Scotland and Ireland

At Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands we set off for the northern part of the island, passing through a really quaint little village on the way,

Then continued to the Stones of Stenness. These are far fewer, but much older, than Stonehenge.

Now, Pati asked Gordon to take a picture of her looking up at the monolith...

Her instructions apparently lacked specificity. Maybe the monolith should have been in the photo?

The sheep wander freely around this area during the summer, and its being spring, lambs were everywhere. Because the sheep are free to roam, they say to be very careful when driving: if one sheep crosses in front of you, two more are coming. And if you kill the farmer's sheep, you pay. Believe me, they do know which sheep are whose.

Next stop, Brough of Birsay. There are puffins and Orca whales around, but apparently both are very elusive. We didn't see any, anyway, but it was still a neat place.

Onward to Portree (accent on the second syllable, aye?). Our tour guide's name was Seoris, pronounced "shore-us". Scottish Gaelic for "George". Never heard that name before. Anyway, Seoris took us to Dunvegan Castle where we wandered the grounds for a couple of hours, taking in the interior of the castle and the gardens. So far on this trip, we've gone to a number of botanical gardens, each more impressive than the last.

We drove through the Cuillins on the way back. The Cuillins sport seven peaks over 3,500 feet in height.

The next day brought us to Belfast, Ireland. Most of us have been led to see Belfast as a kind of a broken down place, considering its warring factions and all the movies about that time. Actually, it's a bustling city with lots and lots of history. Here, we took a swift bus ride around town with an Irish guide who could have been a stand-up comedian. Here's an interesting tidbit: when you call Citibank and get a guy on the line who sounds like he's in Mumbai...he's actually in Belfast. Citi has its entire call center there. We took only a couple of pictures, but here you go.

Our next stop was Greenock, Scotland. We took a bus ride to Glasgow and shopped. Tesco: candy and cookies. M & S: more candy and cookies (Percy Pig!!). Onward toward Ireland again, this time Dublin.