Inverness

The city of Inverness or Inbhir Nis in the Scottish Gaelic straddles the River Ness not far from Scotland's most famous landmark, the Loch Ness. Inverness is one of the largest towns in the highlands and serves as the capital for the region. It has a bit of an industrial feel to it due to the presence of a lot of big farm supply centres on the outskirts of town, and there's not really a whole lot to see and do in Inverness itself. But the centre of town is lovely and has plenty of little shops to peruse, and Inverness is a convenient stopping point with lots of B&Bs in the centre of the Highlands, and there are lots of things to see and do just a short drive away, including Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle, and Culloden Battlefield.

But what Inverness _does_ have is a totally awesome traditional pub by the name of Hootananny.

Hootananny has been listed as one of the best pubs in Scotland for traditional music- and the musicians are there every night, with locals and tourists alike packing the place. We were there on a Tuesday night and it was pretty much standing room only.

Not only were the musicians good, they were set up at the table in the middle of the pub, drinking, playing and talking to the crowd. Most "traditional music bars" treat the music as sort of a gimmick, with the musicians trundled off into a corner, but here, they were very much the centre of the show, with more people showing up to play as the night went on. It was a great time- highly recommended. Also highly recommended- Sammy's Indian cuisine, just down the road from Hootananny. There are also a number of kiltmakers and gift shops in the area, typically with better prices than Edinburgh. I was totally kicking myself because I found the exact same scarf I'd bought in Edinburgh for a fair bit less. If you're really interested in kilts, check out the Highland House of Fraser.

They have a large showroom/gift shop, but they also house the Scottish Kiltmaker Visitor Centre, where for a small fee you can learn all about the history of kilts, how to wear one properly, and how they are made in a little museum.

So that's Inverness. Stay tuned for the aforementioned more exciting things to do in the area.

Edinburgh

Behold, Edinburgh, Scotland's capital (and seat of the Scottish Parliament) and second-largest city behind Glasgow. Edinburgh lies in the southeastern part of Scotland along the Firth of Forth, which provides access to the North Sea. Our stay in Edinburgh was brief (dinner & a haunted graveyard tour and then the morning the next day), so we were limited in what we had time to do. The main districts in central Edinburgh are Old Town and New Town, both of which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites by the way. We concentrated on Old Town, which includes Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile-- a high street shopping mecca for all things touristy or plaid (speaking of which, didya know using "plaid" to refer to a checked cloth is an American thing? I didn't.)-- St Giles Cathedral, and Holyrood Abbey/Holyroodhouse.

One of the first things you might notice approaching Edinburgh is Arthur's Seat pictured above. The hills here are the remnants of a long-extinct volcano, eroded by glacier activity long ago. The crag upon which Edinburgh Castle is located is another extinct volcano. There are good hiking trails if you want to climb to the peak of Arthur's Seat, or so I've heard, but alas we didn't have time to go check them out. There are a number of ancient hill forts nestled in the crags, including several thought to belong to the Votadini, who are recorded as one of the British tribes north of Hadrian's Wall during the Roman period. Add a few centuries of language change, and they were known as the Gododdin, who ultimately were defeated by the Angles as recorded in a poem from around 600 AD called Y Gododdin.

Speaking of Edinburgh Castle, ta da! Edinburgh Castle is built high on an imposing crag, dominating the city skyline. The site, chosen for obvious defensive features, has been inhabited for almost three thousand years, with the castle dating to at least the 1100s. This was the royal residence for the kings of Scotland until 1603, when the kingdoms of Scotland and England were united under one king, James VI of Scotland, who inherited the throne of England from Elizabeth I, thus becoming James I of England as well.

