Scotland: Land & Sea

We left Scotland after two weeks with many memories and even more photos. Scotland is a land of contrasts. Things change instantly. From land to sea. From civilized to remote. From rainy to sunny (mostly rainy). We hope to share some of those contrasts with you over a few weeks. So we'll publish three posts: today we'll feature Land & Sea, next week (Jul 30) Wildlife, and the following week (Aug 6) Landmarks. (Click on any of the pics to enlarge)


Our first five days were spent having a blast in the Loch Lomond/Glen Fruin Area with the Johnson-Rondenet-Smith clan. Joining them in their vacation rental, we totaled four adults, seven kids, three cats, a goose, a parrot, at least 10 peacocks, numerous wild birds (including a barn owl that visited at night), some dead birds/mice (thanks to the cats), and a gazillion midges. At least the occasional showers helped scare away the midges sometimes. Right: some of the changing scenes from the house.

Above: Views from Bute, including one of the many ferries from the area

Above: From the ferry to/from the Isle of Mull. Same lighthouse, different views/days/weather!


One of the things that struck us is how quickly the scenery in the highlands and islands can change, as you can see in the following pictures.

From lush green to desert-like moonscapes

From hills hidden by fog to hills covered in heather


From inland waterfalls to islands made of geometric stone (Staffa/Fingal's Cave)


At Inverewe Gardens (above) you can see the unexpected. The gulf stream moderates the temperature and some tropical species are grown there.


Driving in Scotland is nothing less than a heart-pounding adventure. Rochelle called the roads "Scotland's Disneyland Ride." One-track roads abound, where the locals zoom through and you have to be on your toes, ready to pull over at a moment's notice (literally). The pics (above) don't do it justice, it's one of those things you have to experience yourself.


The setting of some of the towns can rival the countryside. Here are two of the most scenic we visited; Tobermory (Isle of Mull) and Culross (Fife).

Finally, we'll leave you with our favorite sunsets (below). The first is from Poolewe, just outside of our hotel. The second is from our evening drive around Loch Ness -- can you spot Nessie?



Don't forget to come back over the next two weeks for our other Scotland installments!

A Quick Visit to Normandy

Having only a short weekend, we decided to focus on the gardens and abbeys of Normandy. We managed to see a lot despite the occasional thunderstorms that followed us the entire trip. We spent our first night in Rouen, taking a nice stroll around the old city center. The center has no less than three gothic churches, including the Cathedral Notre-Dame (which was the subject of numerous Monet paintings) and the very modern St. Joan of Arc. Rouen is infamous for being the city where Joan was held and burned at the stake. Speaking of death, a weird find was the courtyard of the Aitre St-Maclou. It used to be a plague cemetery, and the timbers are all carved with macabre symbols of death. The rest of the city center is a little less macabre, with a nice mix of stores and restaurants. We had dinner at La Couronne, a traditional restaurant that prides itself on famous visitors ... from Salvador Dali to Sophia Loren.


Pictured (click to enlarge) from Rouen: Notre-Dame, Aitre St-Maclou, Great Clock, St-Joan-of-Arc

The next morning, we hit the "Abbey Road." Our first stop was the Abbaye St-Georges in St-Martin-de-Boscherville. It's amazing to think that this church was built in the 1100s, and the beautiful garden is from the late 1600s. Deciding to be very french, we bought a picnic lunch from the patisserie and charcuterie, and stopped along the river Seine for a nice break inbetween rainstorms.





Pictured: St-Georges abbey, garden, and details from columns


The next stop on Abbey Road was at the spectacular ruins of the Jumieges Abbey. We narrowly escaped a drenching as we huddled underneath the old entrance to the church until the rain passed. Even the pigeons had to hide from the rain (see below). The ruins have a kind of eerie peacefulness about them, even with other visitors walking around (but thanks to the rain it wasn't crowded).


