Jul. 7th, 2011 | 09:48 am
I'm not someone who is easily impressed. I don't ewww and awwww over a lot of things. I'm pretty much no-nonsense, straightforward, a get on with it type of girl. I blame it on the crutches. My mind is always racing forward, looking for solutions. Can I get around this? How do I tackle this problem? Even on the cruise, it was one issue after another. That is the practical side of me, the one I have no choice but to surrender to on many occasions.
The Orkney Islands brought out the dreamer. She doesn't get to show herself very often but when she does, she likes to take it all in. The sights, the sounds, the pure sea air,. I felt like I was looking at a tiny peace of utopia. The pictures will likely be my strongest ally in depicting the raw beauty of these islands. I'm only sorry that I didn't get to experience a starry summer night, because according to our guide, there is nothing else like it. Starlight, star bright, let me do the islands justice tonight.
Our tour guide was German. That in itself was a very odd thing, How did a German man end up so far away from home, and so far North on an island called Hoy? Well, he was vacationing and fell in love with both the woman and her surroundings. We didn't actually get to see the island that he lived on, that would have required a ferry ride and well, let's just say we would have overwhelmed his little paradise . There were forty-five of us on the bus, only forty live on the island . They probably would have split us by household if we stayed for dinner.
On his island, he talked about how the barter system is still alive and well, his nearest neighbour is a farmer who lives a mile and a half away. Our guide grows vegetables in two large greenhouses and will trade the farmer for meat. The doctor's servies are paid for and he lives on the island, so, housecalls are common. The kids all go to one school and when they hit a certain age, they have no choice but to board elsewhere through the week and come home on weekends.
Fun Facts: There is actually a 90 second airplane ride for teachers to navigate the water and make it to land for their jobs--it's the shortest airplane flight on record
Only 20 of the 67 Islands are inhabited
Population in total: Roughly 20,000
Climate is very mild, they don't get snow
At the end of World War 1 the finest German Ships were sailed to Scapa Flow by their own crew and surrendered as part of the peace treaty. The Germans "scuttled" their ships in the harbour (sank) many ships were used for scrap but a few of the shells still remain (both above and below the surface)
Base also used in World War Two
The latitude for the Islands is the same as Yellowknife in Canada.
It is extremely far North. Overnight we saw the sunset time go from 10:03 PM to 10:26PM.
In the summer, they have light up to 1:30am. The kids love it
There are some fisherman still left on the islands but the majority of the population are now farmers (cattle and sheep) Supposedly, there is lots of wildlife around, seals, otters, sea birds. Of course I saw none of these (our guide said it was pretty early in the season to see them) I wanted a killer whale to jump out of the water and do an impressive twirl, the scene called for it. I like to think that all of the sea creatures were busy playing with Nessie, afterall, the islands are only sixteen miles north of Scotland, not a long commute for such a versatile creature.
Anyway, on to the photos. The name of this locale was Skara Brae. a well-preserved site from pre-historic Europe. They unearthed seven houses determining that each were over five thousand years old. It was amazing. Again, I'm not a history buff. But when you saw these "homes" you couldn't help but realize how hard things were back then. Nothing resembling "convenience" but they had a tightly-knit community (out of necessity) and they looked out for each other. (They had to knock on each other's doors to get in/out of the "village" as they shared passengeways.) I felt like I was in bedrock snooping around Fred Flintone's house. Average age for men at this point, forty.
Anyway, here you go...
smg.photobucket.com/albums/v624/CindyM99/U
The link will take you to page two of the album since that seemed to cover a lot of scenery/settlement shots and I wanted to give you an overview
LOL I was just looking at the pictures hoping to find a good shot of the farmhouse that was on the property. called "Skaill House." It was considered "the finest maison in the Orkney's" and has "unusual architecture and styles "spanning four centuries." Yup, the place was over four hundred years old but I guess we weren't very impressed with it because we didn't eactly get any great shots.
Here's what a remember about going inside. The curators frowned at me as soon as they saw the chair. Taking their cue, I offered to leave it with them while we toured the house. Mom helped me stand, and immediately dragged me into the fancy dining room that looked like it was ready for the queen to enter for tea at any moment. This was about the time that Mom got the bright idea to have me grab on to one of the backs of one of the VERY OLD CHAIRS. Before my hand got there, I snatched it away "are you crazy?" I hissed in a loud whisper.
