Scotland Day 1.3 - National Museums Scotland

Again, a place holder until I have internet worthy of the name.

I spent the afternoon in the National Museum, an absolutely massive pair of buildings. One, fashioned after the Crystal Palace has a series of themed exhibitions, stacked vertically, around a spacious light-filled atrium.

I passed a very pleasant hour or more in the Fashion and Style (part of the Design themed section), and after a cuppa tea, went across to the other building, and wandered about the Kingdom of the Scots (I'll need to check that - my phone is upstairs charging, and I tossed all the brochures figuring I could retrieve the info online when the time came).

This exhibit covers ca. 900 to 1600 (or so), from Robert the Bruce through to James VI, including the Covenanteers.

I very briefly wandered through the sub-ground level, covering the geological and first peoples, but was too weary to give it much time or energy.

Instead, I caught a bus back to my accommodation, stopping for a drink on the way home. Realising that they had better internet than my apartment, I then went back, grabbed my laptop, and wrote the two posts (day 0 & 1.1) while drinking and dining at The Black Fox.

Scotland Day 1.2 - Edinburgh Castle

The internet where I'm staying tonight is slower than anything I've seen in a very very very long time, so I'm only going to jot down a few points, and I'll flesh it out and add photos later (hopefully).

Edinburgh's raison d'être is the rocky outcrop, accessible from only one direction. From the earliest days, it has been occupied as a fort of some sort or another.

Fortunately, given how many squillions of people visit it, it is also big enough to cope with the hordes (although the main reason to turn up early is that they run out of audio guides by mid-morning).

It was a spectacular day, so many photos out over Edinburgh, as well as of buildings that have been modified over the centuries, particularly by the military who had a bad habit of occupying and modifying these buildings with no regard to their history or significance.

I'll also fill in some historical detail gleaned from guide books and so on.

Left the castle grounds, went for a bit of a wander, then down to Grassmarkets for some lunch (roast pork roll, with haggis and chilli mayo - very good)

Scotland Day 1.1 - The Royal Mile

I woke at stupid-o'clock, and despite moving slowly, was out and about by 7am. Disappointingly, the only cafe open within cooee appeared to be the Starbucks, but at least they do tea. Two cuppas, and a ham and cheese toasted sanga (sorry, toastie), and I headed off towards the bus stop to take me to Old Town. Except there was no bus so I walked to the next stop, and the one after that, and I soon found myself at Holyroodhouse Palace. Of course, it was way too early to be admitted, but I peered through the gates, as one does.

This wee building, named "Queen Mary's Bath House" probably never housed a bath, but may have had some kind of other function. You can see the footings of the boundary wall that connected it to other buildings, and which once enclosed a private garden.

Across the way from Holyroodhouse is the Scottish Parliament, a frankly rather unattractive building complex. Apparently, there's all sorts of symbolism built into it, and trying to replicate an earlier style wouldn't have worked either, but, well, it wasn't all that photo-worthy.

The lower stretches of the Royal Mile are a major thoroughfare, with trucks, buses, taxis and cars jostling. I wandered into various closes (courtyards of varying sizes, accessible by a narrow lane (horse carriage width, not car), and then into the churchyard of Canongate.

Amongst other luminaries buried in the surrounding graveyard is Adam Smith ("Wealth of Nations"), whose final resting spot was found by a Russian economist I encountered there.

In Melbourne, the impressive sandstone buildings are few and lauded. Here, they're cheek-by-jowl, reflecting the time when Old Town, was one of the most densely populated cities in the world. One which had/has a propensity for turrets.

  

  

Do you think "Fleshmarket Close" is akin to "Gropecunt Lane"?

(Disappointingly, it seems to refer to the actual, not metaphorical, meat market that used to operate here.)

Further up the Royal Mile, I encountered St Giles Cathedral (strictly it is the High Kirk of Edinburgh, as it is not a bishop's seat), where John Knox ministered (he was the a leader of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland).

St Giles, to the right; bulbous Fringe Festival advertising bollard in front.

At that time of the morning, it was more likely that the organist was there to practice than perform, but it was still beautiful to hear.

  

By 9:20, I had reached the top of the Royal Mile, and encountered a crowd of people. I guessed they were queuing to get tickets to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, but no, this was the pre-pre-queue for Edinburgh Castle. Just as I arrived, this queue was released to progress to the actual pre-queue for entry to the Castle. Fortunately, I had acquired (bought and printed) an Explorer Pass, and so could join the "Fast Track" pre-queue for entry.