Pictured: Jumieges ruins



Our next abbey, St-Wandrille, is still a working place of worship for Benedictine monks. The monks pray in silence and there are numerous signs asking visitors to respect the silence. Still packing in the sights, we were off to the Chateau de Beaumesnil. Finished in 1640, it no longer serves as a residence, but the grounds and the first two floors are open to visitors. During our stop in the small town, the police shut down the main road for some sort of motorcycle rally. We don't know what it was for, but the participants and spectators were enthusiastically cheering and honking as they drove through the town.


Pictured: St-Wandrille window, Beaumesnil chateau and bikers



The next morning it was off to Giverny and Monet's garden. Monet lived the last 33 years of his life in this small, peaceful town. Well, it would have been peaceful without all the tourists. It is amazing to see the source of inspiration for many of his works, but you do have to elbow a lot of other people to see it. On the way out we were surprised to see two parrots grooming themselves in the tree of one of the village homes.


Pictured: (above) scenes from Monet's garden, (below) parrots in the trees of Giverny




On our way home we picked the town of Beauvais to stop for lunch, for no other reason than our guidebook said it had some good restaurants around the town square. We were surprised to see a festival going on. Turns out it was a medieval fair centered around "Jeanne Hachette" (literally "Jean the Hatchet"). We found out later (thanks again, Wiki) that she is a legendary heroine who ripped down the flag of enemy troops in 1472, an act which revived the town's defenders.

We had a classic medieval lunch of chicken thigh and potatoes served on a slice of tree trunk. Rochelle heroically mustered up the courage to try to order in French, and was heroically saved by the fine English of the servers. Rochelle's French skills failed her when she was asked if she was enjoying the food. When Rochelle answered "tres bien," the waitress thought she was speaking Italian. So Rochelle tried "heerlijk" ... the Dutch word for "delicious." That didn't work either, and when Rochelle told the waitress that it was Dutch and that we lived in Holland, the waitress gave her a dirty look and groaned. Evidently the French still have some of that famous attitude!

Eating peasant food, watching the entertainment (and the boisterous crowd), and being harassed by the waitress was one of those unexpected finds that made the trip extra special.

Pictured: from the festival--poster, musicians, tightrope walker

Next post: Week of July 22

Luxembourg with a side of Belgium

Europe has a lot of "one and onlys" ... this time we visited the world's only sovereign Grand Duchy, Luxembourg. Actually, our first stop was in Belgium, since you pretty much have to drive through most of it to get to Luxembourg. There's a lot of war history in this area; we stopped to see some in the Belgian town of Bastogne. A pleasant little town, it was a crucial spot in the Battle of the Bulge. To commemorate, the Mardasson Memorial sits just outside of town. It's an impressive monument even on a rainy day.


Pictured (click to enlarge): Mardasson Memorial


Then it was off through the rain to the Luxembourg town of Grevenmacher. If the name sounds German, it's because it's right on the border of Germany on the Mosel river. Actually, you're never far from a border in Luxembourg (Belgium, Germany, or France). That's probably why the residents all seem to speak French, German, and their own language (Luxembourgish, a strange combination that sounds like there's some dutch in there too) interchangeably. A quick check in wiki shows that the country is indeed trilingual, and most could speak good English as well.



Grevenmacher has a butterfly garden with many beautiful butterflies as well as the occasional lurking chameleon and a group of chicks that Rochelle was obsessed with but refused to sit still for a picture.



Most people outside of the area probably don't know that this region is known for wine production, in particular cremant (the poor man's champagne). What a surprise that we would visit! After a few stops the trunk was full and we were off to the city of Luxembourg (yes -- Luxembourg, Luxembourg).



Regional artwork: now, if only these fountains spouted real wine...

Just outside of the city are war cemeteries for both Americans and Germans. These are always moving sights. The American cemetery is resting place for over 5,000 soldiers and General George S. Patton. The German cemetery has over 10,000 soldiers; most are in a mass grave.


