The next day I woke up a bit later and had a ridiculously long day, taking a bus from Skye to Armadale, a ferry from Armadale to Mallaig, the Hogwarts Express from Mallaig to Fort William, a bus from Fort William to Glasgow, and an overnight bus from Glasgow to London. The train was nice-ish. The buses and ferry were ok. The overnight coach was miserable, with no room, and two half hour stops where the driver turned the lights on and made loud announcements. Why!!! It was an 8 hour drive! Why all the breaks! Why wake me up!?!
the best part was meeting two other travelers who took the same journey with me, all the way down to Glasgow from Skye.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Skye
By the time I got to the Isle of Skye, one of the inner Hebrides, I was exhausted, so I went to the hostel, checked in, took a shower (yes, I sat on the bus for three hours smelling, well, rather gross), and prepped to go to bed. I just wanted to take a short walk to see the town...
And I passed by a pub where they were playing live Scottish/Celtic music! I love that stuff! So, I went into the pub, got a local ale from the only brewery on Skye, and had a great time for over an hour, met some Polish girls traveling, and then, finally, went to bed.
The next morning (I was still exhausted; I woke up at 6. It's the sun's fault!) I rented a bike and biked around the island for 60 miles or so. what a beautiful area. The pictures are on Facebook. It was the nicest bike ride I have ever done. I also ran out of water with about 15 miles left even though I took over half a gallon, and there was no where to fill it up, so I returned tired AND dehydrated. But it was totally worth it, and I even got to see the Outer Hebrides and got to do something I have wanted to do for years: I got to sit on the Hebrides, looking at the Henrides, listening to the Hebrides. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3MiETaBSnc.
I took a shower when I got back and drank lots of water and tea and juice to recover. I ate also, a lot, and took a short walk after. I saw that the pub was advertising more free Scottish music, so I went again, got the same beer, and finished it really quickly when I realized that band was only covering overplayed American rock songs (why do the British love "Sweet Home Alabama" so much?).
I went back to the hostel and watched Star Wars episode one, one of the worst movies ever made, with an Austrian.
Oh yeah! I almost forgot! At the hostel there were a bunch of danish biker dudes from Norway, and at the pub that night they were all a bit drunk and wearing viking helmets for national viking day. It is a great story, but I cannot do justice to it in text. Call me if you want to hear it.
After the Duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul, I went to bed.
And I passed by a pub where they were playing live Scottish/Celtic music! I love that stuff! So, I went into the pub, got a local ale from the only brewery on Skye, and had a great time for over an hour, met some Polish girls traveling, and then, finally, went to bed.
The next morning (I was still exhausted; I woke up at 6. It's the sun's fault!) I rented a bike and biked around the island for 60 miles or so. what a beautiful area. The pictures are on Facebook. It was the nicest bike ride I have ever done. I also ran out of water with about 15 miles left even though I took over half a gallon, and there was no where to fill it up, so I returned tired AND dehydrated. But it was totally worth it, and I even got to see the Outer Hebrides and got to do something I have wanted to do for years: I got to sit on the Hebrides, looking at the Henrides, listening to the Hebrides. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3MiETaBSnc.
I took a shower when I got back and drank lots of water and tea and juice to recover. I ate also, a lot, and took a short walk after. I saw that the pub was advertising more free Scottish music, so I went again, got the same beer, and finished it really quickly when I realized that band was only covering overplayed American rock songs (why do the British love "Sweet Home Alabama" so much?).
I went back to the hostel and watched Star Wars episode one, one of the worst movies ever made, with an Austrian.
Oh yeah! I almost forgot! At the hostel there were a bunch of danish biker dudes from Norway, and at the pub that night they were all a bit drunk and wearing viking helmets for national viking day. It is a great story, but I cannot do justice to it in text. Call me if you want to hear it.
After the Duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul, I went to bed.
Ben Nevis was built up by nearly everyone I spoke to. The Rabbi in Edinburgh told me to be very careful, that a number of frum people from Glasgow had to be rescued, the leaflets and information packets all had bright bold red warnings, and the tourist information folks at the Information Center in fort Wiliiam all warned me about navigation and steep drops and snow and high winds and quick, blinding fogs and and and...
They almost scared me.
