Benmore Botanic Gardens

When we visited Benmore Botanic Gardens couple of days ago, rhododendrons were in bloom. Even without them, gardens would be great, but it was a big bonus. I definitely recommend a visit, if you are on Cowal. They are a little bit more expensive than Cambridge ones - £10 for family ticket against £8 for two adults - but then again, the parking is free at Benmore,  they are a lot bigger, more varied and have a lot better setting.

The only problem with them I see is that only part of the gardens is accessible for wheelchair users - the level one close to the river. Large portion of the grounds is one big steepish slope with many stairs and a viewpoint at the top

Puck's Valley and smoked salmon

pixie hat

well, it didn't all fit in the picture, but it is a pointed hat, believe you me. it's the hat that was bought in edinburgh to fight off the new year eve frost, at the same stand that the previous post show. it does fight the frost and also looks extremely cute on Timur, so it's multifunctional really

see the tip pf the hat here :)

no such thing as bad weather

about Edinburgh again - it was cold there over the new year, but no that cold (granted, it got colder later, but we were already gone by then). There is a saying which goes something like "there is such thing as bad weather, but there are badly chosen clothes". (I was going to write "russian saying", but I am not sure that it is russian). So, the weather was *good*, but -

we found ourselves somewhat unprepared for cold, especially, unexplicably, Timur. I even had to pull off my over-the-knee socks from under my jeans (it's not easy, I tell you, balancing on one foot on ice) and put them on his legs a few minutes before midnight.

Next day he bought himself a pair of gloves with union jack knitted on them from this stand. He haven't lost them yet, which probably means that he likes them. The stand is a part of little winter fair just under the Scott's monument - check it out if you have a chance, they have some amazingly cheap hand-felted hats too (Kirill got himself one).

New Year Edinburgh

it took us over seven hours to get there and approximately the same time to come back. It would have taken less, but it was snowing on both occasions, and one-lane portions of A1 were moving with the speed of most cautious driver (which is fair enough, I tend to choose life too).

It's a lively city to visit at this time of year, and a lot of stuff is going on. Some of it gets canceled due to severe weather, but there is always plenty left.

Some words of caution - "New Year street party" (the one on Princess street) is NOT suitable for kids, honestly. We got a contradictory advice from 1) Tourist information center ("it's a lovely atmosphere!") and 2) Tickets Scotland, or whatever it was called ("it's not recommended for under 16's, but if you are happy with it, they can come in"). In the second case the lady, while her info was correct one, was not emphatic enough, I feel, maybe because they sell the entrance tickets for tenner a pop. The position of the party did provide the best view of the firework display, so it wasn't entirely bad, but generally, if you need to watch over somebody, especially kids, do take into account the fact that it is a relatively dense crowd of very merry and mostly very young guys and gals, and it is not the best choice. You'd be much better off on the Royal mile close-ish to the castle, where the main firework display happens.

fake autumn in Scotland

This year I haven't been to scotland in autumn, which is a shame.

I stumbled across tutorial that show how to make an autumn pic out of summer one, and given the right type of picture, it looked easy, so I gave it a go using a picture taken in late spring pic on loch lubnaig. Basically, it's just selectively adjusting the hue for different colors (mostly touching yellows and greens), plus a few more tweaks



(Interesting, it looks to me that photobucket hosting site eats into the color somewhat)

here is the original version (click on a magnifying glass on the top left of the preview to see full size)

Not every type of pic seems suitable, though. This pic from Glenfinnan immediately starts falling into a mosaic on obviously spring (water, distant mountains and sky) and fake autumn

view over Firth of Clyde towards Arran

I dunno where the rule about necessity of foreground interest in landscape arisen from. you don't need foreground interest in something as beautiful as this

Return of the Unpronounceables

I found it rather sweet that the B&B owner couldn't say the name of this castle (Caerlaverock) either, and she lives there all her life.

Admittedly, she lives about half a kilometer away from the border of England and Scotland, on English side. But still

swordplay

Timur, cameo appearance from Yuri, video taken by Kirill