Don't worry lassy we Yanks can take a ribbing. We are far from taking everything seriously, even our seriouness. We after all are Americans first. We just play at being Scotish. We take our play very serious. Heck you should see highland days a Rennisance Festival.
And, no, I don't think I would ever attend a ren fair (if that is the name for events where people dress up in the costumes of bygone days). Not my cup of tea at all....
Don't knock until you have tried it, Catroina! It can be heaps of fun to play dress up - plus where else can you see all of those buff guys wearing their kilts and various other accoutrements? Brings a whole new meaning to waiting for your Knight in Shining Armor to come to your rescue! Of course not everyone can look like Mel Gibson in a kilt.
Did anyone here happen to catch the movie recently released called Formula 51, in which Samuel Jackson wears a kilt throughout the movie? I wanted to go see that movie, but I missed it.
No thanks! I don't need a knight in shining armour.... I've got a very nice man and I'm not interested in looking for another one - I've only just got this one trained to my high standards - I certainly don't want to have to start again
I was a highland dancer as a girl, attended all the Gatherings - including Braemar - every year...
And if I want to see fit men in kilts, I only have to stand in Princes Street on a Saturday when Scotland are playing rugby at home at Murrayfield - and lo........ hundreds and hundreds of them appear It happened last Saturday - and we beat South Africa....... great result.
And, of course, most of them are wearing them correctly.... ie correct length etc.
Well then, I see your experiences are far different than ours over here on the other side of the pond! I was not even suggesting that you change "men" - it never hurts to look though (isnt that what the guys are always telling us?)
The SCA group that I am with are surprising - they are fun, witty, a bit eccentric, and many of them are college educated professsionals in the "mundane world." I have a blast whenever I am with them. I am somewhat reserved by nature, but when I am with them their exuberance seems to rub off on me a bit. I am learning about history, sociology, dancing, arts and crafts of all sorts.
I want to learn how to do "illumination" artwork, as well as how to weave cloth. It is a bit more than people wearing funny clothes, but then again, it is the funny clothes that make it fun!!
Just to add a touch of Scottish reality here.... this site is owned by a wonderful guy from Edinburgh... Dave Henniker, he has taken some wonderful photographs and if you click on the various areas, Highlands, Edinburgh etc - you will see views, often taken from a quirky angle.... These are the 'real' Scotland as opposed to the shortbreid tin-itis, touristy photographs. Hope you all enjoy them as much as I do.
I agree, if you go by the tourist agent advertisemnets all the people in Scotland wear kilts every day to every event. I was a bit disappointed to find out that isnt true at all.
It is like looking at the tourist brochures for Florida - if you believe them then everyone here is tanned, blonde, 20-something, supermodels and wear nothing but bikinis every where they go!
Thanks for the link to the website- the photographs are fab!
I know EXACTLY what the people in Florida look like - or I know what they looked like when I was last there on business about 10 years ago
You'll probably see more kilts in Edinburgh than anywhere else in Scotland. Traditionally, older men wear the kilt to kirk on Sundays. Young men tend to keep the kilt for weddings, rugby and football international games...
Most places in Scotland you would be hardpressed to know whether you were in Scotland or NY..... jeans seem to have conquered the world. As has the Golden Arches (YUK! and Starbucks.
Aw 10 years ago. Things have changed, Many people have died, or moved out, and different groups of people have moved in. Alas the tragidy of the US, no body wants to stay put. Like I was born by one national border, raised 400 miles away, same state, married and dragged clear up north to the other national border.
Sure and in the past 10 years they have drained more swamps and added new parking lots all over the place. Disney World did not have Universal Studios back then, either!
Who was it that sang "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot?" - that is Florida.
I remember being on the beach and seeing the most HUGE women in stretch pants or shorts or swim cozzies.... and very overweight children, too So the blonde women, in small bikinis was a misapprehension and I was soon disabused!
Aw NY & Boston, they are favorite tourist destenations of US too. Have you ever been to the flat Great Plains and looked out over miles of fields? It is like the start of move "Gladiator". Now the Grand Canyon is a wonder, but hard to get the full filling of it from one spot. The wonder of Rio Grande Gorge off of a bridge, is like holding God's hand. Have you ever looked over Mesa Verdia, the picture rocks of the Great Lakes, White Sands, Yelowstone, or swam in the Great Salt Lake? Have you ever been to Denver, Detroit, Chicago, Santa Fe, El Paso, Kansas City, or Tombstone?
Been to the Grand Canyon, visited California - not just LA and SF - up in the wine country. Toured most of New England over the years. Had a cousin who lived in Denver and visited her - but she found it too cold and moved to California - first San Diego then LA.
Visited Australia on quite a few occasions, the middle-East, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia.
Visited most countries in western Europe, plus some in what was the Eastern bloc.
I like to travel - a lot of the trips were for business - but I always managed to tag on a few days to sightsee. So... I speak from experience about places I mention here
Ahhh...so many beautiful places here in the states. Living in New England all my life, I am bias to this area of the country. But I hope to travel more of the U.S. and someday get to Europe. My Catriona you have been to alot of places - how lucky you are. I know some people that have lived their whole life and not even left MA once!
I think one of the most beautiful places in New England is the white mountains of New Hampshire. I have hiked Mount Washington many times, once in the dead of winter and it is true, it is the coldest most forbidden place, next to the Artic Circle. I have never felt cold go through my very soul like the cold on that mountain. Yet, I have climbed through the clouds to moss covered rocks and marveled at the earths curve. The meadows, the alpine, the ledges and summit are just breathtaken.
I hope to go back this spring once my back is better....