This past weekend we went to Scotland and it was fantastic. Cimp, Erin and I flew out to Edinburgh on Wednesday night after work. After arriving late, we went out for a late night pint and met a bombed local who told us we needed to go to the Trussochs and Borders....at least 27 different times. It became the running joke for the rest of the trip.
On Thursday, the three of us drove to St. Andrews so that Cimp and I could get our name on the list to play golf on Friday. Unfortunately, the Old Course was closed for a tournament, but we were able to get our name down for Friday on the New Course. Turns out the new course was established in 1895! The entire time we were there on Thursday it rained. We were dedicated to playing on Friday, so we spent the afternoon looking at all of the local golf shops for rain gear. I decided to wait until Friday to buy rain gear since it was so expensive.
After leaving St. Andrews, we wanted to try to play 9 holes on Thursday to help justify why Erin and I shipped our clubs. We went to a small course about 10 miles south of St. Andrews called Anstruther. When we got out of the car in the empty parking lot that held 10 cars at most, we weren't sure what the round would be like. The course did hug the coast though, so we had high hopes. After paying our 12 pound green fee we set off. The course was simply spectacular. It hugged the coast, had a castle/turret on the second hole (that served as a backstop for my approach). It continued to go up and down near the water, one spectacular hole after another. We had amazing time. Even better, it didn't rain a drop during our two hours on the course! On the drive home the skies opened up and rained all night long.
Cimp and I decided we would get up early to play St. Andrews. We were prepared for a wet day on such a famous course. When we left the hotel, there were only high thin clouds. We were both too nervous to jinx ourselves so neither of us discussed the weather for the entire 1 1/2 hour drive...but it kept getting sunnier. As we were about 10 miles from the course, we could see the entire coast absolutely socked in by big clouds. Of course it would rain. After putting on eight layers, winter cap in the bag, a little sunscreen just in case, we set off. It didn't rain a drop! In fact it was about 75 degrees and we were mad we weren't wearing shorts. My biggest problem was what to use to wipe the sweat off of my head.
The day was absolutely fantastic. We played St. Andrews...hard, rolling fairways, littered with pot bunkers and gorse on the sides. There wasn't a range near by though, so we went off cold. At least that's what I'm attributing to my 122. Cimp shot 88. Would have been better but an eagle putt that turned into a birdie putt...then a par putt, then a.... Needless to say the next drive didn't help.
We drove back to Edinburgh to meet up with Erin and Honor (who flew in Friday for the weekend). We toured Edinburgh on Friday afternoon, went out for a great dinner and hit a couple of local pubs. On Saturday...it rained.
Saturday we toured the Edinburgh castle before loading into the rental car for our Erin-guided tour of Scotland. Cimp quickly got the hang of driving on the wrong side of the road...he only ran over the curb a few times. It was nice to have a driver and a tour guide.
We went to the town of Perth and visited the Scone Castle and grounds. We then rented a couple of rooms in a local B&B. Cimp and me in one room, Erin and Honor in the other. It was a debate about how to split them up. One had it's own bathroom, but only one bed. The other had a bed and a day-bed, but no bathroom, it was shared in the hall. Cimp and I had the no bathroom. Apparently Erin and Honor's room was 200 degrees and they didn't share a bed well...I slept great, not what they wanted to hear.
On a recommendation from the host of the B&B, Saturday night we went to a local restaurant that we think was the predecessor of Chile's or TGIF with memorabilia on the walls. OUr hopes were low, but it was great. We followed that with a couple of pubs and dancing. There was a guy at one club who looked just like Jack Black, but danced like Michael Jackson. He was amazing and created a great time.
On Sunday we got up to head for Aberdeen where Erin, Honor and I left Cimp on his own. On the way we took an amazing drive through Scottish mountains and ski areas that were gorgeous. On a stroke of luck we were near Balmoral Castle, but were running late so decided not to stop. When we were driving by though we saw a bunch of people on the side of the road with several police officers. In the middle of nowhere. So of course we parked the car and went to see what the fuss was about. The Queen was across the street in church and was about to drive down the road to the castle where she was staying. We stood there for two minutes and there she was in her Rolls Royce waving to us all. Very cool.
