{click through if you're in a reader or email}
{parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6}
"next stop: inverness. please mind the gap as you alight from the train."
we'd stopped in inverness on the way to nairn the day before, and {we thought} seen all of it that we'd wanted to see. the plan {in the loosest sense of the word} for today was to stop in inverness, switch trains, head west. ish. as westish as we could head {still mapless}. i clearly forgot that it was a sunday afternoon. the trains were not running, and we were stranded.
we left the train station a bit disappointed, but as soon as we started exploring, our disappointment quickly dissipated. inverness was beautiful.
we stopped at a coffee shop for sandwiches. i ordered french fries; the waitress looked at me like i was dumb.
"maybe you mean crisps?" she asked.
"sure." i smiled at her, trying to assure her that i wasn't dumb. but i couldn't remember: did crisps mean french fries?
i found out when my food came that i should've ordered chips. chips are french fries, crisps are chips. pudding is not pudding and tea is sometimes tea and sometimes supper. fringe is bangs and on and on. how could it be that we spoke the same language and yet i couldn't seem to do something as simple as order french fries?
i ate my crisps anyway, and we headed out again. we found a castle on the river ness, and because we liked that so much we based our search for a place to sleep around it. we quickly found a little b&b called castleview which, as the name suggests, views the castle. go figure. we got the last room with its own bathroom and a good view. score.
relieved to have a place to leave our backpacks, we went for a walk around town. up along the river ness, over a bridge, past the castle, through the shops. uneventful, compared to the night before, but good. just plain good.
we walked and walked and walked. i bought a few things but mostly we just looked and talked and enjoyed. that's what a vacation is for.
that, and eating more than you normally do, and staying up later than you normally do, and spending more money than you normally do. for appreciating little things and big things and experiences that you might not notice if you were around them all the time. seeing each other in a different setting and appreciating little things and big things and quirks and traits that you might not notice when you're living your normal, day-to-day lives together.
we ended the night with burgers, chips, soup and a hangout on the bridge in the quiet snow. the first train out was to leave at 8:30 the next morning, and we were going to be on it. we had somewhere to be, even though we didn't know exactly where that was quite yet.
42 comments:
gosh, i love these posts, so magical and fun! and yes, i love how we "speak the same language" but don't!
I swear I never really had an interest in Scotland until you started posting these. I love it, especially with the Christmas lights. So pretty.
and hah, I always remember chips are fries. Because of fish and chips. You know?
I lived in Inverness from age 7 to age 11 - it's lovely! There are islands in the river connected by little footbridges which, certainly when I lived there, had big statues of animals on them which you could climb all over.
There was also an old deserted hospital in the woods at the end of my street which we thought was haunted. I actually Google Mapped it a few days ago and was really disappointed to see that it's all been replaced by housing; I wanted to go back and explore it!
I can't express to you just how beautiful I find your pictures...especially the bridge photo.
What camera did you use?
Also, are you printing these up and hanging them up in your house? You have to!
Fjdhdhdg. These are amazing. I don't know if it's possible to get more jealous each time you post a story. But i do. All of these pictures should go in a magazine. Iove that staircase one. And the one of the lights with the open shutter. And all of them. I hope these stories never end. If they do, you're going to have to go back and get more stories and take me along.
So, here is my question.
Did you just get Photoshop and a really rad camera and suddenly become the best photographer I know?
Fine.
Also, whenever we FINALLY talk, can we please say things like "alight" and "mind the gap?" Great. Thanks!
I've been meaning to say, Barclay grows a righteous beard.
aw, thanks erin. :D crazy, isn't it? how does that happen?
well i hope you go there sometime soon. it's so fantastic. :)
and the first time i ever had fish and chips was in scotland! haha!
you are so so so so so lucky. JEALOUS TO THE MAX.
aw garsh carla!! thanks. :)
i'm just using my point & shoot nikon that i got recently. it's not a fancy slr or anything, but i'm trying to learn everything about it so i can use to to its max.
as for printing them...man. i totally should. indeed. want one?
aw, thanks larissa! :) i'll tell barclay when i'm done writing out this trip that i'm supposed to go back for more. we'll see what he says. :D
haha, funny. scotland is the kind of place that makes crappy photographers feel good about themselves. don't you think?
and yes. we can. gasp! when did we say we were going to talk next?? my days are all running together!
