Famous Last Words

"Ah, t'is a good day for the Ben today. It should be clearing a bit and you might even get some sun on the top."

We could barely contain our happiness with the hotel owner/breakfast waiter's prognosis for the day's weather. We were scarfing down a good British breakfast of all things fried, decked out in perfect layers of merino wool, wicking fabrics, fleece and waterproofs. We had been looking at weather forecasts all week and it hadn't been promising. The Ben Nevis summit webcam had been grey, dreary and wet every time we logged in. Now this man, a local nonetheless, was telling us it would be roses and sunshine all 1400m to the top! Superb.

Roger, Cathy and Fiona had spent most of the week prepping, so we were amply supplied and suitably attired for all types of weather and situations. But the Ben Nevis climb is difficult enough - 25km with a total elevation change of just over 1400m (4000+ feet) - that any additional leg up was taken gladly.

We had driven from Aberdeen to the Glenspean Lodge, just outside of Fort William, the evening before. The hotel was a great find. It was an old royal hunting lodge so it had a little character to go with the two resident sheep wandering the lawns, keeping the grass cut just to the right level. The bar was comfortable and served an excellent assortment of regular bar favourites and modern gourmet plates. The owners were hands on and helpful. Considering how hard Fiona had to look just to find a place around Ben Nevis in July, I think she did quite well.

After breakfast on Saturday morning, we drove to the visitor centre nestled right at the foot of the mountain. The skies were a mixed bag, and there was cloud hanging at about the 600 metre mark on the mountain. But we had the inside scoop that things would clear, so there were no worries. When the guides at the visitor centre were warning people that the summit would be only 5-8 degrees Celsius, we just made sure our fleeces were packed and headed on up the trail.

Ben Nevis is the tallest peak in Britain. It has several routes to the top, but the most popular, known as the "tourist track", carries about 100,000 people every year. Considering it is well nigh impassable from October through March, you can imagine it was quite busy. No problems, though. We set our own pace and enjoyed the lengthy first section that gradually picks up elevation along a side ridge. It was harder climbing than we imagined, though, due mostly to the state of the track. It consisted of large boulders of granite "arranged" so that the formed a somewhat even surface a few feet wide. It wasn't overly difficult, but you had to pay attention to avoid twisting an ankle or hitting your shins, even in expensive hiking boots.

We learned a few things on that initial section:

1. Read your guide book carefully. Ours had told us that the Ben Nevis tourist track was 12.5 km long. It neglected to say anything about that being one way. Why they thought anyone would be interested in a one way trip up Ben Nevis, I don't exactly know. As Roger kept us abreast of our progress with his handheld GPS, we kept getting funny looks as we talked about being halfway up the mountain at the three kilometer stage.

2. It take all kinds. There were people running past us up the hill. We knew this might happen, but it was strange to see. The record for the Ben Nevis hill run is 1.5 hours We also saw a girl in hot pants (but suitable hiking boots) putting on make up as the rest of her party rested. I was glad I had touched up my mascara in the car so that I could use the rest stops as rest stops.

We hit the clouds at about 600m in elevation and things very quickly turned sour. The rain came down and the wind started to blow. The sections got steeper and more difficult. It got very cold. As you proceed up the mountain, the trail turns into a series of switchbacks, winding ever upwards. I never quite figured out the physics of it, but somehow you always get the wind in your face. It really drove the rain down into all the crevices of your waterproofs, and despite our fine preparations we were all thoroughly soaked when we hit the 1000m mark. How wet was it? I was carrying a water resistant backpack, with a full water-proof cover on it. Items in the middle of this backpack were wet. Nuff said.

At this point it was getting quite cold, which didn't mix well with the damp condition of our clothes. The clouds were hanging thick on the mountain and there were no views in the valleys. I'm not sure why it only dawned on us at this point to ask what exactly we would get out of our further exertions. But nobody had any good answers. We turned around.

