goodbye danmark - hello scotland!

i like to think of myself as deeply flexible - always have been in my joints (i love to fold myself in half) - but suddenly i cannot handle being "behind" in this ELE JOU. meaning, i want to write about where i AM NOW rather than where i've been.

therefore, i will say GOODBYE to KØBENHAVN: to Martin and to Boris and to the bridges and the lakes and the incredible CYKEL KULTUR (bicycle culture) that weaves through that lovely city.

we flew into Edinburgh yesterday. i hope you can imagine it said with the proper scottish burr. 

try EDINBUTTA.

the GREEN out the window as we were landing was OVERPOWERING (i feel myself moving into a phase of wild hyperbole. please enjoy the ride or dial me down a few notches. warning: capital letters may become rampant).

edinburgh landing

Ann Mackie Miller was there to meet us. we got some pounds from a money machine, picked up our rental car and headed north across the FIRTH OF FOURTH. Ann rode shotgun which is the only thing that kept the car on the road. i haven't driven LEFTY in over 20 years and it's a LOT to adjust to. i only hit the curb twice (badly) and though there were a few close calls, i did pretty well.

i consider this kind of thing ALZHEIMER PREVENTION. seriously challenging the brain to FLEX. oh, did i say it's MANUAL TRANSMISSION? getting my left hand to manage the gear shift is a HILARIOUS comedy of errors.

we are staying in a tiny fishing village called CRAIL in a cottage just steps from the North Sea.

the beauty is heart-stopping. but even more arresting, for me, is the antiquity - the experience of being in the lap of a civilization that's been active in the same place for several thousand years is mind-boggling for a person from a pipsqueak country such as america.

panorama from back window 

next house through bathroom window

boat ties

me and Ann Mackie Miller 

next door neighbors

today, we spent in St. Andrews (especially apt for Andrew) where Ann went to university. a walled city dominated by the ruins of an enormous cathedral looking out over the sea, the streets are bustling with academics and holiday-makers. we exhausted ourselves tramping round the town and came home knackered (that's UK for bone tired) but we stayed up for the pink pink sunset that happened round about 10 pm.

 

andrew voigt in st. andrews playing "Pope of Scotland"

 

10 pm pinkness over Crail, Scotland