Puffin Cruise

On Sunday, Alette and I went on a Puffin Cruise. It was from 9am till noon, leaving from South Queensferry, and was put on by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Faithful blog readers will know doubt recall our previous adventures in South Queensferry, but despite packing for cold, damp weather, it was a beautiful, sunny day; perfect for a boat ride on the Firth of Forth.

Click on the picture above to see our photos. Our digital camera is reasonably good for taking scenic shots, but not necessarily for capturing the wildlife along the water. Suffice to say we saw herring gulls, lesser black-backed gulls, great black-backed gulls, fulmars, gannets, Arctic terns, guillemots, razorbills, cormorants, shags, eiders, oystercatchers, common scoter ducks, and of course, puffins (which are smaller, and cuter, than you might imagine). We also saw grey seals and common seals. (Don't worry, we didn't mention we were Canadian when conversations shifted to seals.)

The islands that we cruised past were interesting for historic as well as ecological reasons. As you can see in the photos, there are ruins perched on a number of the islands. While most of the structures date from the second world war, the Abbey on Inchcolm Island dates from the medieval period. The islands we visited were Inchgarvie (formerly tied to the Forth Rail Bridge), Inchcolm (with a history of religious inhabitation dating back to the 9th century), Inchkeith (which has been used for military purposes since at least the 14th century), and Inchmickery (which was made into a boat decoy during WWII).

Definition of "Linlithgow": Loch in a Damp Place

Daytrip to Linlithgow

Last weekend we took a daytrip out to Linlithgow, which is about halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow and happens to have a palace. Most towns in Scotland seem to have palaces, castles or at least massive country homes, so the presence of a ruin did not set it apart. However, Linlithgow Palace is, in my estimate, the most impressive building we've seen thus far. It is very large, has very think walls and now has rooms open to the sky. It also happens to sit on a picturesque loch and is within walking distance of a pub that has won CAMRA pub of the year for the region pretty much every year for the last two decades: The Four Marys.

After lunch we took a walk down the Union Canal, which starts near our house. On this particular segment the canal actually takes a bridge, the Avon Aqueduct, over a valley. Unfortunately the camera could not capture the surrealness of the experience of walking across the aqueduct (which is the second longest in Britain), but it was definitely worth the trek.

Czeching out the Continent

Last week, Alette and I spent some time in the Czech Republic. I gave talks at a security conference in Prague and at Masaryk University in Brno. The remainder of the time was for vacation, which we spent with our friend Václav and his family. Japhur stayed at home this time and was spoiled by his new sitter Joelle.

We arrived in Prague (via Frankfurt) on Tuesday evening. While I was at the conference on Wednesday and Thursday, Alette spent some time touring Prague. The highlights were a walking tour of historical, communist Prague, and a tour of the Jewish Quarter (see the following virtual tour).

On Thursday evening we drove from Prague to Brno, or more specifically, Bilovice. We had been to Brno before and saw much of the city, so this time we had some exciting trips to local castles and caves. On Friday, we went to Veveri Castle and had lunch in Veverska Bityska where I had the opportunity to sample a favourite Czech beer of mine: Starobrno. On Saturday morning, we went to the Punkva Caves, and had lunch in Krtiny where Václav tricked me into ordering a pork knee (and where they also had a carnival, which should explain the 'bumper car' pictures in our photos). In the afternoon, we went to Vypustek Cave, where Alette and I were able to practice our Czech listening skills on the tour - suffice to say that we need a little more practice.

You can see our photos by clicking on the above picture.