England & Scotland

Stonehenge was interesting, although heavily controlled and marketed. I suppose it's understandable, but a little disappointing. Returning to Bath, our tour group was turned loose in a nearby hamlet; Lecock. This was the highlight of the tour. A 700 year old town, preserved from gentrification by the National Trust and frequently used for film shoots. Highly recommend.

Bath was a beautiful town; so much sandstone. The Abby was breathtaking, if you like classical architecture, which I do. We didn't spend much time there.

We were able to experience Manchester through the eyes of a local. We were taken in by Robyn's cousins Brian and Allen, and their families. The country side around Manchester was reminiscent of the England that I imagined: Thatched rooves and rolling hills, sectioned by stone walls and layered with sheep. A large wind farm caught my eye. These were the subject of several papers I wrote in Uni, although I'd never seen one until now.

Due to some confusion with our Brit-rail passes, our trip to Glasgow was free. We've been playing dumb with the conductors ever since, hoping for more free transpo. We were taken in by another large branch of Robyn's family, in Kirkintilloch. We settled in Robyn's aunt Anna and uncle Fez's house, from which we've been staging trips into the highlands in the north.

Robyn's cousin Chris and Ruth have two new wanes, a 1.5yr old son, and a 16month old daughter. Robyn spent a day fussing over the babies, so I took the opportunity to explore Glasgow. I found it very industrial with a Victorian flavor. I stumbled across George's Square, the Palace of the People, and the Modern Art Museum. The museum was great.. and free. So I killed two hours appreciating art that confused and frightened me.

We took a day trip to Edinburgh. Arrived around 10am and found a bus tour of the city. The guide seemed knowledgeable.. I'm just guessing though, I didn't understand a word he said. We saw Edinburgh castle, naturally, and worked our way down the Royal Mile blending in with the mass of English tourists, (It was their midterm break from school) stumbled across the Uni of Ed. in our search for food and then snapped photographs of everything in sight.

The next day we visited Robyn's aunt Celia in Gourock. And headed up the north east coast to St. Andrews, which is known as the birthplace of golf, but is also dominated by a sprawling University. The hostel we stayed at was nice, but the heat was broken, so the first night was chilly. We photographed the ruins of an old cathedral and castle, which must have been very impressive in their day. Locked out of the hostel for an hour, we found a bar and had a drink. There was a bit of a party in the hostel that night, and a bit of a hangover the next morning. We shook it off and caught a train to Aberdeen. There was some impressive architecture, but not much else, so we didn't stay long. Back in St. Andrews for another night, we went to a pub with an Australian couple, and a Brazilian/Indian/English architect from London who turned out to be the heir to an international processed food distribution company. He was odd.

We're back in Kirkintilloch, and will be going out with Ruth and Chris tomorrow night, and then catching a ferry to Ireland on Sunday. Scotland is beautiful, but damn its cold.

More to follow.