I must say that it was the EASIEST, SIMPLEST mountain I have ever climbed. It was barely a strenuous hike. I sweated, sure, but I did not breathe hard once, and I had only slept an hour the night before, and an hour on Thursday night. The trail was insanely easy to follow and there was nothing difficult at all about this hill. For that is what it really was. A hill. in fact, when I asked the fellow at the Parks office about the mountain and what he thinks, he said, I quote "it is a shit hill." It really is. I was extremely disappointed.
I was easily able to make it down and on a bus to go to Skye, which really cheered me up with some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever scene. Ever.
They almost scared me.
I must say that it was the EASIEST, SIMPLEST mountain I have ever climbed. It was barely a strenuous hike. I sweated, sure, but I did not breathe hard once, and I had only slept an hour the night before, and an hour on Thursday night. The trail was insanely easy to follow and there was nothing difficult at all about this hill. For that is what it really was. A hill. in fact, when I asked the fellow at the Parks office about the mountain and what he thinks, he said, I quote "it is a shit hill." It really is. I was extremely disappointed.
I was easily able to make it down and on a bus to go to Skye, which really cheered me up with some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever scene. Ever.
Catching Up Part 2 and Shabbos in Edinburgh
On Thursday I tok a free walking tour of the city which pointed out, among other things, the school that Hogwarts was based on, and the graves of McGonnagall and thomas Riddle in a cemetary overlooked by the very cafe that JK wrote her books in. Harry Potter fans, be jealous! I ate, for the second time, at the only kosher place in town, a vegetarian Indian restaurant (didn't I mention it?) whith an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. Let me tell you, when you are surviving on rye crackers and tuna, a buffet hot meal is heaven. Thursday was a pretty quiet day though, as were all of the days in Edinburgh. I wandered around the city, met the fellow I would be staying by for shabbos (Ohad Kramar, great guy), napped in the park, and went out at night. Friday was more of the same, though in the afternoon I moved my stuff from the hostel to Ohad's flat.
The Jewish community in Edinburgh was great, really nice people, less mainstream than the rest of the Jews, who all pretty much live in London and Manchester. Shabbos was really great though, especially as I met a guy from Baltimore who knows my family. He even met my brother a few times! Weird Jewish-geography moment. We took a walk up Arthur's Seat again and through the Old Town. The weather was pretty amazing too, for the most part, until it went from sunny to pouring in a minute. shabbos was insanely long too; we couldn't daven maariv until 11:15! By the time I got back to Ohad's flat, it was 12:30, and I had to wake up at 4! And Ohad wasn't home yet, and I had to use the internet to prep for my trip to the Highlands. I waited up for him, he returned at 2:30 and made us both pancakes. I ended up sleeping an hour, waking up an hour later to catch a bus to Fort William, the town closest to Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in all Great Britain.
The Jewish community in Edinburgh was great, really nice people, less mainstream than the rest of the Jews, who all pretty much live in London and Manchester. Shabbos was really great though, especially as I met a guy from Baltimore who knows my family. He even met my brother a few times! Weird Jewish-geography moment. We took a walk up Arthur's Seat again and through the Old Town. The weather was pretty amazing too, for the most part, until it went from sunny to pouring in a minute. shabbos was insanely long too; we couldn't daven maariv until 11:15! By the time I got back to Ohad's flat, it was 12:30, and I had to wake up at 4! And Ohad wasn't home yet, and I had to use the internet to prep for my trip to the Highlands. I waited up for him, he returned at 2:30 and made us both pancakes. I ended up sleeping an hour, waking up an hour later to catch a bus to Fort William, the town closest to Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in all Great Britain.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Catching Up
Finally, access to a computer that won't log me off after 15 minutes.
I just returned to London by overnight coach, but more on that later. I haven't really been able to update much due to the lack of internet.