The down going was much harder than the climbing. The trail was really wet and the granite "steps" were slippery. It took a lot of muscle power to ensure good footing. We were utterly and completely knackered when we finally got to the bottom. By the time we had driven back to the hotel you could feel the soreness creeping into muscles and joints. Everything ached. Some things hurt. And everyone had a select few body parts that were just down for the count. A lot of it passed overnight, but the general soreness in the calves and knees stuck around for the better part of a week.

So we failed in our attempt. It was hard, and if you had asked me during the hike back down the mountain, I would have said not a lot of fun. But I'm glad we did it. And we'll try it again. Hopefully we get one of those days (1 in 10) where the summit actually sees some sun. God knows we deserve it.

Where are Rik and Fiona?

You could be forgiven for asking the above question because it has been a long, long time since the last blog. We've been busy enjoying a great summer and a fantastic spell of weather, getting out a bit more, socializing a bit more and becoming minor television celebrities.

No coincidence that our month away from blogging corresponded well with the running time of the World Cup. We enjoyed quite a few games. We really liked watching the US play, and Uruguay, and Holland, of course. Watching the English fail so miserably and the collective gnashing of teeth and navel gazing that followed each lackluster performance while surrounded by a half dozen English guys at work was almost as entertaining. We hosted a party to watch the Final. It was a blast even though the result went the other way. Good friends and good (mostly orange) food makes even a World Cup loss to a phenomenally low scoring Spanish side bearable.

We've had a couple of other things on the go as well. We got all dressed up and hosted a small wedding reception for our friends the day before the big game. It was great fun. Fiona is generally acknowledged as the Hostess with the Most-est, and she laid out quite the spread to accompany a champagne bar.

We've also done some walking, getting out onto Bennachie's little sister, the Millstone. As we so often do, we took a wrong turn and ended up adding an extra hour to our walk, but the weather was gorgeous, the views were magnificent and our hiking dog was good company. We may not be ready for Ben Nevis in a couple of weeks, but we'll give it a shot and see what happens.

In between all this awesomeness we had to throw in a little drama, so we decided to put my passport in the wash. I had been up at 4:30am the day before for a day trip to London, and when I got back later that night I just took off my shirt and threw it in the laundry hamper and went to bed. A load of hot whites later I was holding the tattered remnants of my passport, a mere 6 weeks before we are due to travel to Houston. After taking my 50 lashes we got on the ball and submitted a new passport application - thanks to all those that agreed to act as references! Hopefully the passport will come in soon so we can take a day trip to Glasgow and get my UK work permit transferred. I imagine it will all be sorted just the day before we travel.

The blog title actually has a double meaning. One of the pictures is of BBC TV footage of a crowd walking the Old Course at St. Andrews during last weekend's British Open. Can you spot us? We went with a friend by train early in the morning and had a pretty good time. We followed Mr. John Daly and his loud American flag trousers for part of the morning, and somehow kept bumping into Steve Stricker and Zane Scotland, who had his own groupies. We grabbed some lunch and spent the afternoon just off the 17th green (the Road Hole) watching the players chip out of bunkers and miss putts. It was a great experience, but I'm not sure that I'd go again. You really have to be prepared for how much golf you don't see when you go see it live. If you're at a tee box or off a green you get to see the stars up close, but it's hard to track the ball off of any shot and the time between groups coming through is longer than you think. But it is definitely worth it to go at least once ... if only just to learn how many of your favorite stars are smoking like chimneys during their round.

Birthday and Visitors

After the really thoughtful and utterly fantastic weekend put together for my birthday, I was feeling the pressure to reciprocate in kind come June 19. I first thought about another European weekend trip, but with the visit to London and Brussels in close succession we were a little tapped out on travel. Next I thought about a nice weekend away in Scotland. Perhaps a boutique hotel near Inverness followed by some dolphin watching. Good idea, but all the hotels had been booked weeks in advance. So I moved on to a day trip in the countryside, Spey-side perhaps, with a romantic champagne picnic. I prepped well, getting the champagne ready, picking up a couple of lobsters that I turned into a killer lobster salad and baking a Dutch appeltaart (apple cake) to satisfy the sweet tooth.

