Folks,
At the beginning of April my fiance and I went to Scotland to get married. Why Scotland? We wanted something small and when i asked Janet if she could get married anywhere, where would it be, she said Calanais Standing stones on the Isle of Lewis and I said OK, let's do it.
Here is a brief chronicle of our first few days in Scotland. I'll post more when I get time.
April 1-2
We left Washington, D.C. on Wednesday and landed in Amsterdam on Thursday morning. (KLM rocks!) Since we had a seven hour layover in Amsterdam, a friend I have in Holland kindly agreed to show us around Amsterdam, even though she gets lost when she goes there. She told us that they say that The Netherlands has more bikes than people and by the amount of bikes I saw, I can believe it.
Rent your dam bikes here.
While walking around, we somehow managed to attract the attention of this crazy Rastafarian dude who insisted on posing for photos.
She grudgingly agreed to show me the Red Light District - she's such a good sport. It wasn't what I expected but I imagine the place really picks up around 10 PM, instead of 10:30 AM which was when we came by.
After quite a bit of walking, we were hungry and she took us to this restaurant that served pannenkoeken. The menu was in Dutch and since I couldn't read it, I let her order for us and she ordered these delicious mini-pancakes or something. We needed to head back to the airport to catch out flight to Edinburgh. After a quick hour flight, we were in Scotland. We cleared immigration with no problem and picked up our rental car. Janet said that she wanted to drive and I wasn't going to protest. I had Google directions for all of our planned stopping points but Google didn't know that the road between the airport and Edinburgh City Center would be torn up for construction of a new tram. The diversions, foreign road signs, compounded the stress of having to drive on the left on the left side of the car. We were almost at our bed & breakfast when I looked over at Janet and said "are you crying?" to which she replied, "I'll be alright". We made it to the B&B, which would be the most luxurious of the B&Bs we would stay at - heated bathroom floor, queen sized bed with pillow top, piping hot water in the shower and amazing water pressure, plus the best breakfast ever. The owner asked why we were in Scotland we told her that we were getting married and when we returned from dinner, we found a present on our bed - a book about Scotland. Sweet!
April 3
After a delicious "full Scottish" breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, black pudding, toast, yogurt) we headed North to Inverness. On a whim, we stopped at the Blair Athol Distillery, took the tour, and learned the "proper" way to drink whisky. We bought a bottle of their 12 year and a glass and moved on.
We stopped alongside a river to watch this guy for a bit.
Our timing was perfect because we watched him hook and land this monster:
Some Scandinavians stopped also to watch him land the fish and asked Janet what he was doing when they saw this.
Janet explained that he was resuscitating the fish so he could release it and apparently the concept of catch-and-release was unknown to them because they were asking her why would he do such a thing. We got back in the car and continued the drive as I admired the landscape. We eventually made it to Inverness and checked into our B&B then went out for a walk and dinner. Walking downtown I realized I was truly in another land when I saw that below most signage was the Gaelic translation.
Walking past the castle, I saw the radiation trefoil carefully landscaped on the lawn. Hurray for nuclear power!
After dinner, we headed for Hootananny to get our live music fix. Our timing could not have been better because Schiehallion was playing. Schiehallion is probably the most popular local band in the area, and with good reason. They played a slew of traditional highland songs and the crowd sang and danced along. It was interesting to see people from their 20's up through the 60's dancing with each other, drinking together, and having a good time. That was something you don't see here.
Check out how he plays the bodhrán. He doesn't use the traditional beater but instead uses a porridge spurtle. Neat!
Janet went and got us two beers. Some guy missing most of his teeth came up to me and asked me if I wanted to fight. I said no and he asked why not. I replied that I'm not a fighter. He said he was a fighter and he thought Americans were fighters. I told him I wasn't a fighter and then he introduced himself as "Ian. Ian MacLeod . Clan MacLeod. Do you have a clan?" I said no because I was Colombian. He seemed satisfied with that answer, probably because I wasn't English, then went off to dance.
Anxious to learn more about the local music scene, I went outside to ask one of the security guys. He told me that the music scene was good and Hootananny was the best place for local music. He then told me he'd be playing fiddle on Sunday and said we should go. I said sure and went back inside to order a beer. The ensuing conversation went like this:
Me: I'll have a Black Isle Wheat.
Bartender: (noticing I'm American) Whisky.
Me: No, I want a beer.
Bartender: No, you want a whisky.
Me: No, I'm pretty sure I want a beer.
Bartender: Whisky.
