Inverness

[kennahijja]

Hiya!

Thanks for the good wishes for the Inverness trip - which is over now, more's the pity, and great fun was had! Currently, my modem is dead and replacement due on Monday, so I'm back to snatching moments of wireless from the neighbours, *ducks*.

Anyway, a few of you asked for a report, so here goes:

We saw Inverness (duh!) which is quite an attractive city if with a lot of empty shops in the centre. But the river Ness is beautiful, there are some very nice oldish buildings, and, the coolest of all places, a huge second-hand bookstore in an old church, the top floor of which is a really great cafe. We spend quite some time there, yours truly picking up, among wild giggles, a 1970s horror "The Curse of Loch Ness" in the extensive SF section. Anyway, if you ever find yourself in Inverness, that place is my tip of the day!

We saw Loch Ness (hence the giggling) by boat, and Urquhart Castle the ruin, and the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre, which was very interesting and nicely scientific. Also, Cawdor Castle (very nice, and out in the countryside with a great flower garden) and also the Culloden Battlefield (which my inner historian found way too narrow in scope for an exhibition centre of that size). The field itself is quite chilling, though, and not just because of its windswept-ness...

My personal highlight was Fort George, a still-active military fortress north of Inverness on the very edge of the coastline of the Moray Firth. It's so windy you actually have to walk carefully, but the layout and architecture and the views from the walls... holy heck! One of the most amazing things I've ever seen, and I'm anything but a military enthusiast. But it's practically build into the earth, and has parts that look like Aztec or Mayan temples, and... It's hard to describe, but I absolutely loved it. We survived the rainstorm of all rainstorms almost dry huddled against the side of a caravan, because the wind was so strong it practically whipped the rain away over our heads.

And the scenery was gorgeous, of course, also on the train ride... too bad it's over already.

Comments

[dreamyraynbo.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a fabulous trip! So glad you had fun, and came back safe and happy. :)

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

[fourth_rose]

Ohh, that brings back memories from my trip four years ago - although the thing I remember first about Inverness is the torrential rain ;)

Welcome back!

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

That one exception, the weather behaved itself admirably... unlike Edinburgh the week before. *shakes out Schwimmflossen*

[fourth_rose]

*g* For me it was the other way round - everywhere else there was brilliant sunshine, but at Inverness it was raining cats and dogs...

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

:D
Sounds great! Glad you had a good time!
I've just spent the afternoon driving around the Volvic volcanos and enjoying some incredibly mystical/magical sights :D .... And the best part is I'm here for a project :). All work should be like this....

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

Wheee! Yes, work should surely be like this! :)

[chthonya]

Ah, I was wondering where you were off to!

Agreed about the bookshop - definitely the best place in Inverness, now that the Highland Music centre is no more. I like walking along the river further up, too: for some reason it feels more European than a lot of English rivers. Something to do with the breadth relative to the surroundings. And the green places to walk.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I adored it, and the river. You're right about the European feel... it reminded me quite a bit of the Neckar running through Tuebingen, if a little wider (and less dirty).

Will get back to you Re. mail in a day or three... need to plan a bit first, and that's best done with proper net access...

[fpb.livejournal.com]

And you just reminded me of one of my favourite moments - not entirely for the right reasons - Miyazaki moments. In Porco Rosso, he has a magnificent scene in which the hero's plane, being built in Milan, is flown out just before the Fascist cops come to get him, and does some remarkable feats of flight over a great river. I am always interested in other cultures' view of us, and obviously one of Miyazaki's ideas is that great European cities are built around rivers. One can see why he should think so... London, Berlin, Rome, Turin, Basel, Paris, Koeln, Lisbon, Warsaw, Moscow, even little Tuebingen...

Pity that Milan is the exception.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

And (*swats forehead*), a quadruple "YES, HAND IT OVER!!!" to the I-related part of your mail :D.

*wibbles with excitement*