If you visit, be sure to be there before 1 pm to get a good spot to watch "Shannon the Cannon," a District Gunner with the 105th Regiment Royal Artillery, fire the One O'Clock Gun, a time signal originally used to notify ships in the Firth of Forth of the time. While most people crowd around the gun itself, you can get better views from the level above, outside St Margaret's Chapel. You'll want to scope out a spot about half an hour before hand, or befriend someone who did and get them to take pictures for you. I just went with awkward reaching around the heads of people in front of me.

The shopping thoroughfare leading up to the Castle is known as the Royal Mile. Here you can find all kinds of tartan, scarves, kilts, postcards, pipes, tobacco, etc etc etc. But from my not-so-extensive travels of Scotland, I'll just mention that you can find better deals on the same items outside of Edinburgh- Stirling has plenty of nice shops priced a bit cheaper, and if you're making a stop in Inverness up north, there are a few nice shops there with slightly better prices.You'll also probably find that prices are a bit better off the Royal Mile, which charges a premium as the center of tourist traffic. The one caveat to that statement, is Deacon Brodie's.

Ok, yes, this is just a pub. Not so exciting you say. Well, sure, but it is absolutely adorable from the outside and on the inside, and has really good food for reasonable prices, especially for along the Royal Mile. During the lunch rush, they can take awhile to get your food prepared, but as long as you aren't in a rush, it is a great place to grab lunch or dinner. And conveniently located across the street from St Giles' Cathedral.

St Giles' is a lovely early Gothic building, with some lovely (but relatively young) stained glass. There has been a church on the site since the early Middle Ages, but the cathedral as it stands now was originally built in 1120s; at this point, it was likely relatively small, and would have been Norman (Romanesque if you're continental) in style. At some point it was rebuilt and expanded; this larger early Gothic building suffered damage from a fire in 1385 and was repaired and expanded into the building you see today.

Now, I've bemoaned the fact that most cathedrals do not allow photography inside on several occasions now. But here, I have nothing but praise. St Giles' does not charge admission to visit, but they do ask for a 2 pound donation if you want to take pictures. Totally reasonable, right? I don't know why more churches don't adopt this idea. Fantastic.

To wrap up Edinburgh, I figured I'd finish with a cute story. Here you see Greyfriars Bobby, a little Skye Terrier devoted to his owner. Now, there's several different stories, but the general story line goes that Bobby belonged to a member of the Edinburgh City Police (in some accounts, he was a watchmen for the Greyfriar Kirk, hence Greyfriar and a "bobby" in the UK is slang for a policeman) in the 1850s. Anyway, the dog's owner passed away, and for the next 14 years, Bobby guarded his master's grave until his own death. Sweet, right? Sadly, most of the story is embellished fiction, the creation of an American author who heard the story from a friend who had traveled to Scotland and heard the story there. And like any good game of telephone, much gets lost along the way. In actuality, it is most likely that the dog, who may have even just been a stray, stayed by the grave because a restaurant just outside the graveyard used to toss scraps over the gate into the cemetery. That, coupled with a stone bench thing just next to the grave in question, meant the dog had steady access to food and shelter. Ah well.

There's more photos from Edinburgh Castle, St Giles', and from a haunted cemetery tour we went on through Greyfriar's Graveyard up on flickr if you're interested. Until next time~

Shopping! (London, Part 3 of 9)

Guess what this is! No, really. Have a guess. That would be Harrods, London's department store par excellence. The store takes up an entire city block, has over 200 departments spread over 7 floors, and employs over 6000 workers. One store! While it has kind of become a shopping destination for lots and lots of tourists, ignore that fact and visit their food halls anyway.

