Arrived San Remo

Train verona to Milan went ok. Bit squashy with dodgy knee. New security measures at milan railway mean that you can only get onto the platform if you have a ticket. The train layout on the Internet when I booked was not the train that I got on. Still, I had a seat and got here. There were some interesting people to talk to. A family of mother, her father in law and her 3 children aged 12, 9 and 6 shared the same box as me. She was Italian born to an English mother and Italian father. I was sitting next to the 12 year old whose English was quite good, courtesy of his grandmother.  I occasionally helped with some of the puzzles he was doing. His mother and father spent their honeymoon in Australia.

As arranged, the proprietor of this apartment met me at the station with her daughter whose English was better than hers. My Italian is better than her English.  Anyway, she drove me to the apartment , showed me how things worked, then suggested they walk down with me to the main part of town. As we past the little bar a few buildings away she introduced me to the proprietor and said he made very good coffee. We walked around chatting about all sorts of thing.  They told me of their 3 preferred gelato places and some to avoid.

I sorted myself out a bit, then decided I needed to walk back over the streets she had shown me. There are a few main streets but the rest are a tangled Web of laneways, some covered by the buildings either side,  laneways that are all steps, little piazzas, bigger piazzas, all  cascading down the side of a hill.

First off though I put a load of washing on, well, for me a load is 2 sets of clothing and while that was going I went and had a coffee. Excellent  , with very friendly barman.

How is this for a balanced diet : 6 am coffee and croissant at railway, 11.30 3/4 of large focaccia bought at railway station in the morning,  4pm coffee, 5pm gelato (eaten fairly quickly because it is very hot and it was runny and drippy ), 5.40 aperol spritz which came with some chips, and a couple pieces crostini with chopped tomatoes that tasted like tomatoes,  6.30 rest of focacia. Negligible water in the morning, gallons in the afternoon.

Tomorrow I might buy a better map or then again maybe I might not. It would do me good to try and be comfortable not knowing exactly where I am, and there is always maps.me (an excellent offline map, thanks S)

I am feeling almost better. I need to be -there are lots of stairs here.

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Verona for a night

Noel left Munich this morning to fly home. His flight left at 6 something and he left our hotel at 4am. I slept on, after an initial attempt to go to the station with him, but there were left over people on the street after Saturday night partying, but the subway was empty and I didnot fancy walking back alone. I caught my tain as planned  at 7.30.   Last year we travelled on lots of trains in the UK and all had luggage racks at the ends of the carriages. Not so on the trains we have travelled on in Germany. They just have quite big racks above the seats. I left Australia with 11.5 kg,  collected about a kilo, ditched about 500 (photocopies of info on places)  and gave Noel several kilos of my stuff , including winter layers , to take back with him and I was easily able to put my pack up and then watched smugly as numerous young females had no hope of putting their huge cases up themselves.

When I booked my seat I could not work out which were forward facing seats. I hate facing backwards.  I got a backwards facing seat.  Not only did I feel funny, but the sun shone straight in and it was almost impossible to take photos of the magnificent scenery without reflections.

The train went roughly south from Munich,  through Austria,  over the Bremmer Pass, South into Italy , through Bolzano to Verona. In Germany, the churches in the little villages have varied spires, some tall and pointy, some with the Eastern like onion dome that several churches in Munich have. In Austria they all seemed to be tall and pointy and red and in Italy there was a mixture again, but the onion domes  were squashed.

I walked to my hotel, checked in after a bit of a wait and then set off back  to the station to try and change  my  tickets for tomorrow. I was uneasy about a short connection time in Milano and paid the grand sum of 2.50 euros to change my ticket and  thus  not to have to worry and then rush. The only other cost is 40 minutes sleep.

The town is full of opera goers (like me 4 years ago) so I opted to have an ordinary dinner in my hotel, rather than wander round on a Sunday evening.  Places will be shut or full.

Munich day 3

We set off this morning towards the Frauenkirche that I missed yesterday.  It was indeed an inspiring church.  Finished in 1488, but added to in 1525, it is one of southern Germany biggest Gothic structures.  I liked the lightness, lack of too many twiddly bits and in 3 of the side chapels there were some modern thought provoking paintings with a large stained glass window above that matched the colours.

After that we strolled along part of one side of the main shopping street, well, depends how you define 'main'. They were the shops with the most expensive goods. Noel quite fancied a 10,000 euro watch. There were many beautiful overcoats.  I can report that the standard uniform for a door-opener is a black suit, with a white shirt , sedate tie and black shoes.  Anyone not  young,  not male, not slim, not short hair need not apply. In a few blocks we counted 14, including a few we could see over the road. I am sure some ducked out of sight when they saw us trying to stroll nonchalantly along as if we belonged in that environment.  We saw one with no jacket from a store  called Fochmann. 

