Today featured a lot of food, to quote Oliver! "Glorious Food!"
We were slow moving this morning but were ready for 11:45 when we were picked up and taken to the Lerwick Hotel Bay Brasserie. Having never been to the Lerwick Hotel we had no idea where we were going but it didn't matter. We have had wonderful taxi drivers the whole time in Lerwick.
For those of you who remember last year, I learned one thing about driving in Shetland: I don't want to drive in Shetland. This year, I insisted we would cab it everywhere no matter where we go on the Mainland, as I had no intention of competing with all of Lewis Hamilton's relatives, who must all live here.
It was not our idea to go the Lerwick Hotel, but Marina's, another of Mum's many Shetland relatives. I have to say, it was a very good idea. For those of you who don't know Marina, she is an excellent photographer. This blog would've looked a lot better if she'd taken all the photos, and she'd probably get the videos to work too.
Marina took the above picture. If I'd taken it, two of us would've had our eyes closed and I wouldn't have noticed some overflowing trash bin in the background. Usually, Marina takes pictures of flowers or landscapes, but today, she had to deal with us as models. Well done, Marina.
Lunch consisted of more food than we should've have eaten, for reasons that will be clear later, and Mum trying a physalis. According to the server, most people leave it on the plate, but not Mum, she was brave.
Oh, here are Mum and I at lunch. As it is a good picture, you are safe to assume Marina took it.
There was much talking and family history discussion as well as a brief discussion about how to not be as annoying as cruise ship passengers when being a tourist in Lerwick. This is relevant to later on in the blog.
For those of you worried about Dad's caffeine level, we did keep him well caffeinated. Anyone who has ever met Dad knows how important this is.
Hopefully, we'll see Marina again on Monday, if the fates align, but as for our lunch, we closed the place out.
Our taxi ride home was interesting as there were two cruise ships in harbour today which means many, many people wandering the roads as if they had the road sense of a roadkill squirrel. In front of Jimmy Perez's house they were six deep blocking half the road despite being crowded in to take pictures. Several were wearing headphones and completely missing the taxi coming up behind them and then my personal favourite: a mother who ushered her child out of the middle of the road but left the expensive stroller. Do cruise ships remove all common sense? I felt bad for the the one tour guide who was trying to keep them rounded up, but I'm sure herding cats would be easier.
We stopped briefly at Stout's Court to pick up our genealogical information and computer then off to an afternoon at Elizabeth's. For the record, if I lived in Elizabeth's house, I would never get tired of the view.
She looks out over the sound and we got a wonderful view of two cruise ships trying to get by one another. It was sort of like watching two people try to pass each other in an airplane aisle. Everyone is crowded and there's lots of apologizing, except this time with foghorns.
We did learn something about Elizabeth's neighbours. They like to spy on her though they all looked away when I tried to get a picture.
Elizabeth had very cute neighbours, though I didn't get to meet the most famous neighbour, Sullom, as she was a little under the weather and had to see the vet. Best wishes that she gets better soon.
Mum was in her glory all afternoon sharing the news about the returned photo from Tuesday, and discussing genealogy.
Now last Sunday, we discovered Elizabeth was sneaky. Today, we learned she has magical powers of persuasion as despite the fact we had dinner reservations for the evening, she convinced Mum and me to have more food. By convinced, I mean left a plate of freshly baked shortbread right in front of us and we have no willpower.
In defense of Mum and me, Elizabeth should be on Bake Off so how could we resist?
Two and a half hours went pretty quickly, and we had to pack up for another taxi ride. This one took us back to Stout's Court to drop off all the unnecessary bags and then onto No. 88, a wonderful restaurant on Commercial Street. They have been kind to us the past couple of years by adapting their meals for Dad and giving him extra time to eat. We accommodate them by coming in for 5 o'clock to allow them to turn over the table for the 7 and 8pm sitting.
Mum and I ordered the only alcohol we have a year: me the espresso martini, and Mum the rhubarb and ginger martini. She has been talking about having one for a year now, so when Karen put one in front of her, she was thrilled.
I'm sure if Marina had taken the above picture, it would have been artistic, but even I couldn't fail at making it look delicious.
At one point in the evening, Mum was holding her martini in one hand and her water glass in the other and joked she was two-handing it. Mum, that would have to be something quite different in the water glass for that to be true.
Overall, it was a delicious meal and we all enjoyed ourselves. On the longest day of the year, we celebrated by eating the most amount of food we could.
As today was the nicest day we've had in Shetland, we decided to walk home from No. 88. It was the farthest Dad walked since the hip replacement, and it was slow but we did it. Of course, we didn't take the most direct path. For instance, Dad had to do some window shopping, have a stop in at the Tourist Centre, (seriously, someone buy that place. The islands need it no matter what mainland Scotland says) and then wave at the camera in Market Cross.
I hope all his online friends form the Shetland forums got to see him.
Next, we made a stop at Bain's Beach to watch the arctic terns and see the cruise ship still in harbour.
Something I didn't do last year was touch the North Sea. I've touched the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, as well as every Great Lake I've been to, but missed the North Sea last year. This time, I didn't miss my chance while Bain's Beach was quiet and the water was calm.
Our next stop was on the other side of Jimmy Perez's house, where we indulged in being tourists without blocking any traffic.
I'm sure Jimmy Perez wouldn't mind as we weren't bothering anybody or putting anybody out.
Dad made it up the hill to Stout's Court and to the front door, doing double the walk he's done in a couple of years. Cue the Chariots of Fire music. His reward was half a tub of ice cream. I have no idea how he had any room left for it.
Around 8pm we heard the foghorn again and watched the pilot boat lead the last cruise ship out of harbour. I tried to get a shot through the window but it's not great. I'm not Marina.
Tonight, Dad will be writing some postcards, we'll finish watching Shetland, and then get to bed. Night everyone!
Stats:
Dogs: 5
Arctic Terns: 5
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