Edinburgh, Scotland:

Greyfriars Church.  "Greyfriars" refers to Fransiscan monks, who wore brown.  At the time though anything dull or muddy was referred to as grey.  There are a lot of Greyfriar places in Scotland, including pubs.  Also there are a lot of Blackfriars places which refers to Domincan monks.  The church above is not a Catholic church but the grounds were originally Franciscan property so the name stuck.  It is a Church of Scotland church now but is controversial.  The interior has beautiful stained glass windows and decorations but many in the Church of Scotland frown on decorations.  Beautiful though.

The church is famous for a dog, Bobby.  His owner died ad Bobby everyday went and sat at his grave for 14 years until he died.  He couldn't be buried in the cemetery (consecrated ground) but was buried as closely as possible.  Lots of Bobby books and even a bronze statue.

Edinburgh, Scotland.

Edinburgh, Scotland:
We have a cat who has issues and likes to act out on them...We were expecting to get home to  a mess but not so.  Our neighbor did an excellent job taking care of the two cats.  Wanted to buy this book but the store was closed.

Now that I am back home, I will be adding some photos for the next few days.

On the way to Stonehaven, Scotland:

It seems like the only thing they grow in Scotland is straw. 

 Tesco Store, Scotland:

So much Brown Sauce.  I found one with ingredients and so I tried it.  Tastes like Worcestershire Sauce...by the way, Worcestershire is a place in England.  Why do we not have Brown Sauce in the US?

Stonehaven, Scotland:

Who would have known that the birthplace of the deep fried Mars Bar was in a small town in Scotland.  Very resourceful people...

 Edinburgh, Scotland:

Beautiful day in a beautiful city.  Photos cannot do it justice.  People are so nice and the scenery is amazing.

Edinburgh, Scotland:

The small print reads:

The person at the side of you.  The crowd at the bar.  They've seen you have a few drinks.  So if you are thinking of driving, don't bother.  Anybody can report you by calling Crimestoppers...

They take drinking and driving in the UK very seriously, so it's good they have reminders, However...When they put the sign above the urinal it is a bit disconcerting...

Glamis Castle, Scotland

Stonehaven Scotland

Hamster outfits (no joke).  They are guaranteed to fit your hamster.  They were in the clearance bin if you can believe it....

We've been traveling for the last couple of days so no posts...exciting things to come though...In Edinburgh now...

Aberdeen, Scotland:

Smart Car...three cars in two parking spaces...great for parking but...how do you get out?

One other note on my missive on driving on the "different" side of the road in Ireland...The Irish don't alternate addresses between sides of the street.  In the US, odd numbers are on one side of the street and even numbers are on the other.  In Dublin, they go sequentially on each side of the street.  So and you can have businesses with a number of, say, 62...but across the street the the business can have a number of 8...or 250...very confusing.  They think it makes more sense this way.  Like driving on the unnatural side of the road...

Near Aberdeen, Scotland:                                  We went to Aberdeen today so I could say that I've been to three Aberdeen (Scotland, Maryland and Washington).  On the way we visited two castles, Crathes and Drum...Both were donated to the Scottish government because the landowners couldn't afford to keep them up.  Anyway, they were both closed but were awesome from the outside.  As Carolyn calls them all by the generic ADC (another damn castle). 

Braemar, Scotland:
Went to see this Castle but it was closed.  Wanted to see Balmoral Castle but the queen is in residence.  Lots more castles though...one has to be open.  Graveyard below dates from early 1700s.

Braemar, Scotland:
Really?

Ferns Castle, Ireland:

So I guess I shouldn't just put snarky comment on the blog.  This is a photo of Ferns Castle, ow what's left of it.  Really cool.  I'll put more scenic photos on the blog.  It is so beautiful here and so different from Italy and France...

So, every time we try to bring up the Colbert Report or the Daily Show on the internet we get a notice that the content is not available...How can I get the real news?

Braemar, Scotland:

You can't do anything, anywhere, at any time...period....

Ballater, Scotland:

There have been a few incidents of panic by the blogger.  I lost my journal in Dublin only to find out that I had it in my backpack (too may zippers) after freaking out for an hour.  On the way to the airport I freaked out because I couldn't find my passport.  On the way out today, I thought that I had lost my hat and, yes, freaked out.  I found it finally...In a shop today I found the following quote by the Queen.  My new motto...

Craigenrroch Resort, Ballater, Scotland:

The lodge where we are staying is really nice: beautiful views, full kitchen, 3 bedroom, 3 baths, etc.  Morgan made the arrangements. They also have a small library in the lodge.  Among the offerings is the book above.  After a week in Ireland and Scotland,..I'm thinking she may have asked the concierge to put it in the lodge....I'm sleeping with my eyes open...

Braemar, Scotland:

Update on Brown Sauce...The picture on the  back of the package has apples (Granny Smith?) and scallions.  Also there is a gluten warning for wheat and rye...Still no ingredients listed so I continue to be wary...

