Monthly Archives: September 2017

Hebridean Island Cruises

Scotland and Northern Ireland 2017, Part eight…

I’ll be honest.  Until I took this cruise, I had never heard of The Giant’s Causeway.  Or, maybe I had heard of it only in passing.  It meant nothing to me when our guide, Bryan, told people to make sure they wore sturdy shoes.  Also, I wish I had known what we were going to see so that I could have made sure the battery for my good camera was fully charged.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t, so I had to rely on my iPhone and iPad for the pictures I took.  I think they turned out pretty great regardless.

I also had my trusty five year old Canon Powershot, which I like because it takes good photos and fits neatly in my beaded bags at formal dinners.  Sadly, that camera, which I purchased in advance of our 2012 Hebridean Princess voyages, is no longer holding a charge like it used to.  The good camera is another Canon that was bought in the spring of 2017, but it’s very cumbersome.  I may need to invest in a smaller one, which will mean the fancy big one will be neglected.

Getting to The Giant’s Causeway involved riding on a coach for a couple of hours.  Actually, we could have gotten to the site sooner, but our guide wanted to take a route that would give us stunning views of Northern Ireland’s coastline.  Ordinarily, I would have been all for that, except we went on this trip right after lunch.  Given that I drank a lot of wine and water during lunch and ate half a bowl of soup, my kidneys had a lot of work to do.  Also remember that I was on the rag… which is an indelicate way of putting things, but also adds some insight as to how desperate things could become.

The coach we used was unusual in that it did not have a toilet on board.  Consequently, many of us were squirming in our seats as Bryan described the splendor of Northern Ireland’s dramatic scenery.  I was getting grumpier and grumpier as we passed a number of public toilets, all just waiting for me to make a deposit.

The trip to The Giant’s Causeway involved a couple of miserable hours, though I did get some nice photos from the bus.  Once we arrived, I sprinted to the building where tickets were sold and headsets explaining things were granted.  A lot of us were in line for the bathroom before we boarded a shuttle bus to the Causeway.

Useful info.

Here’s a word to the wise.  It costs 1 GBP per ride to take the shuttle bus to the end of the road where the Causeway is.  Because we were wearing our lanyards, we didn’t have to pay for the bus ride, but we saw a lot of people who didn’t know the bus ride is not included in the ticket price.  Had I to do it over again, I would have simply walked.  The bus was jam packed with people, some of whom really needed the ride.  Also, the walk is very stunning and, to be honest, I could have used the exercise.  Bill and I did walk back after our visit, which allowed me to take more pictures and work off lunch.

I wore a pair of new ankle boots I got from Dansko, which is a shoe company that specializes in comfort.  They did pretty well on the rocks by the Causeway.  I would highly recommend good, sturdy, waterproof, non-slip shoes for your visit.  You will probably be tempted to climb on the rocks and they can get slick.  Also, make sure you pay attention to where climbing is allowed, lest you get yelled at by one of the minders standing by to make sure no one messes up the site.

The Giant’s Causeway was pretty busy when we visited and it was probably an absolute madhouse a couple of days later, when we encountered a couple of huge cruise ships in Belfast.  You may want to take into account when you plan your visit.  Make sure it doesn’t coincide with the arrival of a big cruise… although at just 45 people, some of whom didn’t even come on the trip, I think Hebridean Princess isn’t too taxing.

So here are some pictures from our visit, including a few I got from the coach on the way there.  I must admit, the torturous ride was well worth the end result.  Now I know about The Giant’s Causeway and I think it may have been my favorite of all of the places we visited, despite the crowds!

This is a shot of the indoor museum area, which I will admit I paid little attention to.  Shame on me!  FYI: The Giant’s Causeway has free WiFi.

One parting shot before we got back on the bus.

 

Below are a few pictures from the ride up to the Causeway.  They are nice, but maybe not as much of a draw as the Causeway pictures are…

Ooh!  This one is especially pretty!

These three pictures are from the ride back to the ship.  We got a beautiful rainbow that I had to capture, even though we were on a speeding bus and it was raining.  The ride back, by the way, was  shorter and a lot less painful.

And a few more stunners…

 
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Hebridean Island Cruises

Scotland and Northern Ireland 2017, Part seven…

After dinner, we all gathered in the Tiree Lounge for after dinner drinks and announcements by the captain.  Our captain for this trip was the ever charming and frequently hilarious Trevor Bailey.  This was the first time Bill and I had Captain Bailey at the helm and, I must admit, he made quite an impression.  The first thing he did was tell us that thanks to Hurricane Irma, which by that time I thought had become history, was going to affect our itinerary.  Yes, you read that right… a hurricane that hit Florida had ripple effects up in the British Isles.

Originally, we were supposed to visit Islay, a beautiful island in Scotland, on the way to Northern Ireland.  However, because of the waves expected to be caused by Irma, Captain Bailey decided we would go straight to Northern Ireland.  Although it’s hard to imagine a hurricane that struck my homeland was going to affect us in Scotland, I trust the captain’s judgment, especially since I do have a tendency to hurl on cruise ships when things get too rough.  We went straight to Larne, Northern Ireland, but not before we hung out in the bar and got to know the staff on duty… notably Sergei and Toby, who made sure we had plenty of tipples to sustain us.

That first night I also happened to get the results of the genetic test Bill and I did with 23 and Me.  I got mine, that is.  Bill’s has to be redone because apparently they didn’t have enough genetic material from his sample.  Anyway, my results were not too surprising.  I’m pretty much 100% white.

And yes, I am very British.

 

In a way, it was pretty cool to be reading my results on Hebridean Princess.  In another way, I really wished I could be at home looking at them on my iMac, since there’s so much information included and the ship’s Internet isn’t always reliable… although I will say that on this cruise, we had almost zero Internet issues whatsoever!  I was even able to surf in the Internet in my cabin at the bottom of the ship, which has NEVER happened before.  So I don’t know if work has been done to improve the Internet or if our proximity to Northern Ireland made it better for us.  In any case, it was a mixed blessing.  I spend too much time online, but then, I practically live online.

Here is a shot of our stateroom, named “Loch Harport”.  It was on the opposite side of the ship our other cabins have been on.  This is one of the “cheap” rooms, priced low because they are at the bottom of the ship and have no windows or portholes.  They also only have a shower, while some of the posher rooms have bathtubs, although all bathrooms are outfitted with Molton Brown toiletries.  Having been in all three “cheap” rooms, I have to say I think I like Loch Torridon the best… but next time we sail, I think we’ll move up a deck or two.

 

This time, I believe our cabin steward was a guy.  He was very good at figuring out when we were not in the room and always had it tidy for us.  He also left our decanter of whisky in the room and kept it topped up, which was much appreciated.  Yes… every room gets a small decanter of whisky, at least on the first night.  😉

Anyway, it took all night to get to Larne.  We woke to sunny skies and I got a few nice pictures.

Lovely rising sun… 

 

Northern Irish coastline…

 

A memorial off the coast of Larne.  Looks pretty phallic.

Pretty berries at breakfast our first morning.  We had these every morning and they were so beautiful!

Once we were in Larne, we had a brief break to get out and walk to the town, such as it is.  We had to be driven across the port in a car and I was immediately impressed by how very nice and friendly the folks at the port were.  They gave us a very warm welcome to Northern Ireland and were kind enough to point out how to walk to the town closest to the port.

The cruise terminal.

I can’t say I was overly impressed by Larne itself, although the people were very nice.  Here are a few pictures of the place.

Just a few feet away from this sign, I found a used condom…

 

Sorry, but I believe in truth in advertising.  At least the guy was practicing safe sex, right?

Typical Northern Irish staples at the Tesco!