Despite the rather extraordinary queues, it moved fairly quickly, and the site is large enough to cope with hundreds (possibly thousands) of people on site at any given time. (I've never 'done' Europe at peak times, so these crowds were a new experience for me.)

I'll upload some pics of Edinburgh Castle in the next post; however, uploading is a tedious process, so I may not be so generous with pics as I go forward.

Shout out to The Black Fox for keeping me plied with drinks, food, and wifi while I prepared this and the previous post. But my arse is getting sore, and I need to elevate my aching calves, so I'll settle my tab, and see if the hostel wifi will allow me to upload a second post about today.

Scotland Day 0 - Edinburgh New Town

Australia really is the arse-end of the world, sorry, arts end. I mean, it's a bloody fantastic place to live, and I wouldn't trade my citizenship for anything (but, I'd supplement it with an EU one - I have no intention of being a federal politician), but damn it's a long way from Europe. Fifteen hours from Melbourne to Doha, Qatar, and a further seven and a half to Edinburgh, and that makes it a bloody long time without a proper night's kip.

The plane landed in Edinburgh around half-twelve, on schedule, and we progressed through immigration, baggage collection and customs, in a large uninsulated, unair-conditioned hangar. No wonder they don't cope with heatwaves of 30+! I then took the tram into town, and walked the kilometre or so to my accommodation, arriving around 2:30pm. As my room wasn't ready, I left my luggage and wandered back to a bar I'd passed, called the White Black Fox, and had a restorative glass of bubbles (it might be mid-afternoon local time, but it was after midnight by my body clock).

I fell into conversation with two lovely women, nurses who had trained together in Glasgow, and made a point of catching up once a year when they were in the same country. Amongst other things, I learnt that the weather on the west coast is quite different to that of the east coast, and that some of the beaches could be in the Caribbean, with golden sand and clear water, except that it's just a tad cooler.

My room was ready when I returned to my room, and as expected was compact student accommodation. Except that there are no tea-making facilities, it is perfectly adequate for my needs. Each room has an ensuite (shower, toilet, basin, plus a motion sensitive light which plunges the room into darkness if your shower is more than three minutes), a bed (something halfway between a single and a double), a tiny desk, a heater, and a window that can open a little way from the top, or a little way from the side, but neither way enough to allow for proper air movement.

(I have no doubt that Emma, travel agent extraordinaire, would have found more central accommodation at a similar price had I not jumped the gun, but I'm only a £1.60 bus fare from the middle of Old (or New) Town, and I have a friendly bar, staffed by Strines, with cheap bubbles, just around the corner.)

Having showered (aaaahhhh!) and checked email/skype/facebook, I then walked back to (New) Town. I meandered about, considered buying a half-price ticket to a random Fringe Festival event, and eventually found a pop-up bar that served bubbles. The first two I went to didn't extend to my preferred tipple, so I had to go for the more upmarket/table service only option. I suspect (from the charge name on the credit card) that all the pop-up bars in that area were operated by the same mob, Malones. This one was called Fizz and Pearl, serving Moet and Oysters, but also Bombay Sapphire gin, and a range of other Scottish seafood (they were out of the trout, so I went with the salmon). It was rather delightful to sit in the sunshine and people watch for a while.

After a bit more wandering, I felt I needed just a tad more to eat. Turns out KFC chips in Scotland (at least) are largely indistinguishable from Macca's ones - ie shoestring rather than fatter fries, doused in chicken salt. Chalk it up to a learning experience.

I returned to my apartment, and ended up flaking out. I'd walked plenty, hadn't slept in two days, and had got some sunshine, so I didn't feel too guilty. I woke at 11pm or so, but was able to get back to sleep soon after, and slept through till about 5am.

Adventures in bureaucracy

It used to be (ie until a few months ago), Australian citizens could apply for their long-stay student exchange visa by mail. Simply gather all the required documentation, whack it in an envelope and send it off. Easy peasy. Now, we need to present ourselves for an appointment in Sydney (so they can do fingerprint scans, and take your photo). On the one hand, I get it. You don't want to be the shmuck who lets in the next person to blow the place up, but on the other, I would have thought we're still a pretty low-risk category. But, as Justin pointed out, there's a reason "bureaucracy" is a French word.

So here is my step-by-step guide to applying for a Long-Stay Student Exchange visa.

