In transit: Tobermory to Glasgow to London to Delhi.

The weather has been off and on rain, as it almost always is here. We visited Iona on a very wet day and were not able to get to our second island stop of Staffa.

Here are the ruins of the Iona nunnery

and the Abbey.

On our last day on the Isle of Mull we decided to make another try to get to Staffa, an uninhabited island ringed with basalt columns. The weather held, and we were able to view this other worldly place, although it was still too rough for us to dock.

With some time to spare, we were told that we’d be able to get off on another small island and see seals, along with their pups, which were just a few months old. Beyond words, this.

Heading home

I could stop right there, and you’d have a pretty good idea of what this place is like. But here are more pictures, starting with some random bits of beauty, because they are everywhere.

Also worth mentions: the roads, and the sheep. This is a two way road:

For those who have not driven here, there are pull off spots along the road. When you see a car coming at you, you and the other driver spontaneously negotiate who will pull off and who will continue on. As you pull alongside each other, both parties wave. Jay estimates that he has waved 350-400 times in the past few days.

I am convinced that all of this waving is part of what gives Mull its relaxed, cozy feel. Everyone is connected here, because this is a place where you cannot ignore your neighbors. Just getting from one place to another, you are constantly acknowledging their presence. And there is an explicit, shared recognition of the need for cooperation and courtesy.

Also, there are sheep. They cover the hills,  cross the roads, visit the local tourist sites.

Here they are having a day at the beach.

Here they are walking a labyrinth at the Calgary art and nature center.

We started our first full day here at the Center, where sculptures dot the landscape.

Some are carved by human hands

And some by nature.

We continued on until we arrived at a white sand beach

A quick goodbye to these guys, who insisted I take their picture. Or maybe they were expecting something else.

Along the road back

A quick hop on the ferry to the tiny island of Ulva to see one of the last remaining thatched houses around.

Day’s end.

The Isle of Skye is a magical place. You feel it everywhere. Beauty above, below, and everywhere in between.

Along with the beauty, there are the fairies. Yesterday we hiked Fairy Glen; today, it was the Fairy Pools.

Most of the pictures below are Jay’s: it was not easy to catch the fairies but he did a creditable job. Take this one for instance, clearly a fairy hot tub:

Deep pools of blue and green that swirl and fall

A whole world in miniature

Tomorrow, on to Mull.

A beautiful part of this beautiful country. We arrived at the airport in Inverness and drove to our lodging.

Along the way

This being the home of the Loch Ness monster, we ventured out the next morning in hopes of a sighting. The weather started getting rough . . .

okay, so it rained on and off.

Luckily it cleared long enough for us to get a good view of Urquhart Castle.

We returned to clearer skies.

In the morning we visited Culloden Battlefield, site of the last, very bloody battle of the Jacobite rebellion. Even I was fascinated by the exhibits, and Jay was in military history heaven.

By early afternoon we were on our way to  the Isle of Skye. Stopped to give our regards to these guys.

Intermittent heavy rains all the way to the Isle of Skye. We arrived at our lodging in Portree and sat looking out at the port until dinner.

In the morning, sunshine transformed our view.

We drove around the northern part of the Trotternish Peninsula Loop and checked out the sights, starting with the Old Man of Storr, a rock formation that is not quite as literal in its representation of an old man as the (now sadly somewhat de-faced) New Hampshire landmark.

Jay climbed all the way up

Next on the loop, the Lealt Gorge.

A fellow Gorge visitor saw us trying to take a selfie and kindly intervened.

The highlight of the day, Fairy Glen, an odd and lovely landscape. Our visit was graced by the sound of a bagpiper playing for a small wedding party under the shelter of braided trees.

We did not spot any fairies, but many sheep were on hand. And as we later discovered, also on feet.

 

Here is Camden Lock, lovely and lively, and with a market that seems to stretch on forever. My kind of place.

And one shot of Spitalfield’s, a sentimental favorite. I was too busy looking at everything to take pictures, so I left that to Jay.

Below, the cultural highlight of this visit, the Victoria and Albert Museum.

We caught what was no doubt a big summer draw.

Obviously I was either asleep or too depressed to notice at the time what a phenomenon  they were and still are. “The Dark Side of the Moon” is still selling (7000 a week). Much for me to discover, better late than never.

