Finally able to post!

Hey All! Sorry I haven’t posted yet. We’ve had some trouble getting internet access. Anyway… we got picked up from by the shuttle @ 2:30 on Friday and were off to the airport. After a half hour delay, we boarded our 7 hour flight to Amsterdam. On the flight, I watched How to Train Your Dragon (excellent movie btw, I’d call it Dream Works’ best) and Sherlock Holmes (which turned out to be basically a glorified, mostly clean Psych episode placed in Victorian England). And I got a wee bit of sleep but what does that matter…
Then we arrived in Amsterdam to catch a flight to Aberdeen Scotland. We arrived after spending an hour and a half plane ride amongst a bunch of German soccer girls though our luggage did not. So we asked for the luggage to get delivered to our hostel, left for the hostel, arrived at the hostel, and slept for 2 hours. Then it was off to downtown Aberdeen to see the sights and buy tickets for Alisdair Fraser and Natalie Haas in concert as part of the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention. Then we slept.

So Sunday we slept in till 11, got breakfast/lunch and then went off to NAFCo workshops. Oh yeah, we also shopped at a Wall-Mart Supercenter. Which reminds me… there are many American things around here. There are at least 4 starbucks, 2 McDonalds, a Burger King, 2 pizza huts, and a KFC all within walking distance. Anyway… We all went to workshops where we learned fiddle tunes today. We also got to talk to some of our fiddling friends that we know from camps and such. Then we went out to eat and got some AMAZING fish and chips before touring a bit more (including visiting Kings College, the most beautiful college I’ve ever seen). Then we went to McDonalds and got the Scottish version of a McFlurry (it has ground up ice cream cone in it), went to a jam session, and then came back to the hostel to find that we are now sharing a floor and bathrooms with a young girls soccer club. Which = noise. Which = little sleep. Oh well. Pix and such are forth-coming.
Tootles!
Chris



‘Allo there!
This is Meghan. Well, we made it… finally  I’m sitting on Chris’ bed in our Aberdeen hostel. Can I just say that Scotland is… BEAUTIFUL??? Um, yes.  So, I’m not going to outline the itinerary of the past few days, seeing as Chris already did as much, but I’ll tell you some details about it. First, the flight: I watch How to Train Your Dragon (thanks for the suggestion, Robert) and part of Leap Year (we landed before I had watched it all) – good movies. I’ve been seeing several Macbeth things, too: an author’s last name being Ross; Ross technology; Ross this, Ross that; Glamis, Cawdor, and Scone castle pamphlets; etc. When we landed, we got to walk out on a flight of stairs onto the runway and into the airport like that – really cool. Then, (skipping the part about us walking close to 3 ½ miles yesterday all around Aberdeen… with me in heeled sandals because the airline lost our suitcases), we went to a concert with Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas – fun times. Today, (after sleeping in until 11am), Caiti and I went to a Cape Breton Tunes workshop with the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention and learned a strathspey and a reel. When that was over we went to the Final Fling, with Alasdair and Natalie, Nic Gareiss, and Bruce Molsky (FUNNESS!!!). After an AMAZING dinner of fish and chips, we went and jammed at the Lemon Tree (a Scottish pub), where I led several tunes (including Amazing Grace… in a pub).

Tomorrow [this was written Sunday night], we plan on going to several of Macbeth places (missing you all!), such as Macduff, Scotland (oh, and thanks a lot [not] for not saying goodbye, David – ahem ahem) and Cawdor. Can’t wait!

Yesterday’s quote: “She’s like a rat in a bag – she can’t get out to save her life!” – a NAFCo person 

TODAY: It’s Monday, and we’ve gone a bit of a ways from Aberdeen. After breakie, we left Aberdeen and drove to Macduff, Scotland (where I blew a kiss to no-one in particular… ahem ahem); then to Cawdor Castle (BEAUTIFUL place – and my brother being thane, and all ); and lastly to Inverness, where we had a delicious tea [dinner] and a great walk about the town.

Quotes: “My hair won’t corporate… er, co-ooperate… co-aperate… oh I don’t know.” –Caiti.

“What does BP stand for?” “British Petroleum.” “Oh, I thought it stood for British Parliament!” – us kids 

Missing you all but having a jolly good time,

meg