Solipsism Gradient

Posted by Rainer Brockerhoff (away):
Again at a public library, this time at Linlithgow (Scotland), near Edinburgh.

Contrary to my expectations, the ship sailed from Copenhagen early in the morning, so there was no practical way to get into town again. We spent two nice days at sea, getting rested from all the shore excursions, and left ship at Dover at 9 AM on June 6th (my birthday!).

At Dover we started using our BritRail Pass… very handy and easy to use after one learns all the little English railroad peculiarities. We went directly to London, changed stations via a little subway trip, changed trains at York and in the late afternoon ended up in the lovely village of Thirsk in Yorkshire.

Thirsk is famous as the home where veterinary Alf Wight, internationally known as James Herriot, worked and wrote his famous books. We visited his home which is now a museum, very interesting. The village itself is also nice to visit, and we stayed at the Old Red House, a comfortable hotel next to the train station. Highly recommended.

Then the next afternoon we were off again, this time to Edinburgh (Scotland). The trip to Edinburgh skirted the sea several times and the landscape was very pleasing. At the Edinburgh station we tried to sound out some place to stay but, as usual, the lady at the tourist information desk said it most hotels and B&Bs were booked up… so we went on another 20 minutes to the small historical town of Linlithgow, where we promptly found another good hotel right next to the station. I hope our luck in this regard will continue.

Anyway, we’ll go see the sights in Edinburgh and stay again at the same place, then tomorrow off we’ll go northwards, towards the Orkneys. More news anon…

Posted by Rainer Brockerhoff (away):
I’m at a public library in Copenhagen (Denmark). Access is free but several people are waiting, so I’ll be brief.

St. Petersburg (Russia) was very interesting, though somewhat depressing. The city of nearly 5 million people is still very poor. We toured several subway stations; the stations themselves were luxurious, golden chandeliers and crystal columns, but the trains themselves were old and creaky. We visited an market with had expensive (imported) fruit and other items, but outside old women were selling spoiled or partially eaten fruit for much less.

Copenhagen in contrast is very nice, we’ll have a full day here tomorrow and I’ll try to post again.