Which is Better?

Orkney, or Historic Scotland fudge?



If just one person posts a comment, I'll consider telling you. :)

Karen

The Grumpy Traveller

I'll get to the last of the Orkney pictures in a bit. That is, I'll organize and plan tonight and post tomorrow. This post is all text. I'm having a vent.

Who makes a tourist office without public washrooms? And then points you to the nearest really groody public washrooms two streets away that should be condemned? Do they want me to ever visit again?

(Lerwick's tourism industry, apparently. We're now in Shetland, btw.)

That made me really grumpy.

But I admit, I was primed and ready to find something to get upset about. It had been a long time getting to Shetland. Maybe I just don't travel well. I'm good once we get where we're going.

Yesterday, we had to be out of the Avalon House by 10am. I suppose we could have asked for longer (they were really nice) but we didn't. We had to turn the car in by 11:30 am. We had luggage. And the ferry terminal not only doesn't store luggage earlier in the day, they don't even open until 9pm.

The ferry leaves at 23:45pm. Yes, that's a quarter of midnight.

So what did we do with ourselves? And our luggage?

Well apparently, Bob's Taxi will take luggage for storage. They call it "left luggage". That was great, and we used them to get to the ferry terminal at night.

Then we just had to entertain ourselves in Kirkwall for.... oh... 10 hours or so.

There was an hour in the post office shipping back two weeks worth of finding new books in Scotland. We shall not mention that episode again. There was lunch to be had, and some history to explore. Shopping happened, some gifts might have been bought. This is a lot of walking around. And still.... we had more time to kill.

Discovered that the public library had internet access and while I didn't really feel a need to connect, it was at least a way to pass the time.

Then there was dinner, and still....

Then there was a pub, and it was only Thursday so not a big party scene... we listened to the locals play bingo. Perhaps we should have joined in.

And then finally, there was the ferry. Straight into the room, which was _small_ with twin beds. It was a surprisingly sound sleep, given the ridiculously hard bed and no husband to fight over the bed covers with, but still, too short. The captain work us all up at 6:30am to prepare to arrive in Lerwick.

In Lerwick, where the place we were to pick up the keys for the next accommodations didn't open until noon. At least we got the rental car in reasonable order and had a place to put the luggage.

So we wandered around Lerwick, entertaining ourselves, and encountered the tourist office. I think I needed a nap at that point.

Now the bright side is, the place where we're staying turned out a whole lot nicer then imagined and we have a kitchen. I promptly went grocery shopping and we've just now finished a box of Kraft dinner.

Comfort food.

Karen

Orkney - the first two days

Getting to Orkney involved: dropping off a car rental in Inverness, taking a cab to the train station because (of course) they aren't conveniently located, a train from Inverness to Thurso, a cab to Scrabster (where we sat in a pub for a few hours), got on a ferry, had a problem with the car rental agency so we got on a bus to Kirkwall, and took a cab to the guest house.

Basically, every form of current land travel known to man except farm equipment and rickshaw.

We figured out the car rental problem the next day.

Internet access is in high demand here, and the connection is slow so I may get a bit behind in blogging.

These first two days (sunday and monday) have been jam packed with activities.

Spent several hours wandering around downtown Kirkwall, and had lunch at a lovely little bistro.

Then we did some driving around the countryside - the Orkneyinga Saga Centre (which we didn't know existed until we got here), and Earl's Bu and the Orphir Church (which were right beside it). Link to all three here.

We also visited the Ring of Brogar, and the Stones of Stenness. It might be hard to reach the mind set of the people who built these things - it was nearly 4000 - 5000 years ago - but if you're at all sensitive to .... let's call it "power" shifts in the universe....it's abundantly clear at the centre of the rings, even as broken down as they are today.



Monday, we got up bright and early and went off to the Brough of Birsay. The Brough is on a tidal island so seeing it is dependant on low tide. And it was fantastic! Lots of the remainders of a Norse settlement - which I could almost reach to, but Neil totally could imagine a Norse village and their lives.



We also saw a dead dolphin and a dead fish washed up in a cliff's cleft at low tide. Kind of icky, but part of life.

I swear the wind was trying to kill me today and my brain starting functioning on half mast after the Brough, but we kept going. Earl's Palace (15th century, not as interesting for us), Skara Brae and Skail House, and then Maeshowe. Neil's been finding new kids' Viking books all over this trip - the gift shop at Skara Brae was no exception.