Pictured: top-American cemetery bottom-German cemetery

The city of Luxembourg is unique; divided up by high cliffs and deep ravines; the geography creates some nice views. The center is compact and easy to walk around. We stayed right around the corner from the palace, but there didn't seem to be a lot of activity there. Luxembourg is Europe's culture capital for 2007, and when we were there the main event was a gathering of drum corps. Everywhere we went we saw (heard!) small drum groups, some playing on stages but most kind of walking around performing. Mostly around our hotel. Late at night. It was fun, but luckily we're heavy sleepers.



Pictured: Luxembourg views, Duke's Palace, Night Drumming

Driving home, we decided to get off the motorway in Belgium and take some side roads for a while. This turned out to be a good decision for a couple of reasons. First, we found a really nice wine store in the middle of nowhere. The friendly owner helped us fill our trunk even further. Second, we stopped at a Carrefour grocery store. Dutch grocery stores are much smaller, and it was nice to stop in a big store with such a huge selection for a change. Third, we discovered that the region along the Meuse river is very pretty and scenic. We picked up some strawberries from a roadside stand and stopped for a picnic. A great way to finish a nice quick trip.

Pictured: along the Meuse river

Next post: Week of July 1

Off to Chelsea

Since we landed in The Netherlands last year, Rochelle has been waiting for her chance to go to one of the huge garden shows in the UK. So we hopped over to London to go to the biggest of the big, the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Garden Show. Rochelle's even a member of the RHS even though we don't live in the UK. The weather was anything but spectacular this trip, but luckily the clouds parted on Friday, the day we went to the show.

We decided that we wanted a different view of London, so we took the advice of friends and stayed outside of the city in Richmond-Upon-Thames. Only about 30 minutes by tube, Richmond is a very casual river town, with a very nice pub & restaurant scene. We flew in Thursday morning and spent the rest of the day pretty much just strolling around town. It was off-and-on cloudy but at least not raining. For more about Richmond visit the photoblog.

We loved the name of this wine store in Richmond.

How british can you get ... watching an evening of cricket from a Richmond pub.

In order to try to beat the crowds, we headed out early for Chelsea and made it there right at opening time. Even then it was pretty populated; I found that I didn't take very many garden pictures, because you couldn't get a shot without a ton of people in it. The shots below don't do the gardens justice ... click the links for full descriptions. Rochelle's favorite garden was the Linnaeus garden -- she does tend to like whites & blues (click the link to see why there was a tribute to Linnaeus). My favorite was the Fetzer garden, not because they are a former client of mine, but because I liked the way they recreated a California style garden, especially the real vines and the cool bat house. We both liked the Cancer Research garden with its wood sculpture.

Pictured (click to enlarge): Linnaeus, Fetzer, and Cancer Research gardens

By 10-10:30 or so the legendary crowd was in full force. We finished looking at the displays in the pavilion, then took a walk through some more of the outside commercial exhibits. We tried our first Pimm's cocktail and decided it must be an acquired taste. So we headed for an early lunch at the Laurent-Perrier/Loch Fyne champagne/seafood restaurant. We tried unsuccessfully to find a boat launch from the area, and ended up heading back to Richmond for the evening.

Pictured: midday crowds at Chelsea

Saturday & Sunday were miserably rainy, so we decided to skip our planned visit to the Kew Garden and head into the city. On Saturday we shopped on Oxford Street (it seemed almost as crowded as the flower show) and took a boat ride on the Thames during a break in the rain. We visited the British Museum, which is very rich in history/archaeology. Sunday we headed in to the Tate Modern. Before we know it we were back on the train to Gatwick and taking off for home. Hopefully we'll make it to one of the other big shows while we're living in Europe.

Pictured: (L) From our boat tour, a view of the HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge.

(R) The Millennium Bridge (click the link to read about its interesting history), looking from the Tate Modern to St. Paul's (evidently this area is in the midst of a building boom!)