Gretchen's Blog

It was a long day from Aberdeen Scotland to Bakersfield. Just the flight from London to LAX was 11 hours.

Of course, my mailbox was jammed. I have a locked "end of street" mailbox that the new homes (at least in California) install, there's about 25 or so boxes in one spot. I think they're more efficient for the post office although I haven't seen much efficiency... grrrmph. Last time when I got back from Canada, there were 2 Hermit Crabs (must have been delivered the day I left) that Annaliese received as part of a Christmas present. Annaliese named one boulder and you can imagine why. Poor guys.

Back to reality, bills, taxes, groceries....

It's my last night in Scotland and I want to get to bed early in preparation for my long flight home tomorrow. I had dinner at the hotel and it was the best Salmon I can ever remember eating. I was hesitant about eating at the hotel restaurant but it was superb. One thing that made me nervous was the waitress was missing a few teeth... makes you wonder. Many of the people seem less concerned about their teeth, I'm not sure if it's a UK thing or a Europe thing or nothing. Even at the Chevron Aberdeen office they had leaflets about dental health and what everyone should do to improve the health of their teeth. Some of the reasons they listed for going to the dentist included things like bad breath, other's perception of their life standing, abscesses......

I also found out that there is more than one type of £. As change, I have been given a couple of Scottish pounds. While they spend the same as British pounds in Scotland, they may not spend the same way in Britain. I guess it's at the discretion of the proprietor to accept Scottish pounds. Each bill may come from a different bank. Talk about confusing. I plan to give the airport cab driver the last of my Scottish pounds.

For our last night, Chevron Europe reserved Castle Fraser for a dinner event. They loaded us on a bus and drove to where we were greeted by a bagpipe player and champagne. If you look hard, I can be found in the picture above. A photographer was on sight to take a group picture and he asked one of the gents in a Kilt to kneel down for the picture. The photographer then asked the Scot if he could "Tuck it in his sock?" I can only guess what the photographer was viewing. One of the other Scots was asked by someone else what he wore under his Kilt and his answer was "Nothing worn underneath, it's all in perfect working order" with a grin on his face.

We were given a silver Quaich as a gift which is a Scottish traditional "Cup of Welcome." Later, after an awesome meal, we had whisky tasting with a Scottish whisky connoisseur. I just sipped but a couple of my colleagues did a little more than sipping.


Ta ta,

Gave my presentation today and all went well. Lots of interest and questions but I'm glad it's over. Later, I went to a Turkish restaurant with some in my group, there are a lot of different types of restaurants in Aberdeen.

I'm down to my last £40 and Friday and Monday is a bank holiday in Scotland; Good Friday and Easter. I would rather not get more cash but I may have to hit an ATM one more time.

Went to a great restaurant in Stonehaven, Scotland. Had the scallops with some wine in a building created in the late 1700's right next to the North Sea.

My morning breakfast has consisted of Haggis and Black Pudding (a blood sausage of some kind) the standard scottish fare. Today I skipped the Black Pudding but still had the Haggis. Tomorrow I think I'm going to skip the Haggis, I'm having trouble with the texture and thought of the ingredients.

Ta ta,

I spent most of the day in conferences but I was able to corner a couple of locals and ask a few questions. Such as... "What does one wear under a Kilt?" The answer: "It's a personal choice but most wear.....nothing." According to the guy, the kilt is quite heavy and doesn't blow up in the wind (my question) but according to the lady during some festive events like weddings the guys get a little rambunctious and if they dance too hard you may get a flash of more than you wish. After she offered that bit of information, the guy admitted that another problem is sitting down in and getting up from low couches.

So now you know.

The day started off relaxing enough. Breakfast was good but the hotel staff always thinks I belong to the "all-inclusive" bus crowd and try to send me to the cereal line.

Made it to Heathrow early enough to catch all the long lines because the terminal had been emptied out due to a bomb scare....great.

Got to Aberdeen, Scotland OK... A few snowflakes, nothing major. Went to get my camera to upload a few pictures and discovered it had been stolen out of my luggage. They left the case and a couple of batteries. I spent a couple of hours getting forms and filling out reports. I guess it could have been worse, the camera was nice but not deluxe and it was a couple of years old. I would have liked the pictures but I guess I could download a few off the internet and pretend they're mine.

