Me in a kilt. And I just want to say, that the concept of wearing a short skirt, in FREEZING WEATHER, is something that could Only come from Europe.
At the train station in Aberdeen, where it is snowing.
At the train station in Keith.
At the Strathisla Distillery, where Chivas Regal is made.
In front of Loch Ness
So, here's my post of pics from Dublin and Wicklow. Some artsy stuff with some regular stuff.
First, Dublin-Walking down the street, a pic of a door knocker (Friday)
This is, of course one of Ireland's great assets. Too bad they have to pasteurize it before it gets to the US. I'm convinced that is why it tastes sooooo awful at home, but so marvelous in Ireland. (Friday)
And, to make up for a picture of beer, here's an exterior of St. Patricks Cathederal. It's Anglican. I thought you had to be Catholic to have a cathederal, but apparently I was wrong.
Here's a flower at St. Stephens Green park in Dublin (Friday)
Allright the rest of the Dublin pics are from Sunday. Let me introduce this one by saying that there are loads of tanning beds in Ireland. And, I suppose that if there is such a large tanning bed business, there's probably a large fake-tanning business too. And what better way to target all parts of a market. This is a window display for people who have opted for cheap fake tanning, and want to see how their clothes will look on their orange skin. (this was taken Sunday morning around 11:15, just after my trip to the Jameson Irish Whiskey distillery)
And did I mention that I am now an 'Official Jamesons Irish Whiskey Taste Tester' I don't think this was the best idea on Easter Sunday morning. Around 10:15a.m.
Right, so I did manage to have a little too much at the distillery, but this sign still confused me. It must be french, right? C'mon.. Le Mon?? What is that?
Then, I stepped back, and felt like an idiot. Lemon. Duh.
So, after another pint of Guinness to recover from the shock of LeMon Jelly, I thought that I should take some B&W's. Here's one.
This is a display in Christs Church Cathedral in Dublin, called 'The Cat and the Rat.' Pipe Organs will never sound the same.
Sorry the pic is blurry. There was very little light. It wasn't the beer 'cause I had sobered up by this time.
Allright, and here's the exterior of the church. To make up for all my mentions of whiskey and beer.
While walking around, I explored the campus of Trinity College, which has the MOST AMAZING library of old books I have ever seen. This is the picture of a slab I felt like taking a pic of.
Here's a pic of the library. This is the Old Library building, more than 200,000 volumes. I also got to see the 'Book of Kells' which was written in the 10th century. It is an illuminated copy of the 4 gospels. Wow. That's old. Buildings don't survive as long as that book has. No pic of it, though. Not enough light. :(
(P.S. This picture is of a poster (obviously) so even though I took it... I'm not sure what the copyright laws are.)
Dublin Castle, I think the plant in the foreground is a "tulip tree"... but don't quote me.
Another shot of Dublin castle, the part that isn't blue and yellow.
Why on earth would you want a blue castle? It's just ugly.
Just a cool shot.
Aah, now we come to the day tour on Saturday. On our way south along Irelands East coast. Here is a place where James Joyce stayed when down in Dublin, visiting friends, and where the first couple chapters of Ulysses was written. I saw people getting ready to scuba dive in the area. I didn't know what they were going to dive for, but if people dive in Lake Travis, then diving is possible anywhere.
St. Kevins Church and tower, in Glendeloch, "valley of 2 lakes". It's old--13th century old. What else can I say?
Somewhere near St. Kevins Church
This shot doesn't really convey the atmosphere, but I very much understood why the Irish believe in fairies and leprechauns who kidnapped people. It was eerie.
And, here's a shot of some random tourist, standing in front of some amazing scenery. It's all private land, owned by someone in the Guinness Family. It's called Guinness Lake, 'cause it looks like Guinness
And, adjacent to the lake, this is the valley where Braveheart was filmed. The little river and 2 trees by themselves is the location where the village was. I haven't seen the flick, so I can't really tell.
This little homestead is on the other side of the lake, it's where the rich Guinness descendant who owns all this land lives. Hm. I'm jealous.
