A Blogging trip to Castle Blog (with the Blogging Team)

Originally I was going to call this update "A Day Trip to Castle Durotar", because that's what it is about, but then I noticed something on the main page of this crazy website I blog from
BLOGS OF NOTE (and then a list of some 'blogs of note')
It's linked in case you want to see it yourself. Now if you're anything like me you might say, out loud while flailing your arms, "what the heck is a blog of note?!?!?!"
Luckily they had a little link for me to click and here's what they said

Blogs of Note

Interesting and noteworthy Blogger-powered blogs, compiled by the Blogger Team.


"Blogger powered blogs of note compiled by the blogger team?"
:(
Wonderful. I hope that some day I can not only use the same word 4 times in a sentence but also have that word be 'blog'.
I think I'm gonna resolve to never type 'blog' again.
Castle Count: 6

Magical Fairie Magic?

There's no other explanation for these amazingly old structures.
Unless perhaps, before people had TV or written language they were really bored and had nothing better to do.
Either way these are called Cairns, they once served as burial chambers, maybe.
They're thousands of years old (I forgot how many thousands but it's a lot)
and they're laid out in perfect synchronization with the sun.
One of them has a chamber that would only have been illuminated at the last light of the winter solstice. You can't tell me that's not cool.
Either way, we can all agree that if you stand in the middle of one of these you'll be transported to another universe (as long as you have the magic mirror).

A Day at the Beach, Scottish Style

Hmm, this doesn't look suspicious.. Yes, let's all go to 'fun beach'. It sounds fun.
Well, more like bitingly cold beach. But at least it's pretty.
I've started to look at physically unpleasant experiences with a new kind of optimism and determination. "At least I will get some good bloggin' pictures out of this" I think.
Hey! Did you know that Scotland is the EU's energy capital? That means they do a lot of oil drilling off shore-there. Even if that water wouldn't freeze me instantly to death I don't think I'd go into it. Actually, according to V this too is BS- the real answer is Iceland, which they apparently aren't counting. Bunch of cowards, afraid of Iceland... It's really quite green... unlike it's larger, icier neighbor...
Here Karol is explaining to me why exactly this is a "fun beach". Something to do with 1682 and some long forgotten social movement I think...
But what's this? Some kind of building half-submerged... No really, we have no idea. A bunker maybe?
A quick lesson in ecology (the forgotten science). The reason the Scottish beach is so wide here is because they've preserved the sea grasses that keep winds from eroding it away. This is why most Florida beaches are rather narrow and/or have artificial sand shipped in from elsewhere. This blog is about FUN FACTS!
But what's this they've done instead?
Why they've built a golf course right next to the ocean. The Scottish aparantly love this pseudo-sport. College kids sit around watching it like it was football or futbol or whatever real sports you all watch in America. Wow was it cold here.
In case you haven't yet looked at enough sea grass. If I were a manatee I'd be in heaven right now (That's not the kind of sea grass we like, it doesn't work like that! [shut up manatee, I'm writin' a blog!])
Anyway, it's time to go, can't feel my fingers anymore.
You know, with a view like this, it's almost enough to get me interested in golf...

..nah, not really.

What a bad sport.

More like GERMany

Hi Guys! A 'hearty welcome' back to me, Jesse, who hasn't updated in so long that you all have probably forgotten about him or maybe think he's dead or something.
Well, I'm not dead, but I'm close. Not in one way, but in two (A personal best!). Not only have I been without internet for nearly a week (functionally dead), I have a bad cold or flu or something since I've been back in Germany.
Back in Gerany? I'm getting ahead of myself, let me talk about my last days in Scotland.
After Loch Ness I traveled east, all the way to Aberdeen (where all these pictures are from).
I said once that the trip kind of went down hill but I'm not sure that that's fair.
We were staying with a friend and our accommodations, while generously provided, were on the floor of her small bedroom in her apartment style dorm which had 5 other people living in it.
We literally made a bed out of clothing every night and slept on that. And roommates, while nice enough, all smoked, all the time. I'm not a whiner about smokers or anything- my dad smoked when I was a kid, my longest-term girlfriend did too.
But these people just never stopped. They were Italian is what it was. This meant also that they were not familiar with the concept of talking quietly. Or rather, in any volume other than loud shouting.
Needless to say it just wasn't the same as being able to travel about at will, seeing the countryside and with it's many castles and sheep and staying in exotic and cheap youth hostels in tucked into quiet corners of the landscape.
We did do some nice things there though, the most impressive being a castle I will show you tomorrow.
So where have I been? Well, after Aberdeen we traveled to Ireland where we did many exciting and blog-able things. Blogs will be forthcoming.
After that it was back to stuffy, old Germany. I'm now living in a place called Konstanz, but I'm also sick, like I said, so I haven't taken any good pictures yet. Thanks guys, for following my blog through these hard times. Lets do our best together to make this blog great.

Hypothesis: It's not one large monster, but rather a lot of small ones

Next place I went was Loch Ness, home of the famous monster. No, I didn't see her, but I did learn a fascinating amount about just how much work has gone into proving her (non)existence.
Regardless, I want to believe, hence my theory of pygmy-loch-ness-monsters. If you imagine them right they're very cute. Disprove that, Science!
But wait, Loch Ness has more than not-monsters, they have not-castles too!
This crappy castle is called Urquhart. It's lousy and in ruins. Can you believe they wanted me to pay like 10 pounds to walk around that mess? Jokes on them, I stood on the fence and took pictutres for free instead!
This is somewhere else that same day. To be exact it's at the site of bloodiest battle in all of Scottish history (I think the one from Braveheart). So what's this little hut? Beats me, this was on the coldest day I've experienced here so far and there was no way I was sticking around to read the plaque.
And look, another castle. What? You don't see it? Ok, well this was taken through a fence and it's in the background...

Look, ok, castles are generally a ripoff. I think this one wanted 15 pounds per person! This was justified by the fact that it was the castle, ostensibly, from Shakespeare's MacBeth. Yeah, whatever, I ain't no sucker.

Castle Count: 5

Isle of Skye: GOOD name for a place or BEST name?

This is a blog entry about the Isle of Skye, a little island off the northwest coast of Scotland.
It's a completely amazing place, with breathtaking landscape abounding. I mean, you really have to look at the pictures on this one.
That's right, for once my clever commentary will not be enough!
This is some famous geological feature, it's really enormous. That road has a 30 degree incline.

This is my favorite place in Scotland, hands down. It's just so empty and huge.There's a person in this picture- that's how big it is.
This is another geological feature, this one has a name I remember- The Old Man of Stor. Throw some extra e's on there and you've got a real Scottish sounding name. Olde Man ofe Store.
Again, there are plenty of impressive rivers and waterfalls. And it lives up to it's name by having some magnificent sky(e)s. Maybe this was just luck, who knows.
A view from The Stor, that old man from before. I am standing on top of him here.
The weather is a fickle friend on the Isle of Skye, in about the space of 10 minutes we had sunlight, clouds, light rain, fog, and hail (yes hail!)
Isle of Skye, I'll miss you.

But who cares about that old stuff- I'm in Ireland now! I don't really know how to handle this- I've got more things to write about Scotland but I'm somewhere else more exciting (to be honest, Scotland went a bit downhill after this and the next day).

Maybe I'll have time to catch you all up when I'm back in boring, stuffy, continental Europe again.