As promised,  it was not so much an exhibit as a “a full frontal sensory assault , an utterly transportive experience.”

Concert footage in an immersive environment was so cool. Almost like being there, kind of. Probably close enough.

Nice to be able to appreciate the words.

For this relatively brief (less than a week) stop, we are staying in a new-to-us neighborhood, away from central London. Lots of great markets, restaurants and cool little shops.

there’s even a church with a small cemetery right around the corner.

Also within walking distance, The Tate Modern, which had an exhibit of Giacometti that was about to close. I was interested in seeing his bronze figures, but this exhibit gave a much more complete view of his work.

Early pieces influenced by African art

“Hands Holding the Void (The Invisible Object)” his first full length figure.

After a period of surrealism, his best known work, from the tiny to the larger than life.

I love this passage from a review of the exhibit in The Guardian:

View from the top of the Tate

 

 

 

 

 

Above, Dam Square, Amsterdam’s main square.

We love Amsterdam. There’s plenty to do and see, but not so much that you feel like you have an obligation to get going and see it all. And since this is a return visit for us, we can focus. 🙂

Saturday market, above and below

My market purchase

We spent several hours at the Van Gogh Museum

No picutres to share here (none allowed). But it’s a beautifully designed setting for this massive collection of Van Gogh’s work and I learned a lot about his life and his struggles as an artist and as a person. Van Gogh did not begin painting until his late twenties and he died by his own hand at 37. In this brief span he created over 2100 artworks, including 860 oil paintings. In the last two years of his life he averaged a painting a day.

The.view from the roof of the Van Gogh Museum

In the Museum of Modern Art nearby there was an exhibit by the anonymous graffiti artist who goes by the name of Banksy. There were site pieces like this one, recovered from the streets of Berlin

There were also “indoor” pieces created by the artist

Hunter gatherers with grocery carts 

The following day we went to the much grander Museum of Contemporary Art (one thing I’ve learned on this trip is the difference between contemporary and modern art).

We saw an exhibit of Dubuffet’s work. I liked this one, The Dessert is Glowing, made of oil and lacquer on plaster. He used all kinds of materials in his work: leaves, sand, stones.

Below, an appealing assembly by Cesar Domela that nods to Kandinsky, who was a friend of his.

Gerrit Reitveld, Red and Blue Chair. They did not have a miniature in the gift shop but I am going to get one for my newly created miniature chair collection.

Blue tape and mirrors, a bit too conceptual for me but it made for an interesting picture.

We have continued to walk an average of five miles a day which made it easier for us to justify the food, beer, and baked goods that we enjoyed here.

With a week to explore Amsterdam’s neighborhoods, we felt like we were able to get to know the city and discover hidden treasures like the Mouse Mansion. The shop is the work of a family that creates a series of books for which they build elaborate and exquisite “sets”. In the shop, you can see all the sets, and of course,  buy the books in many languages.

If you are not a fan of miniature mouse environments you may want to skip down.

Above, a small section of the neighborhood that covers an entire wall of the store and that took three years to construct. Below, a close up of one tiny part.

A few more pictures.  Because, miniature mouse environments.

Here is my favorite, the fortune teller’s caravan  (note the crystal ball on the table).

Our accommodations this week were the nicest we’ve had, in large measure because of the care that our hosts Oki and Frank take with guests. Oki brought us fresh fruit, perfect eggs and more every morning. Jay collected the small flower filled vases that came on our tray; Oki must have a large supply, because there was always another one. Here are some of them, arranged by Jay and with the addition of my bee keyring from Prague in the center.

Hope to see these two again sometime.

This is a city that charms, plain and simple. Everything you want and very little of what you don’t. Compared to some of our recent stops, Amsterdam is quiet (but not too) and offers enough diversions to make the days interesting, while leaving room for plenty of down time.

Here is our street, only a few blocks from the Museum Quarter. Our room, in a bed and breakfast with only two lodgings, is the one with the red geraniums.

Wandering through markets and neighborhoods, always careful to dodge the cyclists.

According to recent estimates, the 850,000 residents of Amsterdam together own 846,000 bicycles. Bonus fact: each year between 12,000 and 15,000 bikes are fished out of the city’s canals.