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Scotland Journal
(Keith) We are now in Great Britain and have been here for the past
several weeks. Since the attacks on September 11th, I have been looking
forward to arriving in the U.K. Both of us have closely followed the
coalition build-up and the unyielding support from Tony Blair and therefore
looked forward to being on "friendly soil". Unfortunately some of the British population (and particularly the press) are not as pro-American
as Mr. Blair. On all of my trips abroad I have experienced anti-American
sentiment, but it now strikes a raw nerve particularly when directed at our
actions over the past two months.
It seems that many non-Americans have we Americans all summed up; everyone has an opinion or insight on America and Americans. The news (print and television) are also loaded with these experts on America. We are subject to daily editorials enlightening us to the American motives behind the military campaign . . . exploit the Caspian oil fields, establish a military presence, and on and on; today's headline exclaimed "America Snubs Humanitarian Effort". On the television, several weeks ago we watched a show hosted by several young experts, all clearly in their mid twenties, passionately explaining the ineffectiveness of the American air campaign . . . yet another set of wrong experts.
The most disturbing experience was on a bus from London to Cambridge. We sat next to an old woman who was traveling alone. As we reached our destination, we started gathering our stuff when the woman asked me if I was American and what I thought of the war. I told her I supported it, but did not want to talk about politics. She then launched into me with wild accusations, the most perverse being that possibly the CIA had carried out the attack in order to give Bush (America) an opportunity to use (and I quote) "his war machine" . . . when all rational arguments fail, the good ole' conspiracy theory holds.
Europe has certainly seen the horrors of war in ways that America has not and hopefully never will. The woman I spoke of in the last paragraph apparently lost her brother in WWII and anyone that has traveled in Europe knows that every country has its horror story. I respect the reluctance to intervene militarily in any situation, but I would expect more grassroots support considering the nature of the attack and the consequences of inaction.
(Lea)
I love Edinburgh - what a great city to visit. Edinburgh is full of character
with its castle, museums, Old Town buildings, and excellent pubs. Add to
this a great amount of quality restaurants, coffee shops and entertainment
venues, and you get not only a great city to visit but a great city to live
in! In fact, being here has made me think about all the terrific places we
have visited this trip, and of those we have visited in the past. I
decided to come up with a top 5 list of cities where I would love to live.
Here it is (and remember this is subject to change at any time depending on my
mood.)
1. Sydney - The friendliest, cleanest city I have ever visited with a lovely
setting.
2. London - I love the traditions, the theatre and the great museums.
3. Chicago - I loved living 15 minutes from Chicago when I went to
Northwestern. It is great because of the Cubs, the blues, the shopping,
the Lake and the friendly people.
4. Budapest - A great city because of its castles on the Buda side and
restaurants and shops on the Pest side.
5. Newport, Rhode Island - Admittedly, this is not a big city, but one of my
favorites for its scenery and oysters.
So, that is today's list. In close running were New York, Edinburgh and
San Francisco, but they did not make the cut. In addition to cities I
would like to live, there are many cities we visited where I would not love to
live, but I would love to re-visit. Some of these are Bangkok, Kathmandu,
Udaipur, and Istanbul.
Check out our Scotland Photos.