For some strange reason I had forgotten that I am still a tourist in Scotland and I am therefore able to do touristy things. And let me tell you it felt great to be a tourist again. Cheryl, our friend Delwyn and I decided to go to Stirling Castle for the day. Ever since the first time I passed Stirling on one of the Haggis tours I have wanted to go there. Not only is it a beautiful place, but also it is so full of history, deeply Scottish history. I didn't get to do all of Stirling because it was much bigger than we had thought and we didn't have as much time as we thought. Forutnately the bus only takes an hour to get there and it only costs 4.40 for a return ticket. Can't beat that for a great day out!! Speaking of great deals we bought a Historic Scotland Membership and now we get into most castles and sites around scotland for free, and half price in the UK. Not bad!! (Not to mention we get money off in the gift shops).
Despite being rather similar to Edinburgh Castle, the history of it makes up for any similarities, as does the view from the castle. Off to one side is the city, another way is flat farm land, and yet another side gives you an amazing view of some fabulous mountains, some of which were snow capped!! It was amazing! Even the history of the castle was interesting, and all of the renovations taking place to get the castle back to it's original beauty are quite interesting. I dont' think it's worth going into a castle unless you get some sort of guided tour. You just learn so much more, even just about the architecture. There is so much that you wouldn't even think to look at. I can't even begin to describe it. Oh also from the castle we could see the Stirling bridge. This is the famous site where William Wallace fought off the English Army (Braveheart does the man such a horrible injustice), using that bridge. Near the mountains you can see the Wallace Monument, which is just outside the city, and a bit of a hike. Now this is one of the places that we didn't make it to, but definitely will be going back for it.
Luckily for us it was a beautiful day and we just wandered the city, than of course being female we had to go and do a little shopping. There was a great shopping centre just outiside of the bus station. We also wandered the Holy Rude Church grave yard which contained some really old gravestones. Sorry Laura, no ghosts.
The taste of tourism from Stirling has certainly reminded me of why I came and now I am planning trips, some things just even within Edinburgh. With my membership came a book and I didn't realize how many castles were in Edinburgh. We are also planning a trip out to London for St. Patty's day weekend, we screwed up our chances to go to Dublin, so we decided to go the other way. I'm very excited about that. I've spent the day looking for all sorts of different things for us to do. We are also starting to plan, slowly but surely, our backpacking trip that we will be taking when we are finished working here. I'm finally putting the holiday back into my working holdiay!!!
(I know I'm a loser)
Monday, February 19, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
The Battle Continues
The battle to post my photos continued today. I have wasted most of my day trying to upload the software and such to put my pics on the computer and then on my blog. While I lost this battle the war is not yet over. I have some really cool pics to post and am very excited to post them. While I haven't done much travelling as of late, Cheryl and I are hoping to go a few places in the following few months. France and Spain are on the list!!! And I am very excited about that!! We are possibly going to Stirling Castle tomorrow, but that has been neither confirmed nor denied. I hope we go I am very excited to see the Wallace monument, as well as Stirling Castle.
As for work. I have been on the Aberdeen train all week and because the sun has been setting later and later, and the train has been relatively quiet, I have been able to look out the window at the amazing views. It is a truly stunning journey. Worth the trip just to see the scenery from the train. We saw seals the other day!! And when the weather was a little stormy the waves were amazing. Ahhhh, momentary DSL moment (deep scottish love).
As for work. I have been on the Aberdeen train all week and because the sun has been setting later and later, and the train has been relatively quiet, I have been able to look out the window at the amazing views. It is a truly stunning journey. Worth the trip just to see the scenery from the train. We saw seals the other day!! And when the weather was a little stormy the waves were amazing. Ahhhh, momentary DSL moment (deep scottish love).
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Who would have thought it was possible?
I wouldn't have thought that it was possible, yet here we are. Or at least there you guys are, in Canada covered in snow, while I'm here in Scotland basking in the sunshine. You know I actually have a few windows open around the flat because the sun is so hot!! And yet I miss it, yes you heard me right, I miss it. The snow. The smell of it, the crunching under my feet. Sniff sniff I really miss the cold too. I love that feeling in the air, when it suddenly gets a little warmer and you know that it is about to snow. I love shoveling snow, making that first dent in a freshly snowed upon driveway! Hmmmm... I miss it. We've only had snow here once and it as like maybe 2 cm. As soon as you stepped on it it melted away. *Sigh* Oh well. Cheryl and I have tried to convince our respective work places that snow days are like religious holidays so we shouldn't have to come into work today, but as you've probably guessed they didn't care much.
