So, we’re not in Belfast, Northern Ireland, or overseas at all anymore for that matter, but this is honestly the first chance I’ve had to finish up our January travel posts! Hopefully a few of the pertinent details and memories remain!

If you only do one thing in Northern Ireland, it should be a Black Taxi tour. The past and present tensions in Ireland are so multi-faceted that they cannot be written about here with enough context or substance to bring understanding. Our two hour cab tour was intense and insightful, but so hard to get a grip on when you come from a place and a culture where you’ve just never experienced anything like this. At first I tried to understand all the sides of what was going on, was it Catholics vs. Protestants or Republicans vs. Loyalists. Who were the freedom fighters and did they want to be free from England or free from Ireland? Where did the IRA fit in? I’m afraid I still only have a vague understanding of what is referred to as The Troubles. What was clear, however, was the incredible oppression, pain and suffering that has been going on for generations. The “peace” wall, as it is strangely called, still remains and only recently have some mixed schools opened (that would be the mixing of Catholics and Protestants).

The U2 song, Where The Streets Have No Names, is about Belfast. We drove through this area, where street names were lacking to confuse and hinder “the enemy”. If you are interested in learning more about The Troubles, I recommend the link above for a start.

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While in Belfast, we stayed in a pretty cool little hostel (Lagan Backpackers) run by a South African who liked meat. Yup, that is just about all I can tell you about him! Every morning a great breakfast was included. We could choose from a variety of menus that more or less included eggs, sausage, bacon, beans, toast and tomato. One morning, I did however choose to just have the oatmeal option. The response I got from our host was “why would anyone want to eat this is beyond me. It has no meat.” That brought a good laugh, and I think maybe even agreement from Dan!

Other highlights in Belfast included drinks at The Crown Liquor Saloon, one of the best known pubs in Northern Ireland, and Irish dancing (yes, us dancing!) at Fibber Magees. Highlights would NOT include our evening at the hospital where it was confirmed that I had strep throat. For the record, the Irish dancing came the next night, so I couldn’t have been that sick right?!

St. Andrews is a university town in the county of Fife on the east coast of Scotland. It is home of one of the oldest and prestigious universities, and today St. Andrews is also known worldwide as the “home of golf” as it is the most frequent venue for The Open Championship. Not only did my friend Anya attend university here, but so did Prince William and soon to be Princess Kate! One of my favourite sites in St. Andrews was the ruins of the famous and once largest cathedral in Scotland. I must have an eye for a good shot because in doing a little extra reading about St. Andrews and the cathedral I’ve found my exact photo (in colour) at wikipedia. There is just something about ruins that is both sorrowful and stunning.

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Days here were filled with beautiful drives to North Berwick, Dunbar and St. Andrews, afternoons included cups of tea and sweets, and evenings of conversation beside the fire with sherry in hand were warming. How fun to stay with a friend’s parents and learn new and wonderful things about your friend!

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Dan and I had the most amazing three day tour of the Highlands. Each day our eyes went wild, and therefore also our camera, trying to take in each new landscape!

We aren’t really guided tour people, but with such a short time available to see Scotland we thought it best to let the experts help us find our way around cliffs, Highland cows, lochs, goats and other Highland treasures. We selected the three day Isle of Skye tour with Rabbie’s and let me be clear, it did not disappoint! The first day of the trip took us from Edinburgh through Glencoe, the Lochaber region around Fort William, Eilean Donan Castle and over the sea to Skye, where we spent our two nights in the picturesque harbour town of Portree. Dan and I opted to stay in a Bed and Breakfast while in Portree. Our host, Ian McKinnon was delightfully welcoming. Each morning, lovely breakfasts of a fried egg, beans, tomato, sausage, yogurt, toast and coffee were prepared. We were even given black pudding the second day! I was proud of myself for taking a single bite, but Dan polished off his whole pudding! For the inexperienced, black pudding is a type of sausage made from dried blood.  I accidentally kept referring to it as blood sausage, which would be much more informative on a menu!

