More of Scotland

Monday's weather totally scuppered our plans to go to Sanday, one of the northern Orkney islands, and it turned into one of those travel days that I despise. No real plan, carrying a heavy pack everywhere, always trying to find a place to kill time, etc. We took a bus out to the Fossill Museum, which was actually pretty cool. There were some things there I had never seen before- including a Coronation Book from George VI and Elizabeth's coronation, compilations of articles from WWI, some really incredible fossils, etc. It was just cold and windy and rainy and not the greatest of weather days. We also went to St. Magnus' Cathedral and got to go inside this time. I loved the sandstone inside even more- it was just gorgeous with the dim light coming in from the stained glass windows. I got to try real Orkney ice cream, which was absolutely delicious and we did a little window shopping.

Two hours were spent up using the ORkney library's wi-fi, plus it was indoors which was nice because it was sooooo windy. It was dinner time so we went to a pub right on the water. The fish and chips and cider were delicious but again, we needed to kill time so we made friend with the bartender and she let us stay for as long as we wanted. About two hours of it was spent glued to Sky News and watching the insanity that was going on and still is going on in London with all the riots. Just awful watching everything on fire, especially once it got dark. We got a cab to take us over to the ferry which was a few miles away and then killed more time waiting for it to depart. We luckily found two cushioned benches next to each other and I ended up sleeping more than I thought, curled up with two pairs of socks on my feet and my ipod playing some David Sedaris. I woke up each time these two really annoying boys walked by loudly but luckily was able to make it back to sleep each time.

Around 7:00 we made it into Aberdeen and the sun was shining bright, which was much appreciated. Andrea headed back to New York because her mother-in-law wasn't doing well and I took on Aberdeen on my own. There were some incredible free museums, including the Provost's House, the Tollhouse (former jail cell) Museum and the Art Gallery. At all three places, they let me leave my bag and it was a good thing I did especially at the Tollhouse because the stone spiral stairs were so steep and narrow, I would have died with my pack on my back. I killed a few hours back at the library again, writing out directions for my drive tomorrow, and then headed down to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is packed right now because there are about eighteen different festivals all going on at th same time. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try and see a show or if I'm just too beat after two days of walking around with a 40 pound pack on my back. I May just go out and wander the mile for a bit, I haven't decided. I'm trying to get an early start tomorrow so I can see Holy Island before 11:15 but I don't know how great it's going to work. On my walk over ot the hostel, I did see some pretty cool street shows, which I love, including this Scottish blue-grass band complete with fiddle, accordion and drums in the middle of the street. Love it.

Tomorrow I"m off for a two day road trip down to Nottingham where I'll stay Thursday and Friday with Katie and Dan and then back to Oxford on Sunday. I'm not sure where I"ll be tomorrow night and I will be driving solo and I'm little nervous about both so think happy thoughts in my direction tomorrow if you have a chance!

OK, off to figure out what I want to do. I'll post pictures when I have my camera cord accessible. That way they'll all be captioned. Cheers!