Have been sitting here after breakfast, contemplating whether I should try to get in to Manhattan for one last look. I have about 7 hour until I check out an head for the airport. However the realities of travel have rained on my parade.
According to various timetables etc. it would take me a minimum 90 minutes to get to the city (assuming I took the subway - don't really want to spend $90+ on a return cab ride). The train I would want is the only one currently experiencing delays, and there's really nothing in particular that I want to do other than maybe wander around for a while. So, a couple of hours minimum on trains to wander around for a couple of hours before hoping I get back to the hotel in time to check out. Besides which the weather report earlier mentioned that they were expecting about -11C for NYC today.
However, much has been learned on this trip. Places to come back to definitely include NYC. Spending a full week in Edinburgh felt about right in terms of the amount of time to spend in a city. There was plenty of time to get around and do things without it feeling rushed.
Other lessons learned, always try to book direct flights. This business of having to collect baggage and check it back in between domestic and international on what is ticketed as a single flight is irritating. I can't even confirm online what's going on with my flight home. After a bit of digging away from Qantas' web site, I think tonight's flight is a codeshare with American from JFK to LAX, then a transfer to a Qantas 747 from there home. But I can't check in online or select seats in advance ! I've forgotten, what century are we in ?
Friday, January 14, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
From the last until now
The train trip back to London turned out to be more interesting than expected. I was wandering up and down the train trying to find my car, following a couple who were doing the same. We were all trying to find car L, which it turned out had been combined into car M, much to everyone's confusion. While we were all trying to find whether our prebooked seats still existed, one of the attendants turned to the man who had also been looking for the car, and in a rather loud Scottish accent said "oh, I loved you in Hairspray !". Poor Michael Ball was terribly embarrassed at having been recognised, so I didn't bother him for an autograph. Some of you will know who that is. For those of you who don't, I won't bother with any more detail :) Suffice to say it was kind of surreal having someone sitting facing me on the train who was the definitive Marius from Les Miserables, etc etc.
Almost to London we stopped and were informed that there had been a serious security incident at Kings Cross station, that the station had been evacuated and that all traffic north of the city had been stopped until further notice. I had begun to think my luck had run out, delay wise, but was grateful that if something like that was going to happen, at least I was miles away, safely on a train out in the open. As it turned out it was a false alarm caused by a piece of unattended luggage. Within 30 minutes or so they had us on our way once more.
From that point on everything went smoothly. I managed to find my way to the right bus to get me back out to Oxford and Owen's place for the night. Both he and I had somehow managed to get over our bad moods and actually seemed to have quite a nice 36-ish hour visit.
To help fill my last day while Owen continued his exam preparation I went to see "The King's Speech". Rather a nice little flick I thought. Well worth seeing. Some great performances and a very interesting story. Also had a wander through the marketplace and found some interesting little photos that simply wouldn't be found at home.
Quick warning... if you are squeamish about where meat comes from, perhaps best not to look too closely at the first one !
Managed to get myself in to Heathrow way too early, once more caught without internet access. Tedious places airports. As it turned out, despite my misgivings about Montreal, I think it was a far nicer airport in the end than Heathrow. Even the much praised terminal 5 is really nothing special. Way too small for the sheer volume of people involved.
So here I am, in a hotel room near JFK airport. Somehow I had the presence of mind to apply for free "Best Western" rewards membership when I made the booking, which entitles me to complementary late check out. My flight doesn't leave until 6:30 tomorrow night, and there really isn't time to get in to the city and back and do anything meaningful.
Very much looking forward to getting home, but now that my cold is pretty much gone I seem to have lost the miserable, cranky, impatient mood. Just quietly getting on with it now. I'm sure I'll have more of a summary when I get home. Right now I think it's probably time to start winding down to sleep.
Almost to London we stopped and were informed that there had been a serious security incident at Kings Cross station, that the station had been evacuated and that all traffic north of the city had been stopped until further notice. I had begun to think my luck had run out, delay wise, but was grateful that if something like that was going to happen, at least I was miles away, safely on a train out in the open. As it turned out it was a false alarm caused by a piece of unattended luggage. Within 30 minutes or so they had us on our way once more.
