Yesterday I boarded a train that took me to the costal town of Stranraer where I got on the biggest ferry I’ve ever seen and waved farewell to Scotland.

I feel a bit like I’m on a city scouting trip, as each place I go I am trying to gauge if I could live there. I think I mentioned this previously, but I’m hoping to return to Canada at the start of April and get my Holidaymaker Visa to come back and work in the UK for up to two years. I am hopeful of Belfast, as I’ve always wanted to live in Ireland, but it is in tough competition with Edinburgh. What a phenomenal city. It is beautiful in its layout – all hills and valleys, cusped by the impressively ancient Edinburgh Castle nestled on a large hill in the centre of the old city.

The nightlife is also top notch, with a good number of pubs and clubs for all types – something I was given a major tasting of on Tuesday night. After writing my previous entry I headed down to the Internet Café, but they couldn’t facilitate my laptop, even though the cute girl working there the night before had assured me, albeit in broken English, that they could. So, it didn’t get posted until today. Anyway, after that, Tori came home from work with good news – she had got me a ticket to come with her and some friends from work to a performance at the Edinburgh Playhouse called Fosse, based on a number of musicals by Bob Fosse (he worked on Chicago to some extent). So, after eating a slightly modified version of Simon’s recipe (which I made him give me before I left), we headed up to the Playhouse. The musical was quite good, with the second half being extremely impressive. After the performance we all went to The Slug and Lettuce, the bar/restaurant where Tori works, for a quick drink. A quick drink turned into a few drinks, and then the group (which had expanded a bit) headed to another little pub called The Bull Bar that was having an open mike night. Sadly it had shut down, so we settled for pints.

[1] Maggy and … oh geez, I don’t know if I ever got his name. He was quite cool though – a HUGE Bryan Adams fan that had the perfect Edinburgh accent. [2] Justin, Tori, Alex, Me and Maggy.

After here we headed further into the city for a club we were meeting some people at, but it was a hospitality industry night. I was given a card that said I was a chef, but made a mistake when I said I worked at the bar that Tori works at. Apparently the bouncers had had an altercation with one of the chefs there last week, and because of that, all male staff had been banned. Bunk! Luckily Alex and Justin, the two guys we were with, knew another place. I can’t remember what it was called, but we ended up there and continued to pollute ourselves. The bar had a reasonably good cover band, that actually did a cover of Yellow Ledbetter – I couldn’t believe it! (and stumbled up to the stage and told them so).

After the bar we all had a bit of the post-bar munchies, and that’s how it was that I found myself eating a Peach and Banana Pizza. It was the most bizarre thing. I guess, as I don’t really remember, we ordered four pizzas but could only decide on three, so they brought us the peach and banana. I’m actually surprised we didn’t get booted from the place, we were quite rowdy and Tori broke two glasses (though she insists I helped her do it, I really don’t remember that!).

[1] Us, just before the pizza got to the table, but after the first glass broke. [2] Alex and Justin

”Oh! I NEED a photo of me in one of those…” he said while stuffing the digital camera in the hands of Justin and stumbling towards the phone booth.

Getting home at about 4-4:30 a.m., I, obviously, immediately poured myself some wine, put on a movie and promptly passed out. I woke up Wednesday morning when a WAY TOO CHIPPER Tori came in, laughed at the full glass of wine and told me I needed to get my ass in gear – we were going sight seeing.

So, I have shin splints I think. I hadn’t really noticed it until Edinburgh, but walking up the hills there was just BRUTAL on my shins/calves, and I SWEAR the ENTIRE city was uphill. I don’t really understand it, but it seemed where ever we went, it was uphill, and I hardly remember walking downhill at all. Mysterious.

We headed up past Princess Street – the street that Renton and crew are running down in the opening monologue of Trainspotting – and went to Edinburgh Castle. The castle was really cool, and we got around the £8 entrance fee by saying we were just visiting the War Memorial, which is right at the top and is free to visit. From the top of the castle you could see right out across the city – it was an excellent view. Something I’ve learned about Scotland is you can’t count on the weather at all. We left that morning with a beautiful day in front of us, but by the castle it had turned grey and was threatening to rain. Our hangovers were catching up with us, so instead of doing this big hike that we had planned, we opted to just head back to the flat and eat something.

[1] Princess Street and the Monument. [2] St. Giles Cathedral, I think. It was really big and really old. [3] Edinburgh Castle from a bridge crossing into the old town. The old town is really neat because it is centuries of buildings built on top of each other. Often roads and new buildings were just built right on top of the old, effectively burying them. Apparently it is prime areas for creepy ghost tours. [4] The Playhouse where I saw Fosse. Tori’s work is literally two doors down in a big mall-like collection of restaurants and pubs.

