Och Aye, Scotland

Lately, I've been truly captivated by the city of Edinburgh - beginning to discover its nooks and crannies, secrets, ghosts, and hidden charms. It is just a cool place, despite its weather and 3:30pm sunsets ... We're beginning to explore its night life and the amazing array of sweet pubs and fabulous restaurants (we've finally tapped into the right set of places which are far better than anything we have at home). Recent fun things included seeing one of the hottest Scot bands, Twilight Sad, from the "fog-drenched streets of Glasgow" at a little club in town. We also checked out the Royal Oak pub that had room for about 20 people and all the folk musicians that could squeeze in. Pubs are an amazing social event and it took me a while to figure this out. Folks won't give you faux friendliness on the street or out in public, but will warmly greet you and engage in conversation in any pub.

I've also fallen quite hard for football (ehm, soccer). I've scored a ticket in an upcoming Scottish premier league (the Scot equivalent of the English premier league) match between powerhouse Rangers (from Glasgow) and local Hibernian (Hibs) from Edinburgh. There are tremendous sectarian rivalries in Scottish soccer - Rangers (non-Catholic) and Celtic (Catholic) both hail from Glasgow. These are the best teams by far in the SPL and rival the top teams in the English league. Most everyone in Scotland may follow a local team, but can placed either in the Rangers or Celtic camp ultimately. Suffices to say that when an English documentary film-maker wanted to capture the intensity of football rivalry and hooliganism, he headed north to Glasgow to watch Rangers v. Celtic. I've chosen a match that will hopefully have the right atmosphere but without any rough stuff.

Another visit to A-dam

I met my buddy Ben Bloom for a day and night of adventure in Amsterdam a few weeks ago. Ben flew in from Paris and I from Edinburgh. Highlights included biking all through the city including as late as 3am, a canal boat tour, frisbee by the Van Gogh museum, Indonesian feast for dinner, numerous drinking establishments, and such like.

And if that wasn't enough fun, I've been invited back to A-dam to give a guest lecture. Click here.

Scotland v. Italy

A heart-breaking loss for the lads on a rainy night at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Italy 2 , Scotland 1. Scotland will not be going to the World Cup. I tried hard to get a ticket but as they began to approach 1000 GBP, I opted out. Even the Archbishop of Glasgow could not get a ticket and said "I'm still waiting as no one has yet come forth with a ticket". Italy was the World Cup champs, immensely skilled and highly favored, and full of creativity. Scotland relied more on "set pieces", disciplined-play, and out-running the Italians to the ball. Hampden was roaring and the Scottish team was swarming most of the match and out-played Italy. The conditions favored Scotland - a misty steady rain and intense local fans, but it was not to be. I watched some of the match in a SRO pub near our house. The atmosphere was truly electric.

Arthur's Seat

Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Crags November 3, 2007

We finally hiked Arthur’s Seat. It is the highest point in Edinburgh and a former volcano (12,000 years ago). We all made it to the top (even Lily hiked it).

Enchanted Forest

Friday night we headed back up to Pitlochry in the Highlands and stayed again at the homey Dalshian ("dal-sheen") B&B. We went to see the Enchanted Forest - an evening of lights and music in the local Faskally woods and loch. It was pretty cool, check out their pictures.

Portugal

Portugal 10/11-10/19

We spent 8 fabulous sun-filled days in the Algarve, Portugal. The Algarve is the Southern tip of Portugal and we stayed in the town of Carviero. The area is filled with wonderful picturesque beaches—most of which are coves accessed by long staircases down to the beach. It seemed that each cove beach was filled with wonderful rock formations, caves, turquoise water and golden sand. The area was very family friendly and the locals were very welcoming—especially to children. It was very easy to move around with our “large” (by UK standards) family. Besides the beach, we took a day long jeep tour of the area and up to Monchique, learned how cork was harvested (Portugal’s largest export), tasted the local moonshine and the local honey. We ventured out on our own to Silves to see the local farmer’s market, the roman bridge the castle (from the 10^th century), and the churches. We also took a boat tour of the area in a restored 1800’s wooden ship. From the large ship we took an excursion into the water caves, which was amazing. It was a perfect vacation and we all came back feeling rejuvenated.

NeSC

I work at the National e-Science Center in "downtown" Edinburgh about a quarter mile from the Royal Mile. They were taking some photos of the staff a few weeks back. I normally photograph terribly but this one isn't half bad. It didn't look as good after rotating so I left it as is. The past two days we have seen only blue-sky with no clouds or wind. If you know Scotland, this is rather amazing.