Nessie

[This post was written by Claire]

Hello there, everyone! Here I am in bonnie Scotland! Yesterday, our bus tour took us right up to Loch Ness. So now, along with the gargoyles, I have become close friends with Nessie the Loch Ness monster. She is really delightful and sweet, and not at all vicious. Actually, she kind of looks like a gargoyle--except her scales are plaid patterned.

In other news, I continue to be amazed at the sheer audacity of those fluffy white creatures I mentioned before, sheep. In Skye, there are several VERY narrow one-lane roads, and navigating them in a big blue bus would be difficult enough even without the sheep that randomly cross the road right in front of you. They're not scared at all, and they just plod right across barely a foot from the front of the bus, causing the driver to slam on the brakes and honk. I don't really see why they enjoy doing this so much. They simply chew their grass on one side of the road, then solemnly cross to the other side, ignoring the honking, lower their heads and continue chewing grass. Frankly, it baffles me.

Well, that's all for now! Farewell! And Nessie sends her regards! By the way, she apologizes that she could not be in the photo above, but the flash of the camera bothers her eyes, which are sensitive after centuries spent in the murky loch.

Thursday, Isle of Skye, Scotland

A rain-free day on Skye, which apparently is something rare. We even saw the sun peeking out through the clouds. The landscape - stark, striking, yet very calming too. We were driving along the coast, inland and out to the coast again. (When I say "we," I mean the bus driver - no driving for us yet on this trip). Our bus is small, so we feel pretty up-close to the scenery, and we're out and walking a lot. It was very cool that one of our walks was in the "John Muir Preserve."


Predominant themes include green but mostly bare hills; side waterfalls coming into the lochs or the sea; heather and thistle; and of course sheep, sheep, sheep. We love seeing sheep openly grazing on the side of the road and occasionally running across it. (Black-faced sheep photo by request...) Overall, we are feeling the DSL (Deep Scottish Love) all around, from the landscape and the people here.


We've finished dinner and are waiting for live music to begin, hoping it starts before they kick out Claire (and everyone else under 16) at 10:00. We've learned that "Wi Fi here" sometimes means "Temperamental Wi Fi here, when it feels like being connected," so we hope to be able to post again soon.

Why Sheep Are Ridiculous

Hi everyone! Claire here! Here we are in the United Kingdom. We started out in a lovely little bed and breakfast in Painswick, a town in the Cotswolds. There were plenty of sheep there, which are absolutely ridiculous animals, the way they look so white and fluffy and then make that atrocious bleating noise! How much do you love sheep?

Anyway, there were also some great hiking opportunities there, including the Cotswolds Way, a path of 102 miles that many people hike over the course of a week. We hiked two miles of it--only a hundred to go! However, we hiked about six to eight miles total on various trails, going through the towns of Cranham and Sheepscombe. We hiked three or four miles to Cranham, expecting to have lunch at the local pub there. So, of course, it was closed--because it was Monday, and why would the only pub in town be open on a Monday? Seems like we were the only people who didn't know this useful little piece of information. Luckily, the new owners of the pub drove up at that very minute, and feeling guilty that the pub wasn't open when we had hiked all that way, they gave us a ride to Sheepscombe. We enjoyed a very nice meal in the Butcher's Arms pub there and then hiked back to Painswick.

Now we are in Edinburgh, home of J.K. Rowling. (OMG!) Edinburgh apparantly has been frequented by many authors over the years, including Jules Verne and Arthur Conan Doyle. I was tickled pink to discover that Doyle was born on my half-birthday--is that an omen or what? The owner of our B&B is also an aspiring writer. Edinburgh is a lovely city, and yes, I can confirm that when you arrive at the train station, you do indeed see a castle and hear bagpipes right away. Note to self--learn how to play the bagpipes.

Now we're off to the Isle of Skye for a few days, where we don't know about internet access availability. We'll post if possible, but if not, we'll write more when we get back to Edinburgh on Friday.

I was on a Paris train, I emerged in London rain…

Travel day yesterday. We rode the Metro to Gare du Nord in Paris and then the EuroStar to London, the first time in England for Jim and Claire (it wasn't raining when we emerged). Thanks to a 30-minute delay approaching the Chunnel, then construction on the tube that forced a detour as we moved from one London train station to another for our trip to the Cotswolds, we had to hurry a bit. But we are now in the town of Painswick, which epitomizes “quaint” every time we turn a corner. We explored the town and a few “public way” paths along the outskirts last night. Today we’ll walk between towns in the area, and, according to one guidebook, our main duty will be to decide how much clotted cream to add to our scones as we sit in the pub between walks.

