Home Bound

I AM GOING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!
In June.
See ya soon.

Map derived from web

Scottish Coconuts

In the days Shantelle and I roamed Scotland we had so much fun and even encountered a fruit mostly associated with palm trees and tropical beaches: Coconuts.
Our second destination of our road trip was legendary Doune Castle and although I have never seen Monty Python's Holy Grail movie (Shock! Horror! I know!) I asked the kind museum clerk for coconut shells. We found out that she hides them from pesky tourists such as myself under the counter, so now you know where to find them.
Next to being a national monument the castle is currently being used in the filming of the series 'Outlander' based on Diana Gabaldon's books. Now I hold Shantelle responsible for getting me addicted to these books. While I was still in university they certainly helped me procrastinate writing academic papers immensely. It's been a while since I've read them and although I love devouring 700 page books they don't always fit in one's rucksack. After traveling for the last three years I have loved and lost many books due to airline luggage restrictions and surprisingly not many Arabic countries have an English language library or book exchange stocked with erotica so I've had some dry patches where my inner bookworm cried and shriveled up. Shantelle came to N-Ireland bearing amazing gifts: A highly portable, lightweight magical eReader! With tons and tons of Diana Gabaldon on it and many other books! She also brought me her digital camera so that I could take pictures again (my last camera bit the dust), and patiently guided me through my technophobic tendencies and showed me how to use both. I am still floored.

But back to the coconuts.

Although I had previously told my friend Vee that it was called Thistly Thorny Plant Thingy when she asked me what that yellow Broom-like plant was, Blair informed me that it was actually called Gorse and during our visit it was blooming everywhere in Scotland: A bright yellow flower blanket coveted by bees and mindful of the sharp thorns we leaned in and sniffed the flowers.
It smelled exactly like coconuts.
A day later Shantelle spoiled me with a three hour horseback ride through the gorgeous Scottish hills and at some point the horses took a break, munching on the Thistly Thorn Thingy whose delicious coconut fragrance will now forever remind me of Scotland and the most amazing great friends.

Doune Castle amid daffodils

Yep. We did.

Gorse in bloom

Horseheads and Water Spirits

The Kelpies are Scotland's tallest art installations, standing at thirty meters high in Falkirk, Scotland. I had no idea they even existed until Shantelle told me about them and her desire to go and see them on our way to visit our buddy Blair. Man, they are humongous. The exhibit only opened up recently and the artist Andy Scott who is responsible for their creation made them as a monument to Scotland's horse powered heritage and past. The names of these two magnificent metal structures hint heavily towards folkloric myth though, one I quite like. Here's Andy Scott's artist statement and website.

Glorious Glasgow

On the day that Vance flew back to Canada Shantelle and I left too. To Scotland. And afterwards all I can say is 'WOW' (and mentally kick myself for not going there earlier).
We arrived in Glasgow and decided to wonder about on a self-guided pub crawl and when one of my boots broke they were replaced by cheap flipflops and onward the pub tour commenced. We got stuck in the seventh underground bar, the Bier Halle. It had over a hundred beers from all over the world...Naturally I got overly excited about this and together we were in our element there, refusing to budge for a while and merrily drank and ate the night away. The other bar we liked was the Nice 'n Sleazy Bar where the walls were scribbled full of insults and the menu/music line up descriptions were hilarious and the White Russians were bad. On our way back to our beds we walked past the King Tut's Wah Wah Hut where we planned to go on our last night in Glasgow, solely because when a band calls themselves 'Grousebeater Sound System' and mixes trad Scottish instruments with hiphop, electronica and lord knows what else you gotta go see that in the flesh.
In the beginning our travel goals seemed simple: See the Kelpies, visit Doune Castle, go hug and hang out with Blair (my former roommate in Canada), see Culloden and Inverness and then end our last night in Scotland in King Tut's Wah Wah Hut listening to a local band with an irresistible name that includes 'Grousebeater'.
Nothing ever goes exactly according to plan. And that is the best thing about traveling. Looking back on where we ended up made me fall hard and heavy for Scotland.
Which would've never happened without Shantelle. We travel real good together.

En Route

Dubious Dublin

I have been to Dublin before but it has been a long, LONG time ago. So long ago I don't really remember much at all! So when the three of us decided to go there for a day I was looking forward to it. Shantelle bravely drove on the wrong side of the road into the busy city and we spent our hours walking mostly around the Liberties area where I came across Lucy's Lounge Shop which has everything from secondhand vintage items, awesome art and a tattoo parlor stashed inside. Naturally I fell in love with it.
Vance was magnetically drawn into every secondhand bookstore we came across and I indulged in one of my favorite things to do which is photographing street art and gig posters that have creepy Justin Bieber lookalikes on it. Time flew fast, so fast that we reluctantly had to leave to bring the rental car back to N-Ireland.
One thing I know for sure. Before I leave Northern Ireland I will go back to Dublin by train. To admire the old architecture and places we did not get to see and to visit some of the art exhibits.
And to spend an exorbitant amount of time reveling in Lucy's Lounge, of course.

Hands down best store ever

Irish Bieber Dobbelgangers

An alley in Dublin

Canucks in Northern Ireland

Two Gal Pals of mine came all the way from Canuck Land and spend ten days traipsing through the cities and countryside of the Emerald Isle. On the route to the Giant's Causeway lies Cushendall Caves, not advertised on the touristy thingy brochures that I had gathered up for their visit but Shantelle pointed them out, and told me that it was one of the locales where 'Game of Thrones' was filmed. I'd never been inside a cave in N-Ireland before and we drove there - past some goats - to the ocean where we came across some magnificent caves. The three of us also visited Tollymore Forest and gazed over the Mourne Mountains which have been featured in the same HBO series. I even saw my first cork tree! The castle gardens of Antrim revealed fresh fiddleheads (yum) and Belfast satisfied the visitors with food porn in the shape of Ulster fry, baps and who knows what else at the famous St. George's weekend market.

Cushendall Caves

Fiddleheads in Spring

The Adoration of Craft Beers

A good pal of mine and I take snapshots of beers encountered and we e-mail them to each other with a short description. This has been going on for years, and each place I travel to I am on the lookout for finely crafted deliciousness on tap so that I can send him a detailed report whereas he makes me jealous with BC brews he runs into along the road. The apple of his eye is a crisp IPA whereas I like darker brews with unconventional ingredients and we both dig microbreweries big time.
But when it comes down to having a favorite it is like taste in music: Variety is key thus sticking to one type of beer would be akin to playing one record over and over again. Ugh.  Below are a few of my most recent infatuations here in Ireland and Scotland. Cheers!