Scotland
It's always great to get visitors. In April we had good friends, three couples, visit us from Thailand. I had a week off, so it was a great opportunity to further explore Scotland . . . and London.
The weather couldn't have been any better: bright, clear, crisp, with fast moving clouds.
It was fun to take our friends to some of our favorite beauty spots.
Of course a distillery tour was on the tour.
It was a scrumptious day for a road trip along the Highlands Malt Whiskey Trail.
We paid took the full tour (with sampling!) of the Royal Lochnagar Distillery . . . that strictly forbade photography.
The old whiskey still itself was a wonder of craftsmanship, detail, color and texture.
The stills were works of art.
The whiskey barrel vault . . . and royal patronage emblem. This stuff is valuable.
I can confirm the whiskey advertisements . . . whiskey is still made the old fashioned way.
Because of the alcohol vapors present, all electrical switches have to be sealed. This light switch must have been installed when the distillery was first electrified.
Water, Sparge, Sparge, and Hot Wart. Of course.
Old brass Victorian-era distillery devices were still in use. It also supplied a nice opportunity for a novel self-portrait.
Our visitors are whiskey lovers, but didn't like this particular single malt. We left the beautiful surrounds of the distillery to head further up into the Scottish Highlands.
The Highlands early spring roads are magnificent.
Our next stop was Balmoral Castle, the summer residence of The Queen of England.
The moss and lichens on this stone banister gives you some idea of how wet the highlands can be in the winter. Lovely textures!
Yes, there really are castles like this in the world . . that are lived in by real queens.
Balmoral Castle is actually the private property of the Royal Family, unlike all the other Royal residencies which are the property of the State.
Balmoral Castle lies astride the trout and salmon laden upper reaches of the River Dee.
We could have stayed all day taking selfies n front of Balmoral Castle . . . the archetypical royal castle.
The best liquor we had that day was the hooch our van driver Karl shared.
LONDON - The Harry Potter Studio Tour
Yes, we went here.
I confess, I am not a fan of this kind of fantasy literature and/or the cinematic spin-offs they generate. It's just not my cup of tea.
We flew to London and went directly to the WB Harry Potter Studios . . . I went screaming and kicking, not being a fan of this sort of thing.
But . . . I have to admit that the tour turned out much, much better than I could have hoped.
It turned out to be an actual tour of the actual sets used in the actual movies in the actual studio where it was actually filmed. My dread was dissolved.
I've only ever seen one of these Harry Potter movies, the first one, and I assumed most of the scenes were computer generated CGI art . . . it wasn't!!!
The detail of the set construction was truly impressive. They went to a lot of work (and expense!) to create this imaginary world.
The production went to a lot of trouble . . . . including working from detailed architectural drawings, to . . .
. . . to constructing scale models of sets. The workmanship is excellent. This is a big production . . . unlike my own forays into Hollywood productions.
A fantasy of a fantasy of a fantasy: a post-modern copy of a copy of a copy of an apothecary shop that never was.
The autonomatronic creatures were impressive, as was the workshop where they were made.
Character prosthetics. I want one for Holloween.
Again, the attention to detail in the costumes was way beyond what I expected.
I posted this one on Facebook as "Inside the Obama fake voter labs" . . . to much Democratic acclaim and vitriol from the ever-present trolls.
The model of the school was 50 feet tall and perfect in detail.
Amazing, just amazing.
The Harry Potter Flying Broom Machine . . . seems like these would be popular at Chucky Cheese at $5.oo a ride. The background is a green screen (chroma key) used in CGI imagery.
My new computer desktop image. After an impressive three hours in the studio, all exits funneled us to the vast and expensive GIFT SHOP FROM HELL. The child-whining there was epic. And shrill. And tearful. An 'official' Harry Potter Magic Wand (a stick) was a money-gouging 55 pounds (US$75.oo). Ouch. This image is of how hard parents feel it is to get out of the aforementioned Gift Shop From Hell. Off to London without so much as a key chain fob, such is the strength of my will.
LONDON
An hour drive into central London landed us in beautiful Knightsbridge. It was a nostalgic journey for me: I lived in London for several years in the late 80s. As you can see, London is much further south than Aberdeen, and was in full new-growth Springtime.