The morning after biking to, climbing, and biking back from Scafell Pike I was completely exhausted, but I had a bike to return and a train to catch, so I woke up nice and early. The fellow and the bike shop told me to have the bike back by 9 sharp (they usually don't allow ovenights) but, when I got to the shop at 9, no one was there. Nor by 9:30, 9:45, etc, so I locked the bike up to the front door, left the key in the lock and a note in the helmet, hoping that it would get back to them (it did). When I got to Edinburgh they were just seeing the edge of a rainstorm, so the weather was bleak, and I was exhausted, so my first impression of the city wasn't wonderful. I shlepped myself over to the hostel, checked in, and summoned up some more energy to go out and walk around. After a bit of a walk finding the shul and the kosher establishments, I returned to the hostel for a short but invigorating nap, allowing to climb to the top of Arthur's Seat (250m), the remnant's of an extinct volcano and the highest point around Edinburgh (pronounced, by the way, Edinburuh, not edinburg). The hill is accessible both by nice shallow paths along one face and steep rock scramble along the other. Of course, I took the steep rock scramble, which contributed to tiring me out, but the views at the top were amazing, especialy as the sun was setting behind the city.
The next day I just walked around the city some more, exploring some of the residential neighborhoods as well as the Royal Mile in Old Town, the parks, and the New Town. I liked the Old Town better; though it is way more touristy, with kilted bagpipiers on every block, it has more perosnality. There are dozens of small, narrow alleyways, called closes (because they used to end in enclosures for animals), old buildings, maze-like streets that lead from the upper level of the city to the lower, and a dark, almost sinister, but definitely mysterious air. Oh, and another claim to fame is that the city is the birthplace of Harry Potter. I stayed a few minutes from cafe where JK wrote, and I saw the school that inspired her books, and the gravestone of Thomas Riddle (he was a real guy).
The city also touts tons of tours, from ghost tours, underground dungeon tours, historical tours, and a literary pub tour. Can you guess which one I took?
That night I joined the literary pub tour, led by two professional actors. They took us through the streets of Edinburgh to all the sites of literary significance, all the while quoting Robert Burns and Scott, among others, with thick Scottish accents. Some of the Scottish cask ales aren't too shabby either.
I just returned to London by overnight coach, but more on that later. I haven't really been able to update much due to the lack of internet.
The morning after biking to, climbing, and biking back from Scafell Pike I was completely exhausted, but I had a bike to return and a train to catch, so I woke up nice and early. The fellow and the bike shop told me to have the bike back by 9 sharp (they usually don't allow ovenights) but, when I got to the shop at 9, no one was there. Nor by 9:30, 9:45, etc, so I locked the bike up to the front door, left the key in the lock and a note in the helmet, hoping that it would get back to them (it did). When I got to Edinburgh they were just seeing the edge of a rainstorm, so the weather was bleak, and I was exhausted, so my first impression of the city wasn't wonderful. I shlepped myself over to the hostel, checked in, and summoned up some more energy to go out and walk around. After a bit of a walk finding the shul and the kosher establishments, I returned to the hostel for a short but invigorating nap, allowing to climb to the top of Arthur's Seat (250m), the remnant's of an extinct volcano and the highest point around Edinburgh (pronounced, by the way, Edinburuh, not edinburg). The hill is accessible both by nice shallow paths along one face and steep rock scramble along the other. Of course, I took the steep rock scramble, which contributed to tiring me out, but the views at the top were amazing, especialy as the sun was setting behind the city.
The next day I just walked around the city some more, exploring some of the residential neighborhoods as well as the Royal Mile in Old Town, the parks, and the New Town. I liked the Old Town better; though it is way more touristy, with kilted bagpipiers on every block, it has more perosnality. There are dozens of small, narrow alleyways, called closes (because they used to end in enclosures for animals), old buildings, maze-like streets that lead from the upper level of the city to the lower, and a dark, almost sinister, but definitely mysterious air. Oh, and another claim to fame is that the city is the birthplace of Harry Potter. I stayed a few minutes from cafe where JK wrote, and I saw the school that inspired her books, and the gravestone of Thomas Riddle (he was a real guy).
The city also touts tons of tours, from ghost tours, underground dungeon tours, historical tours, and a literary pub tour. Can you guess which one I took?