For our second day, we focused on exploring Skye including the wild north of the island, the Old Man of Storr, the mountain pass of the Quiraing and Skye’s most westerly point at Neist. The views at the Neist lighthouse were incredible. That day was extremely windy, rainy and there was plenty of mist and fog, but it just added to the fun and mystery of the landscapes.

Finally, day three took us through the Cuillin mountains to the mainland, past the 5 Sisters of Kintail, on to Loch Ness, through the central Highlands, Pitlochry and returned us to Edinburgh. Loch Ness is the largest loch in Scotland based on volume. It is 600 feet deep and 23.5 miles long. Nellie was obviously a bit moody that day and decided not to socialize.

There were many chances along the way each day to get out of our Mercedes van for pictures, coffees, lunches and washroom breaks. I appreciated the plenty of leg room the van afforded me and how small (13) our group was. Questions were always welcome and I couldn’t imagine a more knowledgeable tour guide than Richard McKay. The group of us were quite international with another Canadian, two Australians, two Singaporeans, two Koreans, three Americans and one Chinese along with us.

This post features only a small selection of our Highland photography and we hope you enjoy. Remember to breathe deep the fresh, salty air as you take in these scenes.

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If I could say a wee bit about Scotland, it might include descriptions such as: rugged beauty, a rainbow of greens, cool stones, warming scotch, a love of tatties, gingers, tartans, all things fried, sweeties and bag pipes. Really though, there is much more to express from our short, 10 day stay in Scotland. This post is solely dedicated to Edinburgh.

What an outstanding opportunity Daniel and I had to stay with the family of a good friend while in Scotland! We were overwhelmed with the hospitality of Neil Bisset and Rachel Way in Edinburgh, and with Muriel and Ian Bisset in Haddington. A heart-felt thank you to each of them and to Anya for her plentiful and thoughtful emailing about all things Scottish and especially for connecting us with her lovely family.

We had to smile when we found out we were staying with a Scot who was indeed very “ginger”, though I’m sorry Neil I know you don’t like to be called that, and a Welsh who is now selling kilts and hip flasks in Edinburgh! As you already know from Dan’s previous post, our first evening included a trip to the local chippy where we found that indeed Scots really do love their deep fried foods! However, that first evening we also took part in the torchlight procession which commenced Hogmanay, the Scots word for New Years. Scotland takes their New Years seriously with Hogmanay lasting a mere four days. The culminating event for us was the Street Party on Dec. 31st. We enjoyed the live music, dancing and fireworks!

The Royal Mile was where we found many laughs popping into the oh-so touristy souvenir shops, a tummy warming whisky tour, the biggest baked potato known to man (or woman), the cutest little shop for cream tea (a pot of tea served with a scone, thick cream and jam) and the cherry on top, Edinburgh Castle.

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I loved the sign on the baked potato shop: Hottest Tattie In Town. Dan had his potato filled with cheddar, sour cream and pineapple where I went for the more traditional cheddar and beans. There must have been at least 20 different fillings available!

To wash these potatoes down we proceeded up the mile to The Whisky Experience. Well, we both had an experience all right! I can confidently say that Dan really enjoyed his. I mean, look again at the photo and note the longing and love in his eyes! Did you know that 2% of the whisky evaporates from the barrels each year during the maturing process? They call this the angel’s share. The most interesting part of this tour for me, was putting my underdeveloped sniffer to work in the classroom component of the tour. There are four main regions producing Scotch Whisky in Scotland and each of these regions’ whiskies are distinct in flavour and smell. Very fruity notes are found in the Speyside region whiskies where an Islay region whisky is characterized by a very deep, robust, smoky, and quite peaty flavour. The Lowland’s produce a malt whisky that is quite light, mellow and citrusy, where the Highland’s malt whiskies are typically the sweetest with either floral and honey notes or vanilla. The learning was quite fun for me. I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy an interactive, colour coded wheel that you could scratch & sniff and then open for a picture of a banana to represent the fruitiness of the region’s whisky! Dan couldn’t stop laughing at how repelling I actually found the artificial banana smell. With all the fruits available, why would you choose banana to represent the fruity notes in the whisky? I can still smell the banana…perhaps they should re-name the tour to the Scottish Banana Experience

Off to explore the Highlands now!