The gift shop there also had a few other things, which I haven't bought so you'll have to be content with a photo. That's right - Viking bath oil, herbs, shampoo.... too funny.



Unlike the picture in the link to Skara Brae, the public is no longer permitted to go into the structures - we must stay on a path around the perimeter. They are starting to become more concerned about preservation of the site. However, they have built a replica of the most detailed house near the visitor's centre and it is quite impressive in itself.

The guide at Maeshowe was absolutely delightful and really brought the place to life. No pictures were allowed inside the tomb but the Viking graffiti was right there, right in front of me. I could have touched them - I don't know why I didn't! But it's okay, there's a book that we bought that has great photographic plates of every last one of the 41 runic inscriptions found.



Neil thought the guide's pronunciation of the english translation of the runes in a Yorkshire accent was pretty funny. I was just grateful I could understand him easier then the Orcadians.

Don't go here if you're claustrophobiac - the entrance walkway is 10m (30 feet) long and only 1m (3 feet) high. The chamber itself is tiny, and deeply inside a hill.

Do go here if you love really _feeling_ history!

Karen

It's a long one, and we're in Orkney now

Well, we're stuck in a bar in Scrabster, waiting for the ferry. Two hours before the restaurant next door opens, and three hours before the ferry starts boarding. Four hours before it actually leaves. It's an hour and a half crossing - we could go there and come back in the time it'll take us to wait for it. I'm composing this in a text file because there is no internet connection in the bar.

This is one of the more annoying points in the travel. 'Though I think the worst of it is the travel that we found out (long before we left) that we couldn't do. Our plan is actually to get up to Shetland, and we had wanted to take the ferry from Shetland to the Faroes Island and then to Iceland, but they canceled the Shetland to Faroes link. No crossing of the Atlantic in the footprints of the Vikings.

Instead we'll need to take a ferry from Shetland down to Abeerden and drive back to Glasgow to pick up a plane at the International Airport.

So.... to continue the chronology then, since I haven't blogged in a few days, we woke up a few mornings ago, and started off bright and early at the Scottish Crannog Centre.



Crannogs are these things that were set out on the water in lochs all over Scotland in the Iron Age. People lived in them and used the waterways for transportation. It's not really our time period of interest, so I can't give you many details.

There is some carry over into the Viking Age however. This is a warp-weighted loom.



The guide was careful to say that we don't actually know what kind of loom they used, since we've made no actual discoveries of intact looms, but the same problem exists in the Viking Era as well. Things that might be loom weights have been discovered, and there's a sketch on a Roman vase that looks like a warp-weighted loom (link). This particular loom hasn't been used since they set up the Crannog centre, some 10 years ago. Pity they don't have a weaver on staff.

And honestly, that's my only criticism. This was a fantastic place, with great hands-on interpretors/guides and things that we could try out for ourselves. Like this bow-drill...



Our next stop was the Edradour Distillery, one of three distilleries that we've visited so far, and the smallest in all of Scotland. Neil picked up a bottle, of course. I must admit that I fail completely to understand why he wants to lug bottles of whiskey around for the rest of the trip, but I suppose that's one of those things that one just ... accommodates in a marriage.



He finds my attachment to things that grow amusing. If I thought I could take plants home successfully, I probably would.

This beautiful burst of colour is growing all over the highlands.



Here's a closeup - it's called Gorse. I'm going to try to buy some back home and install it in the garden. It's very pretty. (edited later: Hmmmm.... just got to an internet connection and looked it up - invasive by seed dispersal. I'll have to think on it.)



We drove some windy narrow roads at decent speeds that often weren't fast enough for the other drivers, and eventually arrived in Inverness at this delightful guest house called the Trafford Bank Guest House Lovely rooms and genteel breakfasts in the sunroom, a very helpful hostess, and many modern amenities like Sky TV and ipod docking stations in the rooms. My only wish might have been for a softer mattress.

We spent two nights in Inverness, and the intervening day driving around the countryside. We had many plans but weren't able to achieve nearly all of it. Everything closes up shop at 5:30pm so it's often difficult to fit everything in.

We did get to Urquhart Castle which has a great visitor centre and brief history of the castle, before letting you out to see what's left of it for yourselves. As a centre of power, Urquhart is dated back to Columba visiting Picts to convert them to Christianity somewhere in the range of 560 AD. It is not known exactly when the castle itself was built but apparently some records refer to it in the early 1200s, and it finally blown up in 1692 to prevent it from being used as a base for the Jacobites.