After a few days of really nice weather, the 19th dawned rainy, grey and cold. Definitely not picnic weather. It seems Mother Nature had let us down. Actually about the only ones that came through were the Dutch national team, who squeaked out a win for Fiona against Japan, ensuring their qualification for the next round.

We ate our picnic inside while watching soccer between bouts of Lego Indiana Jones on the Wii. It turns out my little after-thought of a gift was a winner. The appeltaart and lobster salad were well received and Fiona claims she had a great birthday. I still feel like I owe her, though. One of her gifts was a waterproof digital camera, and I've been dropping broad hints about a diving trip to the Maldives or Seychelles. Perhaps her real birthday will come in March next year, when one of those trips comes to pass.

The next day we had the privilege of hosting my Ome Guust (Uncle Gus) and Tante Miep. They had seen a good deal for a long weekend in Glasgow in the local paper and decided to give Scotland a try. They were nice enough to swing by and see us. I hadn't seen either of them for something like 10 years, so it was nice to reconnect. We caught up on a few years of comings and goings and took a little side trip out to Dunottar Castle, as we usually do with visitors. The weather was great, as you can see from the pictures. There was next to no wind and some nice blue sky. If only we had had that the day before! We had dinner at a great seafood restaurant in Stonehaven called the Tollbooth. It's located right on the wharf, located in the oldest building in town and it has been voted the number one seafood restaurant in Scotland. It lived up to the billing. Everything was excellent - crab soup, lemon sole, smoked salmon, scallops with a ham-flavoured foam and herb crusted halibut. Highly recommended for anyone in the area.

BIrthday Weekend in London

Last week I had the unfortunate privilege of turning 34. It hit me a little harder than I thought it would, and I'm still not sure why. It just felt old.

In order to alleviate my suffering Fiona had been spoiling me all week with some great presents, including the re-introduction of surround sound into our home entertainment system, some classic Blu-Rays and a few shirts to keep me looking stylish. But she saved the best for later in the week, having arranged a weekend trip to London. We left Aberdeen on Thursday night and hopped the train and tube from Heathrow to our hotel on Tower Hill. We had a great view of the city from our room on the 10th floor, but quickly traded it for a seat in the hotel bar. We had a couple of drinks and watched the world go by. Surprisingly we also found a pretty good Tex-Mex snack platter amongst the other more traditional offerings on the bar menu - the mozzarella sticks and BBQ chicken wings perhaps being the hotel's birthday gift for me.

Friday was my actual birthday, and has it had so many times in the past, the weather fully co-operated. It was sunny and bright, with temps in the mid-twenties. Our room was perfectly air-conditioned and we were already familiar with the extremely high quality of the bed, so we had a little bit of a lie-in before our big English breakfast. Once the beans, toast and mushrooms had settled sufficiently we hopped on the Tube and headed for the British Museum.

Because of the weather we took our time getting there, stopping in the odd shop. Being my birthday one of them was a comic book shop and Fiona let me browse to my heart's content. I only realized later, after lugging them through the museum for a few hours, that perhaps it would have been better to re-visit the shop later in the day - especially since one of the titles I picked up was Allan Moore's seminal (and incredibly large) "From Hell". Fiona had figured this out, apparently, as we stopped in at the antique bookstore after museum and she bought me some first edition copies of Churchill's "A History of the English Speaking Peoples".

The museum itself was spectacular. It was busy, but not so much so that it ruined the experience. I don't think we had ever seen this amount of antiquities in one place before. The Egyptian and Assyrian exhibits were the stars of the show, but the Roman and European exhibits were also really cool. All the guide books warn about trying to see all of the museum in one day, or attempting to do it without a plan, and I think we would agree with that sentiment. We latched on to a BBC program called "The history of the world in 100 objects" which attempts to show the history of human development through ... well, you get the idea. But 70 out of the 100 objects were in the British Museum, so we browsed through most of the halls quickly and spent our time at the specifically labeled objects. We stopped for lunch at the posh bistro on the museum's second floor, and, suitably refreshed, headed back in to see the showpieces - the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. The Rosetta Stone was smaller than I thought it would be and surrounded by a crowd and their associated camera flashes. While cool to see, I think it gets most of its cool factor from its historical significance. There were far more interesting tablets and carved stones, covered in tiny cuniform scrawl with subjects covering ancient kings granting tax free status to their favorite charioteers and stories resembling the biblical flood narrative. The Elgin Marbles were cool and well-displayed. I was assured of that fact by an exhibit about why the Marbles should stay in the museum. But they were amazing examples of Greek artistry. Whether they should stay there or go back to Greece, well, I can see both sides of that argument. But if they had to give back everything they stole, there really wouldn't be much left.