Here are a few moments of our way too short time together.

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London is a mix of old and new, tradition and avant-garde. From romantic black taxis to red double decker buses and telephone booths. From “get your elbows out” Piccadilly Circus to “lose yourself” cobblestone alleyways, this seems to be a city that will either draw you in with a surprising fascination or send you off, thankful that your visit was briefly efficient. I must say, without expectation to do so, we quite enjoyed lingering here and taking London in like a spouse; they are their own person, don’t spend your efforts on trying to change them but enjoy the beautiful moments they abundantly offer and move on to a cozy little pub when you don’t like how they control the remote.

I wouldn’t say that London is beautiful, but there is beauty to be found in this city. It’s the kind of city that has a lot of clout. The kind of city where you can walk around a random corner and find a plaque that says “Sir Isaac Newton used to live in a house on these premises”. The kind of city that can just shrug its shoulders at you and casually say: “I don’t really have to do anything special to impress you, you’re impressed already.”

London was never a place high up on our list of destinations to get to, however, I think we both assumed that travel was bound to take us here at some point. It was friends, or rather friends that are nearly family, that drew us to London. London was the entry point into the rest of our UK travels and how wonderful to meet friends for Christmas in London as a segway between living in France and traveling for a month.

What a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we had with Paul, Louanne, Bryan, Shirley-Anne, baby Katharine, and friend Julie! In these couple days of holidays there was a lot of excellent company, church services at All-Souls where Paul and Louanne work, and finely festive food.

Sightseeing highlights included the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, walks along the Thames river, Trafalgar Square, Indian food on Brick Lane, the National Gallery, Buckingham Place (sorry, there was no great photo to share here), Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the infamous underground and double decker buses, and the Tate Modern Museum.

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We have one final night in London next week to end our time away before we fly home to Vancouver. We’ve saved an evening out at the theatre to see Les Miserables!

Also, we sure loved the Pret A Manger sandwiches!

Keep in mind you can dodge a lot of tolls by taking back roads, if you have the time. Given that our time was limited, we almost always took the quickest road, which is generally the highest cost.

Villefranche-sur-Mer (Nice) to St. Paul de Vence
€1.40 + €1.40 + €0.60 + €0.60
Total €4.00 (Approx $CAD 5.60)

Villefranche-sur-Mer (Nice) to Beynac (Sarlat)
€1.40 + €2.80 + €13.20 + €4.00 + €5.00 + €2.20 + €20.30 + €5.10
Total €54.00 (Approx $CAD 75.00)

Beynac (Sarlat) to San Sebastian
€3.20 + €2.20 + €1.60 + €1.95
Total €8.95 (Approx $CAD 12.50)

San Sebastian to Agde
€1.95 + €1.60 + €2.20 + €15.90 + €1.70 + €14.50
Total €37.85 (Approx $CAD 53.00)

Remind me never to complain about the toll on the Golden Ears Bridge.

Our first night, Rachel walked us down to the local “chippy” (the heavenly storehouse of All Things Battered And Deep Fried™), for our first “experience”.

Oh, you want 1/2 pizza? You meant you wanted 1/2 a pizza dipped in batter and deep-fried, right?

Order “hamburger and fries” and you get a hamburger patty that has been battered and deep fried, served alongside fries.

Order a “double cheeseburger and fries” and you get two hamburger patties that have been battered and deep-fried, with cheese stuck between them, then they batter and deep-fry the whole thing again for good measure.

