kate

If one day you come to our home in Richmond and find us gone, just check Edinburgh, Scotland; that is where we will be. It was an amazingly exciting and strange trip and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to go!

(Robert asleep on the train)

We left the 4th of May at 7:30 in the morning for Tampere, Finland. The train got us there a little bit early and we walked straight to the bus depot, where we waited for the connection that takes us to Pirkkala, a little town whose small airport has a funny little Ryanair terminal. We arrived at the airport only to find out that our flight was canceled (damn you, ash cloud)! It was horribly disappointing and frustrating, and we hadn't purchased flight insurance so we had to buy new tickets for the next flight (which was leaving on the 6th!).

Walking around Tampere, knowing that we could be in Scotland, felt so annoying. We went to the local library and found a very nice girl (via couchsurfing) to stay with for two nights, which was a relief. The following days were so forgettable that I've, well, forgotten them. I know that we saw a movie, played frisbee in the park, and ate at a Thai restaurant.

(Our couchsurfing host's apartment)

Finally, the 6th came! We arrived in Edinburgh at 12:00 in the afternoon and took a bus to the center of the city! How beautiful! The city is rather large, and is divided into these neat little areas. We initially arrived in the 'Royal Mile', a long stretch of street which leads up to Edinburgh castle, built atop volcanic rock. The streets are wide and made of cobblestone, with large stone churches and buildings lining the sides. There are steep alley ways that lead to different areas, like the cattle gate.

(the double-decker bus that took us into the city)

(Sir Walter Scott with a bird on his head)

We wandered around the Royal Mile for a bit before having brunch in a local restaurant. We decided to share the 'English Breakfast', which had fried tomatoes, haggis, vegetable sausage, an egg, baked beans and baguette (also tea)! Delicious!

We spent the day wandering around the city and went on the underground tunnel (ghost) tour (hah!).

That day in Edinburgh was our first taste of Spring! The grass was green and flowers were blooming everywhere, whereas in Finland there is some kind of weird season-reversal thing that makes it look more like Fall (no leaves on the trees, brown grass).

(the squirrels in Edinburgh are thrifty!)

That night we found an amazing youth hostel called "Caledonian Backpackers". It was 10 pounds a night for a bed in a 10-person dorm. The rooms were large with tall windows at the end, they really reminded me of 'Madeline' and the orphanage she lived in ('with beds in a neat row'). The hostel was great; in the morning we got free breakfast, enjoyed their dark projection room (for watching movies, with bean bags covering the floor), and the hostel's computers offered free internet access (which is unheard of in the hostel world).

The next morning, we woke up, had free breakfast, and went straight-away to see an exhibit of Diane Arbus's photography!! We were SO excited, it's such a strange and amazing fate that her work would be showing while we were in Edinburgh! The gallery had four large rooms of her photography, it was incredibly comprehensive.

I would have taken more photographs but it was forbidden! After visiting the gallery, we decided to grab some picnic food to take with us on a hike up 'Arthur's Seat'. It's a big hill formed out of an inactive volcano, and it towers above the rest of Edinburgh.

It was an incredible journey to get to the top, and at times it felt pretty risky! Near the peak of the mountain, we were climbing between giant rocks with the wind blowing hard enough to push me backwards! The view was incredible, you could see the ocean, Edinburgh castle and other mountains off in the distance.

After the hike we walked into the city center to find a bit to eat. We chose a place that happened to be hosting a small bridal party- which included some of the most obnoxious girls I've ever met! This resulted in one of the most granny-ridiculous things I've ever said, and I still feel a bit funny!

When we got to the restaurant I really had to use the restroom, so I went immediately. As soon as I got into the stall three of the girls from the party began banging on the door and trying to open it! I said,
"I'll be out in one minute!"

They kept banging on the door, kicking it and giggling the door knob. I couldn't believe it! So I said,
"Okay! Hold on!"

The sink was in the stall, so I quickly tried to wash my hands. They started screaming some unintelligible and probably extremely stupid stuff and I finally opened the door. I was ready to say something, or get hit by some drunken girls- but, I noticed that I was almost a foot taller than all of them! They said,
"Oh! Sorry.."
and I, stupidly and embarrassingly said: "Patience is a virtue that you do not possess".

HAH, take that, bitches!

I still cannot believe that I said it. Maybe I was reciting something my grandmother had said to me a decade before, I can't figure out where it came from! Annnnyyyways..

Late that afternoon we took a bus to Glasgow. We were both disappointed, as its nothing like Edinburgh! The city is very modern and crowded. The streets are small and the buildings are so tall that you cannot see anything behind them. We immediately set out to find Rennie Mackintosh's School of the Arts, which I have been dreaming about for years. When we got there I was horribly disappointed; his amazing piece of architecture is surrounded on all sounds by modern buildings. The blocks are so overcrowded that you cannot get far enough away from it to see the whole face of the school and admire all of the amazing details that make his style so unique.