Me: I'll be back on Sunday. I'll have a whisky then.
Bartender: Good. I'll walk you through a bottle.
Me: OK
Me (walking away): What did I just agree to?
We finished the evening talking to some local folks, all of whom told me they were glad Bush was no longer President and wanted to know who we voted for.
April 4
Saturday was the Northern Roots Festival and as a surprise for Janet, I signed her up for a Gaelic song writing workshop and a Gaelic language taster. She ended up being the only one who signed up and so she was able to get more out of the experience than she thought.
I'm a sucker for a female bass player. Rawr!
Janet sang an American folk song a capella during the open mic portion and it was well received. We stayed for the afternoon show then headed back to Inverness to go see Schiehallion at Gellions pub. They were LOUD and a lot of fun. When Janet went to order a beer, someone caught her American accent and bought us each a whisky to welcome us to Scotland.
April 5
Oh God. Where to start.
We set out early and took the long way into town which took us down to the Botanical Gardens, across the islands, and along the bank of the River Ness. Castle Tavern had roast beef, Yorkshire pudding with all the trimmings as their special so we ate there for a late lunch along with two pints and a whisky. As we moved towards Hootananny, we walked past Gellion's and saw Kenny, the lead singer for Schiehallion, come out. We made some small talk and he invited us in to Gellions but I told him that we were headed to Hootananny to see Nick play. He said he'd catch up with us later. Nick and his friends were amazing. All are in their early 20's and they just sat down and jammed.
The bartender saw me and remembered my promise and poured me my whisky. Fortunately he wasn't really going to walk me through a whole bottle. Whew! We hung out for a while and I had a few more pints of beer, trying the different local brews. Kenny comes in and finds us and we buy him a round. He tells us we should go with him back to Gellions and we say sure. The bars close in 30 minutes so that's time for one more. We get to Gellions, go to the end of the bar and start chatting with some locals and enjoying a pint. Next thing I know, the band has stopped playing, everyone is gone except for our party, and we're still there. I think the term is "locked in". Anyhoo, after about 3 more pints, more whisky, and I think 3 rum and cokes (somehow they found out I like rum and started feeding me Cuban rum - tasty), we finally staggered out of the place and back to the B&B.
I don't remember taking this pic. It pretty much sums things up I think.
April 6
The worst hangover of my entire life and we have to go back to Edinburgh to pick up the kilts and our friends at the airport. We picked up the kilts, picked up our friends and made it back to Inverness a little past midnight.
I am never drinking that much again. Never. Janet agreed to pretty much the same thing.
I have to say that the B&B we had stayed those few nights in Inverness had, by far, the best coffee of any of the places we stayed. Every morning there would be a pot of freshly brewed coffee waiting. I suspect the other places used Nescafe so i mainly ended up sticking to black tea.
April 7
We had to get up early and be on the road before 8 so we could make it to Ullapool to catch the ferry to Stornoway. Apparently we were the only people staying at the hotel that night so breakfast went quickly. We piled four people and the accompanying luggage and kilts into the car and headed North. We drove through some amazing landscape but were pressed for time so we only paused long enough to get this pic.
As the ferry left Ullapool and headed into The Minch, we passed by some breathtakingly beautiful scenery which my mediocre camera skills cannot do justice.
Once we were in open water, the seas got choppy and poor J didn't have much fun. Three hours later, we reached Stornoway. Stornoway is a small port town where it will be sunny for 10 minutes, the wind will blow hard for 5 minutes, it will rain for 5-10 minutes, the wind will blow, the skies will clear up and become sunny for 10 minutes, the wind will blow, rain, wind, sun, wash, rinse, repeat. Once I became accustomed to it, I rather enjoyed it. The people are friendly and the food delicious, especially the Stornoway black pudding. As the local signs indicate, a sizable portion of Isle Of Lewis's permanent residents speak Gaelic.
We ate lunch at a small restaurant/art gallery near the castle where I had some amazing smoked salmon. Afterwards I looked at the weather forecast for the next day - heavy rain in the morning. Oh noes!
After getting settled into the B&B, we met with our photographer who went over some ideas he had. Our initial plan was to have a friend of Kitty and J take photos but she had to cancel out so I was left scrambling at the last minute for a photographer. The photographer I found did a lot of footwork for us, including visiting the site and making sketches of shots he wanted to do. The shots came out great and if anyone ever needs a photographer on the Isle of Lewis or Harris, I can recommend someone. He mailed out a CD of images on Saturday so I don't have them yet and can't post those pics yet.