Step 1: locate the relevant checklist of documents on the French Embassy website. You may need to visit it multiple times on multiple days, as often it won't load properly. If you do manage to get the form you're after to display, download that sucker. You may not be able to access it again for weeks. (I'd link the form, but it's currently failing to load.)

Step 2: repeat above for other documents that also need to obtained from the website. Note that the only way to access the other forms you need is via the checklist, which may or may not load (even if it worked a minute ago). Download those suckers too.

Step 3: closer to the date of your appointment, repeat steps 1 and 2, as the forms may have changed. Note that the version number might be identical, but the form is different. Yes, really.

Random things to take to/acquire in Europe

I will be taking stowed luggage this time, so I have the luxury of taking more than the bare minimum. (I'll need stowed luggage because I'll need to take textbooks and a full-size laptop, and so on.)

I'll also be staying in the halls of residence, which come with a single bed, a desk, a chair, a wardrobe, and a (VERY compact) ensuite. For €25, you can get a starter kit of bedlinens (two sheets, pillowcase, pillow, duvet), but nothing else is provided. So there are a bunch of things I'll need, and I need to decide what I'll take with me, and what I'll source locally (given I'm doing this on the cheap).

So this is intended to be a list of things as I think of them, and whether I'll buy in France, or bring from Oz, and why. (Much of my information is from a fellow UNE student Sue, who spent the first five months of 2016 at Angers.)

If you can think of anything else I should add to one or other of these lists, would you please let me know?

BRING FROM OZ

• A towel - and not just because the Hitchhiker's Guide says so. Also because the hostel I'm staying at in Edinburgh doesn't supply towels, and I'll need one in Angers too. A travel towel just isn't the same thing.  EDITED TO ADD: I just found out about Turkish towels: same size as a regular bath towel (1m x 1.8m), but super light weight (<300g), fast-drying, and can double as a scarf/shawl/blanket (eg like a pashmina, but light cotton not wool).
• A decent laptop computer, and possibly a full-size wireless keyboard - the French keyboard layout is different to what I learned to touch-type on, and that's not a pain worth going through.
• A small alarm clock - the Ikea Klokis or equivalent will probably do fine.
• My good gamer headset (SteelSeries Siberia), plus adaptor, so they'll work via a single jack
• Aus power board and adaptor(s) - I picked up a really good one from Aldi a few years ago, it includes four USB charger points too.
• Textbooks - I'll have half a semester plus exams for my UNE course while I'm away
• Stationery? - apparently it's nigh on impossible to get regular 7mm feint lined exercise books etc. All their notebooks are in this weird grid format.
• Laundry bag - lightweight, not always easy to find
• If I have the capacity (weight, volume), I'm hoping to take the quilt I made for Malachi with me. It will be a comfort if I'm feeling cold or homesick.
• Mouthguard - I don't expect to be doing any contact sports, but it's custom-made, small and light, and the kind of thing that would be hard to borrow/get locally.
• Night guard - I grind my teeth in my sleep, and this makes a huge difference. Can't sleep without it.
• Champagne stopper - always a travel essential!
• Travel clothesline - excellent thought from Sue!

BUY IN FRANCE

• Kettle - bulky. Will need to order online, as the French (like Americans) don't seem to do electric kettles. 
• Coathangers - yes there's a wardrobe, but no hangers
• Second towel, bathmat, handtowel - because none of those are supplied either.
• Two sets of cutlery/bowls/plates/mugs etc - I'm sure there'll be a kitchen starter kit type thing at the equivalent of Kmart
• Rudimentary cooking equipment - frying pan, saucepan, knife, chopping board, wooden spoon, egg slice, ?rice cooker (also works well for pasta, risotto, etc, and hot plates are a rare commodity)
• Other stationery items - stapler, hole punch, ring binder?
• External DVD player? - Sue ended up watching a lot of DVDs. If I can get tolerable internet, I might go for Netflix or similar.
• Hot water bottle (if needed)
• Waiter's friend/corkscrew - I generally drink sparkling not still wine, so this may be less critical.
• Suction-cup soap dish - I use solid shampoo, conditioner, and cleanser, so a simple wire soap dish is essential.
• A good French monolingual dictionary (?and thesaurus), for study purposes.

Next adventure: 10 days in Scotland (and then a semester in Angers, France)

Ok, so I'm now starting to waste time, um, I mean, research what I might do with the ten days I'll have in Scotland starting 20 August. I need to be in Angers, France by the morning of 1 September 2017, as my semester at the University of Angers will begin very soon afterwards.