During the morning we saw a nun in a full habit including wimple which reminded me we had seen one a few days ago. However there are quite a few Muslim women in full black with just eyes showing. It has been in the mid 30s in temperature!

We also saw a guide and her tour group of about 14 , mostly older, some young, who were silent. She was mouthing silently the words and signing with her hands. They were all paying attention. I have never seen a group like this before.

We stopped for morning coffee in a small plaza away from the main tourist strip, on our way to the Bavarian National Museum.    Just as well  we had some cake because we got engrossed in the museum and didnot get lunch till 3 . The museum was astounding and fascinating.  It was arranged in rooms historically and blended paintings,  sculpture, furniture, clothes,  altar pieces etc.  Sounds like a big muddle, but we didnot think so. It flowed beautifully. There were hardly any other people, maybe because there was very little English and thus it was not high on the tourist lists.

Munich day 2

The tour director went on strike today, emerging from her hotel only for lunch ( pizza at an Italian restaurant ) and afternoon tea (chocolate cake and coffee at a large cafe/ beer hall in a nearby park). Her history advisor went to the Freuenkirche. This church, in the centre of Munich has twin tall towers and the interior is quite simple in comparison to the other styles of churches in the region. He found it very attractive. He spent a brief time jn the Jewish Museum but struggled with the German labels and the lack of organisation of exhibits.

After lunch he went to the Alto Pinakothek, where saw several great paintings by some European old masters.

Munchen

Today started with a loud banging on the door. The maintenance man wanted to know if we had water everywhere. Nein, we said.  After breakfast we moved into another room. Above and below our room had water coming down the walls. Our new room has updated fixtures and furniture, but has less vacant floor space and a very small shower compared to the first one.

We set off to explore Munich via the railway station to check our onward journeys. There are very many people wandering around the tourist parts of Munich.  Before we got very far, it was time for morning coffee accompanied by apfelkuchen . We marvelled at the New Rathouse,  the Old Rathouse , wandered past some interesting clothes  stores selling a range of the traditional costumes to not just tourists,  wandered past some interesting food carts , then it was time for lunch. We looked over the City museum of Munich which was quite interesting but heavy going,  too heavy going for us after a while. It was arranged in historical order trying to give a balanced view of Munich's development.

Next was St Peters church , a cacophanied mix of baroque and rococo ( not that I am an expert, but I assume the guide book author knows) .  It was a bit off putting,  too much ostentation and glittery gold.  We went to a small church that was purely rococo.  It was not so bad, lots of light frescoes but not glittery.

I thought this morning that I was almost better, but am not so sure now, at the end of the day.

Village of Altenau and arrival in Munich

Yesterday we trained to Munich - little villages, crops of corn in the north and hops nearer Munich and we were met on  the station by a friend of Noel's who he had not seen for 42 years and his wife. They were together for 1 year in England and got on really well then.  It was lovely to see these 2 old codgers recognize each other on the railway station.  We went by train with them  to a town near them and then they drove us to their home in a small , typically Bavarian,  village, 10 minutes from Oberamaggau. Much talking, eating  and this morning more talking and eating combined with a very interesting drive on the surrounding area.

They dropped us at a railway station near them this afternoon and we caught the train to Munich.  Our hotel is old, but has been renovated.  We have a room facing a courtyard, so hopefully the noise of the area a bit too close to the railway station will not be a problem.

Berlin day 5

Our day started with a trip to the Apothecary. I was helped by a delightful young man, who seemed to  know what we were talking about, asked the right questions and I got what I wanted . Hopefully I will not disturb my friend as much tonight as last night.

We went to a fairly drab part of town to the former Stasi headquarters where there is now a museum about how they were formed, how pervasive were their operations,  and how they  fell apart quite quickly .

Tomorrow we leave very early to catch the 6.40 train to Munich . We will, be staying with friends of Noels for the night and getting to our hotel in Munich late on Wednesday.

I have struggled with language.  Someone speaks to me in German and I reply without thinking in Italian. Wires crossed in my poor brain.

The standard size of a glass of wine is 200 ml here, 175 in UK.  Compares to 125 in AUS!

My travelling companion continues to frustrate me with his oldNess,  but this is outweighed by the companionship we have and the laughs we have . Did I mention we are now finishing off our red after dinner?

Berlin day 4

Today has been another easy day due to the tour directors poor health. This morning we experienced, yet again , the excellent transport system in this city. It is Sunday, the trams and buses and trains all seem to move with the same frequency as during the week I.e. Every 10 minutes or better.

