Scotland, Part Deux

Sunday night, I turned in and quickly found myself completely wound up and unable to sleep. I think it was a combination of things - the time difference, excitement and unsettlement about Ireland (Mary was unexpectedly called into work during the time we were going to go to Ireland - so I wasn't sure what to do)... so I hopped online and started looking at the different airlines' deals on airfare. Airfare in the UK/Europe is CHEAP. Especially if you book in advance. There are tons of low-budget airlines (kind of like Southwest) - ie: RyanAir, BMI, EasyJet, which sometime have specials on flights as killer as 5 Euro for a flight! (And sometimes you can get fares tax-free too!).

I had narrowed my choices down to Turkey, Greece, Majorca, Spain or Morocco. About that time, my friend Amy appeared online and we started chatting. She was ready to hop on a plane and come on out! LOL. (She's a travel nurse between contracts, so had a bit of time on her hands). Well, nothing was really working out in a way either she or I was comfortable with, so we didn't settle anything that night. We decided to wait until the next night and figure it out. No biggie. (ha!)

Monday we went into Glasgow. I was so exhausted at this point from Jetlag and from not sleeping on Sunday night (AT ALL) that I was zoned out with a stomach ache and talking babble (says Mary!)... We ate at a dive of a pub called Fat Boab's (pronounced Fat Bobs).

My lunch at Fat Boabs - Minced Beef and Mash. Looks gross - but was pretty tasty!

Look how crazy my eyes look! That's what sleep deprivation and jet lag does to me.

We drove around Glasgow a bit and then went back to Mary & Luis' flat.

Gotta love Glasgow's version of the Apple Store!

That evening, I tried to figure out an itinerary with Amy. I was back and forth between just throwing in the towel and going to Ireland on my own and trying to make Rome work (by then, I was pretty sure that I wanted to go to Rome the most, and Amy found a fantastic deal on a last-minute, round-trip ticket from SFO [$550]. By this point, I was a blathering idiot. Nothing made sense to me anymore and I was quite upset. I nearly booked a flight to Rome from London (not remembering that I was actually in Glasgow and wouldn't have time to make it to London for that flight!) So we didn't resolve anything again because I just couldn't function. Sorry Amy! I had to call it a night and I completely crashed - slept for 12 hours straight!

The next morning, I felt considerably better. And I felt much calmer about the whole situation. Rome was a peaceful decision to make and I was very happy with it. So I gave Amy a call at 8am - midnight back in California. Woke Amy up (she had instructed me to!) and as soon as her head cleared, we both booked our flights to Rome and I booked a hostel. Four hours later, she was on her way to the airport and off to meet me! I LOVE having great travel friends who work the same way I do... gotta love spur of the moment things that work out.

That settled, Tuesday, Mary and I went in to Edinburgh (pronounced Edinbra, with a rolled R). We went via train - East Kilbride to Glasgow and then Glasgow to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is a GORGEOUS old city! It's just so... SCOTTISH!  There were statues of dudes in Kilts and castles and cold, damp, overcast weather. It was a perfect day in Scotland! 

Statue of a dude in a Kilt.

Along the Royal Mile.

Fun house mirrors! mmmm... flattering!

Mary and I took off up the hill towards the main castle, Edinburgh Castle. There are two Castles in Edinburgh - Edinburgh castle and the Queen's Castle. One is at the top of the Royal Mile and the other at the bottom. It's a pretty cool set-up. Both castles are at least still partially in use by Royalty and government to this day. 

A Scottish Ballerina... hehehe.

We had a blast touring Edinburgh Castle and even got to see the Crown Jewels. Mary, always so curious and congenial, struck up a great conversation with the guard in the crown jewel room and he took it upon himself to give us a great, detailed guide of the jewels, swords and stone of destiny (which is still used at every coronation of royalty - it is put in a compartment under the throne during the coronation so that the person being crowned can sit on it). Pretty cool. No crown Jewel pix, however, as you're not allowed to photograph them!

After Edinburgh Castle, we headed down the Royal Mile towards the Queen's Castle.

You just can't go to Scotland without getting a photo with a bagpiper!

We stopped off for Lunch at a great little Pub! This time it was Fish and Chips, which also came with Mashed Peas. A very proper Scottish Lunch - and VERY Tasty, fresh fish. Yum!

Mary outside our Lunch Pub - The Deacon Brothers' Tavern

And then we were off again on foot toward the Queen's Castle.

We found this gorgeous little cemetary covered in pink blossoms. Kodak Moment!

Back on Sunday I purchased a Scottish Trust pass to get me into the Castles and Attractions we were planning on visiting. It was a better deal to buy the pass than pay for the attractions separately. Well, once we arrived at the Queen's Castle, we found out that it wasn't actually included in the pass I'd bought! Sad! We opted not to pay an extra 10 Pounds to see the castle and just walked around the perimeter snapping photos instead. (I don't know about you, but Scotland's bonny history isn't at the top of my scintillating list of fun... for Castles I'd go to France, Ireland... places with a bit more romance!)