This sign made me smile.

For some reason, those flowers smelled rather “assy”.

That being said, Larne gave us access to a couple of attractions.  We stayed docked at Larne for a couple of days, mainly so we could avoid very rough seas caused by Irma.  After an incredible seafood buffet on Wednesday, we were off to Giant’s Causeway, which I understand is “Game of Thrones” territory.  I am not a “Game of Thrones” fan, but Giant’s Causeway is a beautiful place.  I will include pictures and a write up of our visit in my next post.  For now, here are some pictures of the awesome cold seafood buffet, probably my favorite of all the lunches.

Every time I board the ship, the salmon is decorated in a different way.

David Indge, the fabulous purser doing what he does best!

Smoked salmon, shrimp, oysters, and smoked trout…

Salad and cold cuts…

I started with a little ham and split pea soup.  I only ate half because I was so eager to get some of that fresh fish.  I love seafood and miss it here in Germany.

Bill had a Spanish tortilla, which he really enjoyed.

This was a custard made with white wine… it was creamy and sinful.

And here is a stewed plum dessert for Bill.  It was also delicious!

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Hebridean Island Cruises

Scotland and Northern Ireland 2017, Part six…

The big clock, where everybody meets up in Glasgow…

 

And another British nanny sign!

 

In March 2016, when we took our Hebridean Scotch Whisky tour, The Spirit of Scotland, the train station had a couple of bars that were about to close.  They were open for our visit, but they had little stock.  We sat up in that bar for a couple of hours and drank beer until it was time to meet the ship.  Although the train station still has a place for beer drinking, we wisely opted to go to a restaurant outside of the station.  I think maybe next time, instead of meeting the coach, maybe it might be better to simply go to where the boat is.  A three hour ride on a coach isn’t all that much fun, even when it’s Hebridean Island Cruises offering it.

I think we were the first ones from our cruise to get to the train station.  Our guide, Bryan Hogg, was next.  He was easy to spot because he was wearing a kilt and had the telltale Hebridean luggage tags on his bags.  Hebridean Island Cruises employs qualified guides for each of its cruises.  Bryan lives in Edinburgh and is a freelance guide (and a marvelous one at that).  He guided our cruise and is also guiding this week’s cruise.  Here’s a link to his blog, which is probably more interesting than mine is.  It looks like his isn’t as updated as often, though.  He’s also on Facebook, though I don’t see a link to a business page.  We really enjoyed having Bryan as our guide this week.  He’s very friendly, funny, and relaxed… and he also knows a lot about Scotland and Ireland.

Just so you know, it’s not free to pee in the train station.  It costs 40p to pee…  

 

The view from our seat on the coach.

Bill is excited because the Brits have lap and shoulder belts on their buses.  You’re supposed to wear them because the Brits are pretty strict about safety.  However, I will go on record as being naughty all week because the damned things were too uncomfortable.  Bill was a good boy, though.  I’ll be sure to give him a cookie later.

After all of the folks who had arranged to be met at the train station were accounted for, we collected our lanyards, which basically served as our identification all week.  Wearing them around the neck identified us as members of the Hebridean Princess cruise, which allowed us admission to activities and coffee and tea breaks pre-arranged by the ship.  Yes, that’s right, the ship pays for your coffee breaks when you’re aboard Hebridean Princess.  You don’t pay admission fees to the activities arranged by the cruise line, either.  In fact, you don’t have to pay for anything once you get aboard, unless you want something from the tiny gift shop.  It’s probably the only cruise ship on the planet that does not require passengers to hand over a credit card immediately upon boarding.

We stopped at the airport to pick up a few other people, including a couple of perfumed ladies who acted as if they were long lost sisters.  They sat in front of us and immediately started chattering quite loudly, which quickly became annoying because I was also trying to listen to Bryan talk about points of interest on the way north.  I’ll also admit that Auntie Flow was putting me in a foul mood.

I noticed a spunky looking lady sitting across from us who had a can of gin and tonic.  I immediately thought she was cool as she sipped it.  I wish I had had the same foresight.  I ended up moving to another seat just before the rest stop and the lady with the gin and tonic congratulated me!  Below are a few pictures I got of our rest stop…

Looks like a nice town to stop in for a visit.  Maybe another time.  One of the passengers, a guy who is still aboard this week, purchased an ice cream cone during our stop.  He made everyone laugh when someone asked him if the ice cream was good and he said it was “Dee—light–ful!” in a very comical British accent.  All week, he was cracking us up because he was very comfortable in his own skin and not afraid to use a bib (a man after my own heart, for sure!).

The two pictures above are of Inveraray Castle, as we passed it on the way to Oban.  I wish I had gotten a shot of it on the way back to Glasgow, since the weather was a lot nicer that day.  Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of the bus! 

 

We arrived in Oban at around 6:00pm or so.  It was raining and rather grim outside, but there was still a piper out there waiting to welcome us properly.  It was at this point that I learned our purser was to be the legendary David Indge, who was our purser on our second Hebridean cruise in 2012.  He truly is fabulous!  Queen Elizabeth II has been on Hebridean Princess twice and she liked Dave so much that she reportedly specifically requested his services during her cruises.  I can see why she liked him so much!

Here’s a brief clip of the piper.  He piped each party aboard, though some had already arrived at the ship before the coach got there.  Bear in mind that the Hebridean Princess carries, at most, 49 passengers at a time.  I think there were 45 on our cruise.

Here’s a shot of Oban that I took as we waited for the obligatory muster drill…

And here is an obligatory shot of Bill in his life jacket.  I do this every time we cruise.  I think this may be one of the better shots of him in his life jacket.

 

Most nights on Hebridean Princess, passengers dress up a bit for dinner.  On the first night, it’s permissible to dress casually.  That’s because there’s a lot to do once you get on the ship.  Before the muster drill, you have to unpack your stuff and leave your bags to be stowed during the cruise.  Depending on how light you travel, unpacking may or may not be a chore.  It usually is for me, because I am incapable of traveling light under any circumstances.

Another thing to know about Hebridean Princess is, again, almost everything is included, including booze.  That means you can drink all you want and no one will be making you sign any chits and you can try all sorts of stuff.

After the muster drill, it was time for dinner.  You can see below that we tried both the red and white wines with dinner… and had a little bubbly, too.

I had duck, which was lovely with potatoes and green beans…

Bill had salmon on top of potatoes and garnished with broccolini.

 

There was more to this meal, but it was one of the rare ones that I didn’t photograph completely.  I guess I was just overwhelmed by the abundance of excellence.  Our waiter last week was a friendly young Polish lad named Mariusz.  He took very good care of us… almost as good care as the bar staff!

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Hebridean Island Cruises

Scotland and Northern Ireland 2017, Part five…

We walked around a bit to burn off lunch, then headed to the drug store to pick up some necessary items for yours truly.  I never got around to visiting the store before we left Germany, so we needed to go to Boots, which is the well known drug store in the United Kingdom.  I bought razors, toothbrushes (complete with vibrating brushes), toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, and mouthwash.  I really needed to go shopping, right?  One thing I did bring, thank God, was feminine hygiene supplies.  Sorry for those who think this is TMI.  I know it is.  It’s also a big part of the story, though, so bear with me or just skip the next paragraph or two.  I will add a red asterisk to signal when it’s safe to read again for those who are squeamish.

Another one of Britain’s polite nanny signs.  I notice the Brits use more words on their signs than Americans do.  They also seem to use please and thank you more.  

