Hello dear friends and family,
We are writing right now from Edinburgh, Scotland. We just got back from a 5 day trek up in the Highlands (north of Scotland). Scotland is such a beautiful country!! Amazing green hills and locks (lakes) all over the place. The craziest thing is that it is daylight for about 16 hours of the day!!! Seriously, it doesn't get dark until 11 pm! Also the weather is so erratic (and we thought Cleveland had intense weather!) one minute it will be sunny, the next minute it will be completely cloudy, rainy and cold.
The history here as told by our amazing tour guides is rife with clan vs. clan warfare, and eventually a jacobite uprising which was all the clans vs. the British Army. The history is brutal but paints a picture of a passionate, drunken, party-lovin', story lovin' people.
One great place we visited was the Isle of Skye. It is a land with vast hills, and beautiful scenery. It also has quite a history of tolls. The more recent story was that when a bridge was built from the mainland to Skye, the money to pay for it was to come from the tolls. Unfortunately, that meant a toll of 25 pounds ( around 40 dollars) in each direction. After much campaigning, a group called SCAT, the Scotland Coalition Against the Toll finally had its day, and the toll was reversed.
In more ancient times, a lady called Saucy Mary, a Norse princess who married a Scottish Clan leader erected a lookout post, which included a chain that extended across the water. It would only be lowered when the sailers paid the proper toll. Ye may wonder bout her name though. Ay, for those sailers who were her kin, she would let them by for free, she would, and in addition, she would flash her boobs. Hence the name Saucy Mary.
Many such legends as these grace the pages of Scottish history.
One of the best parts of our trip here is to hear the thick Scottish accents. Here are some of our favorite lines:
-He's as crazy as a bag of weasels
-Its so cloudy you could see more locked in a cabinet
-The prawns in Scotland are so big that they could work for a Rabbi and circumsize you
-Watching the '78 game of Scotland vs. Iran was like doing a rubics cube with boxing gloves on, sitting on a cactus, watching paint dry.
(now imagine all of this in a scottish accent!!! it had us laughing for ages.)
We miss all of you so so so much, much love to everyone.
Shana and Randy Mazel Tov on the birth of Sammy!!!
And last of all please visit Mat's website: www.wanderjew.com
you can download his music and check out his art.
love, mat and jul
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