Scotland 2008

My big trip this year has been to Scotland for the second time. I traveled with Beth's family once again. Like my 2005 journal, I have formatted this to be read from top to bottom so ignore the post dates. The actual dates of the trip were August 6 - 22.

Day 1 - The Scotland Adventure Begins

The trip tried to start out stressful with a last minute issue at work, but I made it to the airport in plenty of time. All three flights - Tulsa to Chicago, Chicago to Manchester, and Manchester to Edinburgh - went off without a hitch. I watched the movie "Made of Honor" on the long flight but didn't like it because it disparages Scottish traditions. About half the service people in Manchester were sour, and it was hard not to be sour back on no sleep. I wasn't able to actually sleep on the plane and only managed a couple of hours of "shut-eye."

Once I finally arrived in Edinburgh, I still had a long wait at the airport because it had rained giant buckets over the city the night before. Several roads and trains were closed due to the high water. Beth, Laura, and Molly had been trying to get across town to pick me up since about 9:30 in the morning -- a good 4 hours before I arrived. They didn't reach me until 4:30 or so in the afternoon. The highway they had tried to take wound up being closed after they had sat on it pretty much not moving for a good long while. They managed to get off and find a train into Edinburgh city centre and a bus from there to the airport. I was so happy to see them when they finally arrived. We got a bus back to the train station. There they told us the train we wanted wasn't running due to water on the tracks so we took another bus to another train station where we managed to navigate the chaos of the situation and find the right train. We took the scenic route home and it was nice to see the Scottish coastline. Upon arrival (finally!) it was nice to be welcomed into a little Scottish home and meet Beth and Laura's uncle George.

Day 2 - Dublin Day

I got up at the crack of dawn to fly to Dublin. Jim and Laura were gracious enough to get up to take me to the airport. Once Alvina and I met up in Dublin, we tooka bus into the city centre. We got ourselves oriented, and Alvina enjoyed a nice Irish breakfast. (I had eaten a Cornish pasty in the airport earlier.) After breakfast, we walked to Dublin Castle taking in the sights along the way: the Dublin Spire, the General Post Office, the O'Connell Statue, the River Liffey, and the Ha'penny Bridge.

When we got to the castle, I was ready for my lunch so we sat for a short while in the cafe. Then it was off to explore the castle grounds. We didn't feel like taking the guided tour so we didn't go into the actual castle. The castle garden had a thin celtic knot maze brick path laid out on the lawn. I enjoyed walking that.

Then we went over to Christ Church Cathedral. It was beautiful and had lots of interesting artifacts including a mummified cat and mouse from the church organ. The cat and mouse were referred to in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake.

Next we walked several blocks to see the Book of Kells display and some other similar works like the Book of Armagh. Upstairs was the Old Library which had the lovely scent of old books. There were several glass cases displaying more historic texts. The oldest known existing harp in Ireland is housed there too. It was a wonderful setting with all those tall shelves full of old texts and those neat spiral staircases.

After Trinity College, we caught a bus out to Sandymount Beach. I got a little turned around but we eventually found it. Unfortunately it smelled so bad that we didn't stay very long. That gave us more time to shop along Grafton Street where we saw the Molly Malone statue. Then it was back to the airport to go our separate ways.