It's on a promatory in the middle of Loch Ness, but sorry.....no monster sighting. :)



I found this fellow (Neil) leaning over one of the window sills...



And later in the day, waving up at us from Corrimony Cairn. Corrimony Cairn is a short distance away from Urqhart Castle.

Corrimony Cairn is dated back some 4000 years ago, and is a passage grave in which the bones of just one occupant (probably a woman) were found. There's a circle of small standing stones around it. It's probably the strangest of our historical visits so far - it's just off by itself surrounded by sheep, almost in the middle of nowhere, with no visitor center or staff - just a single information sign.



These people - the sheep - are everywhere in Scotland! On hills so steep it's a wonder they don't fall off of them, in little runs just barely on the outskirts of any given town. Everywhere - it's amazing.



Today was a long day and is ending with us safely ensconed in Orkney. More on that trip later....

Karen

Edinburgh, and Out

Yesterday, we entered this place around 12:30pm and left..... 4 and a half hours and some 650 photos later, at closing time. We didn't even get out of the Early Peoples exhibit hall.



There were lots and lots and lots.....and lots... of Viking things to photograph.





Reporting was briefly interrupted by exhaustion and dietary distress.

This morning, we rented a car, got all turned around in Edinburgh on the way out by one way roads, roundabouts, bus and taxi only lanes, narrow roads, and people parking on the street to make the roads even more narrow. Driving on the left was only mildly terrifying as a result.

Once out of the city, it was still annoying, but Neil is slowly getting used to it.

I was a bit disappointed by Deep Sea World - great style of presentation, but not enough of it. Not for the price.



On the other hand, the Dunfermline Abbey was stunning. I would gladly have paid the price that Deep Sea World asked, to see the Abbey. Our Historic Friends cards got us in for free - I almost felt like I was ripping them off!

The place was beautiful, and felt very..... old and still.



This is just one of the many beautiful stained windows.



These stairs were rather tight, and steep!



History that I can walk in, and touch. I love it.

Karen

Hafnarfjordur, Njarðvík, and Edinburgh

You have no idea how hard it is to pick images to blog with out of the some 80 odd images that I've taken in the past two days.

Upload them, tag them (all), pick them, rename them, make thumbnails, and finally mount them. Then ya gotta type the link in correctly (a little detail). Whew!

And I've got two blogs to update tonight - here, and on DARC's blog.

Thankfully, the husband has been very helpful tonight.

So, we last left you yesterday (sunday) morning in Iceland. The plane to Glasgow didn't happen until 5:30pm (Iceland time) so we had some time to wander around a bit more.

First we went to Hafnarfjordur for lunch at the Viking Village.



I think Neil wanted to get it over with quickly because I really want to check this out, and ....let's just say it doesn't have a reputation for accurately portraying the Viking Age. Vandy, you should check out the menus.

Unfortunately for both of us, the restaurant only does dinners. So we'll have to go back when we're there again at the end of May.

Instead, we ate a hot dog and looked at some art near the harbour.



Off to Njarðvík, which is on the way to the airport, where we just tripped upon a Viking ship (see the DARC blog) and this rather neat bit of Viking-inspired art in the middle of a roundabout.



For my Canadian friends who are just getting used to the things, Iceland is swarming in roundabouts. They really do make the driving so much more efficient.

In the airport, we had some more skyr. It really is delicious. I wish we could get it in Canada in a fashion that's easier then ordering it express-couriered from Gimli, Manitoba (edited because Vandy's right, I am too tired and too far away to know my provinces).



So.....on to a plane, off to Glasgow, which we immediately skipped and hired a car into Edinburgh. We'd planned to take the train, but the cost proved to be only a tiny bit more, was much more efficient and direct, and the driver was an absolutely delightful travel guide.

Woke up the next day and headed off to the Edinburgh Castle, where they are just starting to set up for some sort of event just outside the Castle. I tried to figure it out to provide you a link, but I'm mystified. Anyway, we likely won't be here to partake. We've got one more day here and then we're off to see the rest of Scotland.



We spent quite a lot of time in the Edinburgh Castle (it's huge), here's another view. The small buildings in front have been converted to a small restaurant called the RedCoat Cafe. Pleasant enough.



This is one of the gardens inside the castle grounds. You know me and flowers, I couldn't resist.



And this is the view inside of St.Margaret's Chapel. It was very.... still. Peaceful. A zillion visitors didn't disturb this tiny sanctuary.



