I think I said some time back that, at this rate, a ten-day trip will take me several months to chronicle.I have no further comment on that point, actually.
Right, no pictures of the Skye hostel, I'm afraid. Shame. Here's a compensation pic of the view from the front door, though. As I said before, it was in a valley. Rather bleak area, really: no view of the sea, very little green, all giant hills. The one you can see in the upper right was, I believe, one of the two such geographical features I deigned to designate a "real mountain" in Scotland.
You didn't know I was geographically biased, did you?
Obligatory shot of coastline from the road. We stopped a lot.
Also, the clouds you see? Those were there the whole time we were on Skye. Still a pretty place, but the sun shone more in Wales.
Admittedly, that was a fourteen-day sample, not a three-day one, but I digress.
If you haven't figured out by now that digression is half the point of this blog, I'm not sure why you're still reading. After all, this wouldn't be half so funny without it, right?
Right?
So this is Dunvegan Castle. Not a particularly interesting castle in comparison with, say, Eilean Donan, but rather nice. As I recall, it was similarly furnished and refurbished -- not to that quality, but certainly better than, say, Castle Menzies with the Ghastly Pink Drawing Room.
It was a hall, and not that ghastly, but I never pass up an opportunity for an obscure reference.
Braemar Castle, on the other hand was Ghastly Pink Full Stop.
Once again, a place where inside photographs were discouraged -- unfortunate, because my memory is already failing on that point: I do recall a rather magnificent series of paintings. The front room was pretty impressive in its own right; quite a grand staircase, a couple of inaccessable lofts with well-placed paintings and mirrors, et cetera.
Aside: one of my lecturers -- the only American one this semester -- has a terrible habit of saying "ekcetra". I'm fighting the urge to correct him.
Lots of views from the outdoorsy bits, though, because everything's prettier with castles.
Or possibly from?
Unfortuntately, I don't actually have that many pictures of the castle's exterior, either. I think I was being lazy on Skye, I think. Only seventy-seven pictures that day.
Still, have some clouds.
The lighting may be poor, but you have to admit that's a pretty impressive entrance.
As an incidental, my vocabulary and syntax will probably deteriorate in this particular entry. I started this hours ago and at this point, my thinking is tea-fueled. As certain friends will quickly point out, it's a very enjoyable state, but a very, very strange one.
I don't feel particularly inclined to provide evidence for that statement. Although I will give you a word: canasta.
So, Dunvegan may have had an impressive front and good refurbishing, but that could hardly compare to Eilean Donan, yes?
Well, Dunvegan did have one advantage: extensive grounds.
We got lost in the gardens several times.
I can't even remember the names of all the gardens. There was a walled garden and water garden, certainly. Here's a picture of the wheel one, which was probably called something else.
It's much cooler from overhead than on the ground.
Also, yes, that is the castle you can see in the background. The grounds are really that big, and nearly all cultured gardens.
Obligatory flower picture. I like flowers. Don't you?
And some out-of-order castle pictures, because I may be lazy at chronicling, but I'm even lazier at formatting.
And because cannons are important.
In a mildly amusing side note, the water garden's waterfall was slightly more substantial than Shin Falls.