Tori worked that night, so I just spent the time relaxing on her couch watching the tele. I caught the newest episode of The Office and a new show called Macintyre’s Millions – a show where this guy goes around the world with a virtually unlimited budget and he exposes the crazy blackmarket stuff you can buy – the first episode tackled the human organ trade in India.

Yesterday was spent travelling – arriving in Belfast about 5 p.m. last night. Carol came and collected me at the ferry port and we met with her mate from work for some Pizza Hut. Carol’s great and I think we’ll get along smashingly. She has a beautiful home and it’s just loaded with stuff from her travels. I am going to have to bug her to get out her photo albums.

Belfast harbour

Well I am going to see about getting on the Internet and hopefully post this.

Cheers.

I must say, what the Glasgow gloom did to dishearten my spirits about Scotland, Inverness lit my opinions with sunshine. Though I arrived in the dark and rain, by Sunday morning, true to the day’s name, the sun was shining.

I didn’t end up going out Friday night, as Barbara’s boyfriend never made it down – so we stayed and watched the plethora of Jackass and Jackass-esque shows that were on MTV-UK and BBC4. Saturday morning I met Barbara in the city centre for a quick lunch and a pint before I grabbed my train to Inverness.

The journey to Inverness, at least the part I could see before the early 3 p.m. sunset, was very scenic. I met Simon at the Eastgate Mall in town and we headed back to his place where he cooked me an awesome dinner. All my hosts throughout my trip have been absolutely awesome, but hands-down, Simon was the most knowledgeable about the area I was in. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of random facts – particularly on the topics of the Highlands and Gaelic.

Random Item Learned From Simon: Hat Trick, used to mark three goals in various sports (oh hockey how I miss thee), comes from the Gaelic Tha Trì Agam (pronounced Ha Tree Akham).

Simon Varwell – The Wee Purple Man (it’s a joke, but for the life of me I cannot remember the punchline).

Sunday, having the day off, Simon gave me a tour of Inverness. We walked about the city and also took a bit of a walk down the River Ness to the Ness Islands, a small, picnic/dog walk area of islands in the river. I had originally planed to go to Kyle of Lochalsh, but because of stupid train times, I wouldn’t have had much time to see anything there. My secondary plans were to take a bus with Simon down along Loch Ness to a city south where his parents lived as well as Urkhart Castle right on the lake. The buses turned out to be about as co-operative as the trains, so we opted for the Inverness walkabout.

[1] Inverness Castle from the opposing side of the river. The castle was built on the site of the original castle, that was destroyed during the Jacobite uprising. [2] Inverness Castle with a statue of Flora Macdonald, the heroine of the Jacobite uprising. She helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape the pursuing British.

[1] An old cemetery at the local Catholic church. There are a large number of churches in Inverness catering to every denomination. [2] Some holly? I dunno, I thought it looked nice – and festive.

Sunday night Simon and I went out for a quick pint to meet his ex-flatmate Scott. Scott is from Ottawa but lives and works over here now. We chatted about all things Canadian, and various travel tips and such (sort of the standard fare when meeting either fellow travelers or fellow Canadians). Scott was heading down to Edinburgh the following day (same as me) and offered to take me with him if I didn’t mind swinging by Aberdeen with him on the way. My original plan was to take a quick bus down to Urkhart Castle on Loch Ness and then return to catch a train for Edinburgh. Scott agreed to take me down to the castle so I could get a glimpse of the famous loch before leaving the area. So, not needing my first class train pass anymore, I went by a local hostel and gave it to them in hopes someone could use it.

Simon and I then went back to his flat and had a traditional Scottish dinner, complete with haggis. I was apprehensive at first, but really, it tastes like mince (a.k.a. ground beef). We had to buy a bit of a modernized haggis, which was packaged in plastic, not a sheep’s stomach. After dinner Simon and I met up with a friend of his named Gemma. We hit a couple local pubs and watered ourselves with pints.

[1] Myself, Scott and Simon. [2] Me, Gemma and Simon. Yeah I know, it’s a bit blurry, but so were we, so it all works out.

Monday morning I met Scott at about 11:30 and we headed down to Urkhart Castle. It was 5 quid to get “in”, but as I could see “in” from the carpark, I opted to save the money. The castle was destroyed by Bonnie Prince Charlie on his retreat from the British.

Urkhart Castle with Loch Ness behind it.

We then began our trek to the east coast and the Granite Capital of the UK, Aberdeen. After getting lost in Aberdeen for about an hour and a half, and passing our destination about three times, Scott did his business and we set our sites on Edinburgh. The trip was a lot better than the train I would have taken, as I got to see a lot more of the Scottish countryside and chatting with Scott helped pass the time.

