No attempt at touring Scotland would be complete without exploring the origin of Scotch whisky. Steeped in tradition and history, a variety of distilleries have been in operation for hundreds of years, exporting bonded and blended Scotches around the world. During a recent visit, we visited Highland Park Distillery and went behind the scenes for a rare look at what goes into making a product that can take up to 50 years to bring to market.
Highland Park Single Malt Scotch whisky is known as one of the world’s finest single malts. Distilled in Scotland’s Orkney Islands, generations of distillery workers spend lifetimes using a method largely unchanged since 1798. We walked through the distillation process and while the step-by-step procedure is similar to other distilleries, Highland Park brands have some distinct advantages over others.
“In Scotland we have June and we have winter,” Russell Miller, distillery manager explained, referring to cooler temperatures experienced year round at the distilleries location that provide “even paced, cool maturation.”
It’s a process that also includes using hand-turned malt, a key ingredient in their recipe for a good Scotch. Sherry oak casks are another critical part of the process and Highland Park has some that have been used and reused for nearly 100 years, giving their products a unique flavor.Probably one of the most important ingredients in the product though is pride. There is a work ethic element in Scotland that is simply undeniable. Here we have a product that is aged for up to 50 years before being sold. During that time, the world will become a much different place than when that scotch went in to a barrel to be aged.
To me, that very long production process has always begged the question, “How do they know how much to make for customers who may very well have not been born yet?” If they were making cheeseburgers, the answer is simple. Someone orders one and they make it.
The answer, our tour guide explained, is all about quality. “We’re pretty good at guessing,” Miller joked, “but it seems there will always be demand for our high quality product.”
The Asgard was built in 1905 for Erskine and Molly Childers, leading Irish nationalists. In 1914, they used the vessel to run guns to the Irish Volunteers in Howth. The smugglers brought in 900 German Mausers and a stock of ammunition, some of which later saw use in the famous standoff at the Dublin General Post Office during the Easter Uprising.
Authorities learned of the shipment, but that helped turn it into a propaganda coup. The Asgard had slipped through a British fleet to make it to shore and Irish nationalists managed to spirit the guns away. The soldiers stationed nearby only managed to grab three guns, and had to return them because they had seized them illegally!
Tragically, when marching back to their barracks, the soldiers met an unarmed crowd that jeered them. One of the soldiers fired, and this led to more shots. Four civilians were killed, including one by bayonet wounds. The Asgard’s victory and bloody aftermath added more fuel to the fire of Irish nationalism.
Erskine Childers was a keen sailor all his life and wrote the classic spy novel “Riddle of the Sands,” in which two yachtsmen discover a sinister German plot in the Baltic Sea. Well worth reading!
“It’s evident through our survey findings that Americans’ approach to relaxation and vacationing is changing with each generation,” said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises executive vice president in a press release reported in SF Gate.
Millennials work harder than Boomers says the survey, noting that a third of most Boomers work on vacation while about double that amount of younger Millennials work rather than relax while on vacation. Eighty-three percent of those who get vacation time, regardless of age, said they didn’t use it all because they either had too much work to do or couldn’t find time to take off.This year’s survey got right down to preferred beverages while on vacation as we see in this first infographic.
Continuing along, the Relaxation Report found that 85 percent of all workers say it’s more relaxing when they go on vacation than when their boss does. Sixty-four percent of parents have taken a vacation without their child, 46 percent felt guilty about it, moms more than dads.
Sitting on the beach on a resort or cruise vacation or pausing for a break when hiking or camping, those surveyed had strong feelings on which social media platforms they might use too. This next infographic shows the clear winner.
Freedom. That’s the whole point of travel, right? Travel is about untethering yourself from your comfort zone to satisfy your curiosity about what’s around the corner, or around the world. Done right, it can be incredibly liberating. But in the U.S., and increasingly around the world, risk adverse corporations, trigger happy lawyers and Big Brother can sometimes take all the freedom and liberty out of our travel experiences.
In May, I had two experiences on FSE, a small regional train line in Italy that reminded me how joyful travel can be when you have the wind in your hair and there are seemingly no rules. The first blissful ride was a short trip from Lecce to Otranto, in Italy’s heel.
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FSE trains are shorter and narrower than full size ones, so you have the feeling of being on a mini-train. On this day, there were only a few other passengers on board the three- or four-car train and we had an entire car to ourselves. It was a warm afternoon, and we were passing through a lovely landscape dotted with olive groves, palm trees and tiny little train stations where bored young men used hand crank machinery to shift tracks for passing trains.There were ten windows and I went through the car and opened every one of them as far as I could. I wandered about the empty car, reveling in the life-affirming breeze, which was blowing the train curtains to and fro. I occasionally popped my head out the window, just for the hell of it and because no one was there to tell me not to.
Italians hate open windows on a train, so I was well aware that someone might board the train and end my party at any moment. But it never happened, a few others joined us, but they left the windows open. I enjoyed the ride immensely; in fact, I didn’t really want it to end. But it also reminded me of how rare a commodity fresh air is in hotels, buses, trains and even some ferries these days.
Paul Theroux named one of his books “Fresh Air Fiend” and he could have been writing about me. Unless the weather is brutally hot, I love to be outside and I always want the windows open. But in the U.S., and other countries, it’s getting harder and harder to control one’s access to fresh air. Some hotels don’t let you open the window at all, and others let you open it just a crack.