Still with me?  Okay…  On the last night of our back to back Hebridean cruise in 2012, I unexpectedly started my period.  Since we had just bought new luggage, I had also somehow forgotten to stock it with the usual sanitary supplies.  We also got devastating news about our dog, MacGregor, who had, unbeknownst to us, been suffering from cancer.  The people at the kennel where he was staying had taken him to our vet, who had recommended euthanasia.  They had communicated that advice to us while we were on the ship.  Naturally, I was very upset about the dog, only to have Aunt Flow show up, too.

Fortunately, the fantastic assistant purser, Valeria (who was also on this last cruise with us), very kindly collected a few supplies for me from some of the staff members, since most of the people who sail on Hebridean Princess are well beyond the age of menstruation.  Anyway, it’s been my luck that I typically have my period when I travel.  Somehow, that’s just how it works out.  I swear I only have it for a week a month, and yet I seem to always get it at the worst times.  To date, I have not yet been on Hebridean Princess and not been menstruating part of the time.  It was the case last year, too, when I got really sick with norovirus (which was totally my fault and not due to poor hygiene on the ship).  But hopefully, God willing, Mother Nature will take pity on me soon.

* Gross part is done now.

So, I was fully stocked for our cruise and feeling pretty safe about things.  We stopped by the hotel, where I unloaded my supplies.  We were both still pretty full from lunch at dinnertime, so we decided to go looking for a bar.  On the way out of the hotel, we ran into another American couple.  They had just finished a trip around Scotland by car and stopped to chat with us as we were waiting for the elevator.  They were super nice to talk to, although I couldn’t help noticing the guy’s fly was down.  I hate it when stuff like that happens, because you almost want to say something, but people tend to shoot the messenger when you speak up in such circumstances.  So I kept my mouth shut and we walked around looking for a spot for a couple of drinks.

We finally settled on the Shilling Brewing Company, a pizza joint in a former bank that makes its own brews.  Sadly, they had none of their brews available on the night of our visit, but they did have some interesting local beers and good music playing.  We were on our second round when the American couple we met at the hotel came in.  They noticed us immediately, waved “hi”, and sat at the bar.  I noticed that the bar was full of young folks, which made me feel ancient.  The other couple was older than we were and I noticed they didn’t hang around for long.

At our table at Shilling Brewing Company.

This was dinner on Monday, September 11th… a special anniversary for us, since Bill was in the Pentagon on the day it was hit by a jetliner.  

Outside of the brewing company.  

 

The next morning, we had our last breakfast at Carlton George Hotel.  Bill went with an omelet, which was very large…

This was to be a theme for the week!

I had the much more manageable French Toast.

We had some time to kill until we were to meet the ship.  On our other Hebridean cruises, we’ve had to meet the ship’s representatives at Glasgow’s Central Train Station at about 4:00pm or so.  That’s because the ship was docked at Greenock, which is pretty close to Glasgow.  This time, we would be meeting the ship in Oban, which is about three hours north.  Consequently, we were to meet our guide and the bus to the ship at 2:15pm.  Checkout at the hotel was 11:00am.  We usually carry our bags from the hotel to the station, since it’s only a few blocks away.  This time, I demanded that we get a cab, since we had four bags that were pretty heavy.  Bill was reluctant, but eventually conceded.

This guy took us to the station…  I think it cost about 6 GBP, but it was worth every pence.

The Carlton George does not have a large left luggage room, so we decided to use the one at the train station.  It cost 6 GBP per bag, each of which were scanned by an x-ray machine like the ones you might find at the airport.  Given that there was a bomb left at a tube station in London last week, I can see why they’re careful.  The left luggage office serves as a lost and found and they’ll also wrap your luggage for you for a fee.  Our bags successfully ditched, we went searching for a place to spend our last hours in Glasgow.

Religious ad in the station.

I see another American export is turned into a joke.

 

We walked around Buchanan Street and I found the shop of my dreams, Hotel Chocolat.  We stopped in and I loaded up for some treats to soothe my “least favorite auntie”.  Hotel Chocolat is a chain, so if you happen to be in another UK city, you’re liable to find it.  And if you love chocolate, I highly recommend stopping in.

We left with a small bag of goodies.

Afterwards, we spent some time wandering around the city, working off breakfast.  I’m afraid it would have taken longer than we had.

But at least I got a few nice photos of Glasgow, which seems somehow more authentic to me than Edinburgh does… although I love both cities.

Finally, it was lunchtime, so we stopped at one of Glasgow’s many burger restaurants.  This one was called Handmade Burger Co. and it’s located near at least two other burger places, including Five Guys.  This is another UK chain and it does offer some interesting interpretations of burgers.  They have the usual beef burgers as well as veggie and chicken burgers.

Bill studies the menu.

I wasn’t too impressed with their beer selection.  Everything was in a bottle and there weren’t a lot of choices.  But we did manage to find a couple we hadn’t tried.

This is a normal sized burger– the HBC Cheese and Bacon, which I had without any fries.  I wasn’t all that wild about the beef on this, which was very seasoned and reminded me a little of sausage.  They also used a “relish” that was kind of sweet.  

Bill had a “small” burger, a Junior beef classic.

The outside of the restaurant.

 

Just before 1:00pm, we stopped by the Drum & Monkey, a pub we visited during our first visit to Glasgow in 2012.  To be honest, we probably should have had lunch there, too.  The atmosphere was a bit more to our liking.

The Drum & Monkey.

Bill was being responsible and watched me suck down a porter.

The Blackout Porter listed on the sign below.

The inside of this pub is very grand, with lots of dark wood and plenty of cask ales and whiskies.  The menu is traditional and it seems to be a popular place for businesspeople.  

I could have spent a couple of hours at the Drum & Monkey, but we didn’t have time.  The witching hour was getting close.  We made our way to the train station, picked up our bags, and waited by the big clock for the rest of our cruise mates to arrive.

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Scotland and Northern Ireland 2017, Part four…

By the time we got back to Glasgow, it was late afternoon.  It was still kind of cold and wet outside, so we went back to the hotel and got cleaned up.  Later, we ventured into the “Executive Lounge”, a privilege granted to us because we booked a “Club Room“.  Every time we stay at the Carlton George, I upgrade our room.

The first time, we stayed in their “Superior Room“, which is their most basic model.  It’s a pretty comfortable place to stay, complete with a free mini bar which includes decanters of vodka, scotch, and whisky, but you don’t get to use the lounge with that room.  You are also pretty much bound to have a view of an elevator shaft or something like it.

Last year, we visited in March and I got us an “Executive Room“, which is a larger room with a free mini bar and access to the lounge.  But again, you’re likely to have a view of the elevator shaft.

There is only one category higher than the Club Room and that’s the Club Room with a balcony.  Given the weather in Glasgow during our stay, it was probably good that I didn’t go that far.  Maybe next time I’ll pull the trigger.  Here are a few pictures of our Club Room.

The all important free booze.  I think I tried the whisky, which naturally was decent quality.

 

Nice coffee set up.

The ever important bed.

And the bathroom.  Once again, I was tickled by the need for instructions on the wall for using the shower.  The Holiday Inn at the Glasgow Airport needs to take a memo.  More on that later.

 

We decided to have a drink in the lounge, then got really lazy and had dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, Windows.  We had not eaten there on previous visits, so it was good to try it.  Now that I’ve tried it, I don’t know that I’ll try it again.  That’s not because the food was bad; it’s more because Glasgow has a lot of great restaurants and Windows, while not bad, is not among the best there are in Glasgow.  In any case, here are a few pictures of our Sunday night repast at the hotel.  One of the nicest aspects of a dinner in Windows Restaurant is that you do, indeed, get a nice view of the city… which is a great thing when the skies are clear.  We did experience that at breakfast.

A nice bottle of red to go with dinner.