Ignore the handbags and scarves costing thousands of pounds on your way in and make your way through the expensive stuff to the food halls. You can ignore the rest of the store, but this is worth a visit. Forget Wegman's and their food stalls. Harrods has everything, from rows of delicious baked goods and chocolates to Indian, Malaysian, Chinese, etc etc prepared food and (best part) a Krispy Kreme! There are a few krispy kreme shops scattered around the country, but there's not many and none in York, so when I saw that, I had to have a taste of home. Even if it did cost me 1.10 for a plain original donut. What I love most about Harrods is the decor- the candy rooms look like the set of Pushing Daisies- dark wood floors and trim, bright colored paint and gold ornaments... Its really neat. (But they get mad if you try to take pictures, eep!) I went through around 6:30 and they had end of the day discounts on a lot of the prepared food, which was awesome. I got myself a whole bunch of different goodies for dinner for under 5 pounds. Delicious! And the whole store is fun to explore because each room is decked out differently. There's the gleaming marble and stained glass ceiling in the Asian food hall, the magical chocolate shop, the snobby "luxury goods" room, and the Egyptian escalator room decorated in consultation with experts from the British Museum to check for authenticity!

Fun story, Harrods was also home to Britain's first escalator (also the first department store in the world to get one), installed in 1878 and the proper ladies & gents were so confounded by it at first that Harrods used to employ someone to stand at the top to offer complimentary smelling salts to the ladies and port to the gents! (Alas, they don't still do that.) They've also got really neat window displays. When I was there, they were all takes on the new Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland. Here's the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, Harrod's style.

Harrods also used to employ Dave Prowse, who you might not have heard of but you totally know. Hint: "Luuuuke *breath* I am your father.... *breath*" That's right, Dave Prowse was Darth Vader in the original trilogy of Star Wars, but they dubbed his voice with James Earl Jones because Prowse had the whole British accent thing going. (Personally I think Darthy would've been that much more awesome if he'd been British, but oh well.) He used to be a fitness consultant in the sports department while Pierce Brosnan used to work in the pharmacy. So there you have it. I totally think Harrods is worth a visit, even if you aren't going to buy any of their luxury goods. The food halls alone are totally cool and a great place to grab something to eat on the go!

And now for something... well, not _completely_ different, but magical in its own way.

Hamleys Toys! You know it has to be an amazing toy shop if it is OLDER THAN THE UNITED STATES. That's right, founded in 1760, Hamleys has brought joy to young children (and not so young children) for 250 years. To (loosely) quote one of the tour bus commentators, "I highly recommend a stop in Hamleys. I guarantee that everyone remembers the last time they went in. I remember the last time I was there. I was 24. I'm still 24. It was yesterday." Gotta love the British. Or maybe its just that guy- hysterical. But more gems of wisdom from him later on. Anyway, I'll just say that I was thankful I came out of there without an armful of new stuffed friends. Thank goodness I'd just packed a rucksack so I physically couldn't take home too many purchases or else I'd probably have a new teddy right now.

And how about this shop for all of your Sherlock Holmes paraphernalia needs, conveniently located a block away from Madam Tussauds. But ignore the green building and instead check out the door on the left. You can't really make it out, but that would be 221B written on the window above the door. And this would be Bakers Street. The man might be fictional, but his address certainly is not! I actually stumbled across it almost by accident. I got off the bus at Madam Tussauds to grab a waffle for breakfast (not at Madam Tussauds) and noticed that the sign down the way said "Bakers Street." So I thought, hmm, let's go see. And there it was. There's a bigger/better Sherlock Holmes Museum down towards Westminster by the pier, but I thought it was kinda cool to see where he would've lived, y'know, if he'd been real.

Ahh, Camden Markets area- home to 2 markets that kind of run into each other, plus a street full of fun shops & cheap eats. If I had known my flight to Istanbul was going to be canceled, I would have bought stuff from here, but I was good and saved room in my pack. Alas. Anyhoo, here you can find the Camden Lock Market & Camden Stables Market.

Here you can find all kinds of things, from jewelry (both nice & costume), clothes (both goth/punk and normal), antiques, leather jackets, purses/handbags, statues, t-shirts, costume supplies, scarves, art- if you can think of it and it is portable, they probably sell it. There's also a number of vintage shops both within the market stalls and in buildings along the streets nearby. I also got delicious Chinese food for 3 pounds. Priorities, right?

