What a fascinating look at Calgary (1972)
Coming down Centre Street Bridge, the Calgary Tower looks down almost majestically.
The video is courtesy of British Pathe and their massive archive of video footage.
Category Archives: Travel
Birmingham Softball Tournament
A few weeks back, some friends from baseball invited me and aarti down to a softball tournament they were putting on in Birmingham.
I’ve played a handful of softball games this year, so I was looking forward to it for a couple weeks before hand. Unlike before, this tournament wasn’t coed – the girls played a separate division from the guys. I was told to expect a lot of games, and a feeling of pure exhaustion by the end of the weekend.
We got a ride down with some teammates, and it turned out to be more than a five hour drive. The first 1.5 hours, we’re on these narrow winding roads through the borders with nothing but a few small villages and some farms to look at. That was at least until we got on the M6. It passes near Carlisle and the Lake District but there isn’t much to look at out the window on the motorway either.
Everyone was camping out at the park, so we could get an early start the next morning.
It was the weekend after we went to Arran. We were up against teams from Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and London and a couple other cities. I think I played fairly well. I didn’t make any big mistakes in the outfield and I was getting on base on most of my at-bats. I even hit my first home run of the year. The guys team pulled off a pretty solid 5 and 3 record.
The games were a bit shorter than I expected, but I was definitely exhausted and sun roasted by Sunday afternoon when we headed back.
They say softball is more about the socializing than the sport, and it was a really great time so I hope I get a chance to do it again.
Elgin Cathedral
While in Inverness, Aarti and I made a day trip over to Elgin in Moray. Its pretty famous because of the whiskey distilleries in the area.
We spent most of our time here exploring the cathedral ruins. It was built in the 13th century, and the you can tell that the decoration was extremely detailed.
The cathedral was burned by the Wolf of Badenoch, Alexander Stewart, who had a reputation for exceptional cruelty even by the standards of the time. The 14th and 15th centuries saw substantial rebuilding, but the cathedral fell into disuse after the reformation.
From the top of the tower, you get views over the whole city. Its not especially unique, but an old college and large park are located right next to the cathedral so its definitely worth climbing the narrow stairs.
The gargoyles and some of the memorial statues are also very worth seeing.
Inverness and Fort George
Wow, I feel really behind. My Inverness trip was like a month ago.
Inverness is 4 to 5 hours on the train from Edinburgh, and is considered the capital of the highlands. To prove it, there were lots of shaggy highland cows to be seen on the train ride up.
This photo was actually taken on Arran, but the coos are the same.
Inverness is small, but its also considered one of the fastest growing towns in the UK. There is a really good mix of modern and historical buildings. There is also some shipping and manufacturing going on, so its not an unchanging tourist hub. Instead, it is a living city.
There is plenty for a tourist to do, but we soon found out that most of the attractions were a bus ride away.
We camped out at a caravan park near the river, and a short walk away from town. Every year, they have a big Highland Games not very far from where we were at.
The high street was pretty active, but we didn’t manage to spend a lot of time there on the first night. Above the high street, Inverness Castle looks down on the river but it didn’t hold our attention as much because it was built more recently and was more styled as a large home than a fortress. It does give you some amazing views of the river Ness and the cathedral spires across the water. Walking along the river, you get a proper tranquil holiday feel. Fishermen were even standing out in the river in waders, which I haven’t seen very often in Scotland (but I’m told its very common up in Moray Speyside).
The next morning, we managed to take a bus out to Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness. 
Urquhart Castle has seen a lot of battles and I was really impressed by the video they put on in the presentation centre showing its history. The castle changed hands many times over the centuries but was most recently held by the clan Grant. Prior to that the castle was a held by the MacDonalds. When the Lord of the Isles and the Black Douglas conspired with the English against James IV, the castle fell back to the Scottish crown who then gave it to the clan Grant.
The castle saw many years of war. Viking attacks and attacks from other clans were pretty constant up until the Jacobite period. Its destruction was to prevent it from becoming a stronghold for the Jacobites. It is also very likely that there was an earlier wooden fort on the same location.
After getting back to Inverness, Aarti and I checked out Leakey’s Book Shop for about 40 minutes. I would highly recommend it. Its just what a used book shop should be. Leatherbound covers mixing with modern paperbacks on two floors connected by an old wooden staircase. Boxes of unstacked books scattered throughout.
After that we caught a bus out to Fort George for the afternoon.
There was a lot of walking that afternoon. A lot more than either of us expected. We had to walk about 40 minutes from where the bus dropped us in order to get to the Fort. On the plus side, we were able to get some tasty local ice cream when we finally arrived.
Its still an active army barracks, but was never used as intended. It was built as a stronghold to defend against further highland uprisings. On our way back, we saw a few guys kite surfing. Not sure if they were army guys, but very cool all the same.