From that point on everything went smoothly. I managed to find my way to the right bus to get me back out to Oxford and Owen's place for the night. Both he and I had somehow managed to get over our bad moods and actually seemed to have quite a nice 36-ish hour visit.
To help fill my last day while Owen continued his exam preparation I went to see "The King's Speech". Rather a nice little flick I thought. Well worth seeing. Some great performances and a very interesting story. Also had a wander through the marketplace and found some interesting little photos that simply wouldn't be found at home.
Quick warning... if you are squeamish about where meat comes from, perhaps best not to look too closely at the first one !
- Strange there should be a collection like this in Oxford, after I got back from Scotland
- This was just too cute and random not to capture and publish
Managed to get myself in to Heathrow way too early, once more caught without internet access. Tedious places airports. As it turned out, despite my misgivings about Montreal, I think it was a far nicer airport in the end than Heathrow. Even the much praised terminal 5 is really nothing special. Way too small for the sheer volume of people involved.
So here I am, in a hotel room near JFK airport. Somehow I had the presence of mind to apply for free "Best Western" rewards membership when I made the booking, which entitles me to complementary late check out. My flight doesn't leave until 6:30 tomorrow night, and there really isn't time to get in to the city and back and do anything meaningful.
Very much looking forward to getting home, but now that my cold is pretty much gone I seem to have lost the miserable, cranky, impatient mood. Just quietly getting on with it now. I'm sure I'll have more of a summary when I get home. Right now I think it's probably time to start winding down to sleep.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Last day and heading back to Oxford
Visited the National Museum of Scotland. Was quite interesting. Primarily because of the sheer volume of artefacts dating back something like 5000-10000 years. The fact that I was getting 'exhibit fatigue' by the time I decided I'd seen everything was interesting in itself.
Wandered back down into the new town to see if I'd missed anything. Wanted to have a look at George St. which is supposed to be the main shopping and sightseeing part of town. Quite impressive architecture, but I've seen so much of that in the last couple of weeks. Ended up heading back to the hotel to sleep for the rest of the afternoon.
Took a few final photos.
Think the cold was finally getting the better of me. Didn't have a very good night.
All in all I think it was a good visit. Like the first time I visited Vancouver, I wasn't feeling very positive about the place by the time I left. This was almost entirely due to the fact that it was late in the trip and I was tired. Within a few weeks I was looking forward to visiting again one day, having remembered mostly the interesting things and the things I didn't get to see.
With a bit of luck I'll be able to sleep through a fair bit of the next couple of days. I really have ended up taking the long way home, but it's actually not quite as bad as it seems when I sit down and look at the details. I think it's actually a very good thing that I'm looking forward to getting home. Should be a fairly good sign that the trip has served it's purpose.
Wandered back down into the new town to see if I'd missed anything. Wanted to have a look at George St. which is supposed to be the main shopping and sightseeing part of town. Quite impressive architecture, but I've seen so much of that in the last couple of weeks. Ended up heading back to the hotel to sleep for the rest of the afternoon.
Took a few final photos.
- The hotel I stayed in
- Edinburgh Castle while there was still snow on the hill
- Arthur's seat is the small peak to the right hand side of the hills in this one
Think the cold was finally getting the better of me. Didn't have a very good night.
All in all I think it was a good visit. Like the first time I visited Vancouver, I wasn't feeling very positive about the place by the time I left. This was almost entirely due to the fact that it was late in the trip and I was tired. Within a few weeks I was looking forward to visiting again one day, having remembered mostly the interesting things and the things I didn't get to see.
With a bit of luck I'll be able to sleep through a fair bit of the next couple of days. I really have ended up taking the long way home, but it's actually not quite as bad as it seems when I sit down and look at the details. I think it's actually a very good thing that I'm looking forward to getting home. Should be a fairly good sign that the trip has served it's purpose.
Walk to Arthur's Seat
Am on the train to London right now so thought I'd take the chance to catch up. Have been feeling a bit tired and miserable to last 24 hours or so. The cold has started to pass but still a bit sniffy, tired and over things.
Getting back to Saturday. Caught up with a local, Ross, who I'd been chatting to on line for a while (he's an actuary, and turns out to have been working with some people from Watson Wyatt recently). He had offered to be my guide for a walk up to Arthur's Seat (the hill to the South East of the city which you can see in some of my photos) and we finally found an opportunity on Saturday.