We went to a museum / memorial to the Resistance by the German people, both civilian and military, to the Nazi regime before and during  Ww2. The displays led up to the failed attempt on Hitler life by von Stauffenberg. Visitors entered the building through an archway into a courtyard. It was very stark with only a life sized statue of a naked man, hands bound in front of him, eyes downcast, but resolute, determined, not cowed, and inspiring to look at.

The displays in each of 13 rooms were well laid out. It was easy to read just the main panel in each room, or you could supplement that with other articles and quotes from people involved.

We left feeling both fortunate that we have never had to make choices such as many Germans had to make, dismayed at the inhumanity perpetrated but with a sense of hope that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, usually at the cost of their lives.

Luckily there was a nice place for coffee over the road to unwind at. We walked from there through a tiny, tiny section of the Tiergarten for about a 30 minute stroll.

After a restful afternoon we visited the local church, Marienkirche., that is, St Marys. We arrived at 5.30 to find it was an Anglican church and had a service starting at 6 pm. We pottered around looking at the amazing organ and a very ornate pulpit and lots of paintings but not too many twiddly bits everywhere. Noel stayed for the service. It was quite traditional, thees and thous, not many peobple, booming organ drowning out everything, my military history teacher enjoyed it very much.

Berlin day 3

Not well, want to go to bed, thus blog brief.

This morning we went by train to Potsdam and went on a hop on hop off bus trip of the town  and the sites.  The town was interesting,  particularly for its 18th century architecture, or rather it's rebuilt 18th century architects.  Not much was left after 1945. We got off  at schloss Cecilia  something . It was the location of the potsdam conference that divided up some of Europe in 1945. I sat on the ground in the shade taking photos of all the boats that went past, ranging from huge tour boats to an overweight man on his SUP while the german scholar who is also teaching me about military history,  did a tour of the schloss.

Berlin day 2

This morning we walked and trained to the main railway station of Berlin. We leave from this station next Tuesday at the crack of dawn for Munich and didnot want any suprises. It is an interesting modern building, but with all the usual noise , bustle and shops of a major railway station.

From there we took a bus to the main art gallery of old masters. Lots and lots of interesting paintings.  The layout of the gallery was annoying. Small pokey rooms off other pokey rooms. Easy to miss a room and a 5 star painting.

We had lunch there, gathered our wits and set off again on another train to look at a part of the wall. We watched a 30 minute film about the history and then wandered around an area where you could see the outer wall, the inner wall and the 'death zone' in between.  For us, the right mix of information, not too much sentimentality but still compassionate and moving.

Another train and walk to a coffee and wool shop, but their coffee machine was broken. Luckily over the road was an excellent deli like place which sold good coffee and a delicious piece of kuchen.   The German scholar sat on a park bench studying his german book with his eyes closed while I browsed in the shop. Amongst other interesting wool they had some yak wool,   some wool from English border leister sheep and some wool from the same supplier on the Shetland Islands as the wool I brought. I bought some cable needles with notches  so the stitches do not slip off,  but will the stitches come off easily when you want them to?

 I have not been firing on all cylinders for a few days now and so this evening we took the easy option of going to a place around the corner we went to the other day. They do not have any red from Germany on their Weincarte , so we had a Spanish rioja and a french merlot.  At least I persuaded the German scholar not to have a De Bortoli.  Speaking of which , we have learnt an important word - trocken - dry as in wine.

Berlin day 1

Today started slowly.    We enjoyed breakfast and then went to buy a discount card for transport and activities. There were long queues, so we spent ages, longer than if we had stayed in the first queue , following scant directions to  slmewhere else and waited jn another queue. We were told we had to validate it before we could use it. That meant , for us, getting onto the first tram that came along, putting our card into the machine, and getting off at the next 
stop and walking back to where we started from.

An interjection.  Bloggers instructions are now appearing to me in German. IF I tell my tablet to translate into English,  I get a little box obscuring my typing asking if I want to add to the German translation,  or some such thing. Very annoying. Hence more unfixed errors.

After our discard card was validated we then used it to get a reduction on a 2 hour city bus tour. It was an excellent introduction to the city. The commentary was provided, through a recording into our earphones, of 2 old codgers one from the west and one from the east providing info and reminiscing.  We were impressed by the modern buildings in between old, or rebuilt 'old' , the large expanses of green parks or wide tree lined streets.

