Low Bar

Amsterdam Architecture

“Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day,” is the name of a popular children’s book we are familiar with. It is also what we expected to have trying to fly back to Edinburgh today. After our challenging experience flying out of Edinburgh to Rotterdam last week, after the headline news about the catastrophic situation for travelers trying to fly out of the Amsterdam Schiphol airport, and after noting the airport website pleading with passengers not to arrive more than four hours early, we knew we were doomed. They have a severe shortage of staff performing security screening; lines of waiting travelers have been extending out of the building and around the corner. As luck would have it, after we got to the airport five hours early, we “sailed” through security in just an hour. We were actually gleefully happy to be sitting waiting in the airport for hours for our flight to depart late. Definitely a low bar.

On a most positive note, check out the posted photo. It is beautiful. It speaks volumes about the Amsterdam architecture. Took the photo yesterday evening at dusk just a block from our hotel. Ahhh… Relax…

Van Gogh Authentic

Four Times More Bikes Than Cars

Fun day; went to the Van Gogh Museum. The authentic Van Gogh experience, not like the over hyped touring display of Van Gogh images on the walls of a tent in Edinburgh. The real museum has the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world. The hours we spent in the museum really brought his work to life. Also went to the Rijksmuseum for some real art.

Did more strolling around the city as well. Watch out! Six lanes of traffic. Can be risky to cross as a pedestrian. Step off the sidewalk, look both ways for bikes in the separate dedicated bike path, step over the curb, look to the left for oncoming electric trams, scoot across a lane of auto traffic (they drive on the same side as in the US - confusing after spending so much time in Scotland with driving on the opposite side), then another lane of auto traffic coming the other way, do the tram thing again, and do the bike lane thing again. Yikes, I did not mention that powered scooters are allowed in the bike lanes; they don't seem to mind disregarding the red traffic lights and other conventions. Phew. Made it across.

There are around 850,000 bikes in Amsterdam that belong to half as many households. There are four times more bicycles than cars in Amsterdam; 80% of residents own a bike and almost 60% use their bikes on a daily basis. The photo shows just a small portion of the thousands and thousands of bikes parked at the Central Train Station.

Anne Frank

House Museum

Scenic and emotional day. Let's start with the scenery; we got plenty of it wandering around the alleyways and concentric canals here in Amsterdam. The emblematic narrow buildings follow the architectural style of the Dutch Golden Ages, a unique and peculiar Dutch interpretation of the Baroque that developed between the 16th and 17th centuries. We also saw plenty of canal boats; many of them were carrying tourists (with picnic lunches and alcoholic drinks), and many others were carrying tourists with headsets (available in 19 languages). It was a scenery show.

The emotion, of course, came from visiting the Anne Frank House Museum. "The Diary of Anne Frank" is known to most every school child; Beth taught it to innumerable classes. During World War II, Anne Frank hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in concealed rooms, in the rear building, of the 17th-century canal house, later known as the Secret Annex. She died in a Nazi concentration camp; her wartime diary was published in 1947. We toured the Auschwitz concentration camp many years ago, those memories forcefully flooded back today. This story of persecution/prejudice/discrimination is, unfortunately, timeless.

Location...

Tourists

The real estate adage about "location, location, location" being the three most important things is in play here in Amsterdam.

We took a one-hour train ride to get here from Rotterdam (the trains run every 15-30 minutes throughout the day), and made the short walk to our pre-booked hotel in Amsterdam. That short walk is where the location adage came into play. Turns out that being this close to the train station put us smack dab into the heart of the tourist area (should not have been a surprise). The streets and alleyways are jam packed with tourists (with 20 million tourists per year, Amsterdam is listed in the top 20 places worldwide for tourists). So much so that the city, as is the case for some other European cities, is responding to "locals complaining that their city had been transformed into a 'tourist Disney world.'" Guess we are adding to that situation.

We are also paying for it. Our hotel room, being in the heart of the tourist area, is costing x hundreds of dollars per night for a tiny one-hundred square foot room (at least is has an ensuite bathroom). What it doesn't have is enough room for one person to sit at the desk and the other person to squeeze by the king size bed (at least the room is at the back of the hotel where there is no street noise). That tiny room doesn't have what can be called charm or character (at least it has a working air conditioner). Sometimes, on our do-it-ourselves vacations, we hit the bull's eye with our accommodation picks (as is the case in Edinburgh). Sometimes we don't (as is the case here). 