The Queen's Castle

A Beautiful Bluff sits along the back of Edinburgh, covered in those Yellow flowers...

Then we made our way back to the train station and headed on home!

Went to bed at a decent hour (after watching "A Good Year" with Russell Crowe, to prep for Rome [even though it's set in Provence... lol]) and then off to the Airport for Rome on Wednesday!

Scotland! Part 1

Amidst all of the Jet-lag and being swept away by Rome, I've neglected to blog about my FABULOUS time in Scotland... Truly, Scotland is gorgeous and I had great adventures with Mary and Luis - Thanks so much guys! You rock!

So I know that the blogs about my vacation are now officially all wonky - completely out of order, but here goes anyway:

I arrived in London on the 25th of April, after flying all night and losing 8 hours. I went through customs, immigration, collected my fantastic backpacking pack (seriously, I love traveling with a backpack instead of a suitcase!) and then proceeded back to the airport check-in, checked in for my flight to Glasgow and was off again! Glasgow is part of the UK, so I didn't have to go through immigration again (yay!), but I did get another lovely stamp in my passport. And off I went! Mary's husband Luis picked me up and took me to their flat. Mary was at work for a few more hours. So I got settled in and had a chance to get to know Luis, who is just lovely! He made some dinner and then we went and picked up Mary from work. Yay! I've known Mary now for eight years. We first met on the MS Maasdam, where we both worked with the kids. Since then we've kept in touch and have even been roommates at one point in Utah. I ADORE Mary! She has the best attitude about life and is just a completely wonderful person. And to top it all off, she's absolutely gorgeous and ridiculously photogenic. Killer combo!

We spent the evening catching up, chatting, watching british tele and just having fun!

Sunday the 26th of April, after going to church with Mary and Luis (and meeting some more fantastic people whilst enjoying a "Come to Jesus" kind of Sunday in her ward), we went to a cute little ruined castle called Bothwell Castle. It was just outside of East Kilbride, where they live. It was beautiful! After touring the inside of the castle, we took a country walk on a path down by the river. What an day!

Spring in Scotland is later than everywhere else! Bothwell Castle in the distance.

Mary & Luis

We found the Toilet

Busy doing touristy things!

Off on our Country Walk

How often do you get a chance to frolick in a field of bluebells?

Great little church we found on the way home back through East Kilbride

Fat and Happy on my little detour!

So today I was supposed to high-tail it to Ireland with my lovely friend Mary, who lives in Scotland. Except Mary ended up having to work! Tragedy! So after a night of insomnia, followed by a day of being completely inept and incomprehensible (seriously!), I ended up buying a very last-minute ticket to La Cita Eterna, ROME!

I have wanted to visit Rome ever since the age of 12, when we studied it in school: it fascinated me! So, though the idea of traveling to Ireland was mildly appealing, when my travel buddy fell through, I just couldnt help myself. (This Italian keyboard is freaking crazy. I cant find the apostrophe key and the parenthesis keys are all wrong! So no correct punctuation for you! Mi dispiace - sorry)

So I did it. And to top it off, my friend Amy, who is a travel nurse back in the states and between contracts decided to fly out and join me! She bought her flight 4 hours before she had to leave. It was THAT last minute. And with just one minor glitch (I had to fly from Glasgow to London to catch my flight to Rome and didnt know there were two glasgow airports - I ended up at the wrong one too late to run to the other, so I had to buy another flight to London,... ughhh, but SO worth it!)

While waiting to disembark the plane, the guy behind me was being really loud, I turned and glanced at him and somehow we struck up a conversation. His name was Giovanni (Of course it is!), but he's a natural-born American, from SACRAMENTO, living in Texas. In Rome because he owns an art-gallery there. I'm not trying to sound stuck-up, but the guy didn't take his eyes off me. I think he would have eaten me up with a spoon if he could have. It was crazy. He gave me his card and asked me to email him when I got back to the states. Then he told me "I really like your energy." (HELLO! Could you be any more Berkely-hippie???) That comment pretty much lost my interest in him, but he was way cute and it was fun... I mean, when in Rome, right?

I finally made it through customs, picked up my bag and Amy was there waiting. She was completely knackered (worn out). She'd flown all night and had some fun adventures along the way - first of all, she sat next to two Italian brothers who lived in Philladelphia (her flight connected there) who invited the both of us to come with them to real-live Italian wedding! Unfortunately, my flight didn't arrive until 8 hours after hers did, and the fratelli Italiano (brothers Italian) had to catch their train - they did leave her their phone number and hopefully she connects with them after I return to London! :)

Next, while waiting, she found a spot to curl up and go to sleep - only to be shaken awake by an Italian BUM, demanding she move out of his spot!!! How freaking hilarious is that?

