Edinburgh & The Highlands

Our latest quick jaunt was off to Scotland. We flew into Edinburgh early Saturday morning and as our bus from the airport rolled into the old town centre and I got a glimpse of the castle on the cliff, I knew I was going to love it. Most of the old stone buildings are black with years of weathering but it gives the city a dark medieval feel - lots of character, lots of history.

We made it to the Royal Mile (the main road running from Hollyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle on the hill) by 8:30, which gave us a little bit of time to explore some of the many narrow alleyways (closes) and grab a quick Starbucks before our tour departed at 9:30.

With Rabbies Trail Burners, we boarded a mini coach that took us up into the highlands, by several castles and along many lochs, including Loch Lomond. Highlights included the view of Stirling Castle high up on a ridge near the William Wallace monument, Kilchurn Castle in ruins on the edge of Loch Awe, and 'Rest and Be Thankful", a beautiful view point in a pass in the highlands. On the drive between stops, our guide told us stories of Mary Queen of Scots, William Wallace, Rob Roy, and surprisingly, graphic depictions of sheep shagging. He rivaled our tour guide in Prague for providing entertaining thoughts you could only shake your head at, but with the added bonus of a Scottish accent.

He also played some great Scottish folk music, such as Roddy Woomble, which I’m listening to now. The tour was a great way for us to see some of Scotland’s rugged wilderness in the short time we had.

We arrived back in Edinburgh at 7:30 and went straight to Monster Mash, for a delicious dinner of bangers and mash. We could tell that the night life Edinburgh was starting to heat up (or 'hot up' as the Brits say); the streets were crawling with party goers. While sitting in the restaurant 20 guys walked by each wearing different super hero costume - very impressive! We must have seen a half dozen different stag/stagette parties on streets. Alas, we could not keep our eyes open to join in the partying so we headed to our cubby hole of a room in a hotel at the base of the castle.

We tried a 'wee bit' of Haggis on Sunday for breakfast, which actually wasn’t bad, but we skipped the blood pudding. We then did a tour of Mary King's Close, medieval alleys and dwellings that were sealed off when the city hall was built above it in the 1800s. We spent the remainder of the day walking through the city; up to the castle, down through the Georgian New Town, through all the back streets and closes, down the Royal Mile to Hollyrood, up Arthur's Seat, and then up Calton Hill. Arthur's Seat is this big hill in the middle of the city, like Nose Hill in Calgary but more rugged. Climbing up it gave us a nice view of the city and out to the Firth of Forth. We finished off the day with a drink at a cozy pub and then headed back to the airport. We weren't able to squeeze everything in but we were happy with what we accomplished in two days, and we were really impressed with Edinburgh. Check out our pics, and go if you get the chance!

Next weekend - Estonia and Latvia, where it’s supposedly snowing right now!

Norwegian Wilderness

This past weekend we went to Norway to relax and play in the snow with our friends. The captain of our Ultimate Frisbee team, Hildy, is Norwegian and her family has a cabin in the woods, far away from civilization. She generously/bravely invited the team to the cabin for a weekend. How could we not go? When would we have the chance to do something like this again? A lucky seven of us ended up joining her.

A week before we left, I found out that my cousin Haakon was cross country ski training in Norway and staying with one of his Norwegian aunts. It turned out that he was competing in the Norwegian Junior Nationals the weekend we were there, and the races were being held right in the area we flew into. I couldn’t believe this lucky coincidence! Haakon had races Thursday and Saturday. We flew in Friday morning and got to have a visit with him before he did his training for the day. It was so good to see him and catch up with him. He placed 4th and 5th in his races – Congrats Haakon!

We flew into Norway with Andrew and Jess and another Ultimate player, Francis. We rented a car and started the 3-hour drive into the woods. On the way we stopped in the small city of Drammen, where Hildy grew up. We were tasked to pick up dinner from Hildy’s parents who had made us a traditional Norwegian dish, reindeer stew (how sweet of them!). There wasn’t any snow in Drummen but as we headed farther into the interior of Norway everything was covered in a white blanket and there were huge drifts on the side of the road.

We were greeted at the cabin by Hildy, David and Maurice, who had arrived the day before. They helped put chains on the car and push us up the icy road. As soon as I walked into the charming cabin and looked out the front windows at the view and the softly falling snow, I instantly went into ‘lake mode’ – pure relax, no worries, content to do nothing, happy to be enjoying the wilderness.

The first night we ate the yummy reindeer by candle light and then ventured out into the night. I felt like a kid playing in the snow! We went down to a clearing by a lake and tossed around a glow in the dark Frisbee for ages. The stars were so clear in the sky and then the moon rose over the valley. The trees cast long shadows over the snow. What a night! Of course, the night didn’t end there. We went inside for a few rounds of drinks and some games, including Kerplunk and Diminishing Whist (DW).

After a relaxing sleep in on Saturday, we ate a very Scando (our shortened version of Scandinavian) breakfast and all headed out on different outdoor expeditions that day. Others did cross country skiing and hiking up the ridge. We went for a walk/snowshoe around a lake and by a waterfall. Our veg time inside was spent watching cross country ski racing and ski jumping on TV, running on a solar powered battery (the cabin has no electricity or running water). At dusk several of us headed back out for some tobogganing and more Frisbee. After dinner on Saturday night, the games came out again. More DW and the funniest drinking game I have ever played. I laughed so hard that tears were streaming down my face.

After another long sleep in on Sunday, we all went for a hike. The hike was short lived; we found an open area and were distracted by playing Ultimate. We got a game going and by the end we had all stripped down and were dripping in sweat. We drove back with A&J on Sunday night and the other lucky ones stayed an extra day.

Thank you Hildy (and your parents) for all the food prep, organization and hospitality. Thank you also to Maurice, David and Francis for helping out with the cooking (and David the apple crumble). Thank you Jess for all the snackage and especially the Mars Bar slice. Thank you to all present making it such a fun weekend! Fresh air, beautiful surroundings, exercise, long sleeps, reading, relaxing, laughter, delicious food, great company – can’t beat it!

Our photos are posted here http://www.flickr.com/photos/weatherills/sets/, but for some really good ones check out A&J’s Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/fushmush/sets/72157603981547434/, or their website http://www.fushmush.net/.