Bill went with a sirloin steak, which was served with tomatoes on the vine, chips, and a mushroom.  He said the steak was cooked very well.  As many readers may know, mushrooms give me the creeps.  

I went with seabass, which was served in parchment paper.  It came with a slice of white bread and lots of vegetables on the side… 

It was also stuffed with lots of fresh vegetables and was very healthy.  Looking at my figure lately, I realize I probably should eat more fish.  If you like fish, Scotland is a great place to be.  

 

Unfortunately, my disdain for mushrooms got the better of me when the lady sitting at the table behind Bill ordered a vegetarian dish that smelled like it was loaded with mushrooms or truffles.  The aroma was overwhelming to me.  People who love the smell of truffles, like Bill, would have been enchanted by it.  As for me, you would have thought I was pregnant or something.  I had to beat it.

After a good second night’s rest, Bill and I awoke Monday morning with big plans.  We were going to get Bill fitted for a kilt!  I am very excited to get this done, since I have been nagging Bill to get a kilt for years now.  Granted, he’s more of an Irishman than a Scot, but there are only so many years a man can get away with wearing the Army Service Uniform post retirement… especially a man who enjoys food and booze as much as Bill and I do.  Aside from that, I think kilts are pretty damned sexy, especially when they are worn “properly”.

Bill was originally going to visit a kilt maker called MacGregor & MacDuff.  He chose it because it carried the Donegal tartan, which is the Irish county where Bill’s people come from as evidenced by our surname, Crossen.  MacGregor also happens to be the name of our very sweet dearly departed “bagel”, whom we lost to canine cancer a few weeks after our first Hebridean Princess cruise.  I ended up talking him out of MacGregor & MacDuff because it appeared to be a large operation.  Instead, we visited the much smaller James Robertson, Kiltmaker.  I am so glad we did.  We spent a couple of hours there with the delightful proprietor.

He has a tiny little “hole in the wall shop” next to a tattoo parlor!

Bill gathers his gumption for the fitting.

We settled on the Donegal pattern displayed above.  There was another Donegal pattern that was mostly oranges, greens, and reds, but the blue, green, and red seemed to suit Bill better.  I could wear tartans for a few Scottish clans myself due to my heavy ancestry, but if I ever get a stole, I’ll probably get one to match Bill’s new kilt.

The tartan Bill is wearing is not the one we’re getting, just to be clear.  However, I was impressed by how well it matched his shirt!

Bill ordered the whole “kit”, which set us back about $1200.  However, it includes everything but a tuxedo shirt and the kilt will be handmade.  Aside from that, the jacket comes from County Donegal. 😉

I get excited just thinking about it.

Bill tries on shoes.  The proprietor even asked me to film him showing how to tie the laces.  See below.

 

This is how you do it, guys.

Bill checks out the rest of his accessories.

First time I’ll ever get him to wear a purse…  😉

Settling the bill…  We noticed a bottle of whisky sitting by the desk.  I have a feeling if it had been later in the day, we might have shared a wee dram with the kiltmaker.

On the way out…

 

Edited to add:  This was the finished product.  It got to us in time for Christmas!

The kiltmaker advised us to visit The Pot Still, a very cool pub that serves food, beer, and, most of all, lots of whisky.  Apparently, it has one of the best selections of whiskies in Glasgow with over 700 varieties.  And though it wasn’t quite noon, we decided to stop in to try a few.

A rather unassuming looking place, isn’t it?

We started with a Longrow from Campbeltown’s Springbank Distillery, a place we’ve visited twice, thanks to our Hebridean cruises.

A look at the loot.

We tried a couple of others, included blends we had not heard of prior to our visit.  The proprietor looked to be about my age and was busy with inventory, but he was very friendly.  We shared a moment when he started whistling a tune and I quickly identified it as “Can You Feel It” by The Jacksons.  Every time I come to Scotland, I’m reminded of just how strong the musical vibe is there.

A look at the dining room.  I was tempted to stay for lunch, but it was still a little early.  We decided to walk around a bit more.

At around noon, my nose caught a whiff of something delicious.  We happened to be standing in front of Iberica, a Spanish restaurant chain in the United Kingdom.  Since we knew we’d be eating a lot of Scottish food on the boat, we decided to stop in for a Spanish repast.  It was a good decision.  We split a couple of tapas and paella for two, then had lovely desserts.

Bill checks out the menu…

While I check out the bar…  Our waitress was beautiful.  She looked like a young Rachel Hunter circa 1990 or so…  She recommended we order a couple of tapas to hold us over while the paella was being prepared.  It takes awhile.

Bill picked the sausage and cheese tapas which came with bread and fig jelly.

I had the crispy chicken, which was absolutely delicious.  I could have enjoyed a whole lunch of this.

Seafood paella.  It was very good, although I liked my chicken tapas even more.

This was just the beginning of our week eating seafood…

For dessert, I had churros, which were so good… but man, my ass didn’t need that present!

Bill was a bit more sensible and had something lighter.  Looks like it involved apricots.  I remember the waitress told us about a dessert that involved Parmesan cheese and strawberries.  I wrinkled my nose at first, but then realized it was a pairing of sweet and salty.  And given the time of the month, that was kind of appealing.  I’m glad I went with churros instead, though.

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Hebridean Island Cruises

Scotland and Northern Ireland 2017, Part three…

We checked into the Carlton George Hotel in the early evening.  I booked three nights, even though we’ve been to Glasgow several times thanks to Hebridean Princess.  Although Glasgow is probably not as popular or tourist friendly as Edinburgh is, it remains a very nice place to visit with plenty of things to do and places to eat.  We made good use of our time there this visit.  The first order of business was to enjoy a cheeseburger, but not before we listened to an impressive array of hits played by a bagpiper who stationed himself near our hotel room.

This video admittedly sucks, but you get the idea…  Glad he wasn’t around all night.

I made a video of Bill’s reaction when he heard him play the Army song… you know, “The Army Goes Rolling Along”.  The guy knew all of the U.S. military “hits” and proceeded to play them all, everything from “Anchors Aweigh” to the “Marine’s Hymn”.  After that, he played a few Scottish hits and delved into pieces like the “Star Wars” theme.  He really had an impressive repertoire, although we’ve heard better bagpipers.  Fortunately, he didn’t stick around too long.  We passed him on our way to Five Guys and he was gone by the time we came back to the hotel.

Speaking of Five Guys… yes, it was the very same burger restaurant that has exploded in the United States.  Thanks to my status as a Virginia native and Bill’s time in the Army, which pretty much guarantees a stint living in northern Virginia, we have been familiar with Five Guys for years… even before they started franchising and went national.  I always shake my head when I see Five Guys outside of northern Virginia, since the family that founded it swore they would never expand into franchising.  And yet, there are plans to open Five Guys locations in Germany!  I hate to say it, but Germany could use a Five Guys.  It’s not easy finding really good American style burgers here, although we have found some places that offer somewhat decent facsimiles.

Anyway, Glasgow has a couple of Five Guys locations, as well as several other burger restaurants.  We decided to go to Five Guys for dinner on our first night, since we wanted something quick and painless.  The experience was very much like it is in the United States, as was the taste of the burger.  My only complaint was that when I got my cheeseburger, the cheese was not melted.  I am pretty grossed out by cold cheese, especially when it’s American cheese.  They put a ton of it on there, too.  I would say that if you are coming to Glasgow from the United States, you could probably skip the Five Guys experience and not miss it.  However, since we haven’t been to the States since 2014, we were glad to stop there.  Actually, since we ate nothing but fancy food on the ship, it was kind of nice to have a cheeseburger.

Very good… except for the excessive and unmelted cheese!!!

One goal met!  

This was the view from our table at breakfast in the hotel’s rooftop restaurant.