We also hit the Royal Mile Whiskies shop (apparently they find shipping to Canada difficult) and the Scotch Whiskey Experience (Neil decided that £9.50 each was overpriced for a one hour tour and one shot). No pictures there, I guess I'm just not as attached to Scotch.

Another edit here - I must have been really zonked last night. I completely forgot to mention the Tartan Weaving Mill. And I can't imagine why I didn't take any pictures here. Maybe Neil is subtly influencing me - he hates plaids.

I was a bit disappointed. The place is huge, contains lots of shops, is all about the history of tartans - and all of the displays of weaving are covered in a hefty layer of dust. Not to mention that they did't have the family tartan that I wanted in a lady's kilt "off the peg". I'd have to special order it at some large price. I am considering just bringing the fabric back and staring at it for the next 30 years instead.

And finally..... of course, there was fudge. :) The fellow who was making the fudge was quite the showman and reminded us both of us of a friend.



Tomorrow is another day in Edinburgh. Must blog at DARC and sleep soon.

On the Road!

Or.... more correctly, in the air! We flew off to Iceland, on IcelandAir for a quick pit stop on the way to Scotland.



Vandy, my dear, you'll be happy to know that Neil has threatened me with having to write the postcards if I don't blog instead so.... here I am, at long last.

It's only been a day, really, since we went away, and I must admit, that I do miss my gardens.



But I digress. :) Back to Iceland.

The Northern Lights Inn is in the middle of no where .....



....next to the geothermal plant that brings up water from the Earth's core to power just about everything here in Iceland....



.......carrying away some of it's hot water in pipes......




....and throws it's leftover water into the nearby lava field ....



to create the Blue Lagoon.



We spent two hours here, just soaking in the hot tub temperature waters filled with healing (theoretically) mineral salts & Algae.

We also went for a walk around the lava fields in the evening (dig those long hours of sunlight in Iceland). I haven't the foggiest what this building is used for, but I liked the fall of my hair. :) It's near the hotel and the geothermal plant, but then there's very little else here except lava fields.



Max belongs to the Northern Lights Inn.



Our flight to Glasgow leaves Keflavak at 5:30pm, Iceland time. Iceland is four hours ahead of Ontario for those who want to know.

Off to lunch!

Facelift

Once again, Alda from The Iceland Weather Report inspires me. For those of you not in the know, Alda was my inspiration some years ago to start my own blog.

Of course, we have totally different interests, topic matter, and followings, but I still read her blog daily.

This time, it's the facelift. I've been meaning to get around to put a picture up in the header bar, but I didn't get off my butt and do it until I saw Alda's new look. She's gone quite a bit more complex then I have so far, with rotating pictures and all. Go and check it out and see what true art is - reload the page a few times and see the pictures change. :)

I'll be back over here basking in the simple glory of just one good picture of just one truly wonderful (and stinky) flower from my garden. I'll get around to a few other details (like updating the sidebar) eventually.

In the meantime, stay tuned. I've got a road trip coming up in a few weeks and I plan on blogging as we travel.

Coming around again

Neil's been to California and has returned safe, and sound.

We've been to Canada Blooms, and it's now done for another year (and it's still not spring yet).



We stayed in our favourite hotel, the Cosmopolitian, and walked to the convention centre for the show. The restaurant that we planned for that evening was just around the corner as well. Iceland Naturally and the Icelandic Community Club of Toronto collaborated with several places throughout Toronto to present "A taste of Iceland". One of Iceland's foremost chefs was trucked in to create special Icelandic dishes in two different restaurants in Toronto. We went to the Biere Market on the Esplande. I had the duck - delicious!

But the real gem of the weekend (for me anyway), was the meal we had in the new restaurant at the Cosmopolitian. It's called Eight, and it's billed as a wine bar. I'm sure the wine is lovely, but I didn't have any. I had the lamb. Oh my gosh, I have never tasted a better lamb in my life.

Now, the only disappointment was the invasion of the NYPD helicopters. Yup, that's right - NYPD helicopters. They were filming in the area of the hotel and were a bit....noisy.

Does this seriously look like New York to you? That's the CN tower in bottom of the picture.



Karen

Small bits of news

Neil's going to California again soon. *pout*

Vandy, aka Anti-V, has just (finally) started writing in a new blog, specifically about historical food, called Dagda's Cauldron.

Elliptical machine exercising - good, slowly working my way up to a half hour a day. Lots of sweat and feeling like I'm gonna die, followed by really cool endorphin rushes. Love those endorphins! Health, smealth.....

