One would think that 2 weeks would be ample time for a body, even a 63 yr old body, to adjust to the 8 hour time change from Europe to Vancouver. Don't kid yourself! For some reason my body seems to be hung over the Atlantic coast time-wise. At some point between 8 & 9 PM each evening my eyes shut and just as quickly they open wide at between 4 and 4:30 AM. I decided to use this to my advantage to live on Florida time as I'll be flying there next Tuesday for 2 weeks.
Europe 2008-2009 was a vacation of a different ilk. For months I made lists of where to go, what to see, what to do, edited and re-edited same, and when it came time to actually go / see / do we changed every thing at the last minute.
The original plan was 2 weeks in Glasgow to celebrate Christmas followed by 1-2 weeks in Sicily basking in the warm winter sunshine followed by a last week in Scotland to take a bus tour of St. Andrews and Fife, and a Distillery and Sterling Castle and a Loch or two.
The Actuality was quite different but flexibility is our middle name. We spent 4 days in Glasgow, 4 in Edinburgh, 4 more in Glasgow, 8 in Edinburgh then 1 glorious week in Lagos Portugal. On our return to Edinburgh the spastic boiler that provides both heat and hot water gave up the ghost, requiring someone (read that as WE the parents) stay and let the plumber into the flat on 2 days, catch the drips from the leaky radiator and generally 'be there' for our child who had started her new job on the fateful day the boiler died. Once the boiler was back in operation we discovered that we had missed the last tours for that week. A built in excuse to come back again next year! New Years Eve and Hogmanay Celebrations are a BIG deal in Edinburgh. Hogmanay begins Dec. 29th with a torchlight parade from downtown Prince's Street up to Calton Hill. At the head of the parade is a mock wooden Viking ship and a full complement of hairy Vikings to pull it. When it arrives atop Calton Hill there is much playing of bag pipes, roaring of the fierce Vikings who then torch the ship creating a bonfire that can be seen all over the city. When the fire is burning at it's fullest, a display of fireworks is set off that rivals the competition we see over English Bay in the summer.
Lucky for us Chris's flat lounge overlooks Calton Hill so we had a ring side seat for the full show. On New Year's Eve they again set off fireworks, but this year it was not nearly as good as the Hogmanay show. Chris informed us that the torchlight parade was rained out last year so they had 2 yrs worth of fireworks to play with - lucky for us!
Lagos Portugal was gorgeous. A small city within ancient stone walls built on a hillside leading down to the ocean. The beaches are to die for!
With temperatures ranging from a low of 9 to high of 14 we were blessed. Remember now, back home in Surrey our house and yard were buried by 2 feet of snow and bone chilling below zero temperatures. Here in Lagos we were within walking distance of the cliffs, beaches, waterfront and oldwalled city.To be true tourists, before our last day holiday Chris and I lunched on the local specialty, kale & potato soup and grilled sardines. Don declined our offer to come along and chose to walk the waterfront and take photos.
If you have loads of time, check out my vacation photos on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97425354@N00/