The next stop on the Erin tour of Scotland was the Dunottar Castle on the coast near Stonehaven, south of Aberdeen. This was an amazing castle surrounded by water on three sides. Truly breathtaking.
After Dunottar, Cimp left us at the airport in Aberdeen before heading off for a couple of more days of golfing famous Scottish courses. I've been jealous back at work this week knowing the fun he's having. He gets back in London tonight before headed home to Seattle on Saturday.
Scotland was fantastic...I look forward to going back soon.
Ted
Photos
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Wicked
Last night we saw something truly worth writing home about. We went to see Wicked. Anyone coming to London should consider seeing it. It was amazingly done with great costumes, creative storyline and amazing performances. The absolute highlight was the star of the show was Idina Menzel the wicked witch of the west. She won a Tony award for her performance in the show in New York. She absolutely knocked our socks off.
We were able to see the show with Cimp, Jen Bradshaw and her two friends from Seattle. Unfortunately all of our friends recently arrived from Seattle and were suffering from jet lag. Good thing the show was so good to keep them all from having an expensive nap.
Cimp, Erin and I are off to Scotland tonight for a few days of golf and touring. More to come soon.
Ted
We were able to see the show with Cimp, Jen Bradshaw and her two friends from Seattle. Unfortunately all of our friends recently arrived from Seattle and were suffering from jet lag. Good thing the show was so good to keep them all from having an expensive nap.
Cimp, Erin and I are off to Scotland tonight for a few days of golf and touring. More to come soon.
Ted
Thursday, September 07, 2006
New photo feature
Check out the cool new photo feature on the right. Fancy, huh? I'll add more there when we get them.
I'm not sure how it all works, but you can hover over a picture and get the title and then click on a photo for more options.
Let me know if there is other cool stuff I should add. I think there is a way you can subscribe to the blog so that when I post something, you get an email. I'll look into that next...
I'm not sure how it all works, but you can hover over a picture and get the title and then click on a photo for more options.
Let me know if there is other cool stuff I should add. I think there is a way you can subscribe to the blog so that when I post something, you get an email. I'll look into that next...
Bavaria
This past weekend Erin and I spent a long weekend cruising around Bavaria. Erin had to be in Munich for meetings this week, so I went along on Friday afternoon to spend the weekend with her and see a little of southern Germany. It was fantastic...one of the best trips we've had.
We started in Munich on Friday. We wandered around town, ate dinner at a traditional bavarian restaurant. In an effort at being brave I ate pork knuckles. Good, tasted like pork. After that we went to the requisite Hofbrauhaus for enormous beers. Not sure if it was the knuckles or the enormous beer, but it was a bit of a rough night....had to be the knuckles.
On Saturday we rented a car. We drove south on the autobahn to a small town called Bad Tolz. The autobahn was amazing. Our sporty little Fiat shook and rattled along at about 80 mph and we were passed like we were standing still by BMWs, Mercedes, Fords, Porsches...fun to watch. Would have been more fun to be a real car...look for the picture of the little fiat.
Bad Tolz was a very cute little town in the middle of the mountains. Bad means spa and we're never ones to turn down a spa. This one was a little different. The Alpamare spa was really a water park. It featured a few hot pools outside, but also had very fun water slides, a wave pool and a very cool surfing pool. It was fantastic running around like kids with a bunch of kids. Being in the middle of Germany no fear of running into anyone we knew. Fantastic.
The next day we did a day of castles. Both of the castles we saw were built by King Ludwig II who was quite the eccentric. He liked to model everything after Wagner operas. One was the Linderhof built in the middle of knowwhere and modeled on Versailles. The second was Neuschwanstein the model for the Disney Sleeping Beauty castle. It was amazingly nestled in the mountains and it was one castle you really need to work for. There was quite the straight uphill hike to get to it. Seemed even harder after all that work on water slides the day before.
On our way to Neuschwanstein, we got to drive through the tip of Austria, in the alps, as well. It was gorgeous. We've talked about going skiing sometime this winter, and the trip through the alps confirmed that we'll be back in the alps once the snow starts.
We started in Munich on Friday. We wandered around town, ate dinner at a traditional bavarian restaurant. In an effort at being brave I ate pork knuckles. Good, tasted like pork. After that we went to the requisite Hofbrauhaus for enormous beers. Not sure if it was the knuckles or the enormous beer, but it was a bit of a rough night....had to be the knuckles.
