Isle of Skye, Scotland

Scotland, Wales, England together form Great Britain, Great Britain along with Northern Ireland form United Kingdom. Had a great chance to visit Scotland especially Isle of Skye during our trip to London. We rented a car in London and drove first to Glasgow. It was about 450 miles (650 kms) from London and took six to eight hours with frequent breaks. It was bit challenging for the first half an hour because they drive on the opposite side of the road unlike Europeans and sign boards shows Miles instead of Kilometers.

The drive from Glasgow to Broadford (Isle of Skye) was breathtaking with wonderful landscapes. The mountain range along with beautiful lakes on a sunny day was simply awesome. Probably one of the best road trips in Europe next to Bergen to Oslo in Norway. Norway and Scotland are different landscapes where the mountains in Norway are bit high and fjords add extra beauty to it. Scotland has got some lovely medium high mountains and many lakes. Benn avis the highest mountain range in Scotland gives panoramic view of the lovely landscape. 

The movie Harry Potter was taken in Scotland and one gets a chance to see those shooting spots while driving to Isle of Skye. Eilean Donan castle is worth visiting on the way to Isle of Skye. The bridge connecting the mainland and Isle of Skye is breathtaking. Portree is the biggest city in the Island followed by Broadford where one could stay overnight. The round trip along the coastline was a great experience and Dun vegan castle is a must in Scotland. What one shouldn’t miss in Scotland are the boat trips and seals tour. 

 The boat trip takes you to the middle of the sea and gives a great chance to see the seals. It was indeed an experience which will reside in my memory for long time. There were quite number of sheeps in the middle of the road and driving amidst them was a different experience altogether. Thank god we had three drivers who could frequently switch so that nobody is tired. The return trip from Isle of Skye was to Edinburgh where we could connect our flight back to Germany. We were lucky that it never rained during our stay in Scotland. Definitely for nature lovers and road trip adventurers, Scotland especially Isle of Skye can offer lot of attractions. 

I must honestly admit that it was bit difficult in the beginning to understand Scottish but with time, you realize it’s yet another dialect of English. I heard from my cousin there were quite of lot of Scottish settlers in New Zealand. I could presume both the countries have similar landscape one in the northern hemisphere and the other in southern hemisphere. Scotland wasn’t that expensive when compared to London. All in all we all had a great time in the Island, drove around 1000 miles (1600 kms) and thanks to weather god; she was so kind enough for us for the whole trip. 

Cheers,

Sathih Kumar S

London bridge is falling down.... :)

 When I was conversing to a friend in US, I said travelling in Europe is lot of fun and I enjoyed travelling around twenty countries in Europe, his next question was did you see London. I explained United Kingdom doesn’t belong to Europe ;) They don’t use Euros, they ride their cars on the other side of the road, they don’t use Kilometers instead miles, sometimes yards and sometimes when they are bored meters.  It was always my childhood dream to visit England since I was brought up during post-colonial era reading about British in history books and learning English as the first scientific language in school.

I must honestly say London definitely didn’t disappoint me for the expectation which I had for it. The most striking feature in this city is the multi cultural aspect and every one out of three there is a foreigner. Thanks to my school friends Ramesh and B Sathish who were working in London for their kind hospitality accommodated us in their apartments. When compared to other big European cities, I must admit the transportation network in London is the most complicated networks I have ever seen with undergrounds, metros and different names they give to it. 

Had a great chance to satiate my childhood dream of going to Lords Cricket stadium, the Mecca of Cricket. The guided tour showed the different facets of the stadium, the statistics, the dressing room of the players, the exclusive media centre, the famous Lords balcony where former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly removed his shirt and waved to Andrew Flintoff as a revenge to his act in Mumbai. Thanks to my wife who had the same interest to visit Lords and I am so glad she can watch Cricket matches with me even if not to remember the statistics of Cricket matches. 

Another notable place to visit in London was the Swaminarayanan Temple in Neasden. Was totally amazed with the architecture of the temple, just shows an example of the vast Indian Diasporas in Great Britain. Thanks to Anita who stayed in London for a span of six months during her spinster time with British Telecom made our travel more easy and pleasantry. The other common places which are worth visiting are Buckingham Palace (money looted from different parts of the world are stored there), Trafalgar Square, Houses of parliament, London Eye, Tower bridge, Cruise on the Thames river. I must admit London is one of the really expensive cities I came across. 

The happiest moment for me during my stay in London was it never rained. Could you believe it? It never rained in London Lol. I was really amused with the number of Indian restaurants, theatres showing Indian movies and I can assure as an Indian you can never get bored in London. Thanks to Torsten, Angela, Lara (Nötzold family) who accepted our invitation to visit London along with us. All in all it was a great time in London. Had a chance to catch up with my old friends who are working now in London. Special thanks to Anita, Ramesh, B Sathish who made our stay in London most memorable and enjoyable. 

London must see city in Europe!

Sathish Kumar S