August 29 (Monday)

Scotland calling. Riten and I set out to Edinburgh, for what promises to be a picturesque experience. We boarded a small British Airways flight in the afternoon and were glad to find pleasant weather in Scotland. As we were strolling towards Princes Street in the evening we passed by Usher Hall where a show of the Edinburgh International Festival was about to begin. A guy was selling £26 tickets for the orchestra for £5, so we leaped at the offer. I was delighted at the prospect of attending an orchestra for the first time in my life. It was the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the youngest of Germanys leading orchestras, noted for its warm sound and singing style, which make it a leading interpreter not only of the Classical and Romantic repertory but also of some of the most challenging and rewarding contemporary works, including its own commissions. The chief conductor was Jonathan Nott.

There were two pieces being played in the evening György Ligetis violin concerto and Gustav Mahlers Symphony No. 5. I did not have the time to read up about the pieces beforehand, and my untrained ear was up against music of the highest quality. The brochure proclaims Its precise yet lush musical style, its virtuosity, its depth of sound and innovative programming mark this orchestra as one of the worlds finest and most dynamic. While I generally have an eye for detail, requiring myself to have an ear for detail was asking for too much. While I am absolutely clueless about any technicalities of music, and comments such as The fourth movement is a passacaglia whose ground bass defines itself principally in chromatic-scale fragments winding upwards through the orchestra or Mahler uses yet another transformation of motif with its upward-thrusting 9^th to say there will be an end to tears and to lamentation; for now, trumpets and trombones intone a chorale, the symphonys first extended music in a major key do not carry any meaning for me, I can still say that I enjoyed the orderliness and harmony of the symphony. I preferred it to the violin concerto, and will perhaps enjoy it even more next time. I am reminded of a quote I had come across long back, in a book about the origin of the universe:

Beautiful are the things we see,

More beautiful those we understand,

Much the most beautiful, those we fail to comprehend.

There were some interesting observations I made at the orchestra. There was a customary ovation at the end of the performances, which almost seemed comic. The chief performer (violinist for the violin concerto and conductor for the symphony) would exit the stage and walk in again and bow to the crowd. This would be repeated four or five times, and the applause would be continuous all the while. Apparently, the prolonged applause also represented an encore as there was another small piece performed at the end. Another funny point was people maintaining total quiet when the music was playing but when it stopped everybody had tuberculosis. The hall was packed, though mostly with older-aged people.

August 30 (Tuesday)

Day 2 in Scotland was spent in Edinburgh. We took the sight-seeing bus tour from Waverly Bridge, and got our first glimpses of Edinburgh. Facts, history and trivia were rammed on to our heads in the form of audio commentary, live guides, booklets and brochures. I find guided bus tours useful in getting a feel for a city because of the interesting titbits of information they provide. At the end of the day, I almost felt like an expert on Edinburgh.

In the eighteenth century as Great Britains Empire began to spread all over the globe the pace of growth in the home country intensified. Britain became the worlds first industrialised country and Scotland stood at the very forefront. Edinburghs population, once crammed onto the Royal Mile burst forth in all directions. As the wealth poured into the city a New Town was built to the north of the Old to reflect this new order, and the influx of intellectuals into Edinburgh earned her the sobriquet The Athens of the North. This period was to be known as the Enlightenment, and Edinburgh was recognised the world over as a great seat of learning, especially in the field of medicine.

I saw the statue of King George IV in George Street. Legend has it that it was this amorous king after whom the following nursery rhyme was derived (apparently he kissed all the 240 women present in a party):

Georgy Porgy, pudding and pie,

Kissed the girls and made them cry.

When the boys came out to play,

Georgy Porgy ran away.

The City of Edinburgh grew out from the Castle rock, and the first houses in Edinburgh were built on the area in front of Edinburgh Castle, which is now known as the Lawnmarket, and then continued down the High Street and the Cannongate towards the Royal Palace of Holyrood House. These streets form a single street known as The Royal Mile. The Royal Mile acquired its name as over the ages, Scottish and English kings, queens and royalty in general, have travelled to and fro between the Palace of Holyrood House and Edinburgh Castle - hence the name The Royal Mile. Its distance is a few hundred yards more than a mile.

Princes Street (at the city centre of Edinburgh) is unique in that the shops along its length are only on the north side of the street, so from them you have an uninterrupted view of the Castle. The city can boast of having the most intact Georgian city in the whole of Europe, and has UNICEF World Heritage Site status. Edinburgh has a number of bridges (over land) in the city centre. According to our tour guide, Edinburgh and Rome are two exclusive cities which create a mark for themselves in the visitors mind. The other cities are all too undifferentiated and after a few years you wouldnt remember whether you were in Chicago or Washington or Toronto (or Liverpool or Belfast or Leeds). But Edinburgh and Rome will stay in your mind.