We had some pretty serious issues with the buses on that afternoon. Due to a accident, the bus didn’t stop where it was supposed to and we had to walk along a rural road for about an hour just to find out that it would be another hour to get a bus from the Inverness airport. We grabbed a cab back to the town centre feeling very tired and hungry.
Ireland – Day 5 – May 8 in Dublin
Trinity College
The campus is amazing. Obviously, a lot of famous people have gone here. Its actually a little weird walking around campus as a tourist while people around you are going to and from classes. We’re not the only tourists of course because the Book of Kells is here, which we didn’t go in for.
Merrion Square and the Orwell Monument
This is just a stone’s throw from Orwell’s old house near Trinity College. His birthplace is only one street over. The national gallery is here too, and there were painters selling their work all around the outside of the square. Aarti found one that she loved but we didn’t want to carry it around and we’d didn’t get back there in time to pick it up that afternoon. The Orwell monument was great and had some of his most well known sayings. Its too bad that people were so close minded in those days and he was forced to leave to Paris.
Post Office
Bullet holes and all. This was where Irish Revolutionaries made their last stand in 1917.
Writers Museum
I was expecting something else. Ireland, like Scotland, hits far above its weight in the literary sense. I was expecting James Joyce, Johnathan Swift, George Orwell, George Bernard Shaw and maybe one or two others. The museum seemed to focus on dozens of writers almost equally, and not just focus on the major heavy weights. I really had no idea that Irish literature was so heavily influenced by censorship, so it was educational. I obviously expected that English rule and the troubles would have had a huge impact, but there seemed to be some really stuffy people in Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries. These are the fools who ran off Oscar Wilde for being gay/bisexual.
Guinness Storehouse
Very cool and I loved hearing about how its all done. The advertising section was really cool because I’ve always admired the Guinness ads. Having a pint at the rooftop bar felt like being on the top of the city.
Temple Bar
This is probably the most famous music venue in Dublin, and I had to go in and check it out. The place was packed which was a bit of a surprise for a Sunday night.
St Patrick’s Cathedral
This is where Johnathan Swift was Dean, and chilling out in the park was not a bad way to spend a few minutes.
St Stephens Green
This was one of our last stops in Dublin, and the end of a very chilled out but frantic trip.
Ireland – Day 4 – May 7
Waterford
The thing I remember most about Waterford is the good waffles we had. I’m fairly simple that way. Of course Aarti informed me that Waterford Glass is very famous and there was a pretty massive shop devoted to it. I just thought it would be an interesting old city to visit. Reginald’s Tower is apparently the longest occupied building in Ireland. Also, there is apparently a tall ships race there and we know that because we saw a series of massive cloth billboards hanging down from a few waterfront buildings while we were checking out the tower; also the bandstand along the shore was shaped like a ship.
Avoca
Very quaint little village that we stumbled into by accident. The town was little more than the main street, but it had a very picturesque parish church and is also on the tourist map for its weaving.
Wicklow
I’m apparently not very good. We thought by going through Wicklow, we were taking the coastal route, but there was no water to be seen from where we were at. It was actually a pretty cool little town, but like usual were trying to make up time so we could back to Dublin and return the car.
Dublin
I hate toll roads sometimes. I probably had to go on and off the N50 four times. After getting into Dublin and getting off where I thought we needed to be for our hotel, we found ourselves lost again. After asking for directions, we headed back, but then I took the wrong direction and we had to back track. Both of us were pretty exhausted but we managed to find our hotel and spend Saturday night out in Dublin.
Ireland – Day 3 – May 6
Killarney
Very cool national park.
We stopped at Ross Castle, and Aarti and I were attacked by a really happy dog. There were ducks around the creek, and the dog was having a great time scattering them. We spent a couple hours and did a walk around Muckross Lake, which had some pretty spectacular views. It would have been nice if we could have done the ring of Kerry, but there was no time. Its pretty famous, but apparently it would have taken us about five hours to do.
Blarney
Blarney castle was really cool. Aarti and I kissed the Blarney Stone, which is supposed to give you the gift of the gab. I don’t really feel any more well spoken, but maybe it takes a while to work. There’s also some pretty cool caves around the castle that used to have some secret passageways.
Cork
Cork is the food capital of Ireland, so we spent a night out wandering the city streets. After some food, we went out for some traditional Irish music and a couple beers. Good times.
Ireland – Day 2 – May 5th
Day 2 was all about a proper visit of Galway
Galway
After a quick drive around Kennedy square, we parked for a bit of a walk around. Just around the corner from where we parked, there was a really cool rock music mural – split into three sections: it had Elvis reaching for god (like the scene from the sistine chapel), the other had rockstar heaven with the likes of Johnny Cash, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, etc, and the final had famous rock stars still alive like Bono.
