Good and Bad

If one wants to spot Puffins in the wild, I recommend going to the island of Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth. I've done so on Tuesday, and was able to spot about a dozen on the cliffs and in the sea. You can also observe other birds and seals, as well as walk around an old Abbey and WW I + II defense buildings.
I've also been to the Highlands once more, this time more adventurous than planned. Exactly on the border of Stirling to Argyll the bus had a problem. The driver wasn't able to release the handbrake any more, due to a mechanical error. So we were stranded in the middle of a Glen, where nothing was going on. Luckily for us another bus gave us a lift till its lunch stop, where we've been picked up by the repaired bus again. After that we visited Urquhart and did a small cruise on Loch Ness, before heading back to the burgh.

Today is the inevitable happened, I booked a flight back to Germany. I can't deny I don't really like that... but seems like that is what I have to do... But still 30 days and nights left, so let's figure out what is going on in the upcoming weeks!

Studying?

Aye right!
Maybe I should do more... but with the days counting down there is still so much to do and see...
Like the Real Ale Festival, how come, that nobody wanna go there? Just 2 days left! And pints for just 1.79! With a choice of almost 50!
At least, I finally made it to almost all museums, nice stuff to watch there, so go if you have time. Especially if you go for the Dean Gallery, you can combine that with a nice walk at the 'Water of Leith' through the Dean Village. Also nice times to go out and play some soccer while it is warm, sunny and snowing... something one doesn't experience that often... That's Scotland.
If somebody wanna watch a funny movie I recommend 'The Infidel', good comedy about a Muslim, who discovers he is a born Jew. Unfortunately, the end is not as brilliant as the movie... but besides that, worth watching for a good laugh. Reminds me of an upcoming movie 'Four Lions', could be worth watching too. Should be funny, check out the Links (Trailers). Ah, and if somebody is bored of revising, you should check out some comedy of the leading actor of 'The Infidel', Omad Djalili. Here is an example.
But I have done even more, been to the Zoo, played Squash (fun sport, I should do that more often) and had a visitor from home. Nice thing, so you do even more tourist-stuff, you probably wouldn't do at all... Interesting place to visit is definitely 'Mary King's Close'. The old underground vaults, historically interesting and slightly spooky.
Well, seems like I should do more for school and less other stuff or this is gonna end as travel guide for Edinburgh. Anyhow, that's not gonna change until Wednesday, a cheer for touri-times and hopefully good weather without unpredictable snow :-P

Shetland-Orkney

Those are nice places to get this blog started off with.

On the last weekend of March, me and Lena, a german friend of mine, went off to visit those islands. We started early on Saturday by train to Aberdeen, then took the overnight ferry to Lerwick. The weather was quite nice and the sea not to rough, so that we could catch some sleep, after being able to observe a nice sunset.

In Lerwick we just rented a car and headed south, in hope to see some whales or puffins. Unlucky as we were, we couldn't spot any, not even making it to the cliffs, as it was stormy as hell... Nevertheless it was a nice day; we saw the whole south of the Main Island, and scouted loads of beaches and beautiful landscapes.Abandoned Cottage

Way to the beach

I can't remember the name - Sorry!

Scousburgh Beach

On the next day we started off to explore the northern part. This time with much better weather, that allowed us to get to the edges of the cliffs. The weather (especially the overnight snow) resulted in terrific views: waves breaking on the rocks, a wonderful, endless grassy landscape, and snowy hills in the background. Unbelievable beautiful images!

A little waterfall at the cliff.

Unfortunately it was already time to say goodbye to Shetland for us. On the next morning we flew to the Orkney Islands.
Once landed in Kirkwall, we just stored our stuff in the hostel, and then made our way to Stromness to go to the island of Hoy. A very funny trip, as it was no tourist season, we had to take the cargo ferry. Finally arrived in Hoy we went for a long walk to the other side of the island. The landscape on Orkney is totally different from the Shetland Islands, much more populated and for some reason more brown and green, while Shetland was more green-yellowish.
The walk led us trough a wonderful U-shaped valley, formed by former glaciation.

U-shaped Valley

A nice surprise was a Hamish standing next to the unfenced street; we could almost touch it (though it may have been a bit dangerous...).The Hamish

For the last day we rented a car again, to check out the main island. But it was not just us two on that day, aboard was also Mike, a Canadian geographer (it's a small world, isn't it), we met at the hostel. The weather was unbelievable windy and with high percipitation (rainy, haily, etc.) on this day, horizontal snow, so hard it hurt in the face. That's why we reduced sightseeing to the Japanese style (no offence intended), getting out of the car, taking pictures, and off we were. On Orkney itself are interesting things to see, as it was already home to a culture 5000 years ago. A very nice sight was the 'Ring o Brodgar'.Ring of Brodgar

A stone circle, which also brought shelter, as presented by Lena and Mike.Where are they?

Other things worth seeing on Orkney are chamber tombs and old settlements. Due to the horrible weather (at least for sightseeing) we decided to end the day with some beer and whisky in the pub. After a nice walk through Kirkwall it was time to go back to Edinburgh on Thursday.

St. Magnus Cathedral

The Orkney and Shetland islands are definitley places I would recommend to visit, if one is interested in beautiful landscapes, a bit of loneliness and you don't care about unpredictable weather.

The Start

I thought about writing a blog in English as well, as it might reach more people than my German one, which can be found HERE. BUT, for my German friends, this is not just a translation of the other one, it should vary. So I hope you will read it too! It also should be an opportunity for my friends all over the world to keep up with what I am doing, or at least a small part of it. I don't intend to note down the story of my life here. This might just bore you... so I'll try to just put down some exciting chapters ;-)

I hope you enjoy reading it, comments are always welcome!