We got into Edinburgh last night at about 7:30 and met Tori, my Aussie host in the city, at a local pub (have you all picked up on a theme here? I think there is something like 800 pubs in Edinburgh alone). Tori and I just stayed in and watched my recommendation, True Romance. As I couldn’t imagine anyone not liking it, I was not surprised that after watching it she quite liked it.

It’s grey in Edinburgh today, and rain is falling, so I’ve decided to stay in, only venturing out to post this at a local Internet shop and to grab some food. Tori has the daytime free tomorrow, so we’re going to go up to Edinburgh Castle and probably a few other places.

It’s quite cold here, and my winter jacket is beginning to earn its keep as the bulkiest member of my pack. I’m looking forward to getting to Carol’s at the end of the week and being able to relax a bit. I am sure there is a lot in Ireland to see, but I’m not going to kill myself doing it. I’ll do a couple things, but mostly just relax. I have a feeling that Belfast or Edinburgh will be the place I’ll come to work if I get the Holidaymaker Visa upon my return to Canada.

Peace.

After failing, once again, to secure a ride with my thumb, I returned to the house in Manchester, begging and pleading for another night’s accommodation. It was cool to stay another night, as I got to know Pete a bit better, as he only showed up on Monday night. I informed him that when he got to S. Korea he needed to try Sojue (or however you spell it). I also advised him to give the peanut butter covered squid balls a try. I also got a chance to watch Delicatessen, a film by the same writer/director as Amile. It was great. Post-Holocaust, a building in France relies on the “meat” supply of The Butcher. When their latest victim (or tenant) moves in, the butcher’s daughter falls for him, and enlists the help of the Vegetarian Underground to help save him. It was great!

The Manchester Crew (minus Pete): Willow, John, Me, Dani and Claire.

Tuesday I boarded the bus bound for Inverness, ironically the EXACT same bus I saw pass me just as I surrendered hitching the day before. The ride was quite nice. Where the south of England just reminded me of a fusion of Ontario and Manitoba, the north is quite scenic. We stopped for a quick break in the Lake District, a beautiful section of England that I’d like to visit in more depth in the summer months.

The view from the rest stop in the Lake District, just south of the Scottish boarder.

I got into Glasgow at about 6 p.m. Barbara met me at the station and we got acquainted while we walked a few blocks to the city bus stop. She had to go to a yoga class, so I went to the local supermarket and grabbed us a bit of grub to eat, along with the cheapest wine I’ve ever bought (a whole two quid). We spent the night just sharing travel stories and such. Wednesday morning I headed into the city centre, aimlessly wandered a bit until I came across the tourist information centre. I grabbed some fliers and got some info from the nice Russian lady working there (odd that). I headed up to Saint Mungo’s Cathedral – it was kind of neat, but the coolest part was the view of the Necropolis. I didn’t actually get across to it, as it was starting to rain (a VERY common phenomenon here!), but it was pretty cool to look at none the less.

[1] The Cathedral [2] The Necropolis

After getting back down to the city centre, I found shelter in St. Enoch Shopping Centre. I have to admit, I was starting to get a bit down about things. I was feeling the pressure of having to find an angle for the article I’m writing for Canoe.ca, the rain was a bit depressing and I dunno, I was just starting to feel warn from the constant travelling. It wasn’t something I had really considered, but never staying in a place longer than a couple days, having to pack up everything and move on is quite exhausting. The night brought with it a bit of relief from the stresses, and Barbara did good to cheer me up. We rented the movie Human Nature, written by none other than Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Being John Malcovich), and it was a laugh.

Thursday morning brought with it a number of things that lifted my spirits. First, I got an e-mail from the New York PR firm that represents EuroRail, and they’ve offered me a sweet railpass for while I’m travelling in mainland Europe. I wrote them a few days ago explaining that I’m a writer for Canoe.ca and will be travelling Western Europe during January. So yeah, they gave me a pass that is good for a month for 15 days worth of travel in 17 European countries (oh, and I’m near certain it is 1st Class – yup, nothing but the best for this boy!). Holy crap eh!? So, this sort of changes my Europe plans a bit. I’m now considering visiting Greece and Italy. Also, a quick conversation with Carol (my distant cousin I’m staying with in Belfast) yesterday made mention that she might be going to Prague for New Year’s. I am not sure if I could afford it, but that would be awesome! North American’s don’t really hear much about Prague I guess, as I knew virtually nothing other than it is the capital of the Czech Republic. So, turns out that (A) It is this amazingly beautiful historic town that is an awesome party spot for youthful Europeans, (B) it is Eastern European, i.e. cheap – at least for the next year or two, and (C) it’s the place where they shot XXX with Vin Diesel.