It was about that time that I heard our tour guide telling someone not to touch the china. "Don't touch that please, if it breaks I can't tell you how upset I'll be." It was a good thing he hadn't caught Mom trying to pawn me off on the furniture.
End of tour for Cindy. I offered to sit outside in the chair while Mom browsed the upstairs. Crisis averted. By the way, our tour guide later told us that Queen Elizabeth did in fact have tea there a few years back, I'm glad they didn't set the table for nothing. :-) (Let's hope she didn't stain one of the napkins, I can't imagine the repercussions, "off with her head."
Yes, the great outdoors was the place to be. Kudos to Mom for being able to push me around the settlement and still take some awesome pictures. To say the ground was uneven would be an understatement (I was tilting sideways a lot, good thing I had had some practice on uneven cobblestone by now.)
At one point there was a gate that required us to lift the whole chair overtop of it while I stood up and squeezed through a very tight opening. Once again, we had help as the trailing tour group came up behind us and offered a hand.
Mom and I got very used to being at the back of a lot of packs. I think that really contributed to our navigational issues. It wasn't that the guides wanted to lose us (or maybe they did:-)) but they couldn't continually slow down to account for the difficulties with the chair. Mom and I are very used to that and have learned to meander on our own. I'm actually grateful for this, as we will often see features/details that most will just walk right past. Few people took the time to take as many pictures as we did, and I mean look at the place. Who wouldn't want to have that captured on film forever?
We asked our bus driver (who was a native) if she liked living on the islands "It's okay" she said. "It gets too quiet sometimes, I'm heading off to Brisbane for a couple of weeks to visit friends, I can't wait for the noise."
Residents also struggle with the need for several jobs. Most people hold down two-three jobs to make ends meet. Quite often, a farm can't sustain itself so they will also work in the tourism sector. Clearly, island life isn't easy, but I definitely saw the appeal.
Doorway
Shelving (for pictures, knick knacks)
400 year old farmhouse on the land
P.S This WAS a "tender" port so it meant taking a little ride on the lifeboats. It was okay, not nearly as tramatic as I first thought it might be. Just lots of people in a small space. The ride in to port wasn't too bad as the waves behaved themselves and I didn't fall in as I stepped onto the boat, so it was all good!
The Orkney Islands brought out the dreamer. She doesn't get to show herself very often but when she does, she likes to take it all in. The sights, the sounds, the pure sea air,. I felt like I was looking at a tiny peace of utopia. The pictures will likely be my strongest ally in depicting the raw beauty of these islands. I'm only sorry that I didn't get to experience a starry summer night, because according to our guide, there is nothing else like it. Starlight, star bright, let me do the islands justice tonight.
Our tour guide was German. That in itself was a very odd thing, How did a German man end up so far away from home, and so far North on an island called Hoy? Well, he was vacationing and fell in love with both the woman and her surroundings. We didn't actually get to see the island that he lived on, that would have required a ferry ride and well, let's just say we would have overwhelmed his little paradise . There were forty-five of us on the bus, only forty live on the island . They probably would have split us by household if we stayed for dinner.
On his island, he talked about how the barter system is still alive and well, his nearest neighbour is a farmer who lives a mile and a half away. Our guide grows vegetables in two large greenhouses and will trade the farmer for meat. The doctor's servies are paid for and he lives on the island, so, housecalls are common. The kids all go to one school and when they hit a certain age, they have no choice but to board elsewhere through the week and come home on weekends.
Fun Facts: There is actually a 90 second airplane ride for teachers to navigate the water and make it to land for their jobs--it's the shortest airplane flight on record
Only 20 of the 67 Islands are inhabited
Population in total: Roughly 20,000
Climate is very mild, they don't get snow
At the end of World War 1 the finest German Ships were sailed to Scapa Flow by their own crew and surrendered as part of the peace treaty. The Germans "scuttled" their ships in the harbour (sank) many ships were used for scrap but a few of the shells still remain (both above and below the surface)
Base also used in World War Two
The latitude for the Islands is the same as Yellowknife in Canada.
It is extremely far North. Overnight we saw the sunset time go from 10:03 PM to 10:26PM.
