03.19.20 | Oban, Scotland | 20:02
Today has been a good day! I woke up pretty early, found some breakfast, went to the grocery store, and then had a second breakfast. I know I sound like a hobbit, so we’ll call it an early lunch.
I had a good little walk/hike since I went up to see McCaig’s Tower. I’ve been here before, but I forgot the story behind the tower.
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From Wikipedia: McCaig’s Tower is a prominent tower on Battery Hill overlooking the town of Oban… It is built of Bonawe granite taken from the quarries across Airds Bay, on Loch Etive, from Muckairn, with a circumference of about 200 metres (660 ft) with two-tiers of 94 lancet arches (44 on the bottom and 50 on top).
The structure was commissioned, at a cost of £5,000 sterling by the wealthy, philanthropic banker,John Stuart McCaig.
John Stuart McCaig was his own architect. The tower was erected between 1897 and his death, aged 78 from cardiac arrest, on 29 June 1902 at John Square House in Oban.
McCaig’s intention was to provide a lasting monument to his family, and provide work for the local stonemasons during the winter months. McCaig was an admirer of Roman and Greek architecture , and had planned for an elaborate structure, based on the Colosseum in Rome. His plans allowed for a museum and art gallery with a central tower to be incorporated. Inside the central tower he planned to commission statues of himself, his siblings and their parents. His death brought an end to construction with only the outer walls completed.
This afternoon has been a little bit stressful. When I first booked this vacation, I went a little bit crazy. It started with the week in Hawaii with my family. Then after a day and a half at home, I planned this month in Scotland. Then, since enough is never enough, I booked nearly an entire month elsewhere in Europe.
As luck would have it, I had to cut off the last month, because of all the mess with the coronavirus. I had planned to go down to France, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, and even back through London before coming home. These are all places now that have been devastated by this virus, and even though I’m not particularly afraid of getting sick, nothing is open to the public right now.
No big deal, I can still have a good time in Scotland. So I had to change my return flight home from April 21 to the end of next week- not a problem.
I was set to fly on Norwegian, an airline that I’ve come to love, but come to find out-they have canceled my flight home. It looks like the flights the week before and the week after have been canceled as well. So today, I had to figure out how I am going to come home. I was forced to book another flight on a different airline, but I’m not going even to put that information out just because I don’t want to jinx myself. I guess you’re just going to have to keep checking this blog to see when and if I get home at all. Maybe I’ll just start a new life here.
The lesson here: Always try to be flexible when traveling. I’m not going to let this setback get me down, but I’m going to try my best to embrace each and every day while I’m here.
DavTravels 