Loch Ness, Round 2

I took my parents to Loch Ness yesterday, to see Inverness and to do the Jacobite "Temptation" tour. I'm not so sure what's tempting about the bus ride/loch cruise/castle visit, but hey, it's marketing.

We had the usual three-hour bus ride to Inverness, followed by a brief lunch (sadly, The Mustard Seed was booked up), and then we did our cruise, including a send-off by a truly atrocious piper. I'll give it this: Loch Ness is much more pleasant when it's not raining and forty degrees outside. True, we got pummeled with spray every time the bow hit a swell, and I was wearing the same coat I wore in my last batch of Inverness pictures, but not having to wear gloves was an obvious plus. Also, Inverness is a much more lively place in August than in November. For one, things are actually open and running.

After the tour, we grabbed dinner and took the bus back to Edinburgh, planning for a nice lie-in this morning. Well, I hope my parents got to sleep in; I desperately needed clean socks.

What's been most striking to me while touring with my folks is how everything I've come to take for granted is still new and bizarre to them. Busses are the way to go, and they're not always comfortable. The M9/A9 is usually two-lane. Stores close by 6 PM. Prices are ridiculous when converted to dollars. Ketchup sometimes comes in tubes instead of the rectangular sachets we have back in the States. Brown sauce and salad cream abound. High Street fashion generally sucks and the morning presenter on GMTV dresses like a twenty-something. You may not be able to find a camera shop, but there's definitely an Indian takeaway place down the block. You know, the usual.