On Saturday we rented a car. We drove south on the autobahn to a small town called Bad Tolz. The autobahn was amazing. Our sporty little Fiat shook and rattled along at about 80 mph and we were passed like we were standing still by BMWs, Mercedes, Fords, Porsches...fun to watch. Would have been more fun to be a real car...look for the picture of the little fiat.
Bad Tolz was a very cute little town in the middle of the mountains. Bad means spa and we're never ones to turn down a spa. This one was a little different. The Alpamare spa was really a water park. It featured a few hot pools outside, but also had very fun water slides, a wave pool and a very cool surfing pool. It was fantastic running around like kids with a bunch of kids. Being in the middle of Germany no fear of running into anyone we knew. Fantastic.
The next day we did a day of castles. Both of the castles we saw were built by King Ludwig II who was quite the eccentric. He liked to model everything after Wagner operas. One was the Linderhof built in the middle of knowwhere and modeled on Versailles. The second was Neuschwanstein the model for the Disney Sleeping Beauty castle. It was amazingly nestled in the mountains and it was one castle you really need to work for. There was quite the straight uphill hike to get to it. Seemed even harder after all that work on water slides the day before.
On our way to Neuschwanstein, we got to drive through the tip of Austria, in the alps, as well. It was gorgeous. We've talked about going skiing sometime this winter, and the trip through the alps confirmed that we'll be back in the alps once the snow starts.
Notting Hill Carnival
Sorry for the delays in updates...I know, common theme. So much activity, I've been a little delayed.
Erin's cousin Scott and his girlfriend Reut were in town over the bank holiday weekend (the week before US Labor Day). We had a great time wandering through Camden Market and throughout London. Scott and Reut (pronouced Ray oot) live in Amsterdam, though Scott is getting ready to move to Palo Alto to begin his PhD program at Stanford. We are very impressed. Our only hope is that he can finish and explain to us what computational linguistics is.
While they were in town we went to the Notting Hill Carnival which was not far from our house. The carnival is carribean themed and typically attracts about a million people to the Notting Hill neighborhood. Everyone at work who's been said that it is something we should go to once... It was fun, but a million people is a zoo. One of the most amazing things is that there were no trash cans at all, but tons of trash. I know there aren't a lot of trash cans in a lot of places due to terrorism bomb fears. I'm not sure if that is the same reason as no trash cans there, but I am assuming so. The other amazing feature was the sound systems that were everywhere. Bob Marley was cranking at full volume from massive semi-trucks loaded with speakers surrounded by dancers in full costume.
Unfortunately Scott and Reut couldn't handle the noise and crowd, but Jen, Erin and I drank rum punch, ate jerk chicken and danced the night away. Tons of fun, and some great pictures to prove it.
While it was fun, I think I got my one trip in...not high on the priority list for future years.
Ted
Erin's cousin Scott and his girlfriend Reut were in town over the bank holiday weekend (the week before US Labor Day). We had a great time wandering through Camden Market and throughout London. Scott and Reut (pronouced Ray oot) live in Amsterdam, though Scott is getting ready to move to Palo Alto to begin his PhD program at Stanford. We are very impressed. Our only hope is that he can finish and explain to us what computational linguistics is.
While they were in town we went to the Notting Hill Carnival which was not far from our house. The carnival is carribean themed and typically attracts about a million people to the Notting Hill neighborhood. Everyone at work who's been said that it is something we should go to once... It was fun, but a million people is a zoo. One of the most amazing things is that there were no trash cans at all, but tons of trash. I know there aren't a lot of trash cans in a lot of places due to terrorism bomb fears. I'm not sure if that is the same reason as no trash cans there, but I am assuming so. The other amazing feature was the sound systems that were everywhere. Bob Marley was cranking at full volume from massive semi-trucks loaded with speakers surrounded by dancers in full costume.
Unfortunately Scott and Reut couldn't handle the noise and crowd, but Jen, Erin and I drank rum punch, ate jerk chicken and danced the night away. Tons of fun, and some great pictures to prove it.
While it was fun, I think I got my one trip in...not high on the priority list for future years.
Ted
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