On our drive back to Edinburgh today, we stopped for a ride in the Falkirk Wheel, which is a lock that gets boats into different levels of water in an innovative way. Tom likened it to a slow-motion ferris wheel, with one boat up and one boat down. I would provide more details about how it works except for two reasons:
1. It's boring.
2. I didn't listen to the explanation (See reason #1).
However--except for the crying baby--it was fun to go up and look at the treetops and surrounding areas.Before we got onto the boat, Brian Young (the first mate), heard our American accents and started chatting with us. The Young clan in the U.S. will gather in Milwaukee for the Highland Games on August 13. He said we should find them, greet them, and get a free beer from them.
Brian also said he had applied to be an extra in the Outlander TV series, parts of which are being filmed in his area. We talked about the standing stones where Claire Beauchamp (Outlander heroine) was transported into the 1740s. Brian told us they were the Clava Cairns, which Tom and I visited a few days ago. But we're still in 2015, in case anyone's concerned.
The Kelpies are 100-foot horse heads in Helix Park outside of Edinburgh. They're horses with superpowers, which they use for evil instead of good. When people see a kelpie, they feel compelled to get on its back to ride it. Brian warned us to resist this impulse if we run into a kelpie. Its back is sticky, and as soon as you straddle it, you're stuck. Then it dives into the water and drowns you.Tom is relieved that we dropped off our rented car today. He had to get used to driving on the left side of the road, in a car with the steering wheel on the right, and a round-about every two blocks (it seemed). He did all the driving because I don't have an international driver's license and also because I didn't want to drive.Only one more full day in Scotland.
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