At the beginning of April my fiance and I went to Scotland to get married. Why Scotland? We wanted something small and when i asked Janet if she could get married anywhere, where would it be, she said Calanais Standing stones on the Isle of Lewis and I said OK, let's do it.
Here is a brief chronicle of our first few days in Scotland. I'll post more when I get time.
April 1-2
We left Washington, D.C. on Wednesday and landed in Amsterdam on Thursday morning. (KLM rocks!) Since we had a seven hour layover in Amsterdam, a friend I have in Holland kindly agreed to show us around Amsterdam, even though she gets lost when she goes there. She told us that they say that The Netherlands has more bikes than people and by the amount of bikes I saw, I can believe it.
Rent your dam bikes here.
While walking around, we somehow managed to attract the attention of this crazy Rastafarian dude who insisted on posing for photos.
She grudgingly agreed to show me the Red Light District - she's such a good sport. It wasn't what I expected but I imagine the place really picks up around 10 PM, instead of 10:30 AM which was when we came by.
After quite a bit of walking, we were hungry and she took us to this restaurant that served pannenkoeken. The menu was in Dutch and since I couldn't read it, I let her order for us and she ordered these delicious mini-pancakes or something. We needed to head back to the airport to catch out flight to Edinburgh. After a quick hour flight, we were in Scotland. We cleared immigration with no problem and picked up our rental car. Janet said that she wanted to drive and I wasn't going to protest. I had Google directions for all of our planned stopping points but Google didn't know that the road between the airport and Edinburgh City Center would be torn up for construction of a new tram. The diversions, foreign road signs, compounded the stress of having to drive on the left on the left side of the car. We were almost at our bed & breakfast when I looked over at Janet and said "are you crying?" to which she replied, "I'll be alright". We made it to the B&B, which would be the most luxurious of the B&Bs we would stay at - heated bathroom floor, queen sized bed with pillow top, piping hot water in the shower and amazing water pressure, plus the best breakfast ever. The owner asked why we were in Scotland we told her that we were getting married and when we returned from dinner, we found a present on our bed - a book about Scotland. Sweet!
April 3
After a delicious "full Scottish" breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, black pudding, toast, yogurt) we headed North to Inverness. On a whim, we stopped at the Blair Athol Distillery, took the tour, and learned the "proper" way to drink whisky. We bought a bottle of their 12 year and a glass and moved on.
We stopped alongside a river to watch this guy for a bit.
Our timing was perfect because we watched him hook and land this monster:
Some Scandinavians stopped also to watch him land the fish and asked Janet what he was doing when they saw this.
Janet explained that he was resuscitating the fish so he could release it and apparently the concept of catch-and-release was unknown to them because they were asking her why would he do such a thing. We got back in the car and continued the drive as I admired the landscape. We eventually made it to Inverness and checked into our B&B then went out for a walk and dinner. Walking downtown I realized I was truly in another land when I saw that below most signage was the Gaelic translation.
Walking past the castle, I saw the radiation trefoil carefully landscaped on the lawn. Hurray for nuclear power!
After dinner, we headed for Hootananny to get our live music fix. Our timing could not have been better because Schiehallion was playing. Schiehallion is probably the most popular local band in the area, and with good reason. They played a slew of traditional highland songs and the crowd sang and danced along. It was interesting to see people from their 20's up through the 60's dancing with each other, drinking together, and having a good time. That was something you don't see here.
Check out how he plays the bodhrán. He doesn't use the traditional beater but instead uses a porridge spurtle. Neat!
Janet went and got us two beers. Some guy missing most of his teeth came up to me and asked me if I wanted to fight. I said no and he asked why not. I replied that I'm not a fighter. He said he was a fighter and he thought Americans were fighters. I told him I wasn't a fighter and then he introduced himself as "Ian. Ian MacLeod . Clan MacLeod. Do you have a clan?" I said no because I was Colombian. He seemed satisfied with that answer, probably because I wasn't English, then went off to dance.
Anxious to learn more about the local music scene, I went outside to ask one of the security guys. He told me that the music scene was good and Hootananny was the best place for local music. He then told me he'd be playing fiddle on Sunday and said we should go. I said sure and went back inside to order a beer. The ensuing conversation went like this:
Me: I'll have a Black Isle Wheat.
Bartender: (noticing I'm American) Whisky.
Me: No, I want a beer.
Bartender: No, you want a whisky.
Me: No, I'm pretty sure I want a beer.
Bartender: Whisky.
