Whoa

That went by quickly. As in too quick. As in wow that was fast.

Ashley and I are sitting at the Cairo airport awaiting our next flight. Only two hours left and then we get to sit for another twelve hours. It is warm in here. We just paid $7 for a definitely-not-worth-it. Also we are very much the minority. About one hundred meters from us there is a smoking room which we can both see and smell. There are also prayer rooms all over with carpeted mats to bow on.

We spent last night in Amsterdam again but this time we stayed at a relative of Ashley's, a second cousin I believe. A big thank you to them for being so hospitable. This morning we went on a bike ride through the countryside stopping at a small bakery that had been run by the same family for five generations or so. Ashley had "appleflop" in Holland which she tried to pass off as not a big deal. Appleflop may or may not be the correct spelling but I know for sure that it either flops or flaps. Either way appleflop is like a strudel except that it is a triangle instead of a rectangle. We rode along a dike and even took a twenty foot ferry ride to cross the river. It was truly a magical ride and the weather was gorgeous.

We tried haggis before we left Scotland. Black pudding too. There was a restaurant at the airport and we ordered what we had been dared by many to try while we were there. It was actually very tasty. The haggis had grain in it and was actually very tasty. The neeps and tatters that went with it were good too except the tatters were definitely rehydrated. I hadn't heard of black pudding until recently. What through me off more than its main ingredient being blood is that it was more of a cake disc than a pudding. Strange but tasty.

Scotland was hard to leave. We had amazing weather throughout our trip. We went on long walks every day without any rain at all. Maybe it would have been easier to leave if we had seen a lot of rain but as it was we loved every minute that we were there. The tranquility, the accessibility of walking paths, the right to roam made Scotland very dear to us in a short amount of time.