I've got DSL, and I'm not talking about high speed internet

After three days on a bus in the Scottish Highlands, I feel as though I've really gotten to see the best parts of this country. USC paid for us studying in the UK to take the trip -- my tuition dollars at work -- and it was a great time.  Luckily Lilly was able to go too, and she was my seat mate for the journey. If we had seen six more white horses, she could have been The One -- I'll explain later.

We left early Tuesday morning from Edinburgh in a bright yellow Haggis Tours bus. In addition to being bright yellow, the bus had WILD & SEXY written on the side, so there was no way we wouldn't attract attention. Our tour guide, a hip guy named Matt, assured us we would, in fact, have a wild and sexy time.

[caption id="attachment_311" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Lilly and I showing what wild and sexy is."][/caption]

There were 23 USC students to begin plus our director, and the bus was almost completely packed - I joked it should be called the "Chain Smoker Express" since it seemed many people were often late due to their smoking habit. The first stop was the tiny town of Dunkeld, not too far away from Edinburgh. The main site there is the Dunkeld Cathedral with its adjacent ruins. Plus some ancient murderer is buried behind the altar. I'm blanking on his name, but I know it contains "wolf." He was a bad guy -- so bad, Matt said, that most tours don't mention him.

[caption id="attachment_312" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="da ruins"][/caption]

Then it was into the Highlands! We stopped first at Aviemore, a ski resort village, for lunch, and then made our way to Culloden Battlefield, the site of the massive 1745 battle between the Jacobites and the Hanoverian British Government. It's a very solemn place -- just an empty expanse marked by flags. 

[caption id="attachment_313" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Culloden Battlefield"][/caption]

Next was Loch Ness, time numero dos for me, for some Nessie hunting. I'm an honest-to-God Nessie believer now; we didn't see anything but Matt  went through the different theories and told some very convincing stories. The lake is 23 miles long and as deep as 900 feet -- plenty of room to hide for a  friendly monster!

[caption id="attachment_314" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Bonny Loch Ness"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_315" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Copping a feel -- es war sehr kalt! (But that didn't stop a couple guys in our group from swimming in it)."][/caption]

 We drove along the shores of the loch, stopping for photo ops, and then moved very quickly to make our way to the Highland culture presentation. We sat in a recreated Highland dwelling and watched a guy explain how Highlanders lived -- what they ate, wore, and did. He needed people to demonstrate traditional Highland dress, and when no other girl volunteered I stepped up to bat, after being assured I would not have to strip completely, as Highland women did. 

[caption id="attachment_317" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Undergoing the intense tying and folding process."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_318" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Me as a Highlander woman! Notice the red wig: 95% of Highland women were gingers!"][/caption]

Don't I look great? Funnily enough, Highlander dress was very versatile. Think one of those things from American Apparel that you can twist into a million different outfits. The basic piece is just a super long strip of tartan fabric that is folded, tucked in, and wrapped many different ways depending on the occasion. No undergarments allowed, which I think could be very freeing. One other great thing about being a Highland woman was that the bigger your butt was, the more beautiful you were considered. Later that night, we ran into the the man who gave the presentation at a pub and he said he knew it was me from across the room because of my bottom! I should have lived in the Highland times.

We stayed that night at a nice hostel near the loch in a sleepy village.  A search for dessert later at night turned into quite the experience for Lilly, another USCer, and me: We met some interesting English chaps who had a penchant for dissing everything American. I held my own, but Lilly tells me making fun of Americans is many an English person's favorite hobby. Gotta seep in the culture, right?

The next morning it was up bright and early to hit the road again. First stop: Eilean Donan Castle, the most photographed place in Scotland. For the ladies reading this, Made of Honor was filmed there. The castle is on a small island connected to the main land by a stone bridge, and it is a lovely sight indeed.

[caption id="attachment_320" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Eilean Donan Castle"][/caption]

Then it was on the road to the beautiful Isle of Skye. We first made a quick pitstop by a river to hear the tale of the one-eyed woman. It's too long to recount here, but basically a woman who had her eye ripped out dipped her face into the river's water and was made beautiful again. Lilly and I dabbed water on ourselves in an attempt to preserve our 20-year-old looks, of course.

[caption id="attachment_321" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Hip tour guide Matt recounting the tale."][/caption]

We crossed over the Skye Bridge, a very expensive work of engineering that caused a public protest, and were greeted with amazing coastal views. Ahhh the sea! I must go down to the seas again...

Skye is commonly regarded as one of the most beautiful places in Scotland, and it's easy to see why. Why don't you take a look:

[caption id="attachment_322" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="In Portree, Skye's main town, hoping the seagulls don't poop on me."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_323" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The most commonly photographed image of Skye."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_324" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Sheep!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The lovely, lovely sea."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_326" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Oh, Skye."][/caption]

A night at Saucy Mary's, our hostel/pub combo, was a good time. Saucy Mary was a woman who back in the day would flash ships passing by. There are many imitators, but no one in our group got saucy (at least as far as I know).

On to day three (I was exhausted by this time)...We left Skye and made our way west to Glen Coe. Matt stopped for several photo ops on the way - the road traveled through a very scenic mountain range.



 



 



Glen Coe was the site of the intern trip many weeks ago, but it was great to go back. I think it's now officially my favorite place in Scotland. Matt took us on a different route through the "valley of the weeping," so I was able to see more of the Glen's amazing scenery. 

[caption id="attachment_331" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Moody, wonderful Glen Coe."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_332" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="da bridge in da glen."][/caption]

I was sad to leave Glen Coe, but I'll be back one day, I'm sure. I've got DSL, Deep Scottish Love. Matt talked about DSL throughout the whole trip; he says everyone on his trips catches it and it definitely happened to me :) The other thing Matt talked about alot was what happens when one sees 30 white horses on a trip to the Highlands. 30 white horses spotted, and the person sitting next to you is your true love.  We got down to 6, so there is no Insalata/Moser wedding - at least not yet. JOKES!

The final two stops of the trip were Hamish and Stirling. Hamish is a Highland cow, Stirling is a town. Hamish was awesome!! Except he has Bovine herpes, so no mouth-to-mouth allowed, shucks. In Stirling we went to the William Wallace monument aka Braveheart. I still haven't seen the movie, shameful I know.

[caption id="attachment_333" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The most photographed Highland resident. "][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_335" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The tribute to the man who had a very brave heart."][/caption]

After what felt like an eternity on a bus, we rolled back into Edinburgh Thursday evening. It was a great trip, but it's good to be back. The Lillycat spent one more night here with me; it was fun showing her the Parliament and of course a trip to the Elephant House was necessary for us Harry Potter fanatics. 

Only three weeks to go in the land of haggis and whisky. Time has flown by. From Scotland, with love.

Way up north where the air gets cold

A nice change of pace for me this week: I was out of the parliament and in my MSP's constituency of the Scottish Highlands. In Inverness, to be exact. Inverness is the "capital of the Higlands," but for a capital city it's small with only 100,000 people. 

I took the train up Wednesday morning and arrived in Inverness around noon. First thought: it was cold. Way colder than Edinburgh, which has actually been pretty sunny lately. I shivered as I made my way to the constituency office  -- warm and toasty inside, yesss -- and spent the afternoon getting out a survey for my MSP. 

That night I spent a little time looking around Inverness before heading to my B&B. Inverness is a quaint, charming town straddling the Ness River with lots of ancient-looking buildings. Picturesque is a good word to describe it, so here are some pictures:

[caption id="attachment_294" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The pink Inverness castle overlooking the city."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_295" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The River Ness and the city beyond."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_296" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The footbridge connecting both sides of Inverness."][/caption]

Gray skies, cold air, and a constant drizzle limited my exploring; I went to the B&B early that night to warm up and enjoy some British television (I don't have a TV in my flat in Edinburgh, so I really haven't watched any at all). Wrapped up in a blanket, I watched the British "Apprentice" -- it was basically the only thing on. 

After a breakfast prepared for me by the very friendly owner of the B&B Thursday morning, I went back to the office to finish my work and then was given the afternoon off. I explored the town some more, stopping at a really neat secondhand bookstore that's in an old church (I picked up Anna Karenina and have vowed to read it before I make it back home -- perhaps a little too ambitious). I also managed to find St. Mary's, the church Lilly's parents married in and took pictures there for her.  And after a lonesome dinner at a pub, it was another quiet night for me.

[caption id="attachment_297" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="St. Mary's -- hi, Mrs. Insalata!!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_298" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Bookstore in an old church -- the biggest in Scotland, I think."][/caption]

Friday was my favorite day of the constituency trip. My MSP took me to visit two schools near Loch Ness, and we drove along the shores of the lake. It was just how I pictured: moody, misty, mysterious. No sightings of Nessie this time, but I'll be back next week and will look with more purpose.

The first school was a high school; we talked to the principal and received a tour. The next school was a super small primary school with only 36 pupils for 7 grades -- and only two classrooms. The students were very excited to meet someone from the U.S. and asked me about Hollywood, celebrity sightings (have you seen Zac Effron?!) and randomly about how I raised my pet frog. 

[caption id="attachment_301" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Can you spot Nessie?"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_302" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The primary school students -- can you tell which one is me?"][/caption]

Then it was pretty quickly back to Edinburgh for one of the last weekends I'll spend here. I have seven more weeks to go in Europe, but I'll be traveling for alot of that time. So this weekend I decided to stay in town and see some of the sights I've been meaning to see.

On Saturday I met up with some of the other interns to walk to Leith, Edinburgh's sister port city. We took a nice hour-long stroll from Princes Street to get to Leith and just basically walked around and saw the sea. We had lunch at a great seafood restaurant -- megrim for me and I liked it very much. 

[caption id="attachment_303" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Leith"][/caption]

 Today I took a solo adventure to Rosslyn Chapel in the teeninsy village of Roslin (yes, they are spelled differently even though the chapel's in the town). It's famous for its intricate stone carvings and is rumored to be one of the resting places of the Holy Grail. It appears in The DaVinci Code and they filmed scenes for the movie there; ever since there's been an upsurge in tourists.

Conspiracy theories aside, the chapel is stunningly beautiful with amazing carvings throughout. No pictures allowed inside, so all I have are ones of the exterior, which is undergoing restoration. 

[caption id="attachment_305" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The entrance to the chapel."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_306" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="View of the grounds from an upstairs walkway."][/caption]

This week should be great, I've been looking forward to it for a while. USC is taking the UK study abroad students to the Scottish Highlands to see tons of castles, Loch Ness, and the Isle of Skye. Tomorrow night we're kicking it off with a dinner at a Chinese buffet, woo hoo! 

The Scottish sign texts and emails with an x to mean "hugs." So cheers from me, xxx!

Guinness Stew and Sausage Rolls

I'm writing this post post-fried mars bar, and I'm in a bit of a sugar coma.  There is a shop on my walk home on the Royal Mile that advertises "we sell mars bars in batter" and as I had a bit of a stressful day at work today, I decided to indulge.  I wanted to try it at least once before leaving the UK (fried everything - even pizza! - is the thing here). 

Thoughts: It was caramely, chocolate meltiness and tasted like a  s'more - I enjoyed it. I wanted to take it home before eating it, but when I asked the lady behind the counter for a bag she looked at me as though I were crazy and told me that you have to eat it right away. "Would you like a wee fork?" she asked. So fork and fried mars bar in hand, I finished my walk home - and the mars bar was done when I got there.

On to less edible things: I spent last weekend in Ireland, trip details here. I'm part Irish (with a middle name like O'Shee, how could I not be?) and really liked the country I can (sort of) call home. I even found a place called O'Shea's that could belong to a distant relative -  my middle name, which is my mom's grandmother's maiden name, was changed at immigration. 

Two other interns and I flew to Dublin Thursday night and got into the city around midnight. Dublin at night is sketch, like all good cities, but we managed to find our hostel, Isaacs, just fine. Cleanliness wasn't a priority there, so it wasn't the most pleasant stay, but at least the beds were comfortable. 

We were awoken Friday morning by construction work being done in our hallway - literally right outside our door - around 7 am. We had to navigate around construction guys and their ladders and other equipment to get to the bathroom. Oh, hostels. 

The weather in Dublin was glorious! Friday was the first time I have actually felt warm outside since I left the U.S. We shed our coats and donned sunglasses for our walking tour around the city - a completely free tour - that gave us a comprehensive view of all the major sights:

[caption id="attachment_269" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="City on the River Liffey"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_270" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Unfortunately the only leprechaun we saw."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_271" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Dublin Castle"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_272" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Christ Church"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_273" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="You know you're in Dublin when..."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_274" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The Temple Bar in the famous Temple Bar district - a tourist mecca."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_275" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The beautiful Trinity College."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_276" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="St. Stephen's Green - a lovely central park that was alive with locals and tourists wanting to enjoy the sunshine."][/caption]

After the tour it was on to the number one tourist destination in Ireland - the Guinness Factory. I don't think it deserves that distinction, but as it is the thing to do, we couldn't miss out. We hiked out of the city center to where the storehouse is located and participated in the Guinness "experience." The admission fee includes a pint of fresh Guinness at the end of the tour in the Gravity Bar, which has 360 degree views of the city - pretty darn cool. The tour is arranged to take you on a winding route through the largest pint glass in the world - but can that really exist? hmmm.