After lunch we came back to our hotel for a while, for the tour guide to get organised and come up with a rough plan for the next 4 days, and for the German scholar to look up some more useful words. We wandered off again to look at some things in our area , quite central, old East. We looked at a church,  wandered along the river bank . There was a building site behind some barriers and on the barriers were pictures of an exhibition of the best photos from 125 years of national geographic photos. They were brilliant. We enjoyed them.  Our destination was Nikolaiviertel, the site of the city medieval core which was razed in 1944 and rebuilt in the 80s by the GDR.  Our book says it is touristy and a bit tacky but with some reasonable cafes serving authentic german food. The only shop i saw sold upmarket german dresses. It was not as touristy as we thought it might be, we found a cafe in a secluded courtyard with a lovely view of an old church, we had some nice wine , a glass of a different german reisling and a glass of silvaner,  a dry white , we had some nice food, my friend the German scholar talked to the waiters in patchy German, and we finished off with apfelkuchen mit streusel. A lovely evening.

Arrived Berlin

Much waiting, 3 planes, a little anxiousness because the connections were tight and the B team checked me in and had to be reminded how to tag my bag for 2 transits and we and our bags, some what surprisingly,  all arrived safely and timely at Berlin.

We are now sitting in a cafe around the corner from our hotel having dinner, including a delicious german reisling ( when in Rome. ..) .

St Magnus Cathedral and the museum

We started our time here saying while the weather was good we would go to the outdoor sites and leave inside till later. Today is our last day here and it is overcast and raining and we have seen the outdoor sites. What good planning.

We watched an interesting short film on the life of Magnus. In the early 1100s this area was administered by Norway and local Earls.  At one time the leadership was shared between 2 cousins , one of whom was Magnus. He was a peace loving Christian and was murdered by his cousin, who outsourced the  dastardly deed to his cook. His remains were intered in a little chapel at the Brough of Birsay, where we visited a few days ago.  Over several years  miracles happened to people who visited this chapel and he became a saint and his nephew built, or rather started ,  this huge cathedral, far bigger than anything else this far north.

The cathedral lived up to its reputation. We had been there for a sercvice on Sunday but today we enjoyed wandering around looking at all the bits and pieces. My favourite was a beautiful marketry table with an illustrated Danish
bible on it.

The Museum in Kirkwall has a good reputation and we found out why. It helped us work out in our heads about who was where when in the neolithic,  then bronze , then iron age. We skipped over the more recent stuff because we were running out of mental capacity. We had lunch at our favourite cafe and have pottered all afternoon, reading, sorting piles of stuff, buying a few postcards (not writing yet, so don't hold your breath) . The ex-sheep farmer sitting next to me as I type in between sips of Highland Park whiskey,  is gloating because he has written  and posted his postcards. He is doing his trick he practised in the UK last year.  Buy a half pint of beer, feel very virtuous and then go back for a second half pint. He feels virtuous for longer than he feels dissolute.

St Magnus side view in today's rain

 A side door in the sun of a few days ago

Italian Chapel and Ness of Brodgar

Firstly I have to report that our little car no longer elicits grunts from its usual , well only,  driver.  Today was quite foggy when we left our hotel. Several times throughout the morning the driver was heard to say, reasonably politely, 'thank you' when reminded by one of the previously annoying loud beeps that he had left the lights on.

We went first to visit a building know as  the Italian Chapel.  During WW2,  several hundred Italian pow s were stationed in the orkneys to work on the Churchill Barriers.  These are concrete barriers  linking several islands making Scapa Flow harder to get into by enemy submarines. Now they form convenient causeways between some of the islands. One Italian built a statue of St George slaying the dragon and then a UK officer and  padre asked this guy, Dominic Chiocchetti,   to build a chapel in his spare time.  With the aid of other craftsmen,  he built a chapel out of 2 Nissan huts, joined together. The inside is beautifully painted with frescoes, the walls are painted to look like bricks, the lanterns are made from bully beef tins, a facade on the front disguises the huts etc. It has a lovely feel to it.

We drove over several more barriers and small islands to get to South Ronaldsay. We drove to Hoxa Head to look at one of the entrances of Scapa Flow and have coffee at a cafe with a view. By the time we finished the fog was just starting to lift and we could just see the adjacent islands through the gloom. We had a quick potter in a cooperative craft shop in a nearby town and then drove back , bypassing Kirkwall, to the site of a major current excavation at the Ness of Brodgar.

This site is amazing.  Discovered in 2003, it covers  a huge area along a promontory , between the standing stones of Stenness and the ring of Brodgar which we had previously seen. The present excavation area is about 40 m by 40m. This is a very small part of the complex they have yet to unearth. In the current area are about 8 buildings dating from 3200 BC to 2300 BC. Some of the older ones were remade. One we were told about , lies on top of 3 levels of other structures. They do not think that any of the buildings were domestic dwellings. They are far too big and grand compared to other neolithic buildings. They have worked out that these buildings definitely pre date stonehenge .