You don’t want a pair of sausages, you want a pair of battered and deep-fried sausages with brown sauce and chips.

Deep fried mars bars are very much a reality as well (I haven’t had one here yet, but I did have one at an Irish Pub in Singapore about 4 years ago).

I just wanted to post this for the record, so that anyone questioning the Scots commitment to deep-fried goodness can put their hearts at ease (I’m sure there’s a pun there somewhere).

Update: We’ve had inquiries as to whether said deep-fried food is good. All I can say with certainty is that I’ve highly enjoyed all the deep-fried tidbits we’ve tasted to date.

Our train from Agde to Paris was quite uneventful, except for maybe my surprise when the bag at my feet moved after a still 3 hours and the nose of a dog poked out! At Gare de Lyon, in Paris, we quickly grabbed a taxi, instead of the previously planned metro, due to the late arrival of our train and made our way swiftly to Gare du Nord to make our train to Brussels. After a quick trip into Brussels we jumped on a local train which took us to Bruges in about 50 minutes. Dan enjoyed some chit chat with a local on this train ride!

Wow, was it cold, dark and snowy when we arrived in Bruges! After only one wrong turn and rolling our suitcases through the slush for several kilometers, we arrived red nosed and hungry at our beautiful hotel. I was so thankful that Dan had splurged for this hotel to begin our trip with rather than a hostel. Don’t get me wrong, we do enjoy our fair share of hostels, but I was ready for a little dry, warm and cozy luxury!

What a fantastic little place Bruges is! I can’t stress this enough. It was absolutely magical. Accurately, it has been called the Venice of the North with its canals, bridges, stone streets and old architecture. Daniel and I loved our many long and snowy walks. Most of the photography was taken on such romantic walks.

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Favourite foods in Bruges included Beef Carbonnade (Flemish Stew), Waterzooi (Flemish Chicken Stew), fries, mussels, bratwurst with mustard and onions at the outdoor market, beer and waffles. Oh my goodness, how did I forget chocolate? I guess it just needed a sentence of its own. Dan and I decided on our first of 5 days in Bruges that our time in Belgium would be best experienced if we visited (and tasted) something from a different chocolate shop each day. I am proud to say we were successful in this endeavor.

One afternoon in the grocery store, a local Belgian man asked us where we were from. Upon finding out we were Canadian, he dragged us out of the store to take us on a short walk. He insisted we needed to go knock on the door just ahead because there were Canadians living there, too! He was sure they would like to meet us and us them. He might have been right, but we declined (only after he’d headed off to do the rest of his shopping).

I don’t think many people come to Belgium without doing some serious beer tasting. One of our walks just happened to take us to the door of the only brewery left in medieval Bruges. Lucky us! De Halve Maan (The Half Moon) has been brewing since 1856 and is now the last of about thirty breweries that existed within the walls of Bruges in 1900. After a tour of the brewery we enjoyed refreshing ourselves with the fruity, easy drinking Brugse Zot. It is brewed with four different kinds of malt and contains 6% alcohol. The second beer we enjoyed with our pub lunch became our favourite and a couple bottles made their way to London for our Christmas gathering. Sorry to those of you back home, they did not make it any further along our travels! The beer I write of is Straffe Hendrik (Strong Henry), a bitter Tripel at 9%.

Dan and I also spent two nights in Brussels, but we were not captivated by this city. More fries, more waffles and an interesting character in the pub and we were literally running to catch our Eurostar to London on Christmas Eve morning. Our pub “friend”, Mac or Mike or maybe it was Mickie was just released from prison for some sort of robbery with a gun or at least that’s what I could make out using my newly honed, and unfortunately mostly kitchen related, French skills. Nope, we would not like to join you and your friends for another drink.

Did you know in Belgium you can find either Brussels Waffles or Street Waffles (also known as Luikse)? If you ever find yourself in such a dilemma over which to order, always choose the Street Waffle (Luikse). It is the heavier and sticker of the two. Need I say more?