Me: I'll be back on Sunday. I'll have a whisky then.
Bartender: Good. I'll walk you through a bottle.
Me: OK
Me (walking away): What did I just agree to?
We finished the evening talking to some local folks, all of whom told me they were glad Bush was no longer President and wanted to know who we voted for.
April 4
Saturday was the Northern Roots Festival and as a surprise for Janet, I signed her up for a Gaelic song writing workshop and a Gaelic language taster. She ended up being the only one who signed up and so she was able to get more out of the experience than she thought.
I'm a sucker for a female bass player. Rawr!
Janet sang an American folk song a capella during the open mic portion and it was well received. We stayed for the afternoon show then headed back to Inverness to go see Schiehallion at Gellions pub. They were LOUD and a lot of fun. When Janet went to order a beer, someone caught her American accent and bought us each a whisky to welcome us to Scotland.
April 5
Oh God. Where to start.
We set out early and took the long way into town which took us down to the Botanical Gardens, across the islands, and along the bank of the River Ness. Castle Tavern had roast beef, Yorkshire pudding with all the trimmings as their special so we ate there for a late lunch along with two pints and a whisky. As we moved towards Hootananny, we walked past Gellion's and saw Kenny, the lead singer for Schiehallion, come out. We made some small talk and he invited us in to Gellions but I told him that we were headed to Hootananny to see Nick play. He said he'd catch up with us later. Nick and his friends were amazing. All are in their early 20's and they just sat down and jammed.
The bartender saw me and remembered my promise and poured me my whisky. Fortunately he wasn't really going to walk me through a whole bottle. Whew! We hung out for a while and I had a few more pints of beer, trying the different local brews. Kenny comes in and finds us and we buy him a round. He tells us we should go with him back to Gellions and we say sure. The bars close in 30 minutes so that's time for one more. We get to Gellions, go to the end of the bar and start chatting with some locals and enjoying a pint. Next thing I know, the band has stopped playing, everyone is gone except for our party, and we're still there. I think the term is "locked in". Anyhoo, after about 3 more pints, more whisky, and I think 3 rum and cokes (somehow they found out I like rum and started feeding me Cuban rum - tasty), we finally staggered out of the place and back to the B&B.
I don't remember taking this pic. It pretty much sums things up I think.
April 6
The worst hangover of my entire life and we have to go back to Edinburgh to pick up the kilts and our friends at the airport. We picked up the kilts, picked up our friends and made it back to Inverness a little past midnight.
I am never drinking that much again. Never. Janet agreed to pretty much the same thing.
I have to say that the B&B we had stayed those few nights in Inverness had, by far, the best coffee of any of the places we stayed. Every morning there would be a pot of freshly brewed coffee waiting. I suspect the other places used Nescafe so i mainly ended up sticking to black tea.
April 7
We had to get up early and be on the road before 8 so we could make it to Ullapool to catch the ferry to Stornoway. Apparently we were the only people staying at the hotel that night so breakfast went quickly. We piled four people and the accompanying luggage and kilts into the car and headed North. We drove through some amazing landscape but were pressed for time so we only paused long enough to get this pic.
As the ferry left Ullapool and headed into The Minch, we passed by some breathtakingly beautiful scenery which my mediocre camera skills cannot do justice.
Once we were in open water, the seas got choppy and poor J didn't have much fun. Three hours later, we reached Stornoway. Stornoway is a small port town where it will be sunny for 10 minutes, the wind will blow hard for 5 minutes, it will rain for 5-10 minutes, the wind will blow, the skies will clear up and become sunny for 10 minutes, the wind will blow, rain, wind, sun, wash, rinse, repeat. Once I became accustomed to it, I rather enjoyed it. The people are friendly and the food delicious, especially the Stornoway black pudding. As the local signs indicate, a sizable portion of Isle Of Lewis's permanent residents speak Gaelic.
We ate lunch at a small restaurant/art gallery near the castle where I had some amazing smoked salmon. Afterwards I looked at the weather forecast for the next day - heavy rain in the morning. Oh noes!
After getting settled into the B&B, we met with our photographer who went over some ideas he had. Our initial plan was to have a friend of Kitty and J take photos but she had to cancel out so I was left scrambling at the last minute for a photographer. The photographer I found did a lot of footwork for us, including visiting the site and making sketches of shots he wanted to do. The shots came out great and if anyone ever needs a photographer on the Isle of Lewis or Harris, I can recommend someone. He mailed out a CD of images on Saturday so I don't have them yet and can't post those pics yet.
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