Thursday, May 22, 2008

Today is Thursday, May 22

...so I must be in Iceland. That's what the schedule says so it must be true.

I'm starting to lose track of time. Last night's last night in Scotland was a lovely little place near the Glasgow airport, but for some reason neither of us could sleep well. And we didn't sleep much on tuesday night's ferry trip either.

So we're both a little sleep-deprived.

The guesthouse here is a little .... less then hoped for. I could list my complaints but maybe I'm not being fair, being sleep-deprived and all.

Oh, and Iceland is an hour earlier then the UK, so it's really an hour later by the body clock then the alarm clock wants me to believe. So.... maybe in the morning...

Bought a large package of Orkney fudge on the ferry to last as long as possible. Tried the Shetland fudge and didn't like it. Weird flavours, and even grittier a texture.

Went to see Stirling Castle on the way from Aberdeen to Glasgow. Was it only yesterday?

Anyway, they are putting a lot of effort into reconstruction at this castle. They've rebuilt the great hall (and boy, would I ever love to have an SCA event there). And they have full-time weavers recreating several tapestries that used to hang in the great hall.

Totally not Viking Era stuff, but the tapestries were wonderful. They've built a small tapestry weaving studio inside the castle and are employing full time weavers to get it done. 3 of the (I think) 7 tapestries have been completed.

Here's one of them ...



I'm going to bed now. I'm a pumpkin.

4 comments:

vandy said...

So, in the checking things out ahead, did it never get mentioned that a double room meant two single beds?

Karen said...

It seems to be just what they do in Iceland. The same was true of our first hotel here but they put a padding over it and king size sheets to join it.


Karen

Nina said...

That is one very cool castle and info on the website. The mascot is incredibly cute as well. The tapestry is awesome. Any idea how long it is taking to complete them?

Sleeplessness must be atmospheric or something like that. I hope things look brighter in the morning.

Anonymous said...

Is that really a newly completed tapestry? If it is, its a remake of a 15-16th c. piece that randomly appears and disappears in the record (mostly privately owned I assume and only occasionaly appears for use in historical texts). In any case, this is one of the big deal tapestries that supposedly deals with the arrival of Gypsies at some city/village. When you get home, I'd really like to talk to you about sending me a large copy of that particular photo (and if there were others, I'd be interested in seeing if they were copying the other tapestries in the series as well).
Many thanks,