i figured i'd check out the city thoroughly before going fishing for Nessie.

IF PