Whoa Nellie!

So I made it to Inverness the other day. But there are minimal places for internet around here so this is my first real post. It's a pretty town, though it is rather small. I did the river walk the first day which takes you down to the Ness Islands and across. It's appearing to be the end of fall through this area, and it's definitely starting to cool off quickly. I don't know that I'd call it cold yet, especially after a day like today.
Yesterday it was pouring rain, so I decided to put off my Loch Ness adventure in hope of better weather today-a gambit which paid off nicely. Instead I wandered around the town, starting in the library, getting Indian food for lunch, and then finding a used bookstore. I'm very disappointed in the libraries here. They undoubtedly leave much to be desired by way of size and selection, even in the bigger cities. I also can't tell if Indian food is just not that hot, or if my spicy tolerance is just that high these days. I ordered something supposedly hot, even told my waiter I was okay with hot, and I didn't even notice a tingle when I ate it. Very good, just not what I was expecting.
The bookstore though...Amazing! Biggest used bookstore in Scotland. I spent quite a bit of time there, perusing and finally came out with two books. Quite an accomplishment for me. I will now finally be reading shogun though. I'm saving it for the train right now though. I've just gone through too many books electronically, and can't afford to keep buying books that way. I will try to sell the ones I bought when I finish reading them and then proceed to locate another set. See if I can get a good cycle enabled. Plus this way I will hopefully find some more awesome bookshops.
This morning I headed to Urquhart Castle on the loch. And there I made some friends. A group of 5 kids from Duke studying in Glasgow were there at the same time, also agreed they weren't paying 7 pounds to get closer to the ruins, and we all walked the mile and a half back to Drumnadrochit together. Once there we lost half the boys to a group of cows (during which we learned the t9 for boys and cows is the same), wandered the side streets and a little wooded area for awhile, before settling in at a cafe to wait for our bus back to Inverness. It was a lot of fun to have people to hang out with for the afternoon. And they said I could stay with them in Glasgow if I head back that direction at all, which I may well with how awesome it was. All in all it was a productive day. Especially since I saw both Nellie and Nessie (pictures to come). In the end, we decided having to walk through the Scottish highlands is really no difficulty, and that had been the right way to go about the trip.

Glasgow

So I made it to Glasgow last night around 8:30. Just coming in on the train was beautiful. The city lights up, including all the bridges over the River Clyde. After getting mildly lost wandering around the train station, I finally got pointed the right direction and managed to find my hostel. And let me just say, if this is how Scotland is, I love it. The people are nice. The city is gorgeous. It's by far my favorite city so far.
It is true what they say though, to see the real beauty of the city, you must be constantly looking upward. Almost every building is old with beautiful statues and carvings all over. It's really quite incredible.
I started out the day walking through the main shopping district. This is after all, the self proclaimed fashion capital of Great Britain. And there were some fabulous shops. Not all Armani and Gucci, though there were those too, but just fabulous small everyday shops. I spent quite some time wandering around there, and I went to the GOMA which was right in the same district. Yes Jen, they call the MOMA the GOMA here, which makes since as they set it up more as a gallery than a museum. I found an information center not long after that and the gal there was super helpful. Not only did she point me to some fabulous free activities, but she also gave me a booklet on Inverness since I head there early tomorrow morning.
I went to the Glasgow Cathedral, which is currently being redone. Much of it is black, from the years still, but its ceilings were a gorgeous wood. As I was leaving I realized the point behind the Cathedral was actually a Necropolis. So I climbed to the top of the hill from where you could turn around and see most of the city. It was beautiful. I went to the post office for stamps too and one of the workers went out of his way to make sure I got cheaper stamps than what I thought I needed from the machine. Everyone is just so friendly here!
I think part of the reason I like the city so much though is it reminds me vaguely of Seattle. Different stores and set up, but similar attitude. Probably helps that its a rather grey day, which some how does the city credit.
My hostel is amazing. I signed up for a 14 bed dorm, ended up in a four and it didn't cost me anything extra. I sort of thought the last hostel was okay, th0ugh not fantastic. But this one puts it to shame. Everything is clean, no funny smells, and the girls I'm bunking with are very nice. Both from New Zealand. The only down side to it is there is no free internet there. But that is a small price to pay, especially since I'm only here for one day. Though I almost wish I was staying here longer now.
I leave for Inverness tomorrow morning at 7. Hopefully that leg will be just as wonderful. And who knows maybe I'll even see Nellie, Nessie's long lost cousin...

So yesterday my inner ear imbalance acted up, so I didn't really do much at all. Today was much more fun though. I may not be able to walk a straight line for a couple days yet, but I still managed to get out. Patrick and I took the train to Seaham to see the-you guessed it-sea. It was a fun trip, though the town was very small. We walked through the city center in about five minutes. The shore line was very pretty though. Unfortunately we couldn't get all the way to the lighthouse though. The only people out there were fishermen. We were going to stop at Newcastle on the way back too, but it was just a bit to cold. It got down to 10 degrees Celsius by the end of the day, and tomorrow is supposed to be colder. But I will be heading inland again tomorrow. In the morning I will go to Carlisle for a day trip. Then in the evening I will head for Scotland and spend a couple days in Glasgow.

York to Durham

So I haven't posted in a couple days, but that's really because I've been pretty busy doing things! Yesterday I took the bus northward to York. It really amuses me that an across country bus ride that the locals think is long distance took 5 hours, and is about the equivalence of driving from Spokane to Seattle. It is just really a whole new perspective on travel, and really quite cheap too! I made it to York at about 6 last night, and my friend Patrick met me at the bus. We had decided to stay the night there so we could see the town, which is one of his favorites, and quite an enjoyable time it ended up being.
The place we stayed was really very nice. Especially since I was sleeping on an actual bed. We wandered around a bit for dinner, and then decided we wanted to find a pub called the Old Black Swan, which is supposed to be the oldest pub and York, as well as half haunted. Of course it turned out to be a rather difficult pub to locate. We wandered around the downtown area in circles for quite a long time, though it was overall very enjoyable, and quite an interesting way to see the town at night. The best part was when we passed the ghost tour though; identifiable by the man leading a mass group wearing a top hat and carrying a step ladder. They even had one called the ghost jaunt, which sounded rather amazing. Eventually we did find the pub, in a completely different area than we had been looking for it.
The next morning we were provided with a proper English breakfast. Quite a step up from my last week of meals. We then proceeded to wander the entire town, following the old walls around and through the town. We spent most of the morning just wandering in between the sights. Then we decided it was time I had a proper high tea. So we went to Betty's, which Patrick informed me is one of the nicer more well known places to do that. It was wonderful! And a fabulous experience to boot.
After tea, we got our bags and headed to the National Rail Museum. Which awesomely had the Hogwart's Express in it's showroom. So even if I couldn't get through the platform, I still made it to the train!
Not long after that we got on the train and headed for Durham, which is where Patrick is living; and he's nice enough to put me up on his couch. The view of the city was gorgeous coming in, and I really can't wait to explore it tomorrow. He was telling me that this was actually the town which was used for a lot of the Harry Potter movie shots, including his school, so my Hogwart's adventure is continuing-and in the proper sequence to boot! The fact that he goes to school in a castle is pretty amazing to begin with, but the Harry Potter aspects of it make it even cooler in my mind. My adventure is now truly on the move since I've left London, and I feel as though I have seen a lot of neat things rather quickly. Let the fun continue!

Strike!

Today was an interesting day. Turns out the tube workers are going on strike one day a month and this was it. So the whole tube system was shut down. Which meant extra road congestion. So it was 2 hours to get anywhere by bus or walk. I chose walking. I started off the day going to the library. If you could call it that! Tiny, barely any books. Much to say, I didn't stay long. I did end up purchasing my ticket to York though. I leave early Wednesday afternoon by bus. Best part of my day by far though? Passing a guy on his bike who was belting out Jailhouse Rock in a high falsetto. Oh yeah.

I went to a service at Westminster Abbey today, and it was amazing. Not only did I get in the church for free, which including walking past all the major features such as Newton and Churchhill's markers. And the building itself was incredible! To top it all off, I was able to hear the choir sing as well. They are so incredible, and with the accoustics in the room it couldn't have been better. Except that it became so. While everyone was leaving, the organist was playing the Finale from Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. Wow. I had no words. I had to stop walking and stand against the wall so I could listen to the entire thing. And I'm not the biggest fan of organ music, but just the sheer way in which it resonated was more than I could have asked for. Quite a successful adventure I do believe!

Meandering...

Yesterday it was a constant rain all day. But still it was not a heavy rain which is a nice change from Spokane. Since I didn't feel like getting too drenched, as an umbrella only does so much after so long, I decided to make it store and museum day! I started off at Harrod's and wandered through all the different departments. It was rather overwhelming, and I had to leave not long after the perfume department as it was just too much on my nose.
Then I wandered down the street to go to the Natural History Museum. When I got there I was kind of disappointed, not at all what I had been expecting of it, and it had all these weird V&A signs all over, which I thought was an obnoxious way to show patronage and donations. So after wandering through I tried to find the Science Museum which was supposed to be up the street to the East. But when I went east I couldn't find the road! I eventually just ended up at a cafe to get some food and while I was there I pulled out my map to see what I could figure out. Turns out there's a museum called the Victoria and Albert Museum...right BEFORE I would have run into the road I had been looking for. Which meant I had never even made it to the History Museum.
So I turned back around yet again and this time got there for real. And it was an amazing museum! Before I knew it I was being kicked out because they were closing-I had spent 3-4 hours in there. Now I can't wait to go to the science museum which is even more interactive. I was going to go today, but I woke up to sunshine, and decided that meant a walk around day instead.
Thus today became Literary Wanders Day! I started out at Baker Street and hung out in Sherlock Holmes haunts, then I went to King's Cross Station and tried to get to Hogwarts. But alas, Dobby closed platform 9 3/4 on me when I was halfway through. I knew my letter had merely been lost! Then I went to the Globe Theater, and on the way saw the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Then after wandering across the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral I eventually made my way back to the hostel to realize it was only 2! But my legs were tired so I called it a mostly day and just had linner before winding down my day. I think tomorrow I'm going to try to go to Westminster Abbey for a service tomorrow. I looked up when the choir sings and I think that would be pretty amazing to hear.
I found out why my legs have been so restless the last couple days though. I haven't had enough iron, which makes since as I haven't eaten anywhere near my normal red meat diet lately. So I went to buy some alternative iron sources and we'll see if that helps at all. But I think it likely will. Oddly, I'm hoping for a couple more days of rain, so I can see a couple more neat museums without feeling guilty about being indoors the whole time. Whatever happens, I'll just make the most of it! No more photos will be up until my internet connection fixes itself though, as it doesn't stay on long enough to get anything uploaded.