I had some rather extreme Eggs Benedict that I couldn’t finish.  The hotel offers a pretty nice breakfast which includes dishes made to order.  It does cost extra to get breakfast included, though.  I think we paid 75 GBP for three mornings of breakfasts for two.  We probably got ripped off, but it was sure convenient.

The next day was Sunday.  I had decided ahead of time that I wanted to visit the city of Stirling, which is a charming town about halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh.  I was aware of the castle there, but also learned of a whisky distillery and a couple of other attractions.  It was raining on the day of our visit, which dampened things a little bit, but our hotel was located right next to the Queen Street train station, which made it easy to get to Stirling by rail.  It took about forty-five minutes.  Naturally, we were seated near fellow Americans.  Glasgow was positively rife with them.  😉

 

I get a kick out of British nannyism signs.  I have an album full of them on Facebook, which I will add to after I’ve written up this trip.

A memorial in Glasgow’s busy’s Central Railway Station.

A Glasgow pic.

To get to Stirling, we had to use the Queen Street Station, which was right next to our hotel.

Bill is excited.

This is a Baptist church in Stirling, which was one of the first things we saw there.  We don’t see too many Baptist churches like this one in the United States.

A couple of other shots as we made our way up a hill toward Stirling Castle.  Before we got there, we ran into the Stirling Old Town Jail…

 

We didn’t know it, but we happened to be in Stirling on the last day of the season for the Old Town Jail.  I love visiting jails because I’m kinky that way, so Bill and I bought tickets and took the tour.  We were there with three other visitors, led by an actor who repeatedly changed costumes as he told us about the jail’s history in character.  He treated us like new inmates at one point, which was more annoying than scary.  Kids probably appreciate it, though.

Prior to the jail’s opening in 1847, people who crossed the law in Stirling were thrown into the Tolbooth Gaol, which was a horrible place to be punished.  Compared to the Tolbooth, Stirling’s old jail was visionary.  Prisoners were fed, kept in cells by themselves, and paid to work, although they were all addressed by number rather than name.

The attraction itself is interesting, if not kind of corny in the way it’s presented.  I would say it’s probably a fun place for older kids to see.  An added bonus is that you get to climb the tower and see lovely views of Stirling, although it was pretty cloudy and rainy when we visited.

One of a few cells we visited.

This sign has a typo.  I couldn’t help but notice.

This was one shot I got.  We were told prisoners were not allowed to take in this view when they were in the tiny courtyard for exercise.

This was an interesting form of punishment.  Basically, prisoners worked hard all day at nothing.

For once, I didn’t make Bill pose for a shot.

 

A couple more foggy shots.

Bill poses by the tower before we finished the tour of the jail.

Mind the steps.

These four shots are of spots around Stirling, taken before and after we visited the castle.

A gate to the cemetery, I think.  I thought it looked artsy.

The entrance to Stirling Castle.

 

To be honest, I don’t have a whole lot of patience for visiting houses and castles.  For some reason, I tend to get bored quickly in them.  I also don’t like crowds, and Stirling Castle was pretty crowded, even on a rainy Sunday.  Nevertheless, we did stay awhile I got some photos.  I think my enthusiasm was dampened by the misty weather.  It made me want to find a nice pub and drink.  I did enjoy the Queen Anne Garden pictured below, despite the rain.  The flowers smelled so good!

As a musical person, this exhibit was interesting to me…  

The Great Hall, I believe…

I don’t know how, but it took this visit to find out how significant unicorns are to Scots…  They were all over Stirling Castle and elsewhere in Scotland.  I am a horse lover, yet somehow never noticed all the fantastic unicorns in the land of much of my ancestry.  The above photos were taken in the King’s and Queen’s bedrooms.  Unicorns are Scotland’s national animal.

Once we’d had enough of the crowds, we headed back down the hill and visited a pub we’d passed on the way in.  It happened to be packed with people, though we did manage to score the last table.  The guy over my shoulder felt a little like the Grim Reaper.  He was standing right behind me for most of our stay.  It kind of gave me the willies.

I am sporting the drowned rat look, thanks to the wet weather.

Scottish style macaroni and cheese.  It was good, but the cheese was fairly strong.  Bill probably would have liked it better than I did.

I liked his spicy pasta dish.  We probably should have traded!

After lunch, we headed back to the train station.  We were a little too late for the 2:45pm train back to Glasgow, so we stopped in the Coffee House pictured below.

I didn’t take note of the opening hours when we walked in…

Bill got a cup of coffee and I had a mocha.  We had been sitting there for about ten minutes when the barista abruptly kicked everyone out.  We hadn’t realized that she was closing at 3:00.  There was another American couple there and the male half made me laugh when he mimicked the barista with a flat, “Get out!”  We saw a few other hapless folks unaware of the hours walking in and getting kicked out promptly and very bluntly.  Having worked in the service industry, I completely understand the sentiment, although it was a little off putting.  Oh well.  At least I got my mocha.

On the way back to Glasgow, the train was pretty packed.  Some very kind gentleman offered me his seat until the conductor found two for Bill and me to sit together.  I was heartened by how genuinely kind the guy was to me.  In America or even in Germany, I would have expected total indifference.

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Hebridean Island Cruises

Scotland and Northern Ireland 2017, Part two…

We left Stuttgart for our trip to Scotland and Northern Ireland on Saturday, September 9, 2017.  I was in a pretty edgy state, thanks to a full summer of worrying.  Although we probably take more trips than most Americans, I have gotten used to traveling a lot since we moved back to Germany in 2014.  Travel is one of the main reasons I like living over here, and we hadn’t had a trip since my birthday in June, when we drove to Belgium.  I was itching to get out of Deutschland, which only sounds crazy if you aren’t living here as an American.

As I mentioned previously, I booked a cruise on Hebridean Princess about a year ago.  It’s necessary for us to book well in advance when we cruise on the Princess because it’s very expensive.  We chose the Call of the Emerald Isle cruise, which would take us from Oban, an adorable city in Scotland, to ports in Northern Ireland.  We also had a couple of stops in the Republic of Ireland.

This was technically our fourth trip on Hebridean Princess.  Our very first trip on Hebridean Princess was in November 2012, when we took two five night cruises back to back to celebrate our tenth anniversary.  We took our third cruise with them in March 2016, a scotch whisky themed trip, which you can read about in this blog.  Fair warning.  That series was divided into fourteen parts and I imagine this series will be similarly lengthy!  If you like whisky and are interested in distilleries in Scotland, it might be worth reading.  I did write about our first trip, but it was before I had a travel blog, so it’s not a very detailed description.

Since Bill and I are in better financial straits than we’ve ever been, I decided to make this trip as upper class as possible.  I booked business class tickets on British Airways and got us a Club Executive room at the Carlton George Hotel in Glasgow, which is our hotel of choice when we’re in Glasgow because they offer a nice executive lounge and a free minibar ;-).  I did not upgrade our stateroom on Hebridean Princess, though, since doing so requires quite a lot more money.  We stayed in Loch Harport, a category H stateroom which is their cheapest “room”, all the way at the bottom of the ship.  The cabins in H have no windows or portholes, but they are otherwise pretty nice.  More on the stateroom in a later post.  We have now stayed in all of the “cheap” rooms with twin/king sized beds, so I can later offer a comparison of the three.

Because Bill changed companies in July, we weren’t sure if he was going to be able to accompany me on this cruise.  Had he not come with me, I probably would have either gone alone or Bill’s mom might have come with me.  Fortunately, Bill’s mom is a good friend and we get along great!  However, she did recently have hip surgery and I was a little concerned about the prospect of her staying in an “H” room, since getting to and from there involves climbing and descending a lot of steps.  Hebridean Princess doesn’t have any elevators.  As it turned out, Bill’s new boss was very accommodating, so we were able to take this unforgettable trip together.  If he is reading this post, I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart.

