I have arrived in Rome and am enjoying myself so far. Did not get church today, but just sat through a mass entirely in Italian, the Catholics sure like to stand a lot. Hopefully that counts for something. Off to find some pizza for dinner and maybe some gelato.
I realized as my plane landed this morning that the cord I need to download pictures from my camera to a computer is sitting in a suitcase in Edinburgh, so it might be a while before there are pictures and a blogpost.
If nothing else happens on this trip, can I just say how nice it is to be warm. I left my room carrying my fleece (old habits die hard) got outside and realized I didn't (just found the apostrophe on the keyboard) need it. What I did need was my umbrella, a few summer rain storms are about, but they are warm summer storms.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Edinburgh Castle
I finally made it to Edinburgh Castle's inner sanctum. Figured I had better do it before leaving the city and am happy to say I did it with days to spare. When looking at the Castle you don't really realize everything that it contains.
For example there is a operating military barracks, along with a very small chapel where you can have a wedding (a very small one since it only holds at most 25 people). There is also a graveyard for military dogs:
This picture below is the "one o'clock gun" that is fired daily, can you guess, at 1 PM. There is obviously a story to this gun.
Before there was a gun, there was a flame that was lit everyday at 1 PM on the top of a building sitting on Carlton Hill.
Carlton Hill is on the left hand side, with the tall building. You can faintly see a white cross on top of it, this is where the flame was.
The flame was used by captains and sailors to set their ship's clock so they knew when they needed to set sail in order to avoid being grounded when the tide went out. The problem, however, is that since Edinburgh is known for having cloudy skies that result in poor visibility, often times it was difficult, if not impossible to see the flame. For this reason it was determined that type of auditory signal was needed, and the "one o'clock gun" became that signal. Even though I new it was coming every day at the same time, I would still jump every time it would go off.
Me having fun with the black and white setting on my camera:
For example there is a operating military barracks, along with a very small chapel where you can have a wedding (a very small one since it only holds at most 25 people). There is also a graveyard for military dogs:
This picture below is the "one o'clock gun" that is fired daily, can you guess, at 1 PM. There is obviously a story to this gun.
Before there was a gun, there was a flame that was lit everyday at 1 PM on the top of a building sitting on Carlton Hill.
Carlton Hill is on the left hand side, with the tall building. You can faintly see a white cross on top of it, this is where the flame was.The flame was used by captains and sailors to set their ship's clock so they knew when they needed to set sail in order to avoid being grounded when the tide went out. The problem, however, is that since Edinburgh is known for having cloudy skies that result in poor visibility, often times it was difficult, if not impossible to see the flame. For this reason it was determined that type of auditory signal was needed, and the "one o'clock gun" became that signal. Even though I new it was coming every day at the same time, I would still jump every time it would go off.
Me having fun with the black and white setting on my camera:
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Highlands with Friends Part 3
Lochinver was the last place we stayed before heading back south. After arriving in the city, we checked in to our B&B. The owner recommended a drive up to a light house where there was a possibility of seeing marine life. Alas, we didn't see any animals, other than sheep, but the views were amazing and we made it in time to watch the sunset. The only bad part, the midges, if you stopped moving you immediately became a target.
Lochinver:
Old Man Stoer Lighthouse
The picture below is one of my favorites from the entire trip, the clouds, the color, the light, it all seems to come together:
Lochinver:
Old Man Stoer Lighthouse
The picture below is one of my favorites from the entire trip, the clouds, the color, the light, it all seems to come together:
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