Civilized Cross Many Countries

We woke up to a drizzly, foggy morning and took an early walk around Lady Claire’s estate (Kinloch Lodge). It was like living in a fairy tale. After a walk we had another wonderful bowl of porridge (no whisky, but nutmeg!). Our great driver/guide, Steve picked us up for a day of adventures and the skies cleared. We stopped at the Clan MacDonald estate, museum and gardens and were entranced by the history and grounds.Here is Brad and Steve in front of the castle ruins in Armadale. We headed off the tourist trail to a lovely rocky beach in Ord. Like a painting. We had a bit of lunch then headed through Portree (the main city on Skye) and over to a burial ground up island where the locals left for the Carolinas in the 1700’s.

So much history and so much beauty.

We started the day with Irish porridge laced with whiskey. A real kickstarter! After breakfast I took a brief walk around and found my first Scottish cat. Not particularly friendly, but neither is the Scottish version of the ADA. We both burst out laughing — handicapped parking right in front of two flights of stairs!

Our new driver, Steve, a former police captain, picked us up and regaled us with stories, history and verdant vistas. We stopped at a little restaurant that specializes in hot smoked Scottish salmon (all ocean farm raised, by the way) and I met my second Scottish cat who resides there. Mitzi is one smart feline. As we traversed the Applecross Road on our way to Skye, a heard of Scottish cattle stopped us for a bit. We made it to Kinloch Lodge, home of Lord and Lady MacDonald. The Lodge has seen better days, but is still a lovely Inn if you like patina. The dining is the real reason to stay in this lovely remote location. Five course fantastic meal with great wine and peaty water. It was a delightfully refined meal until a group of 12 loud Americans showed up. It always reminds me how loud and confident and bullish we are. I’m first on the list of this, but when we see ourselves compared to the British, we are garrulous and gross. I need to keep this in mind — speak in a whisper, be exceedingly polite, and realize you are the foreigner here. I’ll let you know how I do.

I did take that peat water bath. Let’s see if it will rinse some Scottish manners into me.

10:19 PM and still daylight out. Oh, and I’m getting another chalazion cyst on my eye. Hope the peat water cures that too!

A little place down the street, The Lime Tree. An art museum and restaurant and an Inn. Unassuming, filled with Eastern European help and bright smiles. Chatted with the Brit’s next to us, father and daughter from Surrey– she was wearing Chuck Taylor’s, a reminder of home.

Food was wonderful, pacing slow, we have to get used to European long dinners. Everything excellent — not your grandmother’s Scotland. Bread and butter here is sublime!

Our destination was Crohlinnhe Inn in Fort William. Sofie welcomed us with open arms and a beautiful room high above Loch Linnhe.

We took a walk up the High Road to see the sights. The flowers were as amazing as I remembered them.

We took in a museum, some churches and the visitor center. I’ve always wondered what “Alba” means on the Scottish tourism website. It means Scotland in Gaelic!

Guess where we did not stop?

Brad is loving Scotland — he always feels so connected here (even though he is currently snoring through this post). Press the arrow in the photo below for s treat. We got to the train station just as the Jacobite Steam train was pulling out.

And finally, a cuppa in our room.

We clocked 3.5 miles, and still have another mile tonight for dinner. Not bad after a transatlantic flight. No wonder Brad is napping!

We left Logan in time, landed at JFK on time. Hit the ‘almost closing’ Delta lounge for a half hour and settled into our First Class cocoon. I went directly to sleep, but Brad had dinner. I opted for breakfast and a wonderful documentary about the Canadian Cat Shows.

Customs was 5 minutes — I timed it. Bags were on the carousel, and Phillipe, our driver was waiting for us. Painless!

Brad is fitting right in. Phillipe was a wonderful driver and we slept a bit on the way to the Highlands on a cool, rainy day.

The Lochs were beautiful to see, the flowers on the roadside gorgeous, and the tiny roads filled with oncoming lorries and cyclists were maddening. There are things worth paying for and a 2 hour drive on small roads in the rain is one of them.

Packing is always a challenge. We are headed to the Highlands where it will be 50 degrees and pelting rain, and Ayrshire where it should be 65 and mostly sunny. We are hiking, golfing, skeet shooting, visiting dead ancestors and eating in our fair share of Michelin starred restaurants and local pubs. 14 days of adventures.My bag, first one above, weighed in at 36 lbs. Brad’s needed a bit of help. We did some editing and managed to get it to 42 lbs. Checked in and ready to go!

First cocktails of the trip in the Delta lounge. They made them vodka instead of gin, but it’s all part of the adventure! There will be much gin had in Scotland. Bon Voyage Boston!

Delta Lounge at Logan is okay. Better than the terminal, but nothing like the Virgin Clubhouse.

It’s been a while since I’ve done this.

The roses are back!

Always like to close the trip with my feelings and thoughts after a few days of being home and reflecting.  The blog is such a good tool as it allows me to go back and remember my feelings and impressions at the time.

So what did I like, what did I hate, what would I do differently.

Easier to start with what was wrong and get it out of the way.

Flights.  Really thinking about the booking process is essential.  I amaze myself in my positive thinking when booking.  Think about the time change, think about what time you actually land in your time zone, and think about connections.  It all sounds great from your own home without carry bags, being squished and having no sleep.  Only non stop flights, pay for an extra day so that your hotel room is ready upon your arrival.  Save all your credit card points for first class travel.  Remember this.  Do not be swayed.  Pay up.