So Saturday, September 9th was the big day.  We dropped off our dogs, Zane and Arran, at Dog Holiday bright and early in the morning, then headed for the airport.  We checked in on British Airways, enjoying a brief wait since we were using their Club Europe (business class) service.  After we checked in, we were whisked through security.  One thing I noticed on this trip, our first using the airport since we visited Ireland last November, was that Stuttgart has invested in a new security method that only takes a couple of seconds and doesn’t involve any intimate scans or pat downs.  I liked it very much and hope to see its use become more common.

After we passed through security, went up to the very pleasant but small lounge in Stuttgart’s airport.  A delightfully cheerful German lady was running things that day.  I remember her well, since her extreme cheerfulness is kind of an anomaly in these parts.

For those who are curious about British Airways’ lounge in Stuttgart, here it is…  You get free WiFi, drinks, and snacks.  It was the smallest and least impressive of the lounges we used on this trip, but it was still pretty nice.

We were in Club Europe, which is British Airways’ business class in Europe.  Basically, the seats are the same as they are in coach, except you don’t have anyone sitting in the middle.  Instead, you get this cute little table thing in the center seat.  Business class also entitles you to a meal and free drinks.

A couple of aerial shots of Stuttgart as we took off.

This was the food they served us.  The first photo is chicken with some sort of potato salad, that I didn’t touch.  There was also bread, salad, and key lime pie (which was pretty good).

I also enjoyed champagne.  

Bill had the “beef panini” with red wine.  This was the same food they served us yesterday on our return flight from Glasgow to London, although the red wine was a cabernet.  

And here’s an aerial shot of London as we were about to land at Heathrow.

A word about Heathrow Airport…  This was probably my first experience there since the late 1970s, when my dad retired from the Air Force after his last job as base engineer at Mildenhall Air Force Base.  I seem to remember we flew Pan Am, which is a long defunct airline.  Because I was a small child in the late 70s, I have no memories of Heathrow during that time and only the vaguest memories of Dulles Airport, which was where we landed when we arrived stateside.  Consequently, I had no idea of what a zoo Heathrow is.  Sure, I had heard stories about it, but I wasn’t quite prepared for the madness of the place.  I thought Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris was bad.  Heathrow gives it a good run for its money.  I think I will try to avoid using it in the future, if I can.

This is actually not as chaotic looking as the airport was at the time.

We landed at Heathrow at about noon and had to go through border control.  The guy who stamped us into the country had one of those mustaches that curls up on either side.  He was very charming and we had no problems getting through.  Next, I’m pretty sure we went through customs, then another very obnoxious turn through security, which was complete bedlam.  After that, we found our way to British Airways’ enormous south lounge.  I say “south lounge”, because there is also a smaller north lounge, which apparently gets very busy.  There is a sign out front that says if you have a long layover, you should use the south lounge, so that’s what we did.  It, too, was a total madhouse, though slightly less obnoxious than the airport’s facilities for the masses.  Imagine being a captive audience at a large mall which is completely overrun with people, most of whom are walking slowly and not watching where they’re going.  It reminded me of Breuningerland in Sindelfingen during the Christmas season.

We spent our four hour layover trying the many drinks and snacks offered in the lounge.  There wasn’t a lot of seating available, since apparently a lot of people are either frequent flyers or booked business class on British Airways.  We sat near a man who spent over an hour on the phone speaking what must have been some sort of East Indian language.  He was pleasant enough, but it was like eavesdropping on tech support, since he was clearly talking business and seemed to be instructing someone.

There are a couple of other lounges for first class passengers.  They are closely guarded by staffers who shoo away any lowly business class passengers trying to sneak in.  The British Airways lounge also has a spa, which I was tempted to try.  I never got around to it.

At about four o’clock, it was time for our flight to Glasgow.  We had to go through yet another annoying security feature.  When we first arrived at the airport after our Stuttgart flight, we had to go through a scanner which involved showing our tickets and having a photo taken.  When it was time to board our flight to Glasgow, we had to go through the same type of scanner and another photo was taken.  Of course, the second photo came after I had spent four hours in a packed lounge drinking wine.  And, naturally, it didn’t work properly when it was my turn.  I had to have an agent help me through, which was irritating.  I probably looked pissed off in my second photo.

Once we were settled into our seats, it was time to lift off.  We enjoyed an uneventful flight to Glasgow after a short weather related delay.  I enjoyed British Airways’ new safety film.

They showed this on three of our four flights…  It’s pretty clever.  Sadly, at first, I only recognized Thandie Newton.  After the third viewing, I also recognized Gillian Anderson, even though I never watched the X Files.


Upon landing in Glasgow, we collected our bags and took a cab into the big city.

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Hebridean Island Cruises

Scotland and Northern Ireland 2017, Part one…

If there ever was a time when Bill and I badly needed a vacation, I think September 2017 might go down as one of those times.  I can think of a few other times when we needed a break.  Oddly, they were also in September.  I remember September 2008.  It was the first time we lived in Germany together and Bill had been working very hard on some stuff for EUCOM.  Later, he was surprised by a mandatory trip to the Republic of Georgia.  He was burned out and pissed off and he sent me an email that read simply, “I think we should go to Belgium and see Mannekin Pis.”  And we did.  We went to Brussels and spent that Labor Day weekend completely loaded on Belgian beer and we visited Mannekin Pis.

The other trip that comes to mind happened over Labor Day weekend in 2005, right after Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans.  Again, Bill had been working hard and was totally exasperated with his job.  He decided to take me on my first (and at this time, only) trip out west.  We worried that the trip would have to be cancelled due to the hurricane and the fact that Bill was in the National Guard at the time.  Fortunately, we were able to go on our brief trip to Anacortes and Seattle in Washington State and we had a fantastic time.

2017 is different.  Bill has been working very hard.  It’s been a pretty stressful summer.  Lately, we’ve had to travel with our dogs because it’s hard to find good doggie care.  Over a year ago, I booked us a cruise on Hebridean Princess, a wonderful Scottish luxury cruise vessel that we have had the great pleasure of sailing on three times before.

For months, we’ve been wondering if Bill would get to go on the trip, since his company changed and he hasn’t built up any leave yet.  We’ve had a number of other recent nuisances and mishaps that made us yearn for a vacation.  It was with great pleasure that we boarded our British Airways flights to London and Glasgow for this year’s cruise, which will take us round trip from Oban to Northern Ireland.  Neither Bill nor I have ever been to Northern Ireland, although we did visit Ireland last year for our anniversary.

Hebridean Island Cruises owns just one ship, the tiny Hebridean Princess, which hosts just 49 passengers at a time.  Hebridean cruises are quite expensive, however; once you have paid your fare, you don’t have to pay for anything else.  You don’t pay for booze, excursions, entry into attractions, or tips.  You can spend money on something from the ship’s tiny shop or if you want an expensive wine or something, but really, once you’ve paid, you’re done worrying.  They even pick you up in Glasgow and either take you by coach to wherever Princess is leaving from or fly you to where you need to be on a chartered flight.

I should mention that Hebridean also leases the Royal Crown river boat and they offer several river boat cruises in the summer.  But, for the most part, the Princess, which was built in 1964 and was originally a car ferry, is where the action is.  The staff on the ship consists of many Scots, along with crew from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic.

