Oh! There it is.

Today, I toured a whiskey distillery. So I finally feel like my experience of Scotland is complete.
Fettercairn 1824. It's good stuff. I got a free sample with the tour, a nice little shot of 12 year old single malt. I also got to see and smell the boiling vats of fermenting barley. I even stole a few grains of barley to eat, just for kicks, and because I was a little hungry.

I have spent the last few days in a more rural part of the country, a tiny village called Glenesk, about 5 miles from Fettercairn and about 15 from Montrose. Which is about a 40 minute train ride from Aberdeen. I helped feed a horse today! That was delightful and exciting. If only I'd gotten to ride him...but I was too shy to ask.

I also saw leaping salmon on their way to spawn for the first time in my life, both yesterday and today. It's quite an amazing, delightful and hilarious sight. You're looking at this coursing waterfall, all white and frothy, and then all of a sudden a huge fish has busted out of it, moving in a way totally contrary to gravity. The flap their fins furiously, but usually it looks like they fall back down in the end. I couldn't help emitting little exclamations each time it happened. It was so exciting!

I was totally right in what I said earlier, about Scotland and its clouds. They definitely are, more than anything else, what make this country stunning and lovely. Today they were heavy, dense and grey, full of impending rain, and they took three quarters right off all the hill tops. The distance was just one big misty mystery, with a bit of green and yellow, fields, farms, animals and hills down at the bottom of the frame.

I also saw some crazy red deer today. The males had big old sets of antlers. Very cool. They were chilling with some sheep, on the estate that used to belong to the Gladstone family. Gladstone being a former Prime Minister from the Victorian era. People who are rich and important in the UK tend to own Property. And plenty of it.

Basically it has been a very quiet, peaceful and laid back almost-week since I left Glasgow. Aberdeen was fun and idle. Did a bit of drinking with Chen's uni friends, but seeing as they're Scottish, I didn't come close to keeping up. Not that I couldn't have if I had tried...well, no I probably couldn't. But I also felt no need to. It was fun to observe.

I also totally busted the myth that European bars are more chill about underage drinking than American ones. Sure, their drinking age is younger. But I am totally legal in the states now, and one flash of my ID can prove it. When Chen and I went TO HAVE LUNCH at the local university dive/pub, I went up to the bar to order dessert, after we had already finished our meal. The bartenders insisted on seeing my ID. I hadn't wanted to bring my passport out, so I showed them my US driver's license. They said it was no good, they couldn't tell if it was fake or not, only a UK license or a passport would do. I said, "I'm actually 21. Not 18. And I just want to order some pie." They said, "Sorry, it's the term of our liquor license. You have to leave." So me and Chen and her friend Minna had to skip dessert and leave the place we had already eaten lunch because silly 21-year-old me tried to order pie. Not alcohol, mind you. Pie.

There you have it folks. Tomorrow I head back to London on a long relaxing train ride, and then off to Norway! I'm pumped, but I hope I don't get too lost, cold or impoverished there! All three seem very possible.