So there you have some of the more interesting shopping options. Worth seeing- I didn't buy anything at any of them! But I would have. Silly volcano. In fact, I limited my purchases in London to some postcards, little souvenirs to mail to various people, and a zip up tote from the British Museum a) because it is awesome b) because I'm dorky like that and c) because it was cheaper than those totes at the MFA that I never talked myself into splurging on. Oh, and a London A-Z because maps are good things to have in London, although it is surprisingly easy to get from place to place. Or maybe that's just me coming from a mass-transit background. The only time I ever got turned around was coming out of Victoria Station by different exits & having to find the road to my hostel, but that just involved walking around the station until I found it. (Is it sad that I had an easier time navigating London by tube/bus than I did trying to find the rows in Chester by walking through the town? To be fair they don't mark the rows on the free city map at the train station. You have to know that the rows are at "the Crossing" and follow the signs pointing there. But still.)

I think next post will cover the awesomeness of the British Museum, because everyone should go to the British Museum. So if you can't, you can go there by proxy through the 97 pictures I took there. Don't worry, I'll only post the best ones ;)

Chester

Welcome to Chester, England, located just this side of the border with Wales and a 2.5-3 hour train ride from York. And if you get advance pricing with a student/under 25 pass, only 8 pounds each way.

Chester is known as England's "Walled City" because it has the most intact city walls remaining. Chester was founded by the Romans as a fort called Deva Victrix. Fun fact: while York eventually became more important as essentially the headquarters of the Roman legions in the North, the fortress at Deva Victrix was actually bigger than the one at York.

 This is what remains of the foundations and a tower from the Roman fortress. You can click on the picture to see an enlarged version if you want to read the plaque.

The citizens of Chester have put their Roman past to use in the picture below from the Roman Column Garden.

After the Romans left Britain after 490, the Anglo-Saxons fortified the town against the Danes and it remained a stronghold through to the Norman Conquest in 1066, when it was one of the last cities to fall to William the Conqueror. The walls were instrumental for both cases.

What I found interesting about Chester's walls (which you don't see at York) is that one can access the buildings adjacent to them FROM the walls. Most of these are shops, and while some are 2 stories and can be accessed from street level in the front and wall level in the back, some can ONLY be accessed from the walls (mostly smaller shops- books, antiques, that kind of thing.) I found that really useful when Britain, being Britain, decided to absolutely pour down rain about 10 minutes into my circuit of the walls.

Here you can see some shop entrances- New Look, HSBC, and Clarks. You can also see the steps leading up to Eastgate, one of the original Roman entrances to the fortress (sort of analogous to the "bars" in York, only much less grand.) This one was rebuilt in the 18th century and that clock on top was commissioned in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (60 years as queen) in 1897.

I went off to Chester because a) I could get there cheaply over the break and b) we talked about it in my archaeology class because it has a unique structural feature, the rows.

 This is my own version of perhaps Chester's most photographed site on the corner of what's called the Cross (an intersection of shopping streets with rows more or less preserved). So what are the rows? Well, they consist of three main floors (and might have attic space above that as well.) The first level is generally half a story below street level, so you go down a few steps to enter the shop. Above the ground floor, a covered walkway is reached by a short flight of stairs and a second row of shops is located a few feet back from the edge. A third floor is built at the same point as the ground floor, effectively covering the walkway. This top floor would have been used in the medieval period as domestic or storage space for the shop owners. This gives you a better idea of what the covered walkway and second floor of shops looks like.