With my spirits brightening, I ran into the city in hopes of enjoying Glasgow while the sun was shining. I managed to get about an hour or two in before the rain came. Not too bad! . My first priority was to go see Glasgow Green, a park that hosts the People’s Palace/Winter Gardens (it looked really cool from the picture I saw), and also to see the Former Templeton Carpet Factory. Somewhere in this process it started to drizzle, and it was full-on raining by the time I had bussed it back down to Argyle St. to hunt out Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art. The place was pretty cool, though surprisingly small. The whole thing took me inside an hour, but I passed on the library in the basement – you just KNOW that there were a thousand things down there. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a gallery of “modern” art before, but if you ever get the chance, it is well worth it – especially in the UK, where every museum is free. There is a whole lot of stuff in it that is completely goofy in my standards of art. Yes, this is the place where you find vomit on canvass and stuff like that (well, this gallery was vomit free, I think). But there are some amazing, thought provoking pieces as well – the type of stuff that isn’t just some stupid hyped crap that is “tres chic” in NYC right now… but stuff that 200 years from now will be considered the definition of our times.

[1] St. Andrew’s in the Square – I don’t really know what this building is, or rather was, as it is now a restaurant/night club or something. [2] A big obelisk monument in Glasgow Green, a nice park that runs along side the River Clyde.

[1] The People’s Palace and Winter Gardens (the white greenhousey thing). I should have gone in, but I felt rushed by the disappearing sun to get some more photos shot. [2] The former Templeton Carpet Factory – allegedly the oldest building in Glasgow – I was, admittedly, disappointed. It’s just a big business centre now. This photo is actually just the back of it. I couldn’t find a “front”.

The double-edged sword about Glasgow is that it is going through a conversion from a city of industry to a city of culture – so near everything in the city is being worked upon. Great for the city, crappy for photographs. After the Modern Art Gallery, I headed back to the apartment to get out of the rain and to eat something. I was also quite excited to find out if my inbox contained a letter from (A) ScotRail – with whom I’ve been trying to get free transportation around Scotland, and (B) Scottish Tours – with whom I’ve been trying to get a free day-trip bus tour out to Braveheart Country and Loch Lanoch (or something like that). I was not disappointed; both had written me back with positive things to tell me. Unfortunately the schedules didn’t jive with the Scottish Tour thing, as I’m planning to be in Inverness tomorrow night, and their Saturday daytime tour was all booked. But, as I write this, I am still drying off from my quick excursion into Glasgow to grab my first class rail tickets from Glasgow to Inverness tomorrow, Inverness to Edinburgh on Tuesday and Edinburgh to the ferry port on the west coast on Thursday (where I’ll catch a ferry to Ireland). Yay! Not only that, but Eddie, my contact at ScotRail, through in a day-trip train from Inverness to Kyle Of Lochalsh, where I can visit the Island of Skye. I guess that the train journey is one of the most beautiful routes in Europe. Sweet!

At about 6 p.m. or so, I gave Barbara’s mobile a ring and we agreed to meet downtown to get some good Scottish pints in us. Earlier in the day I had revisited the Tourist Information Centre and asked what bars were good. They gave me an entertainment guide and a pamphlet for the Scotia Bar – a bar that claimed to be the oldest in Glasgow. I presented Barbara with the info, and even though she said most bars that didn’t have windows you could see in were a bit dodgy, she agreed to give it a shot. It was a great little place. We got a seat RIGHT beside the band (I mean, so close that if there was a backstage, we were in it…). The band did a bunch of cover songs, ironically many North American ones – but the singer’s Elvis impression was first rate. We stayed for a few pints (with Barbara switching to Vodka and Coke) and then went to check out a place called the Biere Republic – modelled after the bars in Prague (oddly enough). It was a younger pre-clubbin’ crowd, but still much fun! I opted for a taste of home, and got a bottle of Moosehead . We grabbed some cheesy chips (a.k.a. cheese fries) for the bus ride home, and came back to the flat to watch a bit of my new favourite show, The Office, before bed.

[1] Barbara, doing what the Irish do best. [2] Me … attempting to be like Barbara.

[1] The Vagabonds – the World’s Best Trio (according to the bill). [2] Barbara, finally standing still enough for me to get a photo.

[1] The Gallery of Modern Art at night. The small roadways (which are actually blocked off to cars) on both sides of the building have a net of lights that creates a virtual ceiling – it’s very cool. [2] The Office – I watched the entire first season today. It is hilarious. It’s filmed like a reality TV show, but isn’t. It’s FULL of awkward moments, which always make me feel uncomfortable, but it is hilarious.

With my Scottish trip planning all resolved, I’m just waiting for Barbara to get home. Her boyfriend, who lives about two hours away, is coming down for the weekend and the three of us are going to hit the town. Not sure when I’ll next update – I know that Simon, my host in Inverness, doesn’t have Internet, as may be the case with Tori, the Aussie putting me up in Edinburgh. So, who knows. I’ll do my best though.