Food.  Eat like a local.  Do not order Cesar salad in Europe.

Drive times.  Be prepared with music or podcasts.

Okay, that’s out of the way.

Brussels / Ghent / Bruges.  Nice place, but nothing truly special.  Countryside is lovely and picturesque, beer and food good.  Chocolate fantastic, but chocolate, beer and food can all be had at home, so no need to travel for it.  Art Nouveau works were amazing.  Museums were empty and easy to visit.  They are second rate, but I don’t know the difference, so it’s fine.  Autoworld was outstanding and not to be missed.  Beautiful parks.  It is the Cleveland of Europe.

Amsterdam.  Killer.  Hip and modern, old and full of history.  Culture of cool and easy going.  London without the British pomposity.  Walking city, great museums (of all sorts, and buy the Museumkaart so you can visit all of them for nothing), and great shopping.  I don’t like to shop, but Amsterdam has some really different and cool and local stuff.  Would be great for Christmas.  It rains.  And rains.  And rains.  Be prepared.  Dress comfortably and without a care for fashion.  No need, the Dutch are very accepting.  Go back any time.  It has New Orleans soul.

Romania.  Stop putting Timisoara at the end — beautiful city and spend more time there.  Eat local street food.  Restaurants don’t have their act together, so set your expectations correctly.  Salami bread and cheese and good vegetables go a long way.  Eat soup, they are masters of soup.  Remember to eat butter in Sibiu!  Unbelievable stuff — better than Ireland.  Spend more time in Sibiu.  Get lost there, feel the ancients, eat at La Dobrun. Hike in Transylvania.  Too beautiful not to.  Stay with Marcella in Harman and just hang around.  Visit farms and see how they grow food.  BUY SEEDS.  How have I managed not to do this twice!!

Sisters.  Make every effort, every day to figure out a way to spend more time with your sisters.  They will not be around forever, so go out of your way to spend time with them.  They are the most important people in the world to you and hurt yourself to make time to see them.  It’s worth the effort.  California is not that far.  Quincy is a just a car ride away.  You can get to Brookline, it’s not Oz.  Do it!

Remember your roots, remember your family, be thankful everyday.  I’m blessed beyond all reason that I can touch the past and see the future.

Take pictures of cats.  It makes everyone smile.  Except Lisa.

It’s taken me a while to write this post because it’s the most important to me.  We saved the best and worst for last.  The trip from Sibiu to the small village of  Macedonia was long and dreary.  It was a chilly overcast day, we left the beauty of Transylvania early in the morning (9 AM for this group) for the western side of Romania — The Banat.

When I was a girl my grandmother told me she came from a village in the Banat, and I had no idea what that meant.  In my child’s mind, I envisioned an idyllic village where the peasants wore traditional clothing, animals were pets,  and that she sat in mulberry trees eating until she was full.  I could see 7 sisters and brothers playing in meadows under a blue sky.

The drive was long, the natives restless.  We stopped for a quick detour to Corvin Castle in Hunedoara. You can see by the photo that the sky was angry.  This 12th century castle had a history of torture and was really a window into how oppressed the country has been for centuries.

Because we really needed to make time, we stopped for a quick sandwich at a gas station.  I bought 4 sandwiches for under $10.  The people here make an average of $1200 a month — this keeps everything very inexpensive, but it also keeps the people feeling pretty powerless.  We were all desperate for a bathroom about 2 hours after lunch and the only place we could find was a rough bar in a small town that Auntie Anna lived in with her first husband.  You can see that the building was a 19th century jewel that has fallen into despair, like much of the Banat.As we entered the very small village of Macedonia, everyone was feeling a bit depressed.  Marginal lunch, long drive, monotonous and despairing landscape.  But we were there.  The land my of grandmother.  The place she and Auntie Lena and Auntie Anna grew up in.  The church that they attended, the school that they went to, the roads that they played in, the place that was home.  I feel her so palpably when I’m there.  The village is desolate — everyone is gone, the animals are old, the geese run around in packs, the donkey and milk cow wander freely.  A old woman on a bike, another hunched over, a man in ragged clothing, a very small store and the church.

Still beautiful and majestic.  It was other worldly compared to the abandoned village.  I understand why my grandmother was so very religious after standing in her church.  I will never know what the village was like in 1900, but I’ve picked a house that could have been hers and now I can envision her early life.That bucolic image I had was a child’s fantasy.  Here was the wood and mud home that she lived in.  Those 7 brothers and sisters — only two survived childhood.  A hard life, a sad life.  Very much like the drive to the village, her young life was a difficult one.  Was she directing out visit?  Was she trying to give us a taste of what that life was like?  She is always with me, that much I know.  And here she is with my grandfather on their engagement, in the new world, with their new life.  Because of her, my sisters and I have had the most wonderful lives — lives she could have never imagined for us.  We have had every opportunity, every advantage, but most of all we have had her love and her guidance.  I hear her everyday in so many little ways and I am so very very grateful.  She set an example for all of us and I truly hope I can set the same example for my grandchildren.  I know that would make her happy.

We always get lucky with a festival in Sibiu. Last time the gypsies, this time Oktoberfest. Street vendors, rides, gorgeous food and music! A bit of shopping, lunch with the family and an evening in the square. Enjoy.