Let's go see some sights.

Rotterdam

Modern Skyline

We spent the day wandering around the city center in Rotterdam and attended a couple post wedding events. The city, besides being known for the recent Jeff Bezos super yacht incident, is well known as Europe's largest seaport.

Following the near-total destruction of the entire city center by the German Luftwaffe in WWII, a 20 year reconstruction effort resulted in the most modern city in Europe, including, in 1953, the first car-free shopping street in Europe. Indeed, the skyline is filled with angular steel and glass buildings; many seem to defy gravity with overhangs and cantilevers.

10-Hour Wedding

Rotterdam

What a terrific day. We spent 10 hours enjoying wedding events for two friends, one we have known for decades the other more recently. They have stayed with us in the US and we could not miss the opportunity to help them celebrate their wedding.

They live on a small island in Rotterdam, most recently in the news because of the historic access bridge to the island that was about to be temporarily dismantled to allow for the largest yacht in the world to pass through (Jeff Bezos just had the yacht built nearby). Rotterdam is a very modern city (it was completely destroyed in WWII) with a young population (70% of city center residents are between 20-40 years old, and unmarried).

First came lunch in a cafe (owned by friends), then a water taxi ride (fast and exciting) to the wedding venue (historic building), then drinks/music (overlooking the water), then the wedding (much different ceremony than in US), then live music (the groom plays in a band), then dinner (all vegetarian), then music and dancing (almost all US rock songs from the 70's), then a water taxi ride back to out hotel (upper floor room overlooking the city). Nice.

"E" Word

Edinburgh Airport

All three of us, the word begins with "e," a flight from Edinburgh to Rotterdam today. The word was certainly not “enjoyed" at flight, lines and crowds and confusion prevailed. The word may have been “experienced" at flight, because it most certainly was that. Arrived at the airport three hours early, switched departure gates four times, and stood in multiple long lines. The proper “e” word for today was “endured" a flight, because that is about the best we can claim; we made it in spite of the challenging circumstances. Eeeenough of that.

The three of us are looking forward to attending the wedding of two friends tomorrow.

Walker's Paradise

Southern Upland Way

As far as we are concerned, Scotland is a walker's paradise. Walking is engrained in the culture, enshrined in the National Right To Roam federal law, and seemingly practiced by one and all. This is one of the big reasons we feel at home here.

There are 12,500 miles of protected paths which are accessible right across Scotland – from the countryside to the city – suitable for walking, cycling, and horse-riding. Edinburgh has several hundred miles of these. By comparison, Virginia, which does a good job with trails and which is about one-third larger than Scotland, has only about 10% of the trail miles.

Interestingly, but not surprising given the Scottish affinity for walking, John Muir was born in Scotland. After moving to the US, he focused his life on the preservation of wilderness, and is widely known as the "Father of the National Parks." Thank you, Scotland.

Recce

Pilgrim Way

recce (in British English) pronounced "reki"

a slang word for reconnaissance, reconnoitre

Every leader for a hill walk in our All Year Ramblers club must prepare. They select a walk from the approximately 500 walks that are documented in the club library (this club has been walking two times every week for over 100 years), and they do a recce prior to the actual walk. Since Scotland is a walker's paradise, and since there are an inconceivable number of trails and paths, many dozen of decisions will need to be made on every walk about the proper way to go at the intersections. Today's walk benefitted from an even higher level of preparation. The leader assembled a briefing packet that included a topo map with the route marked and a full set of labeled photos of interesting sights we would see. But wait, there is more; as an amateur historian and naturalist the leader also stopped many dozens of times to educate us about a rock, or flower, or ruin, or place, or name, or bird, or... Talk about proper prior planning.

Amber Waves

Wheat

It is a bit ironic to be spending Independence Day here in Scotland. After all, this US holiday celebrates the legal separation of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain in 1776. This irony is all the more poignant because of the popularity, especially on July 4th, of the song "America the Beautiful." Recall the second line of that song is, "For amber waves of grain." Which is exactly what we just did.

Our hill walk with the All Year Ramblers club took us south of Edinburgh into lush farmland. And, in a matter of sheer coincidence, we walked through miles of wheat fields blowing in the wind. Amber waves of grain. Unsurprisingly, we did not get much reaction, or even acknowledgement, when we pointed all of this out to our fellow walkers in the pub afterwards. Go figure.

Happy Fourth of July.

