En Route to Inverness

I'm on my way to Edinburgh and it feels good to have navigated through Logan and Dublin and now I feel as though I can really let go. Reading and writing is what I teach, but it's so rare that I get a chanced to do a lot of it--except during the summertime. Time. There's not enough of it. I picked up Band of Brothers in the Dublin airport and now I am already caught up in it. I've ONLY seen the HBO series 50 times. Time. Now I've plenty of it to read Stephen Ambrose's original story of Easy Company.

"We Wanted Those Wings" is the title of the first chapter and I learned that Easy Company wanted to be elite airborne infantry men because they knew they were heading into battle and they wanted to fight next to real men who would have their backs. They wanted to be challenged. They were willing to grow rather than hide and try to survive. I feel this way about my teaching and life in general, but I think taking this solo trip across the pond is pretty darn brave on several levels. I've got a feeling that it will pay off too.



When I got into Edinburgh yesterday, I was so tired that I really just wanted to crash at 3:30 in the afternoon, having not slept in about 24 hours. BUT after taking a shower and getting the sweat of travel off of my body, I went back out in the city armed with the mission of buying a cheap bus ticket to Inverness for Monday and getting some grub. The B and B manager told me how expensive train tickets are and sent me to the nearby bus station, where I paid 23 pounds for a round trip ticket which was great!

The sun was shining and the air was warm last night as I made my way around the front end of the Royal Mile to get a sneak peek of the Sir Walter Scott Monument, which I plan to climb today. The view is spectacular from what I hear. Trying to find a fun but innocuous looking pub as a woman traveling solo is not so easy, but I happened upon the Kennleworth pub on Rose Street by my b and b and found an empty seat next to Ann and John from Edinburgh. After borrowing their menu and asking a few questions, we were soon talking about the big World Cup game between America and England, and it became clear to me that 96% of Scotland was rooting for us to smash the English. When England scored first and we played defensively for the first bit, I was worried, but a later score by the US at least left the English frustrated. There were two other American couples in the pub, and I felt that I was in grand company for my first evening out. Ann and John are in their late 50's and in between talking about their grandchildren, my Scottish ancestry, Ireland, and American soccer, they took me under their wing for the early evening, bought me a Magner's cider, and left me with hugs and the insider scoop on what I should take in for sights on the Royal Mile.

After a great Scottish breakfast without the pudding (haha), I am heading out to climb the monument and walk the Royal Mile--of course, the Edinburgh Castle is a must see today. It's very overcast outside, but who knows--maybe some streaks of sun will poke their way through later. Right before I left the States our a black spot in the middle of our camera lens appeared and any pictures I take with the camera has a black smudge on it. Mike's advice is to make sure the spot lands on a dark area of whatever pic I snap. Well, that only works once in a while!! So I am putting up a few pics from yesterday, but nothing too grand. Cheers for now