So, ten days in Scotland in late August, starting and ending in Edinburgh, and I need to work out what I'm going to do. I will be hiring a car (and need to get my fantastic travel agent Emma onto that as soon as she returns from her own holidays in Canada).

Things to note:

The Edinburgh International Festival (and Fringe Festival) will be on, which might make it a little trickier to find accommodation (but I really hope not!). I'm not really a theatre-goer, but I should try to get to at least one show!

I will need to go via Oban, as my something-great grandfather was the postmaster in Oban when the postage stamp was launched. (My paternal line descends from the McGregor clan, whose patronym became Whyte during proscription.)

I loved the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, so I will need to go to Inverness at a minimum, and possibly Craigh na Dun (which doesn't exist). However, Clava Cairns may well be worth visiting.

I prefer grand architecture over grand landscapes, but trust that I will see plenty of the latter while travelling between examples of the former.


But what else should I make sure I include?? Give me your suggestions, please!

Buenos Aires

For various reasons (mainly ease of publishing photographs taken on my phone), I recorded my experiences in Argentina on Facebook. You can easily find them by searching "AB in BA" or navigate directly there at https://www.facebook.com/ABinBA2016

At some point, I may transfer them here, but it won't be this week :)

You can also check out my other blog called The Ivory Bower, where I play around with words and their histories. (That's why I'll be posting as "Ivy" from here on.)

Day trips from Buenos Aires

So I've all but ruled out going to Iguazu Falls. They might be mid-blowingly spectacular, but for a 24 hour bus ride each direction from BA, iffy weather and overpriced motel rooms, it's really not worth it.

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Instead, I'm looking at a few day trips. From my brief googling, I've come up with these possibilities:

• Colonia del Sacramento (each word links to different site)

Directly across the wide river mouth from BA is the historical town of Col del Sacramento (UNESCO World Heritage Site). There are a few ferries daily (fast and slow) with a number of companies. For the price difference, many recommend the fast ferry (and book at least a week in advance). Some visitors recommend an overnight visit, while others say it's small enough that you can see it all in a day. Others recommend avoiding summer weekends, as that's when the porteños (locals) descend on the place.

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Important tip: don't forget your passport - Uruguay is another country (proof of yellow fever vaccine required for entry). And has a different currency to Argentina, but US dollars are universally accepted.

While in Uruguay, I might consider going to Montevideo or Punta del Este

• Tigre Delta

A 45 minute train ride from BA, Tigre is on the northern outskirts of the BA sprawl. Given this area is about the waterways, islands, and delta, it might be worth doing a tour. With stilt houses and colonial mansions, it might be another place to stay overnight. There are many water-based activities, including hiring a kayak as a way to meander around the area (and work off a few of the steaks I'm likely to have eaten). As before, this is where the locals escape to in the summer, but I'll be there in spring, so less of an issue.

Note to self: Take insect repellent - you know how the mozzies love you.

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A stop-off at San Isidro, another historic quarter, might also be worthwhile.

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• San Antonio de Areco

I'm not sure if I really want to go in for gaucho (cowboy) culture, but hey, when in Rome...
Typically, tours include transport, a gentle horse ride, and asado lunch.

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Rough Guides include these under Estancias (cattle/sheep ranch), and asados (barbecue)
Others suggest Estancia Puesto Viejo, to learn polo rather than herd sheep (although that might be more high-end than I'm looking for).

The Welcome Argentina site has some more ideas to meander through. In the meantime, I need to do some study - I have an exam in nine days!

Um, next up Argentina!

Okay, so I'm a slackarse about updating this blog, but if you hadn't worked that out by now, you're not paying attention.

And we've actually got a week in Airlie Beach in June, but that's with extended family, so will be fun, but not quite so over-the-top.

But I just booked flights for me to go to Buenos Aires for ten days (plus a day's travel either end) on my own. Wheee!

I've chosen BA for this adventure for two reasons: one is that I've been learning Spanish off-campus at UNE and want to go somewhere to use it, and the other is that when I asked my friend/work colleague MT what place in South America she'd most like to return to, she replied Buenos Aires without a moment's hesitation. So I'm going!

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What I would like from you, dear Reader, is suggestions for day trips, things I should definitely see (or not bother with), accommodation recommendations and any other input or experiences you can offer me. And I'll post my musings here as they come to me.

Te hablo pronto
(I'll talk to you soon)