For this trip, I decided to go all out and booked business class air on British Airways.  It was our first time flying on British Airways, so we had no idea what their business class would be like.  After experiencing the hell of Heathrow Airport, I will say that it’s probably worth it to shell out the extra bucks, if only because you can use their lounge.  The lounge is probably going to be crowded, but it won’t be as bad as the rest of the airport.

We are currently staying in the Carlton George Hotel in Glasgow.  We have stayed here twice before. I keep coming back because the rooms feature “free” minibars.  I got us an executive “Club” room, which allows access to the hotel’s executive lounge.

We have been in Glasgow for three days now and will leave for our cruise tomorrow.  I already have lots of material for posts to come.  I look forward to writing the story of this trip.  For now, I just want to say that my posts may or may not be regular since we will be on a ship.  When we get back to Stuttgart next week, there will be plenty of updates.  Stay tuned!

This is one place we’ve visited…
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Baden-Württemberg

Donning a dirndl at the Weindorf on a Monday…

A brand new dirndl pic for 2017, as opposed to the 2016 one I have on Facebook right now.

Bill and I totally wanted to visit the Stuttgarter Weindorf over the holiday weekend, especially since we had no plans to go anywhere for Labor Day.  Sadly, our dog Arran was not feeling well on Saturday or Sunday.  He was vomiting and had diarrhea and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone.  So we spent the long weekend mostly binge watching ER on iTunes.

This morning, we woke up to a beautiful sunny day.  Arran was feeling a whole lot better.  He and our other dog, Zane, took an energetic walk with Bill.  They enjoyed their breakfast and neither one was throwing up or suffering from diarrhea.  We felt safe going to the Weindorf.

Here’s the thing, though.  I had planned to wear my expensive and pretty dirndl over the weekend and probably would have felt pretty fine doing so, since I reckoned that’s when a lot of my fellow American countryfolk would be there dressed for the fest.  I remembered last year, we visited the Weindorf over the weekend and saw people wearing Trachten.  Granted, I think they were all Americans, but we did see them decked out for the occasion.  And since I don’t know if we will attend the Canstatter Fest this year, I wanted to wear my lovely blue dirndl and get some use out of it.

I asked Bill what he thought and he said I should wear it.  He doesn’t have an outfit himself, so all he had to do was be seen with me.  I must admit, there are few styles as flattering to my zaftig figure as a dirndl is. There was even a time in my life when I wore one daily, because I worked at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia in the German section of the park.  And since I blew a big load of cash on my dirndl last year, I decided to wear it, even though I knew none of the locals would be dressed up unless they were waiting tables.

We got to the festival in downtown Stuttgart and walked around.  I felt a little silly in my fancy fest dress.  Looking around, I caught the stares of a few Germans and they were grinning broadly.

We walked over to the area where we sat last year.  I noticed the signs warning people not to climb on the arches.  I’m sure the sign was there because it’s been a problem in the past.

This booth was in the same spot last year…

As was this one… In fact, this was where we sat last year.  This year, we tried a different restaurant.

Just before I took this picture, a slender, pretty blonde woman approached and asked if I was “Jenny”.  I said I was and she identified herself as a reader of this rag of a blog!  I always love meeting people who take the time to read what I write!  Of course, they spot us because of all the pictures of Bill.

Thank God for the WC.  Fifty cents, as usual, worth every euro penny…

We decided to eat at the Zum Reussenstein booth.  We enjoyed a nice dinner last year at their restaurant, so I had a feeling the food would be good.  It also offered seating deep enough so I wouldn’t feel like I was on display in my sapphire blue and silver dirndl with rhinestones all over it.

Bill enjoyed the view of my melons…

I tried an iPhone selfie, which turned out weird because the camera reverses everything.  I don’t photograph particularly well under the best of circumstances.  Add wine and there is the potential for disaster!  But I felt like this shot captured my silly mood.

I decided on a half duck for lunch…  

It came with bread.  If I had wanted kraut and/or dumplings, we could have spent three more euros for that.  As it was, the half duck was too much.  However, it was very tasty!

I decided to tuck the napkin into my blouse, bib style.  I figured it would be more of a disaster if I dripped gravy on the white blouse than the blue dress.  Although last year at fest, I overdid it and needed some serious dry cleaning services…  I am grateful to add that the dirndl won’t need a dry cleaning before the next time I wear this get up.

Bill went with the “Ochsenbrust”, which I pointed out to him (couldn’t have him ordering a cheese plate if I was eating duck, right?).  It came with fried potatoes and a very nice creamy horseradish sauce.  He said the meat itself reminded him more of a tenderloin than a breast of any sort.

 

I was quickly finished with the food, so I turned my attention to the wines.  I had four of them.  We started with a lovely white burgundy… the one at the bottom of the list on the picture below.  It was crisp and slightly fruity and I enjoyed it immensely

But it was 8,50 euros…  not cheap!

 

Bill enjoyed the next vino for him, a dry German red…  I had one made from Lemberger grapes, while his was Salucci blend.

And here you can read in German about what we had…  Mine was the last one on the page, while his was wine #2

Bill was reading up like a good boy…

and he almost had me talked into ordering the merlot…

But I decided to try a very nice and dry rose.  

 

Bottoms up…  Yikes!  Another freaky iPhone selfie!

At around this time, I decided to go to the ladies room again.  When I came back, a couple of the servers, also clad in dirndls, were putting down reservation notices on the tables.  The table where we were sitting was reserved for 7:00pm.  When she saw that I was wearing a dirndl, she requested in German that I show it off.  I had been covered up with a pretty blue cashmere shawl that I bought in the Miami airport a few years ago.  It happens to match perfectly, as does the lapis lazuli jewelry I bought at Novica last year.  For all I know, she went in the back room and had a good laugh!  But honestly, most of the people I saw today seemed tickled that I dressed up, even if it wasn’t the norm.  Most people were smiling at me appreciatively… or, at least I like to think they were.  After a couple of wines, I didn’t care.

As a last hurrah, I had a glass of sekt.  It was the cheapest and driest one.  

 

I’m proud to announce that we spent less this year than we did last year.  Of course, Bill stopped at two glasses of wine because we were forced to drive to the fest instead of taking the train, like we did last year.  All told, we paid about 76 euros before tipping.

I had brought a change of clothes in case I either decided I was too uncomfortable or I had an unfortunate mishap with my dirndl, like I did the first time I wore it at the Cannstatter Fest last year.  As it turned out, I didn’t throw up and I wasn’t so uncomfortable I needed to change.  So we went to the Feinkost Bohm in search of sushi for dinner.  There was no sushi, but we did buy a couple of nice Scottish steaks.  And I was very flattered when the guy at the meat counter asked in German if we were Germans or Americans.  I was also rewarded with a huge smile from one of the cashiers as I strutted through with my sapphire colored dirndl with its silver trim and sparkly crystals.  Indeed, I have come a long way from the crappy machine washable polyester dirndl I wore when I was twenty years old and working at Busch Gardens in the early 90s.  Now I am festing in style!  I’m still wearing polyester, but it now requires dry cleaning!

In all seriousness, I don’t know that you need to dress up on a work day for the Weindorf.  I had a feeling that would be the case.  But I was in the mood for some fun and it’s not often I get to wear my German garb, so I happily trotted it out for the lunch crowd.  I think some people enjoyed the spectacle… almost as much as they did the very funny clown who was entertaining people with his whistle.  I have noticed that Germans seem to enjoy people who are willing to act the fool and they are a good and very gracious audience.  But if you’re going to wear fest clothes and don’t want to look silly, you might want to do it on a weekend or in the evening, when others are more likely to sport dirndls and lederhosen.  On the other hand, you only live once… and I did have a good time attracting attention to myself, as usual!  It was a treat to meet another person who has read this blog, too!