So, sorry, I've decided that the world is a better place if photos of me wearing a kilt are not plastered all over the internet. So, it's gone. I just don't feel like I was making Earth a better place. Hopefully, I can add some pics later today to replace the ones of me. But I'm busy right now, so you'll just have to wait and see.
No pics today, too busy, just a link to that photo that I mentioned in my previous post--the creepy shed. Nathan took it. Anyway, here it is.
creepy shed thing
So, in continuation of this morning's post, here are a few pictures from Keith and the Strathisla distilery. The reason it's the 'home of Chivas Regal' is because they use 40 different Scotch Whiskys to make the blend, but the Strathisla whisky is the 'heart' of the blend. Whatever. So, here you go, a visual tour of 1/2 of the city of Keith. Graveyard pics and the church to follow. Maybe tomorrow.
Oh, to recap the weekend, I'm posting a little out of order. On Saturday we went to Edinburgh, Sunday was Keith and Inverness (where Loch Ness is). I just didn't wanna sort through the mass of Edinburgh pics, so Keith is first.
Here's a normal, nice-looking house. With some interesting bushes...
That, are actually a little creepy. Like goblin heads watching you.
Milton Tower
This is all any of us will probably ever know about it. Except me. I also know there is an iron gate on the door, and people have thrown trash into it. Fie.
Here's a little river that runs through the city, and a distillery in the background. We didn't get to tour this one, though, so I don't know what brand it makes. I think it also makes Strathisla, but I'm not sure.
Here, at last, Strathisla. See the previous post for a photo of me in front of the sign.
And, a shot of the warehouse in back of the distillery. There are actually about 40 warehouses, and since the distillery makes 1.5 million Liters (or, Litres, if you're from the UK), they are big warehouses. It's just, basically, a creepy shed, and looks like a photo that Nathan took of a shed in the middle of the night during a meteor shower. I think it was him. It might have been me. Anyway, it's still creepy, like something out of the Wizard of Oz.
Allright, well that's more typing than I think I've ever done, so I'm done for the day.
Okay, sorry it's taken me so long. To make up for it, here are pics from the last 2 weeks. All the way from the Middle East to Europe
Here's a shot of our Hotel in Kuwait
Kuwait Oil Company hq building
Some random building I saw in Kuwait, don't know what it's called.
Leaving the office one day after work, sorry about the glare on the window.
A shot of Kuwait city, along the seaside. The little funky tower things are called Liberation Towers. They were being built in 90 when Saddam invaded, with a different name, but were renamed when he was kicked out.
The pool at the Hilton Resort in Kuwait, with an oil tanker in the background.
This was an amazing car night. You can see a row of 6 Rolls Royces in the parking lot across the street, next to a couple Mercedes Benz's and a Range Rover. We also saw 3 Lamborghinis, a Ferrari, 2 Bentleys, 2 Asten Martens, another Rolls and a Maserati that night, in addition to all the normal Range Rovers Mercedes' and other random cars.
One afternoon leaving work.
Another shot, from the 2nd floor of our hotel, looking into the Persian Gulf
Amsterdam is a WEIRD place. Here, a public toilet. No, thanks, not for me.
The sun on a canal in Amsterdam. This is a canal that, could the Franks look out their window, they would have seen in the afternoons.
This is the Anne Frank house. Where the Franks lived hiding from the Nazis. It's the split-level building on the left, with all the white trim.
Another shot of Anne Franks' house, with WesterKirk in the background.
A neat shot of WesterKirk
My second day of work here in Aberdeen. I love snow!
Shots from my walk to work
George, my coworker. Look out Ireland, here we come!
Another shot of my walk to work in the morning on Tuesday.
Tuesday afternoon. All the snow was gone. :(
Tuesday morning, so you can compare shots of the river.
If you have a weak stomach, don't scroll down. (David, you should stop here). When I wanna gross people out, I just squeeze the skin on my head. It's pretty weird looking.
Allright well that's it for now. This weekend I'm going to Inverness and Edinburgh, and next weekend Ireland. So, more to follow.
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