Gorgeous photos! I just found your blog and I just love it :) Despite the great French Fry/Chips misunderstanding, it sounds like you're having a fabulous trip. Enjoy every second!
doesn't he? takes him, like, a month to look like a mountain man. he is a hairy, hairy guy.
thanks kristin! i just popped over to check your blog out--so cute! glad to find you. :)
Honestly, as many as possible, but:
the 2nd image, the one of the guy on the corner, staircase, and definitely blow up the bridge with the snowflake on it.
So gorgeous
So freaking cool. I love that loch ness monster thing :) and the views, amazing!
Also, I love that your name is "itwalkedonmypillow." Can we be BFF now please?
Your photos really take my breath away, Suzy. They make my day....
I'm just loving all your scotland posts. i don't want them to end! maybe you should go back :)
Uhhhlllll can't handle all the pretty things! Your pictures are amazing. I feel like if I can't be in scotland right now or for probably a really really long time, and maybe never, and I had to choose someone's pictures and story to live vicariously through, then I would want this one, hands down. I have loved reading about your adventure. I am sorry you got chips instead of french fries. I would have been disappointed, I really love french fries. My favorite part about this post, though, is when you talk about what vacations are for: for noticing the little things in each other and around you that you don't on a day to day basis. Very sweet, and fun!
this vacation looks pretty amazing, suzy... i loooove the idea of a vacation without plans and just seeing where you end up! def gotta try this... xx
I love these posts about Scotland--makes me feel terrible for living so close and never having been to Scotland apart from Edinburgh.
Ad I don;t think Scotland makes everyone into a great photographer, I just think you are talented!
And if it makes you feel any better in NY when I wanted to crisps and asked if they had any, I was met with blank stairs.
yes please! we could have friendship bracelets and be in a detective club! {that's what i used to do with all my bffs... sigh. i miss kindergarten.}
aw! you are so sweet. thanks. :)
you could write a petition to my husband? i'd be all for that...
garsh. thank you for all the kind words. :) you're great.
and yes, i was suuuuper disappointed. french fries are something i don't eat very often, because i don't go to restaurants very often, so i felt sad to have wasted a golden opportunity.
c'est la vie.
you'll have to try it when you come to canada. cough cough. wink wink.
FOR REAL---GO TO SCOTLAND!!!! it's so close!
but london is freaking amazing too. so. there's THAT.
and if you ever come to canada and ask me for crisps, i'll totally know what you mean now. so that's good.
plus thanks for the kind words. :)
yeah? i'd totally mail you some if you inbox me your address!
This is incredible! I am in love with this!!!! You guys look like you had so much fun!
aw thanks danielle! :D
yesssss! actually i think i've settled on bellingham, wa... which is only like 20 min from vancouver. how far are you from there? i think i see coffee in our future ;)
Wow. So gorgeous! I want to go to there.
YES. I'll buy you one of those broken-heart necklaces where I get one side and you get the other!
if you do, take me with you?
welll...it's close...ER.... still about a 20 hour drive though. sigh. :S
i'm in saskatchewan! rats!
YES PLEASE
your photos are so beautiful! i totally wish i was trekking across the UK right now! thats my dream vacation: no plans, just taking trains across europe and seeing what happens. your photos are so pretty, i love the way you write btw! gah. this is so wonderful. wish i was there.
thanks so much. :) i write these so that i'll remember, but i'm glad other people are enjoying them too!
FRAME THAT LAST PHOTO!!
OK I WILL!!
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