[caption id="attachment_278" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="I was the only one to actually drink and finish my pint - I am Irish, after all!"][/caption]

The Irish say that if you drink a Guinness you don't need a meal, but I still wanted to try some Irish food, so the girls and I went to O'Neill's, a pub in the city center. Sarah, my friend from Notre Dame who studied abroad in Dublin last semester, highly recommended it and I'm glad she did. I got the Guinness and beef stew, per her suggestion, and a heaping side plate of vegetables. mmmm

[caption id="attachment_279" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="O'Neill's"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_280" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Mah dinner. p.s. I ate pretty much the whole thing."][/caption]

We were pretty tired that night so we then just went back to the hostel and attempted to get a good night's sleep. That didn't exactly happen, but we awoke the next day excited for our tour to Wicklow and Glendalough - the second most visited places in Ireland. Some USC students who were in Dublin a few weeks ago highly recommended going to the South, and I always enjoy getting outside the city. I wish we could have seen more, but I'll be back, as the tour guide kept repeating.  

Our bus driver was a bit condescending to the tourist set (makes you wonder why his job is being a tour guide) but the tour was great otherwise. Wicklow is a national park known for it's beautiful mountainous scenery. Glendalough means "valley of two glacial lakes" and was a stunning sight.  It actually reminded me of Yosemite quite a bit.

[caption id="attachment_281" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Within Wicklow - Loch Taye, I believe? "][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_283" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Famous bridge because P.S. I Love You was filmed here - I had never seen the movie but just watched it - tearjerker!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_282" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The ladies at the loch."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_284" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Cemetary that's part of an old monastery in Glendalough."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_285" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="An Irish dog - wearing clothes!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_286" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Shore of the upper glacial lake."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_287" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The other girls were creeped out, but I thought he was a pretty one!"][/caption]

After taking in the Irish non-cityside, we arrived back in Dublin just in time for the Ireland v. Wales rugby game. Temple Bar was the place to be, and we found seats in a room full of crazy, middle-aged, drunk Wales supporters. It was really fun being around people who were so invested in the game - but also just there to have a good time. I think we amused some of the people - one man kept stopping by to tell us he loved us and kept insisting he could explain the rules to us if we needed. The Irish are very friendly, sometimes overly so!

After witnessing Ireland's close victory, we went to Messrs McGuire for some pub fun. It's a multi-level place on the river, and it was a really lively place to be. I had a pint of cider, but just one - drinks are very expensive in Dublin! My cider was about 6 euro, and that's pretty much standard.  We are certainly lucky here in Edinburgh that drinks are typically between 2 and 3 pounds (1 pound is roughly 1 euro). 

The next morning we tried to go to mass at St. Patrick's, but for whatever reason they weren't offering the typical mass, so we went to a close-by church, St. John's, that was also very nice. I was suprised to see that even in Ireland, what I usually think of as a very Catholic place, mass attendance was very low and mostly composed of people over the age of 50. 

[caption id="attachment_288" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="St. Patrick's."][/caption]

Then it was pretty quickly to the busy Dublin airport and back to Edinburgh. A very nice weekend, all in all. My homeland is pretty cool.

More thoughts about Ireland:

- I really liked Dublin, but I didn't really see many Irish people! There are 4 million people living in Ireland and 8 million tourists go through the country every year. We were constantly surrounded by Americans on holiday - but that may be because of the types of places we went to.

- Even though mass attendance wasn't what I expected it to be, it is very evident that the Irish still place much value on Catholicism -- Catholic churches are everywhere, and most places are closed Sunday morning so that people can go to church - even the city buses don't run. 

- I really like sausage rolls: sausage wrapped in a buttery, crusty bread. I had two on the trip.

- The whole of Ireland only has 7 Starbucks, good for them! Other Ireland-owned coffee shops have been offering good deals since Starbucks started expanding there and it's worked so far. I haven't been to Starbucks one time since I've been in the UK, and I'm not planning on it.

This week it's up to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands to visit my MSP's constituency and this weekend I'm planning a day trip to Leith (port city next to Edinburgh) with some of the interns.  From Scotland, with love, until next time.