After that we drove around the southern  part of the island we are on, taking some pictures of Scapa Flow ( the fog had gone).  Noel has read much military history about Scapa Flow and was interested.  Our final stop was to look at the remains of a small 12th century chapel that would have been completely round.

Italian  Chapel

One of the Churchill Barriers

Broch of Gurness Brough of Birsay

Firstly, last nights concert.
Fiddling , as in playing a violin in a folksey manner, is a large part of the shetland and orkneys culture. When we arrived here, we  found out by accident of a concert of the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra ( including, we found out later,  3 flutes, 2 accordions, 1 double bass , 1 cello, 1 percussionist) . Why not?  In the shetlands we have foregone the opportunity to go to a dingy bar to hear poor quality, drunk, local fiddlers.  Last night we walked to a new performance venue/ aquatic centre/ ??.  The concert was excellent. The compere was from Aberdeen, we could hardly understand a word. We did however get the joke about a terrific sheep farmer who was outstanding in his field.  There were items of the orchestra playing jigs and other Scottish tunes, a mezzo soprano and a tenor singing popular folk ish tunes and 3 different groups of young, mainly fiddler, musicians.  At the end, they played auld lang syne. Everyone stood and sang. Apparently this is normal in Scotland ( maybe just northern islands?) after any concert.  The conductor was a showman and used the fact that the audience could see his feet moving  in time to the music, his knees and the way his kilt fell beautifully, swished and swayed,  when he moved his rear end. All in aid of a neuro ward in Aberdeen infirmary.  What are the odds of that?


Kirkwall is known for its large cathedral of st Magnus, built in the 1100s.  We have yet to learn about its history, but today we went to a service in it.  It was a bit incongruous to us - robed choristers, booming organ and modern songs.  We enjoyed it nevertheless.

After a nice lunch which included crab quiche - there seems a lot of local crab on the menus, not too expensive - we set off for the Broch of Gurness.  On the way we saw in a field adjacent to the road a man, his dog and some sheep. The ex sheepfarmer was pleased . A little later we were stopped by a truck blocking the road and it became clear that a farmer, his son, his dog and his wife were trying to move a mob of about 200 sheep along a laneway from one field to another on the other side of the road . They were having difficulties. After some grunts , the ex sheepfarmer told me how it should be done. This was definitely not what was happening .

The broch of gurness was interesting.  It was a broch with the remains of a Pictish village built all around it, built  about 2000 years ago. It became deserted but there is evidence later  Vikings used it as a graveyard.  It is really hard to get your head around who was here when, each island seems a bit different, different theories from archaeologists add confusion,  a big jigsaw puzzle.

We then drove along more single lane roads to Birsay. Coffee and scone before driving to the edge of the  causeway that links the mainland to a  island. The causeway is only passable at low tide. On the island there is the remains of a Pictish village and a later Norse church and some housing.  Reputedgy,  St Magnus was buried there after he was killed.

There is also a lighthouse on the island, but it was almost 5 pm,  the weather was closing in , so we gave the lighthouse a miss.

Skara Brae

Today was the first day we have worn raincoats. Not bad after 11 days in this part of the world. We set off early to drive to Skara Brae and beat the crowds which we did.
Skara Brae is an uncovered  neolithic stone village built about 3 100 BCE,  before the pyramids and stonehenge. It consists of 9 houses and another building used as a workshop to produce pottery and tools etc.  Before visiting the site, visitors can go into a recreated house, stand in it and look around, imagining lying on the stone beds, cooking over the fire, etc etc. The walls of the houses are sort of interconnecting and grass covered so visitors walk around  looking down into the roofless houses. It was amazing .  A guide told us of the drainage system that exists under the houses .  They had very limited timber.

We went through the large home of the laird on whose land Skara Brae was found.

After lunch of a fruit scone, we set off again over the narrow roads with  no shoulders and stone walls . We looked at another old kirk, once again with the pulpit in the middle on a side and with an upper gallery. The minister had a good view of most of his attending flock.

Then we visited a memorial to Lord Kitchener.  Apparently after all his good achievements, he was in a ship on a friendly mission to Russia and the ship hit a mine and sank off this part of Orkney coast.

Back to Kirkwall for an early dinner before going to a concert of the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra.  The concert was terrific. More in tomorrow's post.

Noel in the recreated house

A very similar house

Part of the 9 buildings

Some photos form previous days

Typical Shetland view

On the cliffs of Sumburgh Head

Some of the many different sorts of Shetland ponies on show.

The sheep were almost as big as the ponies.