The interior was upsetting, too. All of his hand-stenciled details and stained glass doors have been neglected! In what is considered to be the best piece of European architecture built in the past 100 years, a masterpiece of Art Nouveau, they have stapled pieces of papers to the walls, and crowded his amazing hallways with reproductions of Greek sculpture. It was just confusing!

That night we couchsurfed with a guy named Som. Coincidentally he had another couchsurfer staying at the same time who was a really interesting art student from Brazil (who has been studying in France). The next morning, a few minutes before we left, she told all of us a very strange story..

She said that she found a girl on Flickr that she was interested in drawing for a project. She had been following this girls page for a year, drawing pictures of her as a baby and as an adult for a project. Her project became more of a fascination and she began to search for information about the girl. She found out that the girl was living in Glasgow, smoked 'Lucky Strike' cigarettes, and a lot of silly information about her personal life.

In an attempt to turn her images of this girl into her final project, she decided to go to Glasgow. She claims that she did not want to meet the girl, that she only wanted to immerse herself in the stranger's environment. So, she flew to Glasgow and met her couchsurfing host- Som.

Som takes her to his apartment and she quickly realizes that his roommate is the girl she's been following! She claims to be shocked and bewildered by this unusual coincidence.. So, for the next few days she talks with this girl- pretending not to know anything about her- and even lies about her reasons for visiting Glasgow. When the girl gets out of the shower, Natalia (the artist/stalker), goes into the bathroom to document the steam and whatever else has been left behind..

Now, she tells us all of this as if it was a random coincidence. Som's girlfriend, Kate, is shocked and disturbed by the story.. and Robert and I are excited/skeptical. Part of me wants to believe that it is a coincidence, but it seems too unlikely. Not only that, but Natalia had been lying to all of us about so many details that it's hard not to see her as a manipulator.

While on a walk with Som, she pulled out a pack of Lucky Strikes and began to smoke them. During her confession to us she admitted that she doesn't even smoke, that she had only done it to mimic the girl! That's pretty strange, I think. A day before, she had also asked Som a lot of strange questions about his roommate, enough the he felt too uncomfortable to answer.

So, I'm curious. I want to know if she was lying, I want to know if it was a strange coincidence!

Robert and I had the opportunity to go to a gallery that reproduced Charles Rennie Mackintosh's home with his wife, Francois McDonald and we spent hours walking around the West of the city on a big beautiful campus. We also saw an exhibit of some of Joseph Beuy's work!

Thanks to a great recommendation by Som, we decided to take the train to a little city, Ardrossan, in Western Scotland and catch a ferry to the Isle of Arran. We got there at around 6:00 p.m, just in time to miss the last bus to the opposite end of the island (which was the only place with a cheap hostel!). We went to a half-dozen hotels and bed & breakfasts, but they were all 40 to 70 pounds a night!

By 11:00 we were exhausted and beginning to accept the fact that we would have to sleep outside. In a final effort, we decided to talk to some cops and ask them if there were any other options. The police were extremely nice and empathetic and called another officer who was excited to personally drive us to the Northern tip of the island!!

It was incredible! The Isle of Arran is so unbelievably beautiful. It contains every geological uniquity found on the Scottish mainland- mountains, deep valleys, the ocean, flat plains, and every major type of rock formation. The officer told us a lot about the history of the island, while driving with arm on the wheel and swerving around curving back roads. He turned on his police jeep's 'side-lights' so that we could see the mountains to the right and left of us, and told us that he secretly goes to these areas while on duty to take photos (there's not much police work to be done on the little, completely peaceful island..).

When we got to the hostel it was closed! The owner came to the door and was very surprised to see two young people, escorted by a police officer. We were quite lucky as she had been up waiting for a couple named "Kemp." The owner didn't want us to wake up the sleeping guests in the dormitories, so she gave us the Kemp's private room with a bathroom for the same price! ..Only 15 pounds!

We spent the next day hiking around for miles and miles.

(Mom, I made Robert do this for you.. I hope you know what it's referring to!)

After walking for several hours, we hitched a ride with an elderly couple to a nearby village. They asked some questions about our travels and our impression of Arran, and we were glad to learn about their life there. In the tiny village (made up of about 30 total buildings), we went to the small (and only) grocery store to get some ingredients for dinner. We then took a bus back to the North coast. (By the way, the island is about 170 square miles and has only 5,000 inhabitants.)

