My Misc. Thoughts on Scotland
Before they fade, I thought I should get some of my random thoughts on Scotland down on paper (or online).
- I love the Right to Roam law. It basically says you are allowed to go/wander/boat wherever you want within reason (i.e. not right up to someone's house). You can pull the car off at the side of the road and start backpacking or take pictures. Anywhere.
- I thought I was going to die about a million times. The streets are as wide as an American bike path.
- The UK economy must be based on tourism, particularly charges for admission into historical buildings. A place that charged $20-30 admission in the US wouldn't last very long, IMO.
- The Scots have the British reserve. People were friendly enough, but they weren't big on the random small talk.
- My favorite new words: "Gutted" (disappointed); "wee"; "Hiya" (standard greeting); "coo" (cow).
- The history of whisky (Scotch) is quite interesting. Once you learn how to drink it, it's not even all that bad.
- Lambs are adorable.
- Highland cows are adorable.
- As I stated previously, their coffee is horrible. My theory is that they burn the hell out of it. They drink everything extremely hot; while this does not ruin the taste of tea, it's not always good for coffee. If you want the equivalent of our coffee, you need to order "filter" coffee or "Cafe Americano", which is two shots of espresso with hot water. Neither are very good.
- Eating is custom-driven. You're supposed to have a starter (appetizer), main course, dessert, and then coffee. We threw them totally for a loop pretty much every time we ate, since we usually only had one or two courses. You should've see the looks on their faces when I ordered coffee with my dessert.
- Scottish accents are cool as hell.
- My family name is part of Clan MacFarlane, who roamed the area we were staying in.
- I think Scotland may be the only country I know of that is proud of their association with the French.
- Scots and Brits make fun of each other much in the way we do of Canadians.
- Scotland is just a beautiful, history filled country. My heritage is a LONG ways back, but it makes me proud to be a wee bit Scottish.
I'm sure there's more, but this is a good start. :)