It snowed all night, leaving a cover of about 5-10cm. A bit mucky and wet on the streets but quite pretty everywhere else. Turned out to be a fairly steep climb, which would have been fine in dry conditions, but positively scary with all that snow and ice around. Got some great photos, but chickened out of the last, very steep, climb to the top. I was having trouble keeping my balance as it was, it juts wasn't worth the risk of slipping and falling this late in the trip!
Walking around in slippery conditions, not to mention up and down hills, is very tiring. Got back to the hotel about 3 or 4pm and was pretty well asleep until I got hungry. Found what turned out to be a pretty good thai place quite nearby. It was pretty much the first non-entirely-junkfood meal I'd had in days. Was very nice.
Getting back to Saturday. Caught up with a local, Ross, who I'd been chatting to on line for a while (he's an actuary, and turns out to have been working with some people from Watson Wyatt recently). He had offered to be my guide for a walk up to Arthur's Seat (the hill to the South East of the city which you can see in some of my photos) and we finally found an opportunity on Saturday.
It snowed all night, leaving a cover of about 5-10cm. A bit mucky and wet on the streets but quite pretty everywhere else. Turned out to be a fairly steep climb, which would have been fine in dry conditions, but positively scary with all that snow and ice around. Got some great photos, but chickened out of the last, very steep, climb to the top. I was having trouble keeping my balance as it was, it juts wasn't worth the risk of slipping and falling this late in the trip!
- The path on the way up
- View out over Edinburgh Castle from near the top
- Partly frozen pond on the far side
- Rather slippery steps on the way down to the pub :)
- Three pretty scenes from the walk back to the hotel
Walking around in slippery conditions, not to mention up and down hills, is very tiring. Got back to the hotel about 3 or 4pm and was pretty well asleep until I got hungry. Found what turned out to be a pretty good thai place quite nearby. It was pretty much the first non-entirely-junkfood meal I'd had in days. Was very nice.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Edinburgh, after the snow
Apparently it went on to snow quite a bit last night. By this morning there was a few centimetres cover. Of course this meant the streets and pavements were covered in dirty, slippery, slushy muck. The snow had stopped however and the weather was lovely and clear again. I headed for the National Gallery, not taking the camera since I didn't think I'd be needing it. Forgot how pretty snow can make things, so I grabbed a few shots with the phone.
The gallery was quite good. Smaller than I expected, but a lot of interesting stuff. They had a very nice collection of Impressionist work which I really enjoyed. I was also here at the right time to see a collection of Turner watercolours which is brought out of storage every January under the terms of the bequest that saw them given to the gallery.
Was going to go on to the rest of the day, but I'm having trouble staying awake. Might come back to it tomorrow.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The Highlands
Went on my little bus trip today. Was just a little 16 seat bus with only 4 other people and a very good driver/guide, so it was a nice relaxed sort of day. We had a look at a few different sights, stopped in a little Victorian tourist town called Pitlochry on the way to the Dewars distillery at Aberfeldy. The distillery tour was quite interesting. The whisky itself was lovely. Would have loved to buy a couple of bottles but it's just too hard to try to bring back. Bought some little sample bottles instead. Hopefully it's something that will be available at home, at a less than criminal price...
Some of the scenery was quite lovely. Much of it, even with a dusting of snow, reminded me a lot of various places around Dorrigo and along the tableland. Pitlochry itself, although bigger and really quite different to Dorrigo somehow reminded me of it. Particularly the road into Dorrigo from the coast - there is the section just near the rainforest centre with the little stream which is quite similar to the kind of landscape I was seeing today. There's also something about the style of buildings or something that reminded me of certain parts of town. Might be my imagination, but I'm not in a huge rush to visit Dorrigo again to check it out...
On the way out of Edinburgh we stopped to have a look at the rail and road bridges over the Forth.
A couple of images there from various stops along the way. The bird was by a stream in Pitlochry. I seem to have forgotten for the moment where the river was, though I know it was early in the day and I'm sure it will come back to me.
The following were taken at Loch Tay, a few minutes after we left the distillery at Aberfeldy. This was just on sunset at about 4pm.