We walked through the old part of the town, and there are a few streets that have loads of pubs. Galway is supposed to be big for music, but there wasn’t as much of that early in the morning besides a couple of buskers. Also, we were there a bit early for a visit to the pub.
We did see the Galway cathedral, St Nicholas Church, Lynch Castle, the Spanish Arches, and a few of the canals.
Lisdoonvarna
According to our book, this is a matchmaking hub for a few weeks in the summer. The place was a bit quiet, but we stopped for lunch and I had my first Guinness in Ireland.
Burren National Park
Very cool, very big park. The hills were a kind of purple and looked amazing. We were probably driving through this park for at least an hour. It would have been nice to walk some of the trails, but there was no time.
Cliffs of Mohor
Amazing views. Lots of bugs and some funny safety signs.
This was pretty awesome.
Adare
Near Limerick, this is a pretty little village so we stopped for a little walk around the park and up the main street.
Ireland – Day 1 – May 4th
After flying in early Wednesday morning on Ryan Air, Aarti and I had only the most general of itineraries. Luckily, she bought a travel book two days before and we were able to educate ourselves while on the plane. Despite growing up mostly in the US, she was born in Belfast and had been to Northern Ireland a few times so we were content to explore the Republic of Ireland and skip the north.
Good thing too because our initial itinerary was far too ambitious for the amount of time we had to spend in Ireland. Even driving, it felt like we were always trying to catch up.
Sword
We just drove through here very slowly, no stopping so soon after leaving the airport. There was a very strange looking castle on the end of the high street – it had only been partially rebuilt, so it was also part ruin.
Tron
This castle and village was our first real stop. According to our trusty guidebook, this castle was used for the filming of Braveheart so it has a celebrity connection.
The sun was out and we managed a quick walk over to the other side of the river to check out the nearby tower and manor house– not part of the castle. While walking around the castle, the importance of the river came into sharp focus. Land has since been reclaimed making the river side more accessible but at the time of its construction, it would have been a powerful fortress.
Also, I was misbehaving a little so was put in the pillory for a while.
Hill of Tara
This is apparently the ancient seat of power in Ireland. Ditches all around mark the place of ancient wooden fortresses and outbuildings. Apparently, there is even a spiritual connection to the place because of its early connection to celtic and druid ritual.
The ancient history was interesting, but I was much more impressed by the view of the surrounding valley. The visitor centre was closed when we arrived, so it was basically just us and a handful of others standing atop a windy hill. However, it started to bustle as we were leaving as people were coming to the teahouse in droves.
Kells
Should have skipped it. There was almost nothing to see here and no one really around. This is the original location for the famous Book of Kells, which is now under a locked display case in Trinity College.
Galway
Very short time here – mostly a drive through because it was already starting to get very late.
Spiddal
We camped in Spiddal for the night. Very nice beach.
Newcastle – Part 2
No trip to a city called Newcastle will skip over a visit to the castle that gives the city its name. The city has been called Newcastle since the old wooden castle was replaced by the keep in the 13th century and Aarti and I spent almost an hour exploring the castle keep. There were excellent views of the river (including the bridges) and of the train station from the top and plenty of narrow corridors to explore. It’s a little unfortunate, but even though the city is called Newcastle, the castle keep itself was strategically useless after just a few centuries. This was mainly because a massive city wall was constructed.
By this time, I had also realized that Newcastle is not far from where George Stephenson was born, and the city claims the father of the steam railways as their own – Stephenson Rocket. There was a big statue of him near the train station. The station is truly massive. It’s also got a bend in it, which is much easier to spot from up above.
That evening we joined up with Luca and Morgane to go out and do what Newcastle is known for. We probably tried half a dozen clubs at the Gate.
It’s hard to describe what I saw, but it’s safe to say that I’ve been scarred for life. The girls, even the ones who looked way too young, were wearing the sluttiest clothes imaginable and way too much bright coloured make-up. There were a few near fights, among both genders, but I have no doubt that we’d have seen more than one had we stuck around. Also, plenty of crazy costumes for the stag and hen nights.
The club we spent the most time in was playing classic rock from the 70’s and 80’s. It was pretty cool that all of us were rocking out to YMCA. We also chilled out in a salsa bar in a failed effort to find dancing, but a successful effort to find mojitos.
The next morning we walked down to the riverside outdoor market for some breakfast and to check out some of the shops. About 30 minutes before we had to leave, the Millenium Gateshead Bridge began to open, and that is a very cool piece of engineering. Instead of opening in the middle, the bridge tilts up on its side. We managed to get a few photos of the whole process – it was very impressive.
Wright After Reading 