Ah, London Pubs!
This photo is perhaps more indicative of London's neighborhoods than Big Ben. London is very multicultural.
London may be the finest tourist city in the world.
Trafalgar Square . . . tourist central.
A must-have-tourist-experience in London.
These acrobatic Swedish tourists put on quite a show for a Japanese tour group.
London is a very open-minded city.
London is such a visually rich city . . there are literally too many things to photograph . . . that you want to photograph. I was on sensory overload the whole time. I wouldn't mind living in London again.
Having good clean fun in London. It is good to have older sisters.
Yes, we frequented hi-brow cafes and sampled delicious cakes and edible whatnots. I brought my medication.
Where the rich and famous hang out in Knightsbridge.
People say that the food is bad in London. Not So!!! We had excellent Korean, Chinese, Thai, Turkish, Lebanese, and Indian food throughout the whole trip. The aftermath of a great Korean meal near Trafalgar.
I think the real reason our Thai friends wonted to visit London was to take a pilgrimage to Harrods . . . The Temple of Shopping!!!!
And when I say Harrods is a Temple of Shopping, I MEAN Temple of Shopping. This is the escalator in Harrods Department Store.
We caught London at the very beginning of the Spring blossoms. Nice.
London is both an ancient and a modern city . . . but it feels like it is in a human scale . . .
London from the steps of the gallery, Tate Britain.
OK, not entirely on a human scale. Prince Charles let this thing get by his architectural scrutineering.
I remember lots of parks in London for my daughter to play in when we lived there . . . it's still a pretty good city for children.
I HAD to take this post card shot of Big Ben and the London Eye.
In the government building section of London there are protests here and there. I guess this fellow didn't want to wait in the que for a permit . . .
Ah, Knightsbridge squares.
One day we took a drive out into the London suburb of Wimbledon.
No, we did not go to Wimbledon to see the grass tennis courts.
We went to Wimbledon to visit, and to pay respect to, the Thai Wat Buddhapadipa. We could scarcely believe our eyes! A perfect Thai Wat "beamed down" to suburban London. Fantastic!
A Wonderful Thai Temple. We spent a good long time inside the Wat. It felt good to be back in a Buddhist space. I have missed it since moving from Thailand.
The Thai Buddhist spirit was strong in this place.
The interior was a astonishingly beautiful. I wanted to stay forever . . . a feeling I always have in Buddhist temples.
Yep, you gotta watch out for that pesky Mara . . . thanks for the reminder, Lord Buddha.
As luck (good and bad) would have it, they were setting up for a Songkran Festival event on the temple grounds. Unfortunately it didn't fit our schedule.
We were back in London/Knightsbridge by nightfall. London is fascinating at night. Near our hotel.
Lots of people out and about.
We went everywhere on the Tube. Bayswater Station.
The nearest London Tube stop to our hotel was Glouchester Station. We took the London Underground a lot. After a couple of days exploring and shopping London, it was time for another road trip. The eight of us boarded a van (with a Thai driver!) for a trip to . . .
BRIGHTON BEACH AND THE SOUTH COAST OF ENGLAND
In the van on the way we thought we were going to the White Cliffs of Dover, but they were too far away . . . we settled for equally impressive cliffs nearer to Brighton in East Sussex. The coastal countryside was gorgeous.
We parked the van and walked abut two miles along an estuary to the sea and cliffs of the Cuckmere Valley.
The gate into the Chyngton Farm trail we took to the cliffs.
The cliffs on a misty day.
It was well worth the long walk to the sea cliffs. We took about a million photos of each other and then walked back . . . on to Brighton. We were hungry . . . for fish and chips.
The drive into the old seaside vacation town of Brighton.
It was cold and windy when we reached the Brighton Beach Pier.
A lovely stoney beach and Victorian pier.
Even though they assured us the Ferris wheel capsules were heated, we did not take them up on their high priced offer of great views.
Mission Accomplished! Fish and Chips in Brighton . . . and not too bad either.
The Brighton Pier was not as seedy or tawdry as I had hoped. It was nice . . . and family.
We all had a great time in Scotland, London, and Brighton. We were sad to see our friends go when we boarded the plane back to our Aberdeen home.