There are three universities in Edinburgh and hence a high student population, which adds to the vibrancy of the city. Edinburgh is the second most tourist-intensive city (after London) in Britain. Edinburgh has more pubs per square mile than any other city in Europe. The clock at the Clock Tower in Princes Street, which is above Waverly station, is always two minutes fast so travellers running to the railway station still have two minutes in hand.  The only time the clock runs to the correct time is on Hogmanay when Princes Street is the scene of a huge party, and the clock counts down the minutes to midnight.

The song Auld Lang Syne which means Old Long Ago is traditionally sung by most of us on the stroke of midnight each New Years Eve. However in Scotland, where Auld Lang Syne originates it is also sung on Burns Night, January 25th, to celebrate the life of the author and famous poet Robert Burns. It is considered to be the second most famous song in the world (after Happy Birthday to You).

In the afternoon, we went to watch the Dynamic Earth programme near the Scottish Parliament. It was about the origins of life and the earth. There was the opportunity to contemplate the myriad facets of being human. A saying on the wall read: Man is not a figure in the landscape, he is a shaper of the landscape, which is so true. This particular bit on life I found fascinating:

C + H₂O + N, S, P = Life

Carbon and water, together with nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus, are the building blocks of life. All organisms need to transmit to succeeding generations their body plans their blueprint. This is done by building complex molecules like DNA whose 3-dimensional shape is the genetic code for building the organism. Phosphorus also has the other vital function of enabling molecules to store and release energy. It is the battery which drives life.

August 31 (Wednesday)

At the beginning of time, God was discussing the creation of the world with the Angel Gabriel. Leaning back in His golden throne, He told him of His plans for Scotland. Gabriel, said God I am going to give Scotland towering mountains and magnificent glens resplendent with purple heather. Red deer will roam the countryside, golden eagles will circle in the skies, salmon will leap in the crystal clear rivers and lochs, and the surrounding areas will teem with fish. Agriculture will flourish and there will be a glorious coming together of water with barley to be known as whisky. Coal, oil and gas all will be there. The Scots will be intelligent, innovative, industrious and

Wait a minute! interrupted Gabriel. Are you not being just a wee bit too generous to these Scots?

But the Almighty replied, Not really. I havent told you who their neighbours are going to be!

I have read the above joke in connection with India, but was amused to see it on a tea towel in a shop in Edinburgh. The Scotland-England rivalry is much older than the India-Pakistan rivalry, and this joke is more apt for Scotland than India. What the joke also highlights is the immense natural beauty of Scotland. I had first-hand experience of the same today as I took a 350-mile one-day tour of Loch Ness, Glencoe and the Highlands. Glen means valley and Loch means lake. As we crossed the Highland boundary faultline the scenery changed from the rolling farmland of the Lowlands to the forested hills and mountains of the Scottish Highlands. The scenery was breathtaking and it is hard to justice to Scotland with mere adjectives. We travelled across one of the last wilderness areas in Western Europe Rannoch Moor. A moor is a wide open barren landscape made up of grasslands, usually with peaty soil covered with heather and bracken and moss. We travelled past the stunningly beautiful Glencoe, with its dramatic cliff faces and steep slopes and Britains highest mountain Ben Nevis. I took a cruise on the mysterious and legendary waters of Loch Ness. We stopped at Spean Bridge where I got to taste different brands of single-malt whiskies.

Loch Ness is the worlds most famous lake. Loch Ness lies deep in the heart of the Scottish Highlands. It is 23 miles long, 1 mile wide and averages 700 feet deep, with some parts going down to 754 feet. By volume, Loch Ness is the largest freshwater lake in Britain. Visibility is almost zero, due to the peat content of the water. There are a handful of operators that take tourists onto the Loch - where they can look for monster-shaped lumps on a sonar screen. The mysterious Loch Ness Monster (also called Nessie) is known throughout the world today I got a chance to hunt for Nessie myself! On our boat was Richard McDonald, a local monster-believer and marine biologist who claimed he had seen the beastie on six occasions. McDonald is adamant the loch hosts several of his large animate targets (some of the animals being up to about 37 feet in length and 3.3 tonnes in weight). He believes there are about 18. He explained that the Loch Ness monster is a descendant of Microplata just as the present man is a descendant of Neolithic man.

September 1 (Thursday)

Day 4 in Scotland was spent in Edinburgh. It was a relatively relaxed day. I took a free guided walking tour down the Royal Mile and followed it with a visit to the Museum of Childhood, Writers Museum and Edinburgh Castle. I learnt more bits of trivia such as the fact that Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London is called so because its original location was on Great Scotland Yard, a street of Whitehall in London, which derived its name from being a former site of the residence of the Scottish kings when staying in England. So when Scottish kings would leave Edinburgh on horse carriages, the place they would stop at in London was called Scotland Yard.

The Museum of Childhood is described as the noisiest museum in the world and is crammed full of toys and objects telling of childhood, past and present. The Writers Museum is dedicated to the lives and work of Scotlands great literary figures, in particular Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. The courtyard immediately outside the Writers' Museum has been designated as Makers' Court. Here you can find inscriptions commemorating famous Scottish writers, from the 14th century to the present. Some wise aphorisms like Go back far enough and all humankind are cousins, Knowledge is high in the headbut the salmon of wisdom swims deep and And yet and yet, this New Road will some day be the Old Road, too were inscribed.

