A Long Day (a little more): Night On The Town In Inverness

(June 20, 2008)

Ended up pulling into Inverness around noon. Ari, Jeremy, and Johnny (Jeremy's younger step-brother) were there for the pick up. I tripped out on Johnny's bumper sticker: In N Out Burgers! "Ooo, I want a double-double meal!!", I proclaimed!

Drove up to Jeremy's family's house--it is on Balnafettack Road--I love these Gaelic/Scottish words! Anyway, I hung out and met people for a bit (Jeremy's Dad [Mike], and step mom [Ruth]), but I quickly hit the hay. I managed to catch up on a little bit of sleep. We then had some BBQ when I awoke--this is totally an American extravagance---apparently BBQ-ing is a rare an honored occasion up here in northern Scotland! After that we all went for a "pub crawl" down in the city centre of Inverness. We were joined by family friend, Andrew.

The first pub we went to was Hootenanny. This place was fairly packed, but we managed to get a table. I sampled a local microbrew and a whisky suggested by Andrew (Isle of Jura). It was decent--although I am obviously not an expert.

There was a trio playing Scottish music (who were apparently paid by rounds of pints!). After two rounds we walked/"crawled" down the street to the next pub, The Foundry. This was a bit of a "stylish" joint w/ American DJ music in the background. There were some Scottish girls dressed in Disney outfits--I saw a Minnie, Cinderella, and a Snow White. Not sure what the deal was. The Euro Cup was on TV, so we watched a bit (Croatia and Turkey were in the midst of a shoot-out. Turkey won). After this place we ended up going to a Czech pub. I was about pub-ed out at this point. There was a LOUD punk band playing here...that about ended the night for us.