Approaching Moussa Broch

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Maeshowe, Ring of Brodgar

In Lerwick our car very quickly became named Ugly, not said with malice, it was not her fault. The  car we have now is a Ford fiesta, not much liked by today's driver, not me. I think she will be called  OSH ( oh shut up) said by driver on numerous occasions when a door was opened and a loud noise came or when backing, more bipping notes. When backing,   Ugly had a nice picture of square boxes behind the car that noel had just mastered,  but not this car.

Maeshowe is a large neolithic chamber 7m  high accessed by a 10 m long by 1 m high tunnel. About 20 people including us listened for an hour to the guides description of how it was made,  as much as archaeologists can work out, and all sorts of other interesting info,  . Inside on the walls are lots of scratched in runic writing from some later norsemen ( they are not called Vikings here)

We drove to Stromness but unfortunately today's navigator directed the driver (still not me)  down a narrow , mainly pedestrian street. This caused some angst, compounded by, a few minutes later, an oncoming driver going to fast. The driver was all for leaving this town. The navigator, however, quickly realised that food would be a bit hard to come by anywhere other than major towns, and she needed food,  so we parked in a supermarkets car park on the edge of town, walked back into town and had lunch.

Next we stopped at the Ring of Brodgar., a henge, I. E a circle of stones.  There were originally 60, now about 20 standing.  The diameter of the circle is 100m. The area was covered with heather in flower.  On the way back to Kirkwall we looked at the Stones of Stenness,  the remains of another henge.

The countryside seems a little less harsh than the Shetlands. The houses are bigger, still brown, brown or grey, but more monotonous in shape than in the shetlands.  There seem to be more cows here in the orkneys, sometimes in a mob of about 30 cows, there appear to be about 25 different colours or breeds. Motley groups. There seems more emphasis on wind  power here.

There is a quiet bar attached to this hotel.  For the second day in a row, we have tried a different whiskey. One must sample the local produce so as not to appear rude.

Ring of Brodgar

Arrived safely in Kirkwall

We went to the excellent museum in Lerwick this morning.  It laid out the history of the shetlands very well.  There was an old fishing boat that a group of 6 men would go off in for days at a time.  It was just like an overgrown rowing boat with a bit of a sail, no protection from the elements.  There was an interesting display of peat, how it was farmed etc. An old picture of a mother and her 4 children, her and the 3 eldest with large bags of peat on their back, rugged up in wooly clothes and bare feet made me appreciate the switch I flick if I want more warmth in my apartment.

The drive to Sumburgh airport, return of hire car, flight to kirkwall, collection of different hire car (on first impression  not as good to drive  as Ugly) all went well. We are staying at a big hotel with bar and restaurant.  We had a local whiskey ( bit peaty i think, i preferred last year's one from Oban or the one i had in a d, b and b in Sydney that I visited in june) and then fish and chips in the bar.

Moussa

Today we went on the ferry to Moussa. Moussa has sheep, lots of birds, seals and a large Broch.  Brochs are iron age stone towers scattered around the northern coast of Scotland and no where else in the world. The broch at Moussa is the largest.  It is
43 foot high,   walls at ground level 16 ft thick,  then 2 concentric walls going up with a staircase between them. We walked to it,  climbed up the perilously thin worn stone spiral stairs, looked at the view and came down again .  Brochs are thought by some to be forts for defence, or symbols of a wealthy persons power. No one knows.

From the broch we wandered along the path around part of the island. We saw lots of different birds and a very large bull grey seal sitting on a rock haughtily surveying the frolicking seals around him. We had our picnic lunch sitting on a rock looking out to sea watching the birds swoop, skim across the water, take food into caves, presumably to their young , etc.

After the return ferry trip , we stopped at a village Cunningsburgh where there was an agricultural show . I think every man and his dog, except there do not appear to be many dogs, every many and woman and kid in the shetlands were there.  Extra surprising because it is not the weekend.  We walked straight to the sheep pens where we were very amazed to see sheep of all shades of orange. See previous post!
Huge sheep. Even my friend the ex sheepfarmer thought they were huge. We finally found the sign - Suffolk sheep. There were assorted other breeds including shetland sheep which were all small. We looked at some fleeces in a tent. My friend said very little other than a few grunts of annoyance that he was no longer in the industry.  I thought that a Shetland pony was a Shetland pony but there are many different types.

 All the knitted garments on display were very traditional. I was hoping to see some
 modern garments using the tradition patterns and colours. This made me realise that

many of the women and men wandering around were wearing traditional jumpers.