We Tubed it back to the hotel on time because Fiona had organized dinner at a swanky restaurant in the West End called Quaglino's. We got all dressed up as you should do when you go to a place with a doorman, a live jazz band playing in the lounge and cigar & cigarette girl selling Cohibas (post-dinner cigar = perfection). Having planned this quite a bit ahead, we were quickly escorted to a reserved seat in the lounge where a chilled bottle of champaign was waiting for us. Have I mentioned before what a great woman my wife is?

Dinner was fabulous. I had a great starter with scallops and guacamole, followed by a terrific steak. To top it all off, Fiona had arranged for a cake. It was great, which was a good thing because they only make cakes for parties of 6. We ate this delicious cake for the next two days back at the hotel.

Saturday was reserved for another museum we had wanted to see for a while now - the Victoria and Albert Museum. Their specialty is the integration of art and design in industry, so the exhibits were somewhat different that what you would see elsewhere. It is also cavernous. It goes on and on and on ...

We knew it would be a good day when we got to the museum and saw sign that the temporary exhibit would be all about Grace Kelly. People who have watched "Rear Window" with me, would know how I felt about that. Unfortunately, in probably the only thing that didn't work out all weekend, the exhibit was sold out. But the rest of the museum was awe-inspiring. By the end we had a new appreciation for all sorts of different craftmanship - perhaps none more so than for carved ivory. There were other highlights, including an elaborately decorated gaming board, an old cup used in drinking games, tapestries and a really cool exhibit on the art behind theatre performances. We left knowing that we would need another couple of visits to see everything the museum had to offer.

We left on time and went back to the hotel for a room service dinner. Time was of the essence as we had tickets to see Macbeth at the Globe. It was great seeing "the Scottish play" in the open air, sitting in the covered stalls as a light rain fell on the spectators and actors. It was neat to have been to many of the places mentioned in the play. The play itself was really well done - gory to the extreme, with eyes gouged out, tongues cut out and people emerging from the sides of the stage doused in blood, dragging others to their doom. They had spread a black tarp out over the standing area in front of the stage, cutting holes for audience members to stick their heads out and view, giving the whole theatre an "underworld" kind of feel.

On Sunday we walked across Tower Bridge to the south bank, where we met some friends for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon going through Harrod's and napping in the sun in Hyde Park. We went back to the hotel early and turned in, completely tuckered out.

On Monday we had another good lie-in and packed up our possessions for the trip home. The trip was uneventful and we were glad to be home. We went to pick up Casey who had stayed with friends for the weekend. As usual, they were reluctant to give her up.

After all that, understandably, I'm feeling a little bit better about getting older. Maybe even looking forward to next year's birthday ...

Catch Up

I'm going to attempt to play a little catch up and include all the comings and goings that have occurred since Fiona's trip to Belgium and before our little jaunt last weekend to London.

Let's see ... what happened ... oh, yeah, the weather turned fabulous!

We've had a (by now) well documented slow start to spring, with both daffodils and lambs long delayed by late spring snow and frost. But the last month has been quite mild, with lots of sun and temps in the high teens and low twenties. They've even managed to land on weekends, meaning we've had several great barbeques in the backyard and a couple of trips into the countryside for walks. We've even started working on the back and front yards, putting in new plants and attempting to grow some of our own veg in planters and pots (Fiona's radishes are wicked awesome!). But, having been here a little while now, we are starting to have some of the same misgivings that our Scottish neighbours are voicing - what if this nice stretch of 2-3 weeks is our summer? What if June, July and August hold nothing but rain and misery? You try to drown out such thoughts while sitting outside and enjoying the weather, but it's always there. Maybe the key is to have just one more pint ...

