Scotland pictures, etc.

Whew. It's amazing how exhausted I've been the last few weeks. I feel completely outside of myself, or maybe too far inside myself, like I'm watching myself go about my daily life, wondering how to do things, how to talk to people, trying to keep everything straight. I feel like I've forgotten everything, how to do things, how to speak. I need to be learning a little Russian before my trip (32 days!) but I seem to have lost all of the very little Spanish, French, and German I have spent so much time studying - English is causing me problems. I'm assuming this feeling will go away, this being unable to form sentences. It kind of has to. I'll keep practicing.

So Scotland. Scotland was completely gorgeous. Words can't express (not that I know how to use them right now), and pictures cannot by any stretch of the imagination capture just how jaw-droppingly amazing, awe-inspiring, unbelievable... When I was in England a few years ago, we went to Stonehenge, and driving up to it, it was constructed in such a way that makes it appear even bigger than it already is, and it's so impressive, no matter how many pictures you've seen of it, no matter how many tourists visit it each year, no matter that it's fenced off - it's simply massive and impressive, and you can't help but feel the age of it, how long it's been there before you, how much longer it will last, this sense of history and unknowability. Take that feeling, but remove the human element. Stonehenge was built, nobody knows who by, but it was built. Driving through the highlands of Scotland, these mountains that used to be volcanoes, and lochs, and moorland, I was continuously struck by how old it all felt, you look at these snow-capped mountains and you can see where the melting snow has been cutting deep rifts for more time than I can possibly conceive of, and it's so beautiful, and it was like having the chance to glimpse a process that has nothing to do with me, this earth shaping itself over so many millions of years.

But of course you can't remove the human element, we're all over the place, and we were driving let's not forget, my pictures were taken from lay-bys, I was able to take pictures of this place, there were villages and farms all over, and I am not qualified to say anything about the impact of human activity on those very mountains that I felt existed independent of my regard, so please don't litter, do reduce waste, stop buying things you don't need, buy local seasonal produce, etc.

That being said, spring was everywhere, lambs frolicking in every field, and the weather was fantastic, big fluffy clouds. I'll post a few pictures, but - and I am completely serious about this - go yourself, people. These pictures mean more to me than they ever will to anyone else because I was there. And I'm totally going back.

This first one is a loch on the way to Isle of Skye from St Andrews.

2. near Kiltrock, Isle of Skye (Kiltrock is actually the cliffs in the background)
3. Loch Ness?

4, 5, 6. mountains near Fort William
7. St Andrews
I have a bunch more of St Andrews, mostly at night, so I have a lot of duplicate scenes taken using the various settings of my new camera - some of which are kind of frightening, the light being so completely unnatural. It's really a beautiful town, and yes the golf course is nice, but it's also home to the number four university in the UK, which is why I was there visiting my friend who is studying there.

So next on the agenda is Russia, but first I think I may escape the city once again to go visit the fam. Escape the city? What am I saying? I love this city! And it's a beautiful day to enjoy it. Happy mothers day!