In the summer, they have light up to 1:30am. The kids love it
There are some fisherman still left on the islands but the majority of the population are now farmers (cattle and sheep) Supposedly, there is lots of wildlife around, seals, otters, sea birds. Of course I saw none of these (our guide said it was pretty early in the season to see them) I wanted a killer whale to jump out of the water and do an impressive twirl, the scene called for it. I like to think that all of the sea creatures were busy playing with Nessie, afterall, the islands are only sixteen miles north of Scotland, not a long commute for such a versatile creature.
Anyway, on to the photos. The name of this locale was Skara Brae. a well-preserved site from pre-historic Europe. They unearthed seven houses determining that each were over five thousand years old. It was amazing. Again, I'm not a history buff. But when you saw these "homes" you couldn't help but realize how hard things were back then. Nothing resembling "convenience" but they had a tightly-knit community (out of necessity) and they looked out for each other. (They had to knock on each other's doors to get in/out of the "village" as they shared passengeways.) I felt like I was in bedrock snooping around Fred Flintone's house. Average age for men at this point, forty.
Anyway, here you go...
smg.photobucket.com/albums/v624/CindyM99/U
The link will take you to page two of the album since that seemed to cover a lot of scenery/settlement shots and I wanted to give you an overview
LOL I was just looking at the pictures hoping to find a good shot of the farmhouse that was on the property. called "Skaill House." It was considered "the finest maison in the Orkney's" and has "unusual architecture and styles "spanning four centuries." Yup, the place was over four hundred years old but I guess we weren't very impressed with it because we didn't eactly get any great shots.
Here's what a remember about going inside. The curators frowned at me as soon as they saw the chair. Taking their cue, I offered to leave it with them while we toured the house. Mom helped me stand, and immediately dragged me into the fancy dining room that looked like it was ready for the queen to enter for tea at any moment. This was about the time that Mom got the bright idea to have me grab on to one of the backs of one of the VERY OLD CHAIRS. Before my hand got there, I snatched it away "are you crazy?" I hissed in a loud whisper.
It was about that time that I heard our tour guide telling someone not to touch the china. "Don't touch that please, if it breaks I can't tell you how upset I'll be." It was a good thing he hadn't caught Mom trying to pawn me off on the furniture.
End of tour for Cindy. I offered to sit outside in the chair while Mom browsed the upstairs. Crisis averted. By the way, our tour guide later told us that Queen Elizabeth did in fact have tea there a few years back, I'm glad they didn't set the table for nothing. :-) (Let's hope she didn't stain one of the napkins, I can't imagine the repercussions, "off with her head."
Yes, the great outdoors was the place to be. Kudos to Mom for being able to push me around the settlement and still take some awesome pictures. To say the ground was uneven would be an understatement (I was tilting sideways a lot, good thing I had had some practice on uneven cobblestone by now.)
At one point there was a gate that required us to lift the whole chair overtop of it while I stood up and squeezed through a very tight opening. Once again, we had help as the trailing tour group came up behind us and offered a hand.
Mom and I got very used to being at the back of a lot of packs. I think that really contributed to our navigational issues. It wasn't that the guides wanted to lose us (or maybe they did:-)) but they couldn't continually slow down to account for the difficulties with the chair. Mom and I are very used to that and have learned to meander on our own. I'm actually grateful for this, as we will often see features/details that most will just walk right past. Few people took the time to take as many pictures as we did, and I mean look at the place. Who wouldn't want to have that captured on film forever?
We asked our bus driver (who was a native) if she liked living on the islands "It's okay" she said. "It gets too quiet sometimes, I'm heading off to Brisbane for a couple of weeks to visit friends, I can't wait for the noise."
Residents also struggle with the need for several jobs. Most people hold down two-three jobs to make ends meet. Quite often, a farm can't sustain itself so they will also work in the tourism sector. Clearly, island life isn't easy, but I definitely saw the appeal.
Doorway
Shelving (for pictures, knick knacks)
400 year old farmhouse on the land
P.S This WAS a "tender" port so it meant taking a little ride on the lifeboats. It was okay, not nearly as tramatic as I first thought it might be. Just lots of people in a small space. The ride in to port wasn't too bad as the waves behaved themselves and I didn't fall in as I stepped onto the boat, so it was all good!
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