The Union

Canal Boats

Let's focus on the Union. Not the Union in the North in the US during the Civil War, but the Union Canal here in Edinburgh. It is part of one of our favorite exercise walks. That walk takes us on a 9 mile loop from our flat in the Stockbridge neighborhood, through the city center, past the Edinburgh Castle, along the Union Canal, and then along the Water of Leith. It is a wonderfully mixed route:  Georgian buildings, historic castle, quite canal, and scenic waterway.

The Union Canal, which was built 200 years ago to transport coal into the city, is currently used for recreation. Some canal boats are used as second homes, and others are rented for multi-day trips. The photo was taken as two of the canal boats are crossing over an aqueduct elevated 100 feet above the Water of Leith; quite spectacular to see a boat floating so high above. While Scotland only has a handful of such canals, England has over 3,000 miles of them.

Fish & Chips

Properly Done

Tough judgement call. Sometimes circumstances call for hard choices. We can sympathize with news journalists who have to decide which story of the day to lead with. Should today's blog lead-in be about historic Craigmiller Castle (best preserved medieval castle in the UK), the multiple bus rides (confusion about where to get on), the tourist crowds in Old Town Edinburgh (elbowing your way along the sidewalks), the mysterious disappearance of the iconic Haggis Box (phone booth sized haggis food stand), or the fish & chips lunch? Let's lead with the lunch.

Although we have been in Scotland for over a month now, and we have endeavored to experience and blog about many things Scottish, it was not until today that we stopped for a proper fish and chips. Not sure what convoluted priority scheme caused that to happen. Regardless, the fish and chips were delicious. The battered haddock was lite and fluffy, just like a little brown cloud. Really, the batter and fish where as lite as can be, no oily or heavy taste. And the chips were likewise.

Food historians say that a Jewish cook, a young Ashkenezi immigrant named Joseph Malin, opened the first chippy in 1860 in London. So engrained in English culinary culture are fish and chips that they were one of the few foods never rationed during World War II. The government believed that safeguarding this comfort meal during a time of distress would keep morale up.

Arthur's Seat

Overlooking City

It was a good day for a hill walk right here in Edinburgh. Roanoke has Mill Mountain. Edinburgh has Arthur's Seat. It is a dramatic rocky ancient volcano rising 600+ feet over the city. It is one of those, "you haven't visited Edinburgh if you haven't climbed Arthur's Seat" types of places.

The 360 degree views from the top extend over Holyrood Palace, over Edinburgh Castle, over the city center, to the Firth of Forth estuary, and to the North Sea. We walked the 3 miles from our flat to Holyrood Park, spent an hour climbing to, and enjoying the sights from, the top, then walked a longer route back to the flat.

From the top, as we were buffeted by the wind, as we looked down on Holyrood Palace, we could see a large gathering of people who were invited to attend festivities associated with the Queen's annual visit. She is here in Edinburgh for a one week stay at Holyrood Palace; that is the official residence of the Monarchy in Scotland. Our invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.

The Weather

Moderate

The weather here in Edinburgh, and Scotland, is quite different from home in Roanoke and Virginia. It is much more moderate. We like that.

Since Edinburgh is on the coast, and since Scotland is an island, temperatures are fairly constant; no extremes. During the summer, we will rarely experience anything other than mid-to-upper 60s for highs and mid 50s for lows. Wind is a constant; that is where 90% of this country's energy comes from.

It rains about the same amount in Scotland as in Virginia, but not all at once. Instead, the rain arrives as a drizzle intermittently mixed with clouds and sun. Always a good idea to carry a rain jacket, but not an umbrella; see comment about wind. So, even though we have 17+ hours of daylight here because of the northern latitude, only about 1/2 of that on average involves sun. No humidity - yea.

Four Hours

After 11pm

Four hours. That is the current length of the night-time here. Not much. And, that four hours doesn't really involve but so much darkness; let's call it twilight. Not dark enough to see stars. And, not dark enough to preclude a game of golf; courses have an "honesty box" to be used after hours when the clubhouse is closed. The posted photo was taken just after 11pm; still plenty of light to support doing a proper window clean at that late hour. 

We are pretty far north. Edinburgh's latitude is 800 miles north of Montreal, Canada. Thankfully, our flat has black-out shades. Otherwise, we might never be able to get to sleep.

No Money

Contactless Payment

We have not spent any money during the month we have been in Scotland.