Dublin, Ireland...
When we first got to Ireland I was disappointed to find no red heads.  I finally saw one who was working at the TESCO.  I was asking him a question (where the cream was) when I noticed that he had an accent...He was Polish.  We went to the pub that night and I saw another red head guy.  I asked to get a photo of him with Morgan...He also had an accent...He was Belgian.  Anyway, we did finally find a lot of red heads (mostly in the smaller towns) but we ran into more and more non-Irish workers.  We started to keep track of nationalities:
Receptionist at the hotel - Transylvania
Waters in restaurants - Mongolian, Czech Republic, Poland, Brazil, Latvia
Phone Store - China
etc. 
We obviously didn't ask everyone but I was shocked by the number of non-EU nationalities working in Dublin, especially with the unemployment rate like 15%.  I talked to a girl at a pub who had a college degree but was unemployed and she said that she wanted to get a job, even a job that she was over qualified for but there were none.  We also talked to the girl at the car rental agency.  She had a degree in biochemistry but she could only find a job as the reservation clerk.  She is moving to Australia to look for work.  The cab driver said that during the Celtic Tiger period when the economy was going up, up, up, everyone had a job and so they had an influx of foreign nationals to do jobs like waitstaff.  Now with the down economy, people can't get jobs.  Sad...

Braemar, Scotland:
I checked with the airlines, they don't allow Haggis on board.  To everyone I promised some to, sorry...



Braemar Scotland:  Lovely little town that the Queen visted last week (her summer castle, Balmoral Castle, is a few miles away.  Shot this sign then zoomed out for the photo of the castle.  Looks like the "order" is a little late.

 

 

Craigendarroch, Scotland:

The view from our deck at the resort.  The cabin  where we are staying is bigger than our home in Kent...Simply beautiful with a sauna, jacuzzi tub, three bedrooms, three baths, fitness room, pool...We could live here if we didn't have to work.

Dublin Airport:

What can I say?

 Bray, Ireland:

Movie set for a mini-series on ITV..."Ice Cream Girls" on TV in February...

Bray, Ireland:

I hope that people don't cut it too close with the height of their vehicles...

Wexford Ireland:

Bumper sticker says practice random acts of kindness, like keeping your little dog locked up  in your car on a warm day.  A Confederate flag?  Really?

Wexford Ireland

Dublin is remarkably free of Dog doo but not so Wexford.  There is a fine of up to 3000 Euros for not cleaning up after your pet but it doesn't seem to matter.  I think we saw more dogs in Wexford (including two Irish Wolfhounds) in one afternoon than in 4 days in Dublin.

Dublin, Dooley Car Rental Agency:

They give this to everyone who rents a car but I believe they are targeting one particular country...They are so subtle.

Real Irish music by the Molly Malone statue in downtown Dublin.  Molly is the most photographed statue in Dublin.  The nicknames for the statue include: Tart with the Cart and the Dish with the Fish.

LA Times had an article about Ireland.  Thanks Tom Martinet...

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-ireland-20120930,0,2202707.story

The first couple of days in Dublin the weather was terrible.  It was raining with gusty wind.  We didn't have umbrellas so we went to some off-street store and got some for 2 Euros.  Believe it or not they have held up, unlike the one in the photo (someone was frustrated).  Anyway, in Seattle the rain is generally light (but constant) so people usually don't use umbrellas.  As such we were not aware of the unspoken code of umbrella etiquette.

First, always pay attention to people coming in the opposite direction.  Dale was walking with his umbrella and hit someone else's umbrella coming in the opposite direction.  Apparently, because he was taller he should have raised his umbrella to avoid smacking umbrellas.  He didn't notice but the woman with the umbrella that got hit was very irritated.  So when you are walking with an umbrella be aware of oncoming traffic.

Second, always be careful when you open your umbrella. We found some protection in a pub when it was raining really hard.  On the way out, I opened my umbrella.  I was a few feet away from the guy in front of me but when I opened my it, all the water on it flew into the guy's face, with force.  I got a really bad look but when I apologized  he could not have been nicer.

So mind your umbrella on the street.

Dublin, "Arthur's Day" (September 27)-

Rockin' at the Morgan to the finest Bongo/Sax player in all of Ireland.

Dublin Hard Rock Cafe-

Nothing says hard rock like the "Spice Girls."

Dublin and Trinity College from the Gravity Bar at the Guinness Brewery. 

Dublin Tesco-
Some Knorr sauces are not available in the US like Bread Sauce...mmm good...

Last night Dale and I turned in the car, so I thought that I would make a few comments about driving in Ireland (although I didn't drive at all).  First, driving on the opposite side of the road (driving on the left not on the right) in never referred to as driving on the "wrong side of the road."  It is not "wrong" but "different" according to the Irish people we have met.  I would like to add the adjectives "weird" and "disconcerting" to the description.  I found it just unnatural.  There are a lot of weird things associated with driving on the "different" sides of the road.  For example, the escalators are opposite as well (the normal up side is down and the reverse).  As a pedestrian you have to look in the opposite way when crossing streets.  The Irish acknowledge this problem by painting "Look Right" and "Look Left" on the crosswalks.  In addition, the whole issue of driving on the different side of the road is compounded  by the really narrow roads.  As the driver, it looks like cars in the opposite direction are about to plow into you, so you have a tendency to cheat toward the curb on the left.  With the narrow roads though, you end up on the shoulder and worse.  We had a small incident, that will never be spoken of, but we survived. There are other questions that remain unanswered like...Are motorcycle sidecars on the opposite side?  Are golf cart or tractor steering  wheels on the opposite side?  The thing that is the most interesting to me though is, that on the sidewalk, pedestrians walk on the right, not on the left, opposite to the way the Irish drive.  So, it seems to me that if the Irish don't drive on the "wrong" side, they drive on the "unnatural" side.

Dublin, Ireland

So, if you own a pet store...locating your business between a Chinese and Korean restaurant may be convenient but is it a really good idea?

Shouldn't they sell gloves instead of shoes?