By the time I visited Edinburgh Castle, I was deluged with details and overwhelmed by historic information having taken so many tours. My mind almost switched off and I just quickly strolled through the Castle. I couldnt possible drop out the Castle from my tour after seeing statements such as If you havent seen the Castle, you havent seen Edinburgh being flashed behind buses. The Castle dominates the capital and gives stunning views of the city and surrounding countryside. The views, coupled with a visit to the Crown room housing the Scottish Crown Jewels (the oldest Royal Regalia in Britain) and the Stone of Destiny (coronation stone for Scots kings), almost completed my Castle experience. Even this quite paled in comparison with the Tower of London, which has a magnificent array of Crown Jewels in display.

The weather in Scotland is the ficklest. The phrase four seasons in a day is very appropriate indeed for Scotland. Sweltering heat can give way to biting chill or heavy rains within moments. It is often said that if you dont like the weather in Scotland, wait for 20 minutes!

September 2 (Friday)

Day 5 in Scotland was another one-day Highlands tour. There was a dramatic start to the day because when Riten and I reached the tour booking office, another person reached at the same time. We all wanted tickets to the tour starting in another 5 minutes, but there were only 2 seats left. For all of us, it was our last day in Scotland, and this being the final tour of the day we were all keen to go on it. I reckoned that the only way to break the deadlock was to have a toss. The other person called Heads and he lost. And so we got a chance to get a final feel for Scotland before leaving for Bristol tomorrow morning.

The tour highlights were advertised as a day out sampling Scotland's finest assets - its whisky, its scenery and its history - including a tour of the Famous Grouse Experience, formerly the Glenturret Distillery, a stunning nature walk through a gorge at the Birks of Aberfeldy and a stop in the historic medieval city of Dunkeld. However, there was a change in the plan and the walk through a gorge at the Birks of Aberfeldy was replaced by a woodland walk at the Hermitage just outside Dunkeld. The Hermitage pleasure ground is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Scotland. It competes with the tumbling River Braan and some spectacularly tall Douglas fir trees, including one of Britains tallest at over 210ft. Dunkeld is the smallest city in Scotland. It is classed as a city because it has a cathedral, and that used to be the criterion in olden days. We made a peaceful stop there before returning to Edinburgh past Perth and over the Forth Bridge in the evening.

It has been said that Scotch whisky is the distillation of Scotland in a glass and that with every sip it speaks of the country of its birth. We were taken on a tour of the Glenturret distillery (established 1775), Scotlands oldest working malt whisky distillery, and found out the secret to making Scotland's national drink, and got a chance to taste the finished article. Today, there are about 100 working distilleries. They are scattered all over Scotland, and each one makes a unique 'Single Malt'. They all taste different, and often reflect the local environment and geography. I got a chance to enhance my knowledge about whiskies. The whisky-making process consists of milling, mashing, fermenting, distilling, filling and maturing. Some of the leading brands of whiskies are the Famous Grouse (which is a blended whisky, and is named after the Red Grouse, Scotlands national game bird), Macallan and Highland Park (which are single-malt whiskies). Blended whisky uses maize instead of barley. As that would have no taste in itself, many single-malts are added to it. Thus, blended whisky = maize + single malts. (Single) Malt whisky is had neat or with water only in Scotland. Any mixer like Coke is frowned upon. Single-malt whisky is the purest form of whisky and often considered the best.

I dont think I will come across a city being marketed more aggressively than Edinburgh. Guides, tours, maps, mementos, shops, books etc. scattered across the city each one proclaiming the heritage of Scotland.  The smallest bits of trivia have been indiscriminately glorified.

One tour brochure nicely sums up the spirit of Scotland. It says: Scotland is a land where history, legends and magical tales are blended together against a backdrop of spectacular scenery, fairytale castles and wild open spaces. From great castles to humble crofts, high mountains to tranquil sea lochs, battlefields echoing with the cries of long ago to the peace of remote highland glens journey with us to discover and enjoy our Scotland. Indeed, Scotland has a rich diversity of panoramic magnificence green hills, dense forests, shimmering lochs, tumbling streams, salmon rivers and towering mountains. Museums, galleries, monuments, churches and castles abound in Scotland. While I have had only a foretaste of what Scotland has to offer, the sweetness promises to last long.

September 3 (Saturday)

We reached Bristol in the morning and it was an eventless and relaxed day for me.

In the evening, I was trying to reach Arun in Yahoo chat, but it was actually mummy on the other side. This is what happened (shayar1 is me):

shayar1: I went to Loch Ness

shayar1: which is a large freshwater lake in Scotland (Loch means lake)

shayar1: the marine biologist there

shayar1: says that there are dinosaurs

shayar1: over there

shayar1: and that he has seen them

shayar1: they are called loch ness monsters

coolarun5: good this is mum i am going to put tea

shayar1: from the sublime to the ridiculous

shayar1: is just one sentence.