Scottish travels 2

Llangollen, Wales, ended up on our itinerary twice, as Mike had to return to retrieve a leather jacket left behind. After our first visit there, the second night after leaving London, our next destination was Edinburgh, Scotland, the ancient and beautiful capitol of that northernmost nation in the United Kingdom. It was a drive of several hundred miles that took us over the longest stretch of Motorway (the UK's equivalent of our Interstate highways).

But as we neared Glasgow, the industrial city of Scotland almost directly north of Birmingham, England, the city closest Llangollen, we cut off a side road that was very scenic, wending through foothills and small Scottish towns reminiscent of those I love so much in Ireland. This took us into a "back door" into Edinburgh, which is a hilly town reminiscent of both Pittsburgh and San Francisco (the Perth of Forth, as its bay is called, is much more San Franciscolike).

We had been forewarned that the Fringe Festival, Edinburgh's annual week or two of madness every August, would be in full swing, and for that reason we prebooked our place there. Through the Internet I located an International Youth Hostel which offered some of the most inexpensive lodging of our whole trip. The YH utilizes some floors of dormitories of the University of Edinburgh, which I considered a treat to experience. We requested a double room with two beds and though we never heard what our rooms would be, we found that all the dorm rooms turned into August hostel rooms are not doubles, but singles! They were more comfortable than our London hostel room, which was too small and lacked even a chair to sit on.

We arrived in late afternoon and spent the evening on dinner and enjoying the festival. The "Fringe" apparently refers to the youth culture "alternative" entertainment, but there was something for everyone, including lots of free acts on the street blocked from motor traffic for the festival, and some name acts we recognized from American TV. We concentrated on getting photos and hoping there was some solution to Mike's having lost the download cable for his camera. Meanwhile, the street scene made lots of good subjects for additional shots.

Tomorrow: Onward to Loch Lomond.

Photo: A Fringe Festival street juggler kept
several handfuls of illumed balls in motion.

More theology from Woody Allen

It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens.

I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown.

Sent by Elias

Another theology

The man who walks with God always knows in what direction he is going.

Sent by Zan