(Yanked from Wikipedia because I didn't think to take one; copyright John S Turner)

As I mentioned, the rows are unique and it is unclear where exactly the idea came from. While large portions have been rebuilt over the years, some sections and the original plan dates back to the medieval period. One theory that has gained ground with archaeologists is that the second storey was constructed first on top of rubble from Roman construction that lined the streets below. The buildings were set back from the edge in order to allow for a footpath along the edge with the road below. Later, undercrofts were dug under the existing buildings, thereby creating the "street-level." Then as construction techniques improved, the top storey was added, thereby creating the enclosed walkways. An alternate theory holds that the citizens constructed stone undercrofts under timber buildings after a disastrous fire in the 13th century destroyed most of the buildings within the stone walls of the city. Personally I don't think this explains why the first floor is below street level, or the need for recessed second floor shops with a covered walkway. That plus the amount of Roman "stuff" found all over Chester makes the first theory more supportable in my opinion, but who knows.

Chester is mainly known as a shopping mecca, both for its central pedestrian area with rows and regular shops as well as for an outlet mall just outside the city. But I refrained from buying too much (and to be fair, I needed the new sunglasses. Although not this week- rain rain rain.) You may have noticed the prevalence of black and white architecture in my photos- this is also one of Chester's selling points. Some of it is legit medieval, but a good deal is Victorian. They say if you wait long enough, everything comes back into style, right? Apparently that goes for 500 year old architecture too!

The photo I opened this entry with, of the Westminster Hotel? Not original (obviously). These, however, I'm pretty sure are.

Oh, and how about this? Guessing game time. What type of building do you think is pictured below? The text reads "The fear of the Lord is a Fountain of Life."

If you guessed "Dentist's Office" you'd be correct. Bet you didn't though ;)

As far as NON black and white architecture goes, the town hall and the cathedral are major.

Now that's a pretty spiffy town hall.

I know the cathedral looks kind of dark and grim, but that's mostly due to the fact that I took this from the wall in the pouring rain. You can go in and check it out, for an entrance fee. I figured I've seen my fair share of cathedrals and could save the entrance fee for something else. Like the chai tea latte I bought at Starbucks to get out of the rain!

Finally, I wish I could show you the Roman amphitheater. But it is currently all fenced off for conservation work. (In fact, I walked right past it twice without realizing it was there before I followed a map to look for it. Whoops!) So this is the best I can do.

Final thoughts on Chester: cool for an afternoon shopping trip, but maybe not worth a special trip. The majority of the shops are chains you can find in any decent sized city/town in the UK, so really the architecture is the big draw. But it is one more place I can check off my list and the closest to Wales I've gotten. Chester is actually serviced by the Arriva train line that operates out of Wales, so it was kind of cool to see the stations on the scrolling light thing in the train listed in both Welsh and English. The destination of the train was Llandudno. Don't ask me to pronounce it. Apparently it is a nice sea-side resort in Wales.

But the most exciting recent happening is this:

Ah, American food. A source of joy I will never take for granted again. Snack crackers, how I adore thee. In a land where potato crisps are your only option for savory snacks, you are a beacon of hope for this expat. Ditto to you Cinnamon Toast Crunch. You shine with a glimmer of sugar amidst a whole slew of boring plain cereal. And marshmallows- your squishy deliciousness unknown in these parts will be greatly enjoyed with your friends the graham crackers and some native English chocolate as s'mores at our next bbq. Apple sauce- you are not chunks of apple in a sauce meant to garnish meat. Rather you are smooth and delicious in your own right, and how I have missed you. Reeses- you know chocolate and peanut butter is the most delicious combination ever (with the occasional exception of Nutella and peanut butter). Aunt Jemimia- I'm not sure I've even had you in years. We're a Bisquick family. But I will take you over their strange idea of what pancakes are here. Pancakes should be a delicious breakfast food (or breakfast-for-dinner food) topped with maple syrup, not used as, well, basically a thick crepe. And finally, Blue Box. I don't even normally like you that much. I tend to favor other brands more, although Easy Mac is darn tasty and so easy! But in a land where "cheese sauce" of questionable cheesiness passes for cheese, I will enjoy you immensely. At least until you are gone. Then I will remember you fondly and probably order more.