Rothesay, Isle of Bute

So it's been far too long, yet again, but what else can you do during a month of studying? Other things tend to seem less important.

A couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend and I went to Rothesay (Ross-ey or Roth-say, depending on where you're from in Scotland), on the Isle of Bute. It was the most amazing trip, for it being only two days and one night. The first day we arrived and checked into our B&B, which was empty except for us. This means that they gave us their best room, which had a double bed plus two single beds, a leather couch and small table overlooking the harbor, all very beautifully decorated, almost Victorian-style. We then went into town and walked along the shops on the waterfront, and stopped in an ice cream shop that a friend recommended that sold Top Hats, a specialty in this town: a vanilla ice cream cone with a snowball on top (round coconut flake-covered chocolate-coated fluff-filled treat things that they have everywhere in Scotland). We then got chippies (fish and chips for me, pizza crunch and chips for him) and ate them by the water, where seagulls proceeded to flock around us very expectantly. One of them, clearly the alpha male, flapped its wings at the others to show them who would get the first bite. Just to spite him, we gave a seagull further away a bite of pizza. After this, we went to a local pub called The Golfers Bar and got hard cider and soda water & lime, and chilled for a while watching the sports news and observing the locals. It was too late to visit the castle by now, so afterward we went back to our room and proceeded to watch parts of three movies that happened to be on our tiny television: Transporter 3, Burn After Reading, and The Untouchables.

The breakfast the next morning was amazing, my first real Scottish breakfast. Bacon, sausage, potato scone (like a flat cake), egg, tomatoes, and mushrooms, all fried. Toast and tea on the side, of course. Perfect thing to eat before a day of biking around the island. Before that though, we visited Rothesay Castle, which is right in town, just a couple minutes' walk from the B&B. It might be the first real castle I've ever visited, apart from one that didn't really count in London a few years ago. Most of Rothesay Castle is in ruins, but there are quite a few rooms and areas that are intact, even the "Prison Pit," and there's also a video set up in a side room off the Great Hall, depicting the Viking raids on the island in the past.

Bute is much too large to bike in a day, so we went around the coast a bit, rode past two lochs, and came back. The entire trip was gorgeous, and I was so glad my boyfriend talked me into it (I hadn't ridden a bike in so long, and it took me a couple minutes to get used to it again). Along the waterfront we saw mansion after mansion. After we left the coast, rolling green hills and sheep greeted us, and the ups and downs in the road were intense at times. We arrived back at the harbor about three or four hours later, and after another hour or so at the pub to relax, we took the ferry back.

I definitely want to do trips like this again. And again. During the summer, hopefully.

Edit: Turns out it's my 100th post. Awesome.