This spring, I stayed at a Marriott in Zurich and our room had a dramatic view of the city with snow capped mountains as a backdrop. I called down to the front desk to ask them if I could have just one little photo op with the window open, but they wouldn’t budge.
“It’s for liability purposes,” the English speaker at the front desk said.
“But I won’t get that close to the open window,” I pleaded. “Look, you can even have someone hold my hands if you like.”
But it was no use – they refused to let me open the window, even to take a photo. At least in hotel rooms though, one can usually exert some measure of control over the room temperature, imperfect though those systems often are. On a sealed-shut train or bus with no ability to open the window, you are at the mercy of whatever the room temperature is. I’m always warm and my wife is usually cold.
The main reason I don’t like flying is the claustrophobia – there is limited space to move about and you obviously can’t open the windows to get some fresh air. But newer trains and buses are also becoming like flying coffins, where we are sealed shut and protected from both the elements and ourselves. In our cars, we can still put the windows down, at least for now, but the newer ones will squawk at you should you have the nerve to unbuckle your seatbelt, even for a moment.
You can almost always get some fresh air on a ferry ride, but even there you can occasionally be forced inside a sealed coffin. I was on a small ferry in very rough seas en route to the Greek island of Syros in June and the crew forced those of us who were on the deck to go inside when the going got particularly rough. I didn’t feel seasick on deck but inside the cabin with nothing but stagnant, warm air, my stomach started to churn.
And while the fresh air issue isn’t just a U.S. problem, we do seem to have more rules and regulations – many of them inspired by our lawsuit happy culture – that can make travel feel less spontaneous and fun.
I’m not a big drinker but when I visited the ancient Italian college town of Perugia this spring and saw all of the young and not-so-young people enjoying adult beverages in the squares, I wondered why we couldn’t allow the same here. We’re strict about public consumption of alcohol but our college students engage in more binge drinking than the Italians, who are free to drink from an earlier age and in public.
My second moment of travel bliss came on the same train, this time heading to Gallipoli. FSE conductors wear no uniforms, which gives the whole experience a rather casual vibe, and one of them invited my sons to come into his control room to blow the train whistle (see video).
My sons, ages 2 and 4, loved having an opportunity to push the button to blow the whistle and the conductor let them do it over and over again. But after they got bored with that, he actually let my 4-year-old take over the controls of the train for a minute or two (see video below). Now, he was obviously standing right there and could have taken over at any point if an emergency arose, but I just sat back laughing, thinking that there’s no chance that Amtrak would allow such fun and frivolity.
So here’s three cheers for hotels, trains and buses with windows that open, drinking in public and allowing 4-year-olds to drive trains. After all, these are the things that travel is all about.
At the historic heart of Rouen lies the Notre-Dame Cathedral, alone worth a visit to the French city that today boasts a half a million residents. Dating back to a foundation that began in the fourth century, it serves as a centerpiece for a “magic zone” where visitors can trace 1000 years of history, from the Roman era to present day. We went on a walking tour of the still-bustling metropolis that focused on five main sites, offering a unique look into a past that is very much part of today.
The Cathedral itself dominates the Rouen skyline, while ongoing reconstruction continues the structure’s evolution. To those who live and work in the area, that’s nothing new though. Destroyed by Vikings at one time and bombed (unintentionally) in World War II, its cast iron spires stand over 150 meters high, the tallest in France. Inside, one can’t help but be humbled by the still-standing, still-functional testament to the evolution of Gothic art.
Just opposite the cathedral, lesser-known Bureau des Finances dates back to the early 16th century and was once where Impressionist Claude Monet created his “Cathedral” series. Gadling was allowed a rare view from inside where Monet’s studio was at that time.
Walking the pedestrianized streets of Rouen where only foot traffic is allowed, we passed under the city’s signature monument, the Gros Horloge. Initially constructed around 1170, it served as the western gateway to what was the old Roman town. Walking under the clock face and below its richly decorated arch, stopping at shops along the way, it was hard not to realize much of what we were seeing is as it was centuries ago.
Not far is the Palais de Justice, built between 1499 and 1550 on the former site of the town’s Jewish quarter, destroyed in 1306 after the expulsion of the Jews from France. In 1515 the building began housing a court with legal, political and administrative powers. Continuing that theme, today local police cars can be seen in front of the building that was built centuries before their invention. During European Heritage Days in September, the building is open to the public.
Amid all this history, intertwined with centuries of construction, are storefronts that host viable, working businesses at ground level with housing above.
Looking forward, Rouen has launched a host of development, infrastructure, cultural and environmental projects. Rouen’s museums house the largest Impressionist collection outside of Paris, just a two-hour drive away. An international destination for the performing arts, its opera is set to tour the world. Nearby Seine valley attractions are home to a wide variety of must-see monuments, routes and sights.
But what impressed us most was how history and today are intermingled. Like a movie set, today’s buildings are right on top of yesteryear’s structures as those of the future will be on top of todays. Visitors and residents from around the world mingle to make for people watching that seems like a movie scene but yet happens every day, just as it has for centuries. Our short two-hour walking tour could have lasted far longer and gives good reason to return like generations have throughout much of recorded time.