One of trips a few weeks back was out to Craigievar castle, about 45 minutes east of Aberdeen. Guide books and locals say it is one of the more "magical" castles around; I guess that has to do with its very Disney-esque towers. It's been closed for the last few years as they did some extensive restorations. Although we didn't go inside, we did enjoy a walk on the grounds with a certain 4-legged nutcase. The fields were freshly mowed and there were great views of some authentic countryside. We sat on a bench over-looking a small valley, with the sun slightly filtered by brand new leaves on the maple tree above us and drank it all in. We must have sat there for quite some time. Had we brought our books and a pitcher of iced tea, we might still be there.

We've been doing a little bit of reading in the last little while, Fiona on her Kindle and myself with good old fashioned paper. We find we've settled into a groove where a Saturday spent reading outside on the patio is not considered a waste, and the more "exciting" things to do just don't appeal. Fiona's been reading the Stieg Larssen books ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", etc ...) Very disturbing, is her verdict. I've immersed myself in more historical work, including a very interesting book about the building of the CPR and the new one by Simon Schama about the abolition of the slave trade.

We've also been to the movies since Fiona bought me an unlimited movies pass for my birthday. I think we both enjoyed Iron Man 2, although we add our voices to the chorus of those who say it wasn't as good as the first one. Last night we watched the International, with Clive Owen and Naomi Watts - particularly prescient given the current banking crisis. A pretty good thriller, with an amazing running gun battle in the middle of the Guggenheim Museum. We also watched the Dillinger movie Public Enemies and were a little disappointed. It was alright, but nothing special. And if you're in the mood, Michael Moore's latest - Capitalism, a Love Story - will have you raging at your screen, no matter what your political leanings. That's a couple of good ones in a row for Mr. Moore, following on from Sicko.

Got to run, we're butterflying a leg of lamb so we can put it on the BBQ for dinner tonight. Including a little fresh mint and rosemary from the garden. Wine is at the ready. Drop by if you like, there's lots.

Mussels in Brussels

Well, I am a couple of weeks late with this post but better late than never. I was lucky enough to go on a group trip with the Association of American Women of Aberdeen to Brussels. The organizers, Lisa and Sherri, did a great job, with plans for a couple of tours, a day trip to Bruges, and a really nice group dinner. We flew in Thursday via London Heathrow where we had enough time to do a little bit of shopping and being a group of women we took full advantage. We arrived in Brussels and took the very efficient train system to the center of the city. Our hotel was just a few steps from St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral. Which is where we began our tour with our guide Johan. He was extremely knowledgeable and told us a lot about the military history of each of the places we visited. We went inside the cathedral and I was very impressed with amazing stain glass windows, the sculptures of the 12 apostles and an incredible pulpit carved with impressive decorations.

We then continued on up the hill which apparently is where the rich used to live, the poor lived at the bottom of the hill. In fact these days it is very similar...

The architecture in Brussels is very impressive, the variety of styles and colours are really worth seeing. We continued on into Brussels park by the Royal Palace. The park is reminiscent of the parks I've seen in France, it was a really nice peaceful park with large paths, fountains and huge trees. The peace was disrupted a little by the invading parrots, apparently they were introduced somehow and are now taking over and moving out across the city. The Royal Palace was our next stop, it is the working Palace for Belgian royalty, they have another palace that they live in. We moved on and saw some more sights, more parks, more intriguing buildings and a really neat clock that plays a song at the top of every hour with a statue of a well-dressed man in a top hat ringing the bell with his cane. By this time our stomachs were growling and there happened to be a waffle van close-by. We made Johan take a break from our tour so we could have a snack. The waffles are really tasty, they are warm, with little chunks of sugar in them.

