grz: the Scots finally get what's coming to them

this morning we had a special treat. at some point during the previous day, camille, thegcb and i had stopped and bought a coffee grinder. this morning we put that grinder to use and ground up some Stumptown Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee. woo-hoo!!! i was in heaven. i got up early and drank some coffee with Hannah before she left for work, then drank more with thegcb and camille when they got up. this morning i was also desperate to eat an english breakfast, but it was not meant to be-- thegcb and i didn't quite have the time before our train left for Scotland. plus he and Camille are weeners who love ruining holidays and hate having fun.

thegcb and i boarded a train and settled in for a long ride-- we had digestives (bad name, good thing-- cookies basically) and beers. we sat down across from a couple oldies who turned out to be americans. the dude was pretty cool and said funny things occasionally, the woman was a lady who probably was smoking hot 50 years ago and couldn't shut the fuck up. like, ever. it was a decent ride, and that got us to Edinburgh.

at Edinburgh, we got on another train for a short ride to Glasgow. at this point, Scotland still basically looked like England. our seatmate this time was some Scottish businessman who didn't say or do anything.

the train from Glasgow to Oban was the train that finally introduced us to a bit of Scottish mountainous terrain. it was actually a beautiful ride that i would be happy to take over and over. we took some photos-- but they sucked. there was a chinese chick on the train who was reading the first harry potter book. thegcb and i took note of her then settled in to watch battlestar galactica once it got dark (thanks damien). what a nice ride.

when we landed in Oban we found ourselves in a cute little coastal town not unlike the Scottish Ashland of the Sea. it's a touristy place, but not ugly and kitschy touristy, just kind of nice and ready to sell you stuff to remember it by.

we marched over to the hostel and checked in, along with a kiwi named Jo. our check-in was facilitated by a young French-Canadian named Amy. Amy didn't speak English incredibly well, but was very nice and curvy in all the finest ways so i liked her. after check-in, Jo, thegcb and i trucked over to a nearby pub to sample the local whisky and shoot the shit. at that pub, the three of us discussed our previous travels (my travel history is short; i mostly drank whisky) and suddenly we were approached by a local guy. this dude had brought his two crazy dogs into the pub and he spoke with an awesome Scottish accent. he wanted to know, after all our travels seeing such amazing things, how the hell we wound up in Oban. we didn't know. we walked back to the hostel, watched some BSG and then decided to shower before bed. thegcb and i went in to the shower room together, but i realized i'd forgotten my towel so i went back upstairs to get it...

gcb: Grizzo also forgot soap. So I waited to get into the shower until he could come downstairs and grab half my bar of soap. Of course, I stripped to my birthday suit, including no glasses, so I could hop right in. The Hostel was quiet as a field mouse and mostly empty, and the showers were on their own floor. I hear grizzo returning, and the door opens, and instead of Grizzo it's a young lady in her pajamas who scurries past my "...sorry..." to a toilet I hadn't noticed was even in the room with a quickly-spoken, accented, "Let's try to keep some clothes on in the hostel!!" The next morning I go downstairs and look around for her to apologize. She's there. She's working behind the desk. And she later told Grizzo and I that we were just the sort of people she liked having at the hostel.