Canada Blooms is on the horizon in March.

I've just started doing my boss's job for a year while she's on Mat leave and my head feels like it's gonna explode by the end of every day so far this week. Life is fun.

Still lots of snow here, I'm getting impatient for spring. Sunshine, fresh air, warmth, pretty growing things in the garden. Let's look at something from last year, shall we?

New Gadget in the House!

Gonna get me some of that exercise stuff!

Karen

Fibers Questions, answered with pictures

Nina asked me questions, just like I had hoped someone would. :)

What are your final thoughts about your spinning lessons? Did you enjoy them, learn lots or think they were only somewhat helpful?

I definitely enjoyed them and I learned lots! Donna, from Wellington Fibres is a great teacher.

Did they convert you to the dark side? bwahahahaha.......

Wheeling, as opposed to Spindling? *g*

Well..... yes. I'm converted.

I won't give up the drop spindle, I do enjoy it. And I do need to know how to use to demonstrate it at the demos that DARC does for the public, but the spinning wheel beats the drop spindle hands down in two very important ways.

Production value. And it doesn't hurt my shoulder.

What was the best thing your learned from the lessons and what was the thing that you think was the least useful?

I learned what all the modern lingo means. I learned the differences in the type of yarn that different techniques produce. And I can apply that knowledge to the Viking Era that I study.

I learned how the darned machine works. I've had it on loan from Anti-V for more than a year and hadn't made any progress in teaching myself just because I couldn't make the darned thing work. One or two little tension adjustments and understanding their connections - it was like a light breaking through the clouds!

The least useful? Two things, actually.

1. Chemical dyeing. Don't get me wrong - it was fun to play with colours, but I'm just never going to dye that way for myself. I enjoy natural dyeing far too much, and the chemical dyeing just isn't applicable to my historical interests.

2. 'Modern' fibers like angora and mohair. They just don't have a precedence in the Viking Era.

I would like to take further courses (maybe just one day workshops) in each of flax and silk spinning. Both have an application to the Viking Era.

Did you spin small samples or large enough to use for actual projects?

Small samples of most of the projects for the course, but large enough to do something with was learning to 3-ply. I used my own Icelandic top for that and spun a whole bag - approximately 3 skeins worth. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them. The general consensus so far is socks.



What project are you working on now?

I bought some mystery roving from Donna on the day of my last class. I'm currently working my way through that. It's a mixture of modern fibers and funky colours. You know, the stuff I said above that I wouldn't have much use for knowing how to spin. ;)

Blog Fun

RSS feeds - come and see me! It's a pretty site, really. At least I like to think so, anyway. Nonetheless, let me put a bug in your eyes - my blog content is suffering from boredom and inertia. Ask me questions, or offer quotes for the Quote box, or make suggestions for content. I'm listening!

Renovations are in the blog wind - I've just finished finally adding a label to each and every one of my 3 years worth of posts (yes, I know I'm a little slow).

The Dark Ages Recreation Company (to which I belong) has just finished a huge huge overhaul of it's website. And now we have a blog on site as well!

Check out the 2008 Bloggies! The blog that got me started 3 and a bit years ago is the Iceland Weather Report, and it's one of the finalists for "Best European Blog".

American Gladiator

I have a confession to make......

I love American Gladiator. :)

It's good old fashioned thoroughly smary fun, completely devoid of reality. Something to strive for, to cheer on, to mock, hiss and boo.... in every episode. Bright colours, simplistic scenarios....it's got everything!

Karen

Old Year, New Year

Big snowstorm at the end of December! It's all gone now with a rainy warm spell this past week. Who knows what happens next?



The New Year brought a brief burst of new energy. I cleaned up my stash. This is just the downstairs part of it - either yarn I theoretically will be crocheting with shortly, or fiber to spin. I've been spinning a great deal lately, because I've been taking lessons in wheel spinning.

I know how to knit, but I prefer to crochet. :)



Never fear, dear drop spindle, I won't ignore you for too long. Although the wheel is kinder to my shoulder. Has anyone else had "spinner's shoulder" with the drop spindle?



Neil took a new job at the beginning of December. His old one was killing him. We decorated his new office over the holidays. He's flying off to California later this month for a few days on the company's dime. I'm. not. jealous. at. all.



Neil gave me this Tigger doll for Christmas - it bounces and talks when you press it's tail. The dog hates it, but I'm still getting a giggle out of it. :)

Karen