So we saw several train and tube stations in London but nothing of the city – that comes later. Meanwhile, it’s hard to imagine a greater contrast between Paris and Painswick. From jostling crowds and lights and sounds all the time, to quiet and dark (we had to make sure we left from dinner in time to make it back to the B & B in time, with no streetlights here). We almost felt like we had to whisper while walking down the streets. But as Claire pointed out, she has now been in two towns in her life where (a) you can stand in buildings that date from before 1600 and (b) you have gargoyles on every church – Paris and Painswick. So there are more similarities than one might think.

Bonus points to the first person who recognizes the reference in this post’s title (without Googling it).

Vinegar Water and Gargoyles

Hello everyone! This is Claire again! Just wrapping up the Paris part of our trip...so, there were a few highlights that I would like to mention.

First of all, I made a new best friend. He's one of the many amazing gargoyles on top of Notre Dame. I liked him the best, though, because he was fun to draw. I sketched a picture of him, which was pretty fun. Here's a photo. Some of the other gargoyles looked like lions, eagles, and even goats and elephants!

Secondly, I'm not sure if I took to French food. I mean, aside from the croissants, baguettes, cheeses, apple pastries, etc. It seems to be a specialty in Paris to drink vinegar--since that's what one waiter brought us in a restaurant when we asked for more water. :)

Lastly, I simply had to mention the spiral staircases. They are EVERYWHERE. And they were waiting to ambush us. To get to the second floor of our Bed and Breakfast, to get to the top of Notre Dame, and, of course, to get to the top of the Arc de Triumph. But wait, you say, there's an elevator! Yeah, there is, if you're lucky enough to get there when it's not broken down. Because in that case, you have to take the stairs. All the way.

But I must say, being at the top of the Arc de Triumph at night, with stars shining above and all of Paris spread out below, just in time to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle in its nighttime light display, made it all worth it.

Saturday morning, Paris

Saturday morning. Waiting in line outside Notre Dame, within the first 10 people after getting here an hour early. By 9:30, the line is up to almost 100 people. Our mission: to see the gargoyles up close. They have been calling to us, from their perches up on the flying buttresses and the towers. We can see them from that distance, but we need to be up close and personal. Yesterday, we got here at 10:00, only to face at least a 2-hour wait. But today we’re ready.

Yesterday, we did the museum scene, with Louvre, de l’Orangerie, and drive-by sightings at d’Orsay. Claire spent an hour sketching at de L’Orangerie, which we all found very restful. The weather has been great, and the first two nights we were out until 11:00, before getting in by 9:30 last night. We’ve seen many of the required sights, but some of the best times have been the walks in the evening. We took a Bateau Mouche ride the first night, in a little bit of rain, but with great views and a beautiful sunset. We walked up the steep, tight circular staircase of the Arc de Triomphe the second night and got to the top just in time for the sparkling of the Eiffel Tower. Don’t know what it’s really called, but on the hour at night, they light up the tower with sparkles for about 5 minutes. Not quite like the millennial fireworks off the tower, but pretty awesome, especially with the sun setting and the almost-full moon rising. Last night, we wandered around Ile St. Louis after dinner, in search of the famous Berthillon ice cream. We’d heard things shut down in summer, but an ice cream shop? Never fear, at least half a dozen places were open serving genuine Berthillon’s ice cream, and it was good. Walking back across Ile de le Cite, the sun was setting behind Notre Dame, and beautiful again.

Today is our last full day here. After our appointment with the gargoyles, we might go up the Eiffel Tower, visit Musee Marmottan, or ride out to Montmartre to see the artists.

Nous sommes arrivé

Here we are in PARIS!!!!!! We just arrived and are absolutely exhausted but very excited. We're eating at a small bistro just up the street from our Bed & Breakfast. They have great croissants, and I'm having my first Parisian crepe! It's kind of rainy and gray, but at least it isn't ninety degrees outside. --Claire

Jim's bike trip

I biked from Duquesne, PA (near Pittsburgh) to Cumberland, MD with my friend Charlie. We biked July 10-12 and had a great time. The weather was great nearly throughout, although we got a bit wet on the last day, right near the Eastern Continental Divide

The trail should be completed all the way to Pittsburgh within a year or so, and in Cumberland at the other end, it already links to the C & O Canal towpath - so next time, we could ride from Pittsburgh to DC. Maybe.

More photos coming.

Initial post

This is just to see what things look like. Here's Claire with her cousin Rory after the Bat Mitzvah.