Back in lerwick it was coffee and cake at a new place that serves good coffee. We visited the textile museum which we were hoping would have more historical stuff about wool processing in the days of the small crofters. But it didnot. There were some fine garments on display

Tuesday

Today we went, again south from Lerwick, to a crofters museum. We were the only people there and the attendant told us all about different things and how life was lived. There was a smelly peat fire going, several enclosed shetland beds, I. E. A 4 poster bed with sides of wood to keep in heat, very low doorways again to retain heat, stalls for cows ( horses and sheep left outside), fish drying in front of fire.  We walked to a nearby small water mill.

Next we drove to a larger commercial mill, but it was really just a collection of old equipment etc.

We went to where the ferry to Moussa leaves from, waited around a bit and then read a sign to say the ferry was not going because of too much wind. We reckoned it was between 10 and 15 knots- hardly any wind for here in our limited experience.  Plan B was to drive to where there is a spit of sandy land,  referred to here as a tombola, linking the mainland with St Ninians island to have our picnic lunch watching the sand, grassy slopes, water, very peaceful.

We then drove north of lerwick for the first time.  The countryside was different. Less sheep,  less scattered housing, more large houses in clusters. Our destination was Lunna,    now a few houses, but during Ww2, it was the original location of where the shetland bus operation worked from. Another good day.

Sumborough

This morning we drove south from Lerwick to Sumborough stopping several times to admire the views of rolling hills, near and distant small villages, isolated cottages, bodies of water, no trees, purple heather and yellow gorse and lots and lots of sheep. White ones, black ones, white ones with black faces. My friend in the background , the ex sheepfarmer, says "But no merinos".

First off was Jarlshof. This is a small patch of land, very near the airport, right on the edge of the water, which has the remains of buildings from 4 distinct time periods excavated. The first remains of small round houses were neolithic, 2500 to 1500 BCE Then there were remains from a bronze age settlement, around 800BCE. Next came some iron age houses. These guys left , no one was there for a bit, then new settlers came in the last century BCE or first century CE.  These people constructed a massive stone broch of which about 2.5 m remains. Brochs are tall towers with 2 layers of outer walls. This one had a courtyard. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, there appeared different structures called wheelhouses.  We climbed down several steps into one. There were about 8 separate small rooms off a central area with a hearth in the middle. This was known to be inhabited in 800 CE. Next came the Vikings.  We wandered around the stone remains of the base of a 9th century longhouse. There were remains of other associated buildings like a smithy, bathhouse and temple. In the late 13th century a different sort of farm house was built nearby.  In the late 1500s a Scottish laird built his house here. The walls are still mostly standing,  several storeys high. The audio guide we had was very informative and we thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the remains.  It helped that it was quite warm and the sun was shining.

After lunch at the nearby pub we drove up to the Sumborough Headland. The girl at the entrance to the grounds said that they had not seen any puffins for a few days. We saw nesting fulmars but no puffins until we followed a family with 2 kids down the path to the car park.

We wandered around the lighthouse and were interested in a display about an experimental radar station which was able to warn the locals , during WW 2 about an approaching German raid .

We spent a while driving down single lane roads in search of a coffee on the way back to Lerwick.  After buying a pattern for a scarf that I propose to knit in shetland 2 ply lace wool, we had an early dinner at a new cafe that was good, overlooking the water,  over the road from Tesco.

Q

Scalloway

After a very leisurely start we drove to Scalloway. It is a smaller town than Lerwick but a bit more colourful.  Not all the houses are grey or brown. We wandered around and found the memorial to the Shetland bus.  The Shetland bus was a Ww2 operation involving the movement of agents , refugees and supplies to and from Norway and the shetlands using norwegian fishing boats and crews.

As we were looking at this memorial 2 other people came up and we got talking. B was from St Andrews and C was from Oban.  After we said we were going to have lunch, but the options were very limited, they invited us to join them for lunch where they were staying at a large marine research establishment nearby.   We spent a very enjoyable few hours chatting to them over some  lentil soup.  Turned out C was doing her PhD,  supervised partly by B , looking at the action of a particular micro algae that live all over the world that are eaten by shellfish , causing them no harm, but when humans eat the shellfish the story is different.

We had found out there was an agricultural show at a town further on which we had intended to go to after lunch but by the time we left C and B it was 3.30 so we went to the scalloway museum instead.  There was an interesting display on the ways they have fished for different species of fish over the years  and a lot of information about the shetland bus and some of the people involved.  The operation was carried out in the winter  months  for the boats to have maximum chance to avoid detection, but the winter month have the worst weather.