(our hostel)

That night we decided to have a bonfire to cook dinner!

(Have you ever felt that you were being watched?)

A family of sheep joined us for about 15 minutes! They ate some of our mac and cheese- I hope they enjoyed it!

After the bonfire we returned to the hostel to relax for the rest of the night. A woman we'd met the day before had noticed earlier that we had a box of mac & cheese and an onion. Thinking we had nothing else, she saved us tasty leftovers from her family's meal. We spent the rest of the night playing Cranium (the UK version, hah!) and eating our delicious midnight snack.

The next morning we woke up early to catch the first bus to the other side of the island.

We caught our return ferry back to the mainland and return train back to Glasgow. Before leaving for Edinburgh we went to see Charles Rennie Mackintosh's 'House for an Art Lover'.

It was amazing! I've had a book of Mackintosh's design for many years and it features a lot of the works from the house; so it really was fantastic to see it all in person. What's really interesting about the building and all of the furnishings is that they were all built recently, by a group of Glasgow's best artists and tradesmen. Mackintosh drew plans of the building and all of the decoration, but never had a chance to see it completed. He entered the design portfolio into a German competition to design a building in a "modern style," for an art lover. His design was heralded, but did not win!

After seeing the house we returned to Edinburgh, got dinner, and went airport so we could catch our airplane early the next morning. We slept in the lobby and woke up at 4:30, ready to leave. We went through security and made it to the gate early--- but, as you all know- we didn't have the stamp on our boarding pass and weren't permitted to board. After ten minutes of crying bitterly, out of exhaustion and frustration, we pulled ourselves together and went back to the city.

That night we went back to Caledonian backpackers and relaxed! We also went out for dinner at the 'Frankenstein' restaurant, which was amazing!

The next morning we caught a (10-hour) bus to London! It was a long and beautiful ride, we really enjoyed having the time to be calm and read.

London is huge and overwhelming. For us, it didn't have the charm of Edinburgh, or Tallinn, but there was plenty to see and quite a lot to do! The first night we walked for hours, from the Southwestern end of the city-center to the Northeastern end. We stayed in a cheap hostel and woke up early to execute a silly plan.. (more about that later).

So, that day we found out Billy Bragg had been performing for weeks at this venue, but his last performance took place about one hour before we arrived in London!! We hadn't known, and just stumbled upon this display during our walk! And when we talked to the museum guard we found out that Billy Bragg had come by 10 minutes before us to pick up his guitar! Geez.

So, "the plan" was to take a Flatline Skyline CD to Mute Records' office in London. Robert knew the address by heart and found it on the map the night before. We walked about 8 miles to the address only to find that the building was under construction and was being converted into a apartment complex! A construction worker confirmed that we were in the right place and used his iPhone to help us find their new address.. So, we realized the CD delivery would have to wait another day.

We went to Hyde Park by way of Portobello Road, which was a very nice indoor and outdoor market street.

After hours of peaceful wandering, we headed toward the famed Parliament Square and Big Ben. We found a camp set-up in front of Parliament Square where a wild variety of political activists (and homeless people) were staying. We heard some very unique songs from two of the residents...

And talked about a variety of political topics with some very intelligent others.

We were offered a tent for the night, but as there was a pool of urine in the center, we decided to desist. (They hadn't realized this fact when they offered it to us, by the way!) So, we slept in a hostel and woke up early (6:15!). We traveled some more of the districts that we hadn't yet seen and eventually made our way toward Mute's new office. Their new headquarters was inside.. of EMI publishing's building. (One of the largest media corporations in the entire world, and owner of most well-known record labels..)

A bit intimidated, we continued with "the plan."

We went to Pizza Hut and bought their cheapest pizza..
Robert copied some excerpts from Flatline Skyline CD reviews to the top inside of the pizza box, and cut out a square in the center of the pizza. . . to put the shrink-wrapped CD into. We got a stack of napkins and a piece of paper from a Pizza Hut waitress' pad and wrote Mute's address on it. Robert taped it to the top of the box so he could pretend to refer to it when making 'the delivery'.

I took a seat on the stairs beside EMI's main entrance, next to a huge window where I could see everything. I watched Robert go in with the pizza, ask someone a question then get directed to another part of the building! I was so excited that I started laughing hysterically, surrounded by two backpacks and a pile of clothing, to the astonishment of a young woman (who probably thought I was an insane bag lady). He made it!!

Once directed towards Mute's office, he spoke with some young men at the reception desk. He told them that someone from the company had ordered a pizza and paid for it by credit card. They were so confused/convinced that they offered to take it to the main desk immediately!

So... hopefully someone got the CD and was either impressed/weirded out/disgusted enough to have a listen!