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shetlands – Scotland Day 1

the Shetland Islands are the northernmost part of Scotland and therefore the northernmost part of the UK. For 50 years I wanted to have the time to make it up there. So now I do it. Frankly, I am looking for windy, cloudy bad weather to fulfill my image of the islands.

No cabins were available and I really didn’t want to spend money on one so I reserved a “pod”. This large chair reclines back inside its casing and is fairly comfortable, sufficient for the 14 hour trip from Aberdeen to Lerwick. My car was also on the ferry since a car is really necessary to enjoy a small number of days in the Shetlands or the Orkneys.
Someone told me these windmills were just off the coast of the Trump international golf club
I think “Dunna” means “don’t” and I think “Chuck” means “throw” but I don’t know what”Bruck” means. if you know then please leave a comment.
They look like black Angus
The Shetlands wouldn’t be complete without Shetland ponies. I hope they are not quite as mean tempered as Welsh ponies. That’s a whole different story.
These ruins Are built on origins that are thousands of years old. The Picts first inhabited these islands
Some more ancient buildings sites
There are quite a few beautiful beaches on the islands. The water is very cold, about the same temperature as the water in Monterey California
He just kept watching me and I kept my distance just to leave him alone
The fish was not bad, the onion rings were terrible and the only sauce was vinegar while salt was also available. It reminded me of the old H Salt Esquire fish and chips franchise
You can see the inexpensive lawn mowers doing their job
I didn’t dare go close to this house. They could be descendants of the Vikings, which they probably are anyway.
most of the roads here are the width of one-way roads with little side bubbles where people can allow others to pass. Many of the bridges allow only one way at a time.
My walkway to the pub
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lubeck – Germany

On the left is the old city entrance gate
St. Petri
I was fascinated by the skeleton
This was one of the most interesting pipe organs I ever saw.
Maybe this is why. It was originally built in 1504
Special people were buried in the floor which you can also see in churches in England also where many of the royalty are buried underneath the floors of cathedrals
A building memorializing Willy Brandt
Some of the local cocktails
What would an afternoon be without a Campari spritz
A very old building by the river
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Inverness – Scotland

this is a very beautiful city with the very famous attractions of Loch Ness and Culloden’s Moor more where are they Scots loyalty Prince Charlie and the Catholic Church tried to claim the throne of the union and failed. Toward the bottom or the photos of Culloden.

Culloden’sMoor

What I did not quite understand is how anyone could think to fight a battle in a moor. Some description here indicates some of the advancing Scot’s got stuck in the mud. You can see from the landscape this is not a place to have a battle. Evidently many people advised Charlie to retreat and reform to fight in a different place but he refused. Whether that’s true or not I don’t know But if you visit this place I’m sure you will also be astonished at how difficult this place would’ve been to think of a victory especially with the high-tech weapons on the English side employed by the brother of the king of England, George II. There are a few links below that will help you understand the history.

The Jacobites are the Scots. The term Jacobite comes from the Latin version of James (Jacobus) the father and grandfather of Charles. They believed the true line of succession went through a second marriage and not to siblings of the first marriage of James II.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jacobite-British-history

https://www.wrongsideoftheblanket.com/stuart-family-tree

This is the original house where the wounded English soldiers were taken.
Here are some mixed gravestones marking mass graves of the Jacobites..
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Denmark – visiting friends

Denmark is always a place I need to visit from time to time since I have an adopted family there.

In the Royal retreat, a very beautiful garden with a few buildings, this is where the royal family stays.
A storage facility for food before refrigeration
This is the original building on the property and down below you will see an explanation of this royal retreat
We picked and ate a lot of of the ripe ones
This is a traditional danish building with the attached roof
This hook on the back of the car is on most cars, not only in Denmark. Many people have a small, mini trailer that they just drop onto this hook when they go shopping for bulky items that won’t fit in the car
We found some of these on our walk in the woods as well
It’s always good to visit an old brewery
Here is the product
This is the house owned by a private family that runs the brewery
Inside is the sales office for the organic apples and apple juice
Organic apple juice
Almost ready to pick
An interesting danish design
A World War II memorial
A very old village popular with tourists
Some buildings have plaques noting memorable occupants
You can see the mirrors outside the windows. These help elderly people who mostly stay inside see what is going on outside the house
I think these are blueberries but I’m not sure
You can see the birds perched on top. This is a nature sanctuary
Of course we have Thai food from the chef of the house
And I get to have the traditional dish breakfast I love so much
This is waiting for the ferry from Germany to Denmark. It’s only a short distance
This ferry has a rotary sail.
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Orkneys – try it out

the Orkneys are a group of islands between the mainland of Scotland and the northernmost islands, the Shetlands. If you decide to go there make sure you go by car on the ferry since local transport is probably not going to be satisfactory for a short visit. You really need a card to get around.

