Last Day in Scotland

7/21 note: I started this draft in Amsterdam, and it is still incomplete, but I am posting anyway. Sorry for the delay. I am now on my ride to the airport, heading to Bend!

From Schipol, 7/11/24:

I completed my abstract for my presentations on my flight to Amsterdam and in my hotel room. The link to the document is here for the handful of you who might want to read it.

The Lonza interview is scheduled for Monday, July 22, and the one at Merck will be on Wednesday, July 31. I feel good about my ability to communicate with and relate to my interviewers. We're starting to cut this close to the start of school, though, so our plans for the coming year depend on where we end up going. There's a lot to think about.

On Tuesday, my last day in Scotland, I went on another tour. 

Gary, the tour guide, spoke slowly and almost continually. During the roll call, my name was 4th, and he understandably stumbled over it. "Would you do me a favor? Sit in the jump seat?" Shotgun!

The first stop was at Stirling Castle. As we approached, Gary talked about the William Wallace Monument that we could see as we climbed the hill to the castle. He told the story of Andrew Moray, William Wallace, and the Battle of Stirling Bridge...and then he picked up a theme that echoed a pattern among the Scottish people I had talked to so far. They roll their eyes with contempt at Braveheart and are likelier to recommend The Outlaw King on Netflix. 

There are four problems, Gary said, with Braveheart. 

1. Mel Gibson. He's Australian, not Scottish.
2. Mel Gibson. He is not 7 feet tall. William Wallace was 7 feet tall.
3. Mel Gibson. He didn't bother to include Stirling Bridge in a movie about William Wallace.
4. Mel Gibson. He wore that blue makeup that was completely incorrect. Blue paint was associated with the Picts and evidence for their use of woad is limited.

(Credit for Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle images: Wikipedia)

Windy. I did try to get selfies, but they made me feel silly.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!

Reproduction unicorn tapestries were fascinating. It was a moment of intense déjà vu. They are thought to tell a fascinating story. Here's a link to the story of the unicorn in the Met: https://www.metmuseum.org/primer/met-cloisters/unicorn-tapestries-story

Schiphol

Good grief, this is the worst airport I have ever been in. Liberia, Costa Rica is less confusing. What in the heck...

I got stuck in Amsterdam overnight because my flight leaving Glasgow was delayed. By the time I got my ticket and vouchers sorted, made it through Dutch border security, and checked into the hotel, it was 4 pm. There wasn't enough time to figure out how to see any Rembrandts or the Anne Frank house, but there was plenty of time to rent a hotel bike and get some scenic exercise.

Biking in Amsterdam is madness! I loved it, for sure, but it was obvious to the natives that I was not one of them. They rule the streets with impunity, whipping tightly around walking pedestrians, crossing streets without stopping to look, secure in the knowledge that all 20 of the cars driving around on Amsterdam's streets at 5:30 pm will yield to them, and barely tolerant of a green tourist on a hotel rental cruiser with almost no brakes to speak of and only short-term memory of Google Maps as a navigation system (okay, I need to cross three streets, take a left by a coffee shop, then go over 2 canals to the next light...) 

More than once, they angrily reprimanded me with dings of their bike bells, but I survived!