Well, *sigh*, I hope you enjoy it.
Well, *sigh*, I hope you enjoy it.
Monday, February 5, 2007
I must be dreaming!!!
I have to type fast, I'm scared that if I take to long I won't be able to post!!! AARRRGGHHH I have been trying to post on my blog for about a month now and everytime I try it won't let me sign in!!! Argh. Well it's letting me now so I guess I must make the most of this!!!
So hmmm, where to begin. It's been so long since Christmas, I don't know where to start. Really not a lot has happened, and most of it is old news.
Here's the recap:
The New Years street party in Edinburgh was cancelled and I ended up having a pretty dull new years. We had some friends staying with us so we ended up going back home to bring in the new year. The storm was pretty bad and we were worried that if we didnt' head home we would get stuck. I had to work at 9am on New Years day so I ended up just going to bed at about 12:30. I know I'm a loser.
Since then my life has been full of...well work. Not much else happening. Pretty much settling into the routine of Scottish life. We are trying to plan a trip but now that Cheryl has a new job we rarely see eachother. Because my job isn't a 9-5 Monday to Friday job no one is really off when I am so most of my time off is spent puttering around. I'm starting to make friends in the railway, which is a surprise considering how shy I am...(that was a joke for those of you who didn't get it), so I've been hanging out with some of them, but even then everyone works different shifts. To keep myself busy I've starting baking and cooking. I like the challenge and the tasty food that comes with it. I made tea biscuits with are extremely frustrating but ended up being pretty tasty. I would make muffins but muffin trays are ridiculously expensive here, and I don't need muffins that bad.
We are trying to get the internet at home and then I will be able to keep up with my blog more (if, that is, the blogger gods let me).
I am now going to become like all of my work mates and talk about nothing but the trains.
First of all, for those of you who remember I once wrote about an incident where I had the misfortune to walk in on a woman while she was, well...taking care of business. Shortly after making fun of this woman I had a reversal of roles, only this time I was at work, which I feel makes it worse because I have to keep interacting with the peeping tom. That was uncalled for, I'm sorry. It wasn't his fault, it was the trains. Sooo, here I was running up and down the train looking for a loo. Now there was a wheelchair one, but the locks on them are so iffy I tried hard to find another one. Unable to do so I had to go for it, confident that the door was locked I settled in to take care of business. Luckily (?) it wasn't until I was pulling up my trousers that some poor man kept hitting the door open button. I could hear him keep pushing it and knowing how those doors can be I tried to go as fast as I could, but unfortunately our uniforms can be a little tricky, you know with the belt and all. The worst was we both kept trying to hit the close button on our respective sides, but it was just making it stay open. I don't think the man took coffee or tea for the rest of the journey, deciding instead to stare out the window with his headphones on. The moral of the story? Don't make fun of people because it can happen to you? No, don't use wheelchair bathrooms on the train!!!
Just yesterday I had one of the most interesting days that I think I have ever had at work. Coming back from London the train was heaving, we were packed to the gils, standing room only. While this still can be a bit overwhelming for me, I was surving, and it wasn't that eventful. That was until a drunk laddy came up to the buffet car looking for a door so that he could get off. Now there were a few problems with his getting off. The first was that he was Scottish (as he kept telling us) and we were still in England, the second was that we weren't in a station yet and still moving. Somehow we managed to keep him on the train until we got into Newcastle and forgot about him while we went about our work. As we started to leave the station we could hear a commotion outside of the train I went over to the window to take a look and just as the train came to a halt, after only just heading out, I saw the drunk guy hanging from the window. Platform staff were trying to pull him away, all the while he was shouting "That's my train, I'm Scottish" He accussed the staff of being racist because he was Scottish. While it was delaying the train and make me late for my bedtime, it was pretty amusing to watch. Well it was at least until we started moving again and he tried to jump under the wheels of the train. It took 4 platform staff to wrestle him to the ground and hold him there until we were gone. That's the problem I have with people being allowed to bring their own alcohol on the train, there is nothing we can do when they get that drunk. He had friends on the train who should have been watching him, but they were pretty drunk themselves. In case any of you get any ideas to do the same thing if you miss the train, he was arrested, banned from the trains for life and has to pay £140 for every minute that the train was delayed. They didn't say whether or not the staff were going to have him charged with assault. Needless to say, it was quite the night!!
