Destination stories and photos
by rakeeter There was high drama in Munich yesterday. Our flight from Hamburg where we disembarked to Munich was late getting off and there was only about an hour between flights to begin with. When we landed in Munich, there was a van waiting on the tarmac and we were whisked through customs and security to the gate with minutes to spare. Continue reading “Close Call In Munich”
by rakeeter Before dinner yesterday evening we listened to the Music Scotland Show. There were kilts, and wee lassies and good fun all around if you like bagpipe music. Bagpipes remind me of what Mark Twain said about listening to Wagner. “It puts me in mind of the night the orphan asylum burned down.”
Joyce spent the morning with her book and doing a little laundry. We were running out of undies so she visited the ship laundromat. I strolled over to the Brittanica, Queen Elizabeth’s yacht, but the crowds dissuaded me from going through it. Betsy and Bryant did, though, and had good things to say about it. In the afternoon we took a bus tour through Edinburgh. Although it’s hard to see from a bus, it is an impressive city. Lots of imposing buildings. There was a lot of traffic and a parade for one of the Edinburgh soccer teams that had won the Scotland championship the day before. We stayed clear of the parade. After touring the city, we stopped at Edinburgh Castle and spent some time going through it. It’s really a fort and in fact still houses some of the Scot military. The fort is built on top of Edenburg Rock and was never successfully attacked our guide told us. He said there had been some kind of structure there for a couple of thousand years, I think.
by rakeeter We were late getting away from Dublin due to a problem with one of the electric motors that drive the ship so we didn’t dock in Inverness until about 11 a.m. this morning. Our excursion to Dunrobin Castle was only four hours so we had time to take it in in the afternoon. Our guide said the sunny skies were the first they’d had in weeks but it was still pretty chilly with a north wind blowing off the sea. Our drive through the countryside wasn’t long and we arrived at the castle just in time to take in the bird show. The bird man had an American hawk (I couldn’t hear what kind he said), a falcon and an owl. All three performed beautifully. The hawk was fast but not nearly as fast as the falcon and we were told the owl, an English eagle owl, was the most efficient predator of the three though much slower. He’d had the owl since it was a hatchling and it is now 17 years old so they were an old team. We passed the bird keep as the trainer was collecting the owl for the show. As he walked into the open-front enclosure he asked the owl if he was ready, the owl made reply and hopped right up on the man’s outstretched arm.
As you can see from the pictures the castle was impressive. We didn’t spend much time inside. We were limited to where we could go without a ticket and Joyce and I didn’t want to buy one. We may be getting our fill of cathedrals, manor houses and castles. The drive through the country was nice, though. There were lots of green fields with sheep and tiny lambs in them, very bucolic. The town of Invergordon was nice enough but our guide told us since the aluminum plant and British navy pulled out a couple of decades ago they’ve had slow times. They depend heavily on tourism now.
Yesterday was spent at sea sailing from Dublin up and around to the east side of Scotland. Besides Inverness, we’ll stop at Edenburg and New Castle in the UK before heading off to Holland.
by rakeeter Rain was threatened today but never came where we were. It was chilly and overcast but not uncomfortable. We visited Russborough House first. I don’t remember the exact history but somewhere along the way someone made a lot of money in diamonds. Now they have tours of the house to help pay the bills. Not the same people of course. Around the turn of the 20th century the residents were living quite well. Let’s just say it’s good to be rich.
After leaving Russborough we wound through hilly County Wicklow until we got to the village where we were to take the garden tour. First we had lunch. We’ve gotten lunch on all these tours and the food in each case has been delicious and plentiful. We have to work at digesting it so we can be ready for dinner. We got to see some monuments to the victims of “The Famine” driving out of Dublin but we’re in no way suffering a famine ourselves. The Mount Usher garden we toured was developed by a man named Robinson, I believe, and his sons. He pioneered an approach to gardening that eschewed the formal English garden in favor of trees from all over the world planted in natural settings. The cool and damp climate of Ireland makes it easy to grow the trees and our guide pointed out several “champion” trees, that is trees recognized as the best specimens in the world. As an old tree-lover from the dusty plains, I was filled with envy at the variety and size of trees and the ease with which it appeared they grew them.
Yesterday we toured another garden, this one smaller, the creation of a single man and his wife. It was a very nice personal garden, more on the formal style. Later we visited another fallen glory. This manor house was still occupied by descendants of the family that built it. They’ve turned it into a hotel. Grandpa does most of the gardening and was out on his John Deere mower mowing the croquet grounds when we were there. Joyce and I particularly liked Ballyvalane, which is what the manor is called. The proprietor mentioned trout and salmon fishing in the rivers around and Joyce and I think we might like to come back and spend a week sometime.
Day before yesterday we were at sea as we sailed from Spain to Ireland. The Bay of Biscay was not kind to us. I was OK at breakfast but we skipped lunch and I just ate part of a banana as I headed out to listen to a former ambassador to god knows where talk about the way the world is. I didn’t get far before realizing I had a problem and barely had time to get back to our cabin and grab a barf bag before that banana came galloping back the way it came. We slept most of the afternoon and gingerly tried our luck at dinner. By morning we were pulling into the calms waters around Ireland and were grateful for it.
by rakeeter Our guide lead us down steep stone steps to see the remains of Saint James. Like a carnival sideshow promising a three-headed chicken, the attraction didn’t live up to the hype. Instead of bones and gore, all we saw was a large silver box about the size of a small trunk. If Saint James was in it, he must have been folded in half. The rest of the cathedral was impressive, I guess. There was a gypsy sitting on a step on either side of the entrance and they had their pathetic beggar’s pose down. They didn’t move or make a sound. They just held their little cups with a few shekels in the bottom. They were pretty young, a male and a female. Later when we were assembled out in the square in front of the cathedral I had an opportunity to observe them from a distance when there were no tourists going in or out. I saw the girl say something to the boy and give him a quick smile as she reached under her rags for her bottled water. They probably make a pretty good living but I wonder how they managed to get their location. The competition must be fierce. Maybe they had to work up to it.
Spain is usually thought of in terms of its Mediterainian coast but it has a considerable Atlantic coast as well. I was impressed with the green country and mild temperature of northern Spain, the region referred to as Galicia. It was rural, lots of farms, and not densely settled like the part of Portugal we saw. There are demonstrations in Madrid over the state of the economy but all was calm where we were, at least on the surface. I was accosted several times by girls wanting me to sign what looked like a petition. I tried to read what it was they wanted me to sign but being in Spanish I couldn’t make it out very well. The girls were sincere but I had to disappoint them and decline to sign.
The cruise director said we can eat 17 times a day, if we want. We can board as guests and leave as cargo. The food is excellent and plentiful. There is also a great deal of liquor available. They even have daily AA meetings, I’m told. I try to pace myself.