When I arrived - We hopped out of the airport, onto a city bus bound for our destination, found out that the bus we were on was leaving that instant and we didnt have a ticket, which we had to go back into the terminal to buy... luckily, a local woman sold me two that she had spare and we were off! We bussed it out to Ostia, a Roman suburb and transfered to one more bus before arriving at our final destination - the hostel. Ostia is a bit ghetto. Im not gonna lie. It is practically covered in graffitti! Sad! But our hostel is very well taken care of, clean and pleasant. Its actually pretty plush for being a hostel! All linens are provided, there is a full bathroom in our room and we actually can open our windows and have a SEA VIEW! Killer! We were absolutely blown away. Jackpot!

View from our Hostel window

After checkin in and checking out our amazing view, we decided to go and look for some dinner. We were REALLY hungry. So we started walking. Not five minutes into the walk, an Italian guy and his friend walk by, the first looks at me - makes eye contact and just stops dead in his tracks and starts saying something in rapid Italian, the whole while smiling at me. We had a "conversation" with my limited Italian and his lack of English... LOL. It ended this way: He asked Me and Amy to go for drinks - we said no grazie - bisogno PASTA e Dormire (we need pasta and sleep)! He laughed. Then he gave me his card and told me to call him tomorrow evening when we ritorno a Roma (returned from Rome) and we would go for drinks and he would show us around. The actual conversation involved something like this: Him: Domani (tomorrow) you call me and say "Mi Chiami Christy" and then we'll go for drinks!...

IT WAS HILARIOUS. And totally flattering. I really expected the men to fall all over themselves for Amy on this trip... but it was the opposite! Everywhere we went, men were staring me down. I'm not gonna lie: I LOVED IT.

We walked a couple of blocks and came to a pasticeria (pastry store) - and couldn't help but let the lovely little Italian pastries draw us in... the lady at the counter was one of the cutest, funniest characters I've ever encountered. Think about the Dad in the movie "Life is Beautiful" - this woman had the same charming, foreign vivaciousness. She tried out every English word she knew on us before taking our order for Italian cookies. LOL. She asked us where we were from, we said California - to which she replied something that sounded like this: "Ah! Aiul lly Vood!" We were dumbfounded. It didn't sound anything like Italian or English... She repeated, while gesturing exaggeratedly with her hands and shoulders in a very animated way "Aiul llly Vood!"

... Uh...

Then she shouted across the store to the woman at the register some things in Italian, the woman replied things like: Via de Rodeo e Cinema! (Rodeo Drive and movies!)... HOLLYWOOD! LOL. Then she told us that the cashier had a che bello figlio (Very handsome son) living in hollywood who was an actor. I told her to give me his telephonino number (cell phone). We all had a bunch of laughs. We asked where we could eat buono pasta and a man in the shop gave us directions to head towards the sea to a certain restaurant.

The seaside town of Ostia at sunset.

The Meditteranean

We never made it to that man's restaurant, but we did find a great little restaurant on the waterfront. Ostia's seaside is covered with little establishments offering beach access - complete with beach chairs and those cute little beach huts you can rent for the day. It's quite the business. The restaurant we found was attached to one of those set-ups. We ordered our pasta - each both finding something that sounded amazing - Amy ordered saffron lemon Fettuccini and I ordered rigatoni d'Amatriciana... rigatoni in a red-pepper cream sauce with bacon.

HOLY PASTA, BATMAN!

That pasta changed our lives.

I'm not kidding.

It was a revelation. It was gorgeous. It melted in our mouths. EVERY SINGLE BITE was a new experience. American pasta is just not gonna cut it anymore.

We shoveled as much of the pasta down as possible - somehow Amy finished hers. As much as I'd wanted to, I just couldn't do it! IT was a mountain of pasta!

With dinner, there was also entertainment - a fellow played away at the piano, all the crazy elevator music that everyone knows and loves. Every once in while, one of us would look over at him and he'd ham it up, play a bit of extra flare and wink at us. I had the view of the doorway leading to the kitchen, which was also very entertaining, because every few minutes or so I'd see a gathering of the kitchen staff and waiters (male) in the doorway, just staring at Amy and I eating our food. It was hilarious. I guess we were quite a hit that night. ;)

No matter how full you are, there is always room for dessert. Especially Gelatto. I ordered my favorite: Dark chocolate and Nutella flavors combined... YUM

On the way back to the hostel, you'll never guess what happened. I picked up ANOTHER guy. Not on purpose. Seriously. Three phone numbers, one evening - in a matter of hours. ITALY IS SOOOO FOR ME.

Buona Sera and good night!