That night I joined the literary pub tour, led by two professional actors. They took us through the streets of Edinburgh to all the sites of literary significance, all the while quoting Robert Burns and Scott, among others, with thick Scottish accents. Some of the Scottish cask ales aren't too shabby either.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Edinburgh and the Last Few Days
Whew. I have been completely exhausted these last few days. Edinburgh nightlife just drains you. Nah, it's actually all the hiking that I ended up doing for the few days before. Between the Peak District and peat bogs on Sunday, Scafell Pike, Bowfell Pike, biking, and the Lake District on Monday, walking Edinburgh and Arthur's Seat on Tuesday and Wednesday, I had no energy. I spent a good amount of time walking around in a bit of a daze and taking naps in parks. Still, the weather has been great, I got a good feel for the city, and had quite a bit of fun. I went on a literary pub tour a few nights ago, led by two actors who quoted Robert Burns poetry in the original and passages from other great Scottish writers, and took us to some great pubs. Very funny guys, very good tour. The people here are also very nice, especially the people in the tourism industry (the fellow at the bus station spoke with me for half an hour trying to figure out my plans and in the end saved me over 100 pounds. As a New Yorker I felt like he was going to lose his patience, but he kept going. It has been like that almost everywhere except by the Lake District, where, I have to say, the people were a bit rude and impatient and really not very hospitable. Oh well.
I write in the past tense because after shabbos, I have a 5am bus up to Fort William, where I will attempt to conquer the third, and highest, of the three Peaks. I'll be spending shabbos here in Edinburgh with the community here. They say it is small, but very hospitable.
I have to add that Edinburgh may be one of my favorite cities I have seen so far. It is small, but it really has a great personality.
I write in the past tense because after shabbos, I have a 5am bus up to Fort William, where I will attempt to conquer the third, and highest, of the three Peaks. I'll be spending shabbos here in Edinburgh with the community here. They say it is small, but very hospitable.
I have to add that Edinburgh may be one of my favorite cities I have seen so far. It is small, but it really has a great personality.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Edinburgh So Far
It rained the entire morning non-stop today. Finally! I was beginning to think that 'rainy England' was a myth. I didn't have much time to experience the true English weather, as I had a train to Edinburgh at 10 in the morning. Bye bye Merrie Olde England, hello Bonnie Scotland!
When I first arrived in Edinburgh I wasn't crazy about it, but then I was still completely wiped out from yesterday's hike (I didn't sleep very well, but I am not sore!). I checked into my hostel, great place, quiet rooms but lots of facilities... And I walked around the city, I found the shul, the kosher restaurant and bakery (all three closed today), and bought a new backpack (my old one broke in four places and was held together by knots). I still wasn't having a great impression of the city, as I was still exhausted and the weather was still quite bleak. I went back to the hostel to take a nap and, Behold!, everything changed. After an hour I was refreshed, the sun was shining, and I was ready for Edinburgh part 2. I went over to see if I could catch a Literary Pub tour (the Scots are very proud of their native authors, including, be jealous all ye nerds, J K Rowling). The tour was cancelled due to lack of people, but I'll try again tomorrow. Instead I climbed Arthur's seat, the highest point around the city up a very steep and rocky side of the hill (260 meters). The climb up was intense, but it was worth it, especially as the view of the city, with sun setting behind it, was amazing (and I couldn'tget a good picture). I walked through the city back to the hostel, and here I am, showered, drinking tea, and eating Scottish shortbread (with an OU!). I really like Edinburgh.
When I first arrived in Edinburgh I wasn't crazy about it, but then I was still completely wiped out from yesterday's hike (I didn't sleep very well, but I am not sore!). I checked into my hostel, great place, quiet rooms but lots of facilities... And I walked around the city, I found the shul, the kosher restaurant and bakery (all three closed today), and bought a new backpack (my old one broke in four places and was held together by knots). I still wasn't having a great impression of the city, as I was still exhausted and the weather was still quite bleak. I went back to the hostel to take a nap and, Behold!, everything changed. After an hour I was refreshed, the sun was shining, and I was ready for Edinburgh part 2. I went over to see if I could catch a Literary Pub tour (the Scots are very proud of their native authors, including, be jealous all ye nerds, J K Rowling). The tour was cancelled due to lack of people, but I'll try again tomorrow. Instead I climbed Arthur's seat, the highest point around the city up a very steep and rocky side of the hill (260 meters). The climb up was intense, but it was worth it, especially as the view of the city, with sun setting behind it, was amazing (and I couldn'tget a good picture). I walked through the city back to the hostel, and here I am, showered, drinking tea, and eating Scottish shortbread (with an OU!). I really like Edinburgh.
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