Safely in Shetlands

After a leisurely start, bus to airport, the required waiting,  waiting at Glasgow airport,  we arrived here earlier than scheduled at 2pm. Our car is a boxy, ugly looking Kia but quite spacious and seems new. We drove here to Lerwick , passing  a field with about 6 Shetland ponies in a huddle. I had forgotten how little they are. Our lovely b and b is about 2 km out of the main centre.  I am sitting up in bed staring straight out past a few houses to some water and hills the other side. It is 8.40 and still quite light.  In the garden in the foreground there are 2 flagpoles. An Australian flag and a German flag are flying because of the Non Uk gueSt's.

In the afternoon we gathered a lot of brochures from the tourist bureau, found a coffee shop that did not shut until 6 and then found a hotel for dinner. It was very old fashioned and smelt a bit funny but the food was good.

Noel has reminded me that when we were dawdling our way thru the fancy perfumes, sunglasses,  watches etc at Glasgow airport we were able to sample some Glenfindich. He does not like flying in planes that are long and skinny and we have done so a few times lately.  Today's was smaller and seemed skinner.  If he had stood up straight he would have touched the ceiling.

More of Edinburgh

Noel and his daughter visited the decommissioned royal yacht Britannia  moored in Leith , a 20 min bus ride from the centre of Edinburgh. It was interesting without being spectacular. Meanwhile I went for a brisk walk from our hotel in the centre of  glasgow through some upmarket areas and some less so to Kelvingrove  Museum again to look at the paintings.

We all met up at a dance venue in Edinburgh  to watch the premier ( it is the first day of the festival) of a dance work created by Noel's daughters partner.  It was about the inner turmoiled life of the dancer Najinsky with an older actor playing his old self and a younger dancer / actor playing his younger self. Noel and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Huntarian museum and River Cruise

We spent time in the morning with Noel's daughter  at the Huntarian Museum, situated in the lovely old Glasgow uni grounds. The museum started as the extensive collection of assorted things of Dr William Hunter, born in 1718, a noted anatomist and obstetrician. Hence lots of preserved bits of flesh in glass bottles.  There was much more including an interesting display of the Roman occupation of Scotland.

After that we walked down to the Riverside Museum of Transport that we had visited last year . As an aside, goats cheese is prevalent on menus at a similar price to ordinary cheese.  We went on a cruise of  a section of the Clyde. It was interesting to learn of the history of some of the old buildings and the newer buildings.  We saw the major shipyards, once the foremost in the world (according to the guide) , then fallen into disuse, and now being used again.  We saw 1/4 of an aircraft carrier hull almost ready to move to the next stage of its construction.

We enjoyed a delicious meal and good conversation with N's daughter and her partner in the evening.

Edinburgh

After a leisurely start,  we caught the train to Edinburgh.  We wandered around a bit then took a tour on one of those hop on hop off buses but only hopped twice. It was a good overview of Edinburgh. Noel had never been before but I had spent 1 week there in 2010.  After lunch in Newtown we walked up the hill, stopping to watch some pre festival street theatre, to St Giles Cathedral. We enjoyed wandering around it. Yesterday we happened upon an organ recital,  today it was an excellent brass quintet performing in the cathedral.

I have a new camera which I did not spend enough time learning how to use before I came.  It was annoying me today. Plenty of time for practise over the next few weeks. I am also very frustrated that when I transfer photos from my camera to my tablet, they end up in a jumbled order. I do not remember this being a problem a year ago.  Changing technology and aging brains are not a good mix.

Noel and I have become accustomed to sometimes doing the puzzle in the australian on weekdays that has 10 multiple choice questions. We  usually have to guess about 3/4 of the questions , those about modern popular music, modern tv sit coms,  etc etc. Last week there was a question asking what was the name of a model of the solar system. We did not know , and as is usual, our guess was wrong. The answer is an orrery. Lo and behold,  we came across one in the Kelvingrove Museum.

Arrived Glasgow safely and happily

Our trip went very smoothly. We even managed to not over eat or over drink by too much.

Unfortunately our room in Glasgow was not ready when we arrived at 9. 30. How dare they! We left our bags and set off in search of non- airline coffee. We stumbled upon a new group of shops and cafes built around a roofed central square.  There was lots of wood, glass, old design features. It was very pleasant and the coffee was ok.

We went from there by subway to Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery.  This is a big old Victorian building built purposely to house a collection of goods. We saw a small selection - we were fading fast. Noell was pleased to see a spitfire , an original from the then city of Glasgow squadron.  We asked a wandering attendant about puffins. He directed us to a few different galleries and told us about a Dali painting. We were quite impressed by the power of the painting and never got to the puffins.  There is a huge organ in an organ loft above the central area. We listened to  a half hour recital while we had a sandwich, then came back here to our hotel.