We Walked Into A Pub...part 1

    Did you hear the one about the tourist who walked into a pub.....

   Scots and Irish pubs are a world unto themselves

    They are a distinct and vibrant culture.

   Strolling through a foreign neighborhood, they are beacons where you know you will find a good story.

   Looking for a lunch of fish and chips we popped into Deacon Brodie's Tavern on the Royal Mile at Lawnmarket in Edinburgh...we dropped into history

   Robert Louis Stevenson is memorialized on the walls of Deacon Brodie's because in turn he memorialized the Deacon.

   William Brodie was a Deacon in a Guild of carpenters. He was an upstanding citizen, a member of the town council. But his nocturnal personality was something else. He was a drinker and gambler and had 5 children by two wives. He got into debt and resorted to burglary to pay off his gambling.
   He was eventually caught and tried. The case was notorious in that day and 40 thousand people turned out to watch him hung in October of 1788.  It is reported he was born and hung within sight of the tavern that now carries his name. 

   Robert Louis Stevenson was fascinated by the double life of Brodie. Stevenson's father owned furniture that had been made by Deacon Brodie.  Stevenson wrote a play with another writer  W.E. Henley, Deacon Brodie or The Double Life. It didn't do well. Stevenson remain fascinated and in 1866 published Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde inspired by the double life of Deacon Brodie.

       Slainte!

    There are more pubs ahead on this path.

    See you down the trail. 

The Teaser

    Graham Greene spoke truth when he said, "There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and let's the future in."
     That moment occurred when I read Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. My imagination was ignited and a desire for travel was launched. 
     Stevenson was an ambassador of travel and early I took to heart what he wrote; "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travels sake. The great affair is to move." 

     My life of journalism and documentary production allowed a decent bit of "moving," globe trotting and cultural immersion. 
   I was asked once to write a piece about the adjustment one must manage when returning from extensive travel. A meager truth I surfaced was this; the re-entry to normal also helps enshrine the intoxicating, psychoactive, or mind stretching affect of travel.

    As you have read we have been away for a while, celebrating a milestone in our marriage, connecting with ancestral roots. Ever the journalist and curious explorer we return with a couple thousand images and even more memories. 

    I want to share with you what we saw, did and felt.
   

   We were on country roads, navigating large cities, at historic sites, immersed in the local culture, in Scotland and Ireland. There was much to see and learn.

     There is history that makes ours seem youthful. Complexity, intellect, and human endeavor that is profound.

   Abundant beauty, nature and culture.

Always near is history that shaped humankind.

  We are fascinated by mysteries of ancient cultures, older than the great Pyramids, cosmic riddles.

Profound beauty, picturesque charm. 

Music and culture.

  Exploration and discovery. 

Food and other feasts of the senses. 

   Grandeur and majesty.  

   Politics, struggle, and the DNA of fighting for independence. 

  Whimsy, expression and stunning beauty.

  Intellect and impact. 

    And there are the people. Our exploration of Scottish history, genealogy, and nature was organized and moderated by research and experts.
    And so it was in Ireland, though our guides were friends, people we have hosted in California.
     We benefited wonderfully from the expertise of Irish friends who kindly shared the magic of their Republic. An endless gratitude to Kay and Willie,
  

 and to Kay and Jack. 

  So stay tuned. In the days to come there will be scenes, experiences, history, and the pastiche of travel and culture.

   I hope you will enjoy what you read and see, in a vicarious travel adventure.

   I'm tempted to say come along for a foreign adventure but I'm reminded of Stevenson's summation; "There are no foreign lands, it is the traveler only who is foreign."

   We have been the foreigner and now we seek to interpret and report.

   These are strange days on both sides of the Atlantic, a cultural metamorphosis is in the offing. 

    It is my humble suggestion we have reached these vexing times because we have become to tethered to small worlds, of small screens and small words and small ideas, and led by small people. 

    Greene said it well when he wrote in Burnt Out Case, "The more base a life is, the more we fear change."

     We have much to share. I hope you enjoy the ride that is to come. Let's move. 

     See you down the trail.