside of the Tartan Weaving Mill (soooo many nice wool stuff)
- Had really nice whiskies and a tour at the Scotch Whisky Heritage Center
- Knocked over a few tourists on my way down the Royal Mile (what is it with people? why do they just stop in the middle of the road instead of on the side?)
- Visited the Queens Gallery which had an amazing show on called "Amazing Rare Things". Leonardo da Vinci sketches, and other beautiful pics
- Walked up the *wrong* path on Arthur's Seat so didn't get all the way up to the top (duh)
- Had me some nice pints in one of the most comfortable chairs I've ever sat in. Sitting there I realized how much more fun the Scottish, English and Irish papers are compared to the boring Swedish papers.
- Oh, and at the Whisky center I had a Macallan 18 yrs old (heaven). I like the Whisky center, and might go back just to visit their bar. Amazing assortment!
Yesterday I visited 4 (four) museums... Art mostly, but they are all cool, and with free shuttle buses going in between them it is very easy and comfortable getting around. In the evening I joined one of the many ghost tours. The terror tour. Excellent tour. Lots of Edinburgh history and scary as you go in to a torture museum and then you visit some of the vaults going under the houses. Scary places.
Today I'll be packing up my stuff as I am heading for Copenhagen tomorrow. First train to London and then on from there over to mainland europe. I'll be in Denmark 26 hours later.
1 comment:
Sounds like you are having a ball. Good to see you enjoying your stay.
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