In Scotland it’s the way to start a day
There is a gap between the toilet and the walkway to the pier which I guess they are referring to as the “no swimming” area. I’m sure they are not talking about swimming in the toilet.
The Batmobile van
The skull and crossbones seem to be prevalent icon on many Graves
Sheep everywhere
And oil rig close by
Evidently there was no need to repair the roof
A very typical building on the island
This is the older ferry which was not on loan to the Hebrides
The island of stroma is not deserted
Of course it has a lighthouse
On this old ferry you just drive on and turn around to get off
Sheep, cattle and the fishing industry
I’m sure one of the popular magazines in Scotland. This land is filled with farmers
A great place to have a Guinness. Everybody was very friendly and even bought me another one
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Japan in August

With an old friend I haven’t seen for many years. Good reminiscence and memories
Dinner with a former employee
Why not use this name for a restaurant?
Very nice reclining train seats
A nice building in Osaka
This is the place to practice archery
At breakfast in my hotel people can watch the televisions above showing cameras in each of the elevators. I found it a little strange
The smoking room in the train station was very crowded which is good for cheap smokers who don’t want to pay for cigarettes. They could just go in and breathe the fumes
Up above, the sign in pink letters advertises a “soap land” where you can get soapy with a girl and do a variety of things
Cautions on the escalator
Whatever you do, don’t get caught
In Sapporo grilled lamb is called “Genghis Khan”.
This is how politicians campaign
A beautiful day in the park in Sapporo
The black one looks angry and threatening
A type of fashion
Crazy dancing at the Thai nightclub
This is an interesting twist on names
With Kiyo.
This is a coffee shop where you can rent a cat to keep you company
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Japan – food and drink

these are from my last trip in Japan.

It’s not creepy, it’s just creap, short for creamy powder, the equivalent of coffeemate
Elegant salmon with scallops and ……
This is my breakfast in the Wakayama business hotel . Not really exciting
This is a little more exciting, breakfast in one of the Toyoko Inn Hotels
Some really excellent beef
Miso ramen down the famous Sapporo Raman alley which is the host of the famous Sapporo Ichiban
Way too many people lined up for the most famous Ramen so I went down the alley a little bit and had some excellent Ramen which you see above
And one of the underground stations you can buy sandwiches in the machine
And the hotel you have machine delivering soft drinks and coffee and tea for breakfast buffet
In the subway station you can buy all sorts of things including baseball caps in a machine
You can buy ice cream also from this famous prefecture well known for dairy products, Hokkaido
In Asahikawa this Tonkatsu restaurant was featured in a television presentation and the food was excellent
This is the tonkatsu (deep fried breaded pork cutlet) with a little bit more sauce than most people use. Excellent food
Sapporo was the place this country loved learning and producing German style beer. This large and very long park has months long beer festivals.
Each company has their own large area
Even Craft beers are present
Even this very famous Munich beer company is present
Meanwhile, back in my old neighborhood sushi restaurant …
You could see the name of the restaurant with the phone number. Everybody here is a lot of fun
But after the sushi restaurant we went to a Thai nightclub serving some of my favorites
Another breakfast, not fantastic but good enough to fill me up to start the day
In Okachimachi, Tokyo you can find this famous Chinese Gyoza restaurant
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pilzen – Czech Republic

in 1842 with the help of a German brewing expert a group of determined people in this small town decided to create an interesting beer. The result is a beer type named after this town (Plzeň) in the Czech Republic, Pilsner. The defining process is called bottom fermentation. They let the yeast sink to the bottom and perform a slightly longer fermentation. That is the process defining a Pilsner beer. Urquell is a German word meaning the original source. The brewery is definitely worth a tour even though they charge. The education of how beer is brewed is worth the fee. They explained Asahi in Japan purchased this company and as you will see in the photos there are many brands and many different types of beer and drinks created by this company. But the defining Pilsner is made only at this brewery.

A Japanese tour group of about 20 people was looking at the mock up of the old brewing process
Here we go to start the tour
This is the sensing system to determine the cleanliness of the bottles used for the Pilsner beer
These are all the different brands and products produced by this company
The fermenting vats
The brewing process
The many kilometers of caves with Barrels of beer
Everyone gets a taste directly from the barrel
They have a restaurant with delicious food. This was a pork ankle. And the prices are reasonable.
Downtown there was a festival time
A lot of people were watching the fire show
Different talents from all over the world were entertaining people
Nice building
We can imagine how this building might have been damaged by war and Russian occupation
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Dacau Munich – a dark past

I did not realize how close this prison camp was to Munich but when I saw on the map I had to visit. Below is a link to information about this camp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp

The famous gate
The entrance where everyone came in
This place is massive. I decided not to walk around the whole area. Visiting the one main museum building and maybe one or two others is sufficient for the history. The rest is a walking tour.
These dots represent supporting sub camps. When I saw this map I found it a little difficult to believe after seeing even the massiveness of this main camp.
This photo above and the photo below are the infirmary areas which were also massive. But the infirmaries were not just for healing people they were for human experimentation as well.
Probably not a relative but the closest to where my family lived. I need to keep looking in other places.
This massive book contains every registered prisoner.
This poster was at the train station