We weren't there long, but it was a really lovely, peaceful place. We drove along the shore at the foot of the mountains for quite a while then on towards Stirling Castle on the way home. It was already quite dark by the time we reached the castle, so we just had a quick on the way.
By the time we arrived back in Edinburgh it had begun to snow. There's still something between sleet and snow coming down fairly steadily now. All the rooftops seem to have a good coating of white, although the ground outside is just wet and slippery. Will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings. I had planned to walk up the hill, but if it's covered in snow and mud, I might just have a museum day instead.
Some of the scenery was quite lovely. Much of it, even with a dusting of snow, reminded me a lot of various places around Dorrigo and along the tableland. Pitlochry itself, although bigger and really quite different to Dorrigo somehow reminded me of it. Particularly the road into Dorrigo from the coast - there is the section just near the rainforest centre with the little stream which is quite similar to the kind of landscape I was seeing today. There's also something about the style of buildings or something that reminded me of certain parts of town. Might be my imagination, but I'm not in a huge rush to visit Dorrigo again to check it out...
On the way out of Edinburgh we stopped to have a look at the rail and road bridges over the Forth.
The road bridge was based on the Golden Gate in San Francisco, so I finally had a chance to take photos without fog... sort of.
The following were taken at Loch Tay, a few minutes after we left the distillery at Aberfeldy. This was just on sunset at about 4pm.
We weren't there long, but it was a really lovely, peaceful place. We drove along the shore at the foot of the mountains for quite a while then on towards Stirling Castle on the way home. It was already quite dark by the time we reached the castle, so we just had a quick on the way.
By the time we arrived back in Edinburgh it had begun to snow. There's still something between sleet and snow coming down fairly steadily now. All the rooftops seem to have a good coating of white, although the ground outside is just wet and slippery. Will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings. I had planned to walk up the hill, but if it's covered in snow and mud, I might just have a museum day instead.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Edinburgh Castle on Cold and Flu medication
Gave in and bought some lemsip capsules this morning. Don't know if we've started doing this in Australia, but here, like the US, they seem quite happy to stick caffeine in their pills and potions. The combination of the usual ingredients plus caffeine seemed to be enough to get me up and going with a little more enthusiasm today.
Had a coffee then walked up to the Castle. It's quite a place. Though like many historical sites I've visited over the years, it's nowhere near as big as it seems on TV. The car park area where the military Tattoo is held each year is actually tiny. I have no idea how they fit everything in. The stands are either much smaller than I thought or the whole things looks bigger in the dark on camera. The following are looking away from the castle and towards it. As well as being quite small, it's also on quite a significant slope.
Very interesting place though. Particularly having taken an interest in the period of history from Elizabeth through to the Restoration in England, it has been fascinating to see the Scottish side of things during the same period.
Some magnificent views of the city and surrounds from inside.
Had a coffee then walked up to the Castle. It's quite a place. Though like many historical sites I've visited over the years, it's nowhere near as big as it seems on TV. The car park area where the military Tattoo is held each year is actually tiny. I have no idea how they fit everything in. The stands are either much smaller than I thought or the whole things looks bigger in the dark on camera. The following are looking away from the castle and towards it. As well as being quite small, it's also on quite a significant slope.
Very interesting place though. Particularly having taken an interest in the period of history from Elizabeth through to the Restoration in England, it has been fascinating to see the Scottish side of things during the same period.
Some magnificent views of the city and surrounds from inside.
Finished at the Castle around 2pm and headed back down the hill to the hotel. Had thought about heading straight down to Holyrood to climb Arthur's Seat, but I figured it was probably the caffeine thinking for me. Decided to take a bit of a break. Did end up walking down for a look, but given how late it was getting I didn't think I'd make it up and back before dark. Besides which, if I want to be able to see the city from the tope I'd be better of going in the morning. Will see what the weather is like at the weekend and perhaps go then.
Something that is hard to appreciate until you're here is how short the days are. Despite not looking forward to the summer heat and humidity when I get home, I'm really looking forward to longer days. The photo above was taken at 3pm. It was all but completely dark by 5. As well as the short days is the fact that the sun is so low in the sky. The following was taken at midday.
I'm heading out on a bus trip to edge of the highlands tomorrow which includes a visit to the Dewars distillery, my first taste of whisky since getting to Scotland. Quite looking forward to it.
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