Well hopefully this posts and hopefully I will be able to get it to work again. I now have to take care of business (if you know what I mean).
So hmmm, where to begin. It's been so long since Christmas, I don't know where to start. Really not a lot has happened, and most of it is old news.
Here's the recap:
The New Years street party in Edinburgh was cancelled and I ended up having a pretty dull new years. We had some friends staying with us so we ended up going back home to bring in the new year. The storm was pretty bad and we were worried that if we didnt' head home we would get stuck. I had to work at 9am on New Years day so I ended up just going to bed at about 12:30. I know I'm a loser.
Since then my life has been full of...well work. Not much else happening. Pretty much settling into the routine of Scottish life. We are trying to plan a trip but now that Cheryl has a new job we rarely see eachother. Because my job isn't a 9-5 Monday to Friday job no one is really off when I am so most of my time off is spent puttering around. I'm starting to make friends in the railway, which is a surprise considering how shy I am...(that was a joke for those of you who didn't get it), so I've been hanging out with some of them, but even then everyone works different shifts. To keep myself busy I've starting baking and cooking. I like the challenge and the tasty food that comes with it. I made tea biscuits with are extremely frustrating but ended up being pretty tasty. I would make muffins but muffin trays are ridiculously expensive here, and I don't need muffins that bad.
We are trying to get the internet at home and then I will be able to keep up with my blog more (if, that is, the blogger gods let me).
I am now going to become like all of my work mates and talk about nothing but the trains.
First of all, for those of you who remember I once wrote about an incident where I had the misfortune to walk in on a woman while she was, well...taking care of business. Shortly after making fun of this woman I had a reversal of roles, only this time I was at work, which I feel makes it worse because I have to keep interacting with the peeping tom. That was uncalled for, I'm sorry. It wasn't his fault, it was the trains. Sooo, here I was running up and down the train looking for a loo. Now there was a wheelchair one, but the locks on them are so iffy I tried hard to find another one. Unable to do so I had to go for it, confident that the door was locked I settled in to take care of business. Luckily (?) it wasn't until I was pulling up my trousers that some poor man kept hitting the door open button. I could hear him keep pushing it and knowing how those doors can be I tried to go as fast as I could, but unfortunately our uniforms can be a little tricky, you know with the belt and all. The worst was we both kept trying to hit the close button on our respective sides, but it was just making it stay open. I don't think the man took coffee or tea for the rest of the journey, deciding instead to stare out the window with his headphones on. The moral of the story? Don't make fun of people because it can happen to you? No, don't use wheelchair bathrooms on the train!!!
Just yesterday I had one of the most interesting days that I think I have ever had at work. Coming back from London the train was heaving, we were packed to the gils, standing room only. While this still can be a bit overwhelming for me, I was surving, and it wasn't that eventful. That was until a drunk laddy came up to the buffet car looking for a door so that he could get off. Now there were a few problems with his getting off. The first was that he was Scottish (as he kept telling us) and we were still in England, the second was that we weren't in a station yet and still moving. Somehow we managed to keep him on the train until we got into Newcastle and forgot about him while we went about our work. As we started to leave the station we could hear a commotion outside of the train I went over to the window to take a look and just as the train came to a halt, after only just heading out, I saw the drunk guy hanging from the window. Platform staff were trying to pull him away, all the while he was shouting "That's my train, I'm Scottish" He accussed the staff of being racist because he was Scottish. While it was delaying the train and make me late for my bedtime, it was pretty amusing to watch. Well it was at least until we started moving again and he tried to jump under the wheels of the train. It took 4 platform staff to wrestle him to the ground and hold him there until we were gone. That's the problem I have with people being allowed to bring their own alcohol on the train, there is nothing we can do when they get that drunk. He had friends on the train who should have been watching him, but they were pretty drunk themselves. In case any of you get any ideas to do the same thing if you miss the train, he was arrested, banned from the trains for life and has to pay £140 for every minute that the train was delayed. They didn't say whether or not the staff were going to have him charged with assault. Needless to say, it was quite the night!!
Well hopefully this posts and hopefully I will be able to get it to work again. I now have to take care of business (if you know what I mean).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)