Lochranza, the football playing sheep, and how we defeated Jenga.

Palm Trees! In Scotland! (Gulf Stream)

The last couple of days I had the great fortune to go to the Isle of Arran! Great fortune because this time I set my alarm clock for the right time- meaning AM instead of PM, unlike my attempt to go to the Isle of Skye the weekend before...  As my German friend Martin said, there are some advantages to a 24 hour clock! Luckily, the International Society officers were very kind and understanding, and so I went to Arran instead.


Arran is a lot closer than Skye, just a 45 minute bus ride and 45 minute ferry to get to the Isle, landing in the port city of Brodick. It reminded me a bit of Oban, a very small village with a ferry as its main source of transportation. It was lovely though! We had nearly two hours to fill in the town before checking into our hostel, enough time to peek into shops and eat our lunch, but not enough to walk to Brodick Castle. 

Brodick! 

My two favorite stops: James' Chocolate Shop, and the Sheepskin Shop! All you need to do is look at the photos to understand why the chocolate shop was amazing. I was delighted that there was actually a local place that make their own chocolates (Chocolat anybody??), and I couldn't resist trying some of them... In order of the best: Almond Praline, Coffee, Hazelnut Praline and they were all delicious! Sheepskin Shop? Never felt anything so soft in my life- and was sorely tempted to get a pair of their slippers or gloves, they felt AMAZING!
  

yum! Note the chocolate frogs on the bottom.

On the way to our hostel, we stopped at the Isle of Arran Whiskey distillery and did a tour; the setting for the distillery is pretty amazing with soaring mountains all around. On top one of these mountains, there are a pair of nesting golden eagles, for whom they stopped construction on the distillery for a bit so they could nest undisturbed. The distillery then took it as a sign of thanks when the eagles made a fly-by on the opening day, and so all the products have a eagle printed on them. Next to the visitors center was huge football field, with sheep all over it! Some were even standing in the goals! It made me really want to get a soccer ball and attempt to play a game around and with the sheep! It was pretty neat learning about how they actually make whiskey. Scotland is fiercely proud of its whiskey-making tradition and so is Arran, despite being a relatively new distillery.

Football-playing sheep!

Cask from the Distillery

Distillery and mountain setting!

The tour (led by our lovely Scottish tour guide, in a kilt and tartan tie, on whom it looked perfectly natural, even typically business wear), lead us through the distillery, and around the grounds showing us where they literally make the whiskey out of barley, wash and distill it, then place it in casks. At the end of the tour you get a small sample of the whiskey, as well as an explanation of how to test if you are getting good whiskey or not! Very fiery stuff, strong, but just a little sip can warm you up nicely. Which makes you understand why it's so popular in Scotland! 

Inside the Distillery

Barley! Malt, and Malt Chaft

Because my group was the second half of the tour, we got out later than everybody else...and found them all on the bus... and knew what would happen as soon as we got close.


Sure enough, the bus drove off with us standing at the door! We didn't even bother running, but just strolled leisurely behind it, waiting for it to stop- this has become a common occurrence on ISoc trip- especially when our bus driver is the crazy and amazingly talented John. He can get the bus in places I'm not sure I could squeeze a car! This also proved the case when we arrived at the hostel, how he got us up that tiny driveway, I cannot comprehend... I'm pretty sure he is secretly like the guy in "Taxi" and could swap out steering wheel to become this amazing race-car driver.

Lochranza Castle

This may have been the most amazing hostel I have ever stayed at. The one in Oban was really nice and cozy, but this was on another level. First of all, we were on a loch. Lochranza! And it was a five minute walk to Lochranza castle, which you could see from the road next to the charming, white-washed hostel. It was surround by looming mountains all around the loch, which opened out to the sea. And that was just the setting! Inside, everything was clean and relatively new, huge cook-off style kitchen with two dining areas full of mini tables and chairs, two lounges full of comfy couches and pillows, but all matching and very classy. One even had a TV set plus a bookcase full of games and books! Up a winding staircase, and through a glass door were our rooms. I shared with three other Chinese girls that I met for the first time, so we had two bunkbeds. And not just any bunk beds. These had a built-in shelf with a reading lamp and place for your alarm-clock or cell phone. Plus we had practically a bay window with table and chair, another window, wooden storage lockers and a sink and mirror. Classy. If you ever go to the Isle of Arran, stay at the youth hostel in Lochranza!

Amazing location for a hostel

My room!

View from the hostel

As there was still plenty of daylight left, we all trooped out to see the castle, and then were wonderfully surprised than the old keeper came and unlocked it for us! So not only did we get to walk around the outside, but explore the entire interior as well! Which resulted in some hilarious instances- like screams coming from the 'dungeon' when the ISoc President found a body. Also known as a mannequin, or puppet. Granted, it was pitch-black in there, but hearing him scream with a rather high-pitched quality for two minutes was pretty funny! As was realizing I could fit myself inside the window. And inspiring my two friends to photo-bomb others' pictures.

A lass and a loch :)

Random cool gate on our walk around the loch!

We also walked down to the other ferry port, where I discovered a swing set, and couldn't resist that either. Many of my child-like tendencies seemed to come out on this trip... strange. It was getting pretty cold by this point so we headed back to the hostel and warmed up with some tea while reading, talking and playing Jenga. Playing the most epic game of Jenga you have ever seen. Because in our second attempt, we defeated the game. There were literally no more moves you could possibly make, and the tower was at least twice as high as it originally had been. The four of us- Martin, Emmanuel, Ian and I were pretty impressed with ourselves. 

Jenga Champions!

As this is getting ridiculously long, I'll finish this off for now and post about the second half of the trip tomorrow!