That statement is technically true, but hugely misleading. Here is the explanation. We have not spent any cash money, and we have not needed to use any credit or debit cards. Every single purchase can be done here using an iPhone. Every one. In big cities and in small villages. At the grocery, in a restaurant, with a vendor at a craft fair, tickets on a bus, admission to  distillery, in a coffee shop... You get the idea. Contactless payments. This is hugely convenient and way more secure than carrying around cash or cards. Just whip out the phone, hold it near the point-of-sale terminal, look at the screen for facial recognition, done. This has worked for us in the US on a hit-or-miss basis, but not everywhere like here.

Not Illusive

Scotch Whiskey

As illusive as we might have found the Highland Cow to be, we had no trouble finding a whiskey distillery (Scotch). After all, in a country that is one-third smaller by population and land mass then Virginia, Scotland has 134 whiskey distilleries. That is a remarkably big number.

We toured one of the oldest and largest, Tomatin. They have been doing it since 1897 and exclusively make single malt whiskey. We liked the decidedly un-touristy nature of the tour; tight spaces, smelly rooms, and low head-bumping structures. We also liked the three tastings at the end of the tour, particularly their 12-Year Old. It is aged in ex-Bourbon and ex-Spanish Sherry casks.

Nice way to end the day after visiting the Cullodin Viaduct, 4,000-year-old burial cairns, Fort George (built 250 years ago as the largest fort in Europe at a cost equivalent to the entire GNP of Scotland, it is still active today), and, wait for it, seeing more Highland Cows.

Illusive Cow

Hairy Coos

Only one big goal for the day. We have had this goal since arriving in Scotland and were convinced the goal would be easy to meet once we journeyed from Edinburgh north to Inverness and the Highlands. It wasn't happening. We were even more convinced we would meet this goal on the stunningly beautiful day-long driving loop through the Highlands and along the west coast. Nope.

No matter how hard we tried, we could find nary a Highland Cow anywhere. Those are the ones with long shaggy fir. Mike saw shaggy fur cows a couple of months ago while trekking to Mt. Everest Base Camp; they were Yaks. We all thought it would be fun to see something similar here. But we were striking out in the Highland Cow department. Illusive. Maybe this is one of those overhyped tourist things.

Then, eureka. We saw an entire herd of them; well there were three, not quite a herd. They were not exactly out roaming the Highlands. They were in a fenced pen next to the departure point for day cruises on Lock Ness. Hey, we saw Highland Cows after all. Or, in Scottish lingo, "Hairy Coos."

Stunning Beauty

Dramatic Coast

Stunning beauty. Not just Beth, but the scenery ;-)

We took advantage of another fine weather day and ventured out in the car on a day-long loop through the Highlands, along the west coast, and back to Inverness. Owing to the lack of trees, we could see practically forever. We saw stark rocky dark mountains, green lowlands, lake after lake (the Scottish name for a lake is "loch," as in Loch Ness), bogs, streams, dramatic coast lines, costal islands, and wee (small) villages. Since there was little traffic, and the roads were not as narrow as they could have been, and Mike is getting better at driving on the "wrong" side of the road, we managed the driving quite well. The scenery on the loop was unlike anything we have seen in the US, or elsewhere. What a treat. 

Well, except for the flat tire on our car rental, on a remote road, with no cell service, 75 miles from our Airbnb in Inverness, no spare tire, and the only auto repair shop did not have a tire that fit. Maybe that is a story for another time.

First Munro

Carin Gorm

We summited our first Munro today, and it was spectacular. In the US, the term for ascending to the tops of mountains is called, "peak bagging." Here in Scotland, you have bagged a Munro. The mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet in height are called the Munros. Named after Hugh Munro, the first person to compile a list of them in 1891. There are a total of 282 of them. The peak we bagged is in Caringorm National Park, the largest National Park in all of the UK. The mountain is named, naturally, Carin Gorm.

Owing to the northerly latitude of Scotland, and to the ever-present high winds, nothing grows on these peaks taller than an inch or two. They are all above tree line. And, they are dramatic as can be. Steep, windy, above tree line, clouds/sun, few people, and perilous cliffs. Carin Gorm is the sixth tallest Munro. By the way, during this hill walk, we happened upon the UK's only free-ranging herd of reindeer. As motivating as that was, Beth found herself more motivated by her desire for a big hot cup of cappuccino after the hill walk. We thought the day was terrific.