The Weindorf runs until Sunday, September 10th.  It’s in downtown Stuttgart and opens daily at 11:30am.  If you like wine, be there or be square.

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Tipping is tacky…

It really is. That being said, I understand tipping is the way it is in the United States. If you work in the service industry in America, tipping can make or break you. Unfortunately, in the United States, it has become customary for customers to fortify low wages. And… just as unfortunately, many Americans assume tipping is customary everywhere and try to force that practice on other cultures.

Today’s blog post is inspired by a comment I read on a Facebook page I follow called Bitchy Waiter. I follow that page because I was once myself a waitress in the United States. Although I haven’t worked as a waitress since 2002, I still occasionally have nightmares about waiting tables. Believe me, I am very sympathetic to wait staff, especially in the United States. I always tip generously when I’m home. However, while tips are often appreciated in other countries, they aren’t always necessary. Sometimes they are even offensive.

This was a post I read today on Bitchy Waiter…

A little voice inside my head told me I shouldn’t read the comments. Unfortunately, I ignored it…

Person after person wrote something along the lines of “20%! Same as I do in America!” or “No idea!” One person even wrote “A deodorant stick.” I usually don’t comment on this kind of stuff because it’s generally a waste of time. But today, I felt like I had to leave a comment for one person who seemed especially hellbent on being an “ugly American”. Have a look.

The original poster insists that he should tip 20% because “he’s a good tipper” and not tipping at least 20% would be “insulting”…


While many servers in European countries appreciate tips, tipping is not as important in Europe as it is in America. Many servers in Europe actually go to school to learn how to wait tables. It’s a real profession… which isn’t to say that waiting tables isn’t a profession in the United States, as much as it is to remind people that many Europeans take pride in hospitality. They are also paid a living wage.

As most Americans know, while there are many professional servers in the United States, it’s not something that everybody goes to school to learn how to do. It’s also not necessarily a job that most people grow up wanting to do, even if there are some folks who get into the profession and stay in it their whole lives.

Unfortunately, many people in the United States look down on servers, though I can personally attest to how difficult the job is. Many people think servers are “unskilled”. Because so many places in the States don’t even pay their servers as little as minimum wage, servers in the States are forced to rely on tips to make money. But that is NOT the case everywhere and Americans should not assume that it is.

I have been to Italy several times. I’m now at a point at which I couldn’t tell you exactly how many times I’ve visited. I have learned that tipping in restaurants is NOT a thing in Italy, although it is becoming more common thanks to Americans who insist on engaging in the practice. In Italy, you are typically charged a servizio, which is the service charge. You may also pay the coperto, which is the cover charge. That’s for the tablecloth, silverware, etc. If you received good service and you want to round up the bill, fine. But even then, in Italy, you’d typically pay a cashier and not your server. So even if you wanted to tip, it would be awkward. It’s not common to leave money on the table in Europe and, if you do, staffers might think you left it there accidentally. Or worse, they might think you are pitying them.

I guess what set me off about the comments above is that the original poster was concerned about not insulting servers in Italy, so he’s gonna tip the way he would in his country. However, in his bid not to feel like he’s being insulting, he’s forgotten that he doesn’t get to determine whether or not he’s coming across as insulting. Just like beauty, rude behavior is in the eye of the beholder. You don’t get to determine whether or not your behavior is offensive to someone else. Sadly, I think a lot of Americans have no clue that our culture is not the end all be all. It’s not the benchmark of “normal” for the whole world. In fact, many Europeans seem to think American culture is actually pretty weird. And when an American comes to another country and presumes to foist US customs on the locals, it is insulting, offensive, and potentially very damaging.

Getting back to my title for this post. To be honest, excessive tipping truly is, in my opinion, very tacky. I can remember waiting tables in a nice restaurant, getting paid $2.13 an hour by my employer, but actually making about $12 an hour or more due to tips. Honestly, making money was my focus in those days, as it was for most of my colleagues. We were not really that concerned with seeing that our guests enjoyed their meals and the luxurious experience of dining out as much as we were with getting them in and out of the restaurant so we could make bank. And customers, likewise, use tips as a way to demean or punish the servers.

I remember one evening, a gentleman sat at one of my tables and said, “If you take care of us, we’ll take care of you.”  By the time I ran into this guy, I already knew that if someone was graceless enough to let me know from the get go that he expected me to kiss his ass and was dangling cash in front of me like a person would tease a pet, it was going to be a tough night. And, sure enough, I don’t remember that guy being particularly generous. I do remember he was very demanding, though… and very tacky. He assumed he needed to get me to do my job by promising cash instead of expecting me to do it because I had some pride in my work.

Here’s another example. Bill and I have cruised with SeaDream Yacht Club three times. It’s considered a “luxury” cruiseline. Tipping is “not expected”. Those who choose to offer money to the crew are requested to donate to the crew fund so the money goes to everyone. Although this is the stated policy in SeaDream’s literature, I know for a fact that there are a lot of people who tip anyway. I have seen them on the last day, surreptitiously passing envelopes full of cash to crew members. The tippers probably don’t see anything wrong with this practice; but in my mind, it makes it harder for crew members to pay equal attention to everyone. It’s also not fair to those crew members who don’t have the good fortune to impress a generous passenger with deep pockets.

By contrast, next week, Bill and I will be boarding Hebridean Princess, a luxury vessel owned by Hebridean Island Cruises. Hebridean operates a strict “no tipping” policy. They don’t even have a crew fund that I am aware of. Instead of demanding tips from their guests, Hebridean Island Cruises simply price their voyages high enough that they can properly pay their staff. When passengers get on board, they are truly guests. There is no pressure to spend money because you’ve already spent a mint to get on the ship. And although many people see tips as truly “to insure prompt service”, I have yet to be disappointed by the service on Hebridean Princess. Everyone is uniformly service oriented to each passenger. They do their jobs professionally, and passengers simply enjoy what they’ve paid for ahead of time. Although I can’t find the exact wording of why Hebridean outlaws tipping, I do remember that it was basically because the management considered tipping to be awkward and potentially embarrassing. Frankly, I think they’re correct.

It’s hard to be graceful about tipping, although there are a few tricks (palming a bill and shaking hands is one). Tips are “gratuities”, which means they are gifts given for a job well done. But in the United States, service people expect gratuities regardless. That promotes an attitude of entitlement, which is hardly gracious or hospitable. Therefore, the wait staff focuses on turning tables instead of seeing that their guests enjoy the experience of dining out. If you don’t believe me, visit any Olive Garden or Outback Steakhouse and let me know if you’re allowed to simply enjoy your food without being prompted to either order more or GTFO. No wonder there are so many overweight Americans.

Indeed, on the Facebook post I referenced here asking what one should tip in Italy, one guy wrote this.

Nothing. They tip like shit when they are here. And stay too long. Lol.

You know why the Italians “tip like shit”? Because they are doing what they do in their own country. Tipping isn’t as much of a thing in Europe and they expect that servers in a place like the United States will actually get paid by their employers. And they “stay too long” because dining out is supposed to be a pleasant experience in Europe. You’re out to enjoy yourself and enjoy food, not pay a server a living wage. Contrast that attitude to the United States, where people are sensitive about staying too long in a restaurant because they know servers need to turn their tables.

On that Facebook thread, I read so many comments from Americans, most of whom have probably never been abroad, either complaining about foreigners not tipping well or insisting that they need to tip 20% or more to servers in other countries. You know what? If you are an American server and you expect your foreign customers to know American tipping customs, perhaps you should do the same when you visit another country. Learn a little about what is expected and behave accordingly. Contrary to popular belief, America is not necessarily the greatest place in the whole world. Sometimes, we Americans could learn a little something from other cultures.

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