Met a few folks for a Scottish dinner and it was "Grease" theme night...It didn't fit in with the picture I had of a Scottish Pub.

Ta ta

I started out the day headed toward Buckingham Palace and "Changing of the Guard." I went to the spot outlined by the guide book to get a good view and there were too many people. I would have been better off being where the guards marched in rather than around the statue. One lady was about ready to slug it out with some poor guy who got in her line of sight. I guess she waited about an hour and it being a public place, could not control where other people stood.

I headed down the mall to the 1/2 price ticket stand to get the "official" half price tickets for the theatre. It was slim pickins' and I got tickets to a relatively unknown Andrew Lloyd Webber "Whistle down the Wind."

The area around the ticket stand was really cool with a lot of small restaurants, so I got a bite to eat before I headed to Harrods.

I made the pilgrimage to Harrods with about a million other people and headed for the chocolate and tea section to pick up a few gifts. Next up the famed Egyptian escalator and off to Cafe Punch for another tea. You'll notice most of my adventures are centered around food. This tea was not as good as Fortnum and Mason but it was cheaper.

After tea I took the escalator down to the Di and Dodi memorial to view the "shrine." The guide book said it was creepy and I agree. The wine glass was never washed and it looked like there was a little fuzz growing on the outside, some type of biological experiment. My advice? take the DNA off the glass to prove it was Di's and give it a good cleaning.

Later that evening I went to the musical and it was OK (not great.) I feel like I made a donation to the arts plus the male star was quite nice to look at.... I digress.

Today I began with figuring out "the tube" and then headed to Westminster. Started by viewing Big Ben, I still remember it from the last time I was in London (25 years or so ago.) I felt like one of the Griswalds when I looked at it, took a picture and kept going. I took a couple of pictures and I expect postcards would do a better job. What's the point of taking the pictures when I'm not in them!

Westminster Abby is a very elaborate church with a lot of dead people buried in the floor. Very beautiful, of course I'm thinking how could they afford to build such a church? I wonder what it would cost to build today? Would you ever be able to find the craftsman that have the proper skills? All the while, walking over all these dead people. The floor where they are buried have settled at different rates but you can tell where they are buried by the shape. Eeewww.

Next was the National Gallery where I spent a couple of hours but could have spent all day viewing art. They had these headsets that you could punch the number into the player and it would describe the piece you were viewing. It works out great cause you can get info on only the art in which you are interested.

I went to Fortnum and Mason for high tea. They asked if I wanted the exotic tea blends for an extra £5. Any tea better than Lipton is exotic for me so I skipped the upgrade. I tried to watch how others poured their tea so I didn't look like a complete idiot. First the sugar cube, then the strainer, then the tea, remove strainer to drip catcher and then add milk if desired. A couple of times I forgot the strainer and had a few tea leaves floating in my cup. Hope they didn't get stuck in my teeth. I couldn't figure out if you could use your fingers with the finger sandwiches and I didn't take a chance so I cut them in two and stabbed them with a fork. The tea was great and so was the ambiance.

On the way back I stopped at Hamleys "Britain's largest toy store" and tried to find a few unique items for Annaliese. Half the girls floor was covered with Bratz and Barbies, I'll save that for Target.

Finally I got to see Phantom of the Opera, what a great musical. It's been running for 20 years straight and I can see why. The theatre was quaint, not a bad seat in the house. I decided to try and get 1/2 price tickets to another show for Saturday, take a chance on something I've never heard about.

Ta ta for now.

Made my flight, 10 hours to get from LAX to London. I was glad I had business class. First Class had these pod type seats that folded out into mini-beds, I peeked in and tried not to stare. They get food and alcohol out fast to prep passengers for sleep. My seat was like a recliner, much better than regular class but I still had trouble sleeping.

The hotel is extremely modern. I expected some type of traditional hotel but everything is quite modern. My room is small but very clean and efficient. They have a great fridge and coffee pot. I forgot to put out the "Do not disturb" sign the first night and I payed with very loud knocking from the maid (8AM London time, too early!)

I also took the touristy Big Bus tour and got the overview of London. I was ready to fall asleep and moved to the bottom (and warmer) part of the bus and stuck it out to try and acclimate to the time change.

My biggest problem was figuring out how to use the cell phone, dial 011 before the area code etc. I called the hotel operator to ask and she acted like I was a retard for not knowing.... I guess I was.