Next we stopped at the Grand Savlon, a square that seemed to specialize in chocolate shops, Johan gave us the run-down on the different brands. It was at this point that I made a mental note to come back here and buy a sample of each brand of chocolate to determine which was the best.

Manneken Pis is one of the major sights in Brussels, if you don't know what it is, it is a small bronze statue of a little boy that is peeing into a fountain. There are many legends to why he is there, but of course the central theme is a urinating child.

We ended our tour at the Grand Place, the major square, it is the home to some really incredible buildings and every 2 years it hosts the carpet of flowers, from pictures I have seen it looks really cool.

The next day we were off to Bruges, Johan arrived with a bus to whisk us there. We took a little detour to see where the royal family lives, and a stop at the Atomium, which was built for the 1958 World's Fair.

We arrived in Bruges and Johan was again full of great information. We walked through the Begijnhof, it is a group of small white houses that was founded for the daughters of wealthy families. It was similar to a convent in that there were no men allowed inside, except the priest for the little chapel. The women did not take vows and were allowed to leave and get married, if the opportunity arose. They worked with the poor people of Bruges, doing good deeds, etc. It was a very peaceful place. These days there are a few Carmelite nuns that live in a couple of the houses, and the other houses have been made into low-income housing.

Another stop at a waffle place for a snack and we continued on. Walking through a tiny alley that was at one time the "red-light district" of Bruges. And then for something completely different, we went into Onze Lieve Vrouwkerk, an interesting church that houses a Michelangelo sculpture of the Madonna and Child.

We were then booked in for a canal tour, so we all hopped on the boat and were given a fantastic view of Bruges from the canals. Similar to Brussels, the architecture in Bruges is amazing and varied. After our canal tour we went walking again, we stopped at the Burg Square, with the different styles of architecture represented. Then on the Grote Markt, Bruges' big square that is home to a belfry, that is 83 metres tall. Again a nice square that is lined with restaurants and cafes.

That was the end of the tour of Bruges and we were left to our own devices. Time for shopping!! I first stopped by the best lace shop in Bruges and found some beautiful hand-made lace (Johan gave us a tutorial in determining if lace is hand-made or not). Johan had also given me a tip on a great shop called the Beer Temple where I found some unique beer glasses for Rik and of course the matching beers. Last stop was a shop full of Belgian tapestries. Nice stuff, and I found a nice souvenir of the Begijnhof in tapestry form.

Louise, Holly and I took a break from shopping and sat in the sun and enjoyed a raspberry beer on the square. We stayed there until it was time for dinner, where we met up with the rest of the group. Lots of goods were shown off as it seemed that everyone else was successful in their shopping excursions as well. We had a lovely dinner and found our way back to the train station and caught the train back to Brussels. The train system in Belgium is very impressive, very efficient and reasonably priced.

The next day a group of us went back to the Atomium to take the elevator to the top. It was a gorgeous day and the view was quite impressive. Nice, but not sure it was worth the 11 euros to get in. To continue the theme of slightly cheesy tourist attractions - Mini Europe was next. It was a bunch of miniature famous buildings and landmarks. Louise and I had fun pushing the buttons that would make stuff move and light up. It's good to act like a kid every once and a while... But Mini-Europe did inspire me to travel more and see these places, full-size.

We had a nice lunch at a greek restaurant and headed back into Brussels city centre. We happened upon the Pride parade, it was crazy busy and wasn't really a parade because they weren't moving anywhere. The music was so loud and it wasn't really our scene so we decided to go shopping instead. Yes... more shopping. Then it was followed up by going to the champagne bar before dinner. It was really nice to sit with everyone and chat over a glass of champagne.

Sunday was our last day in Brussels, We all split up and went our separate ways. I really wanted to walk about the city and revisit some of the places we went to see on our tour that we kind of breezed by. Luckily my friends Louise and Sherri came along with me and we had a great time. Some shopping and a coffee in the square was a nice end to our trip.

Our trip home was a little nerve-wracking with an ash cloud coming towards the UK but luckily we made it home just fine.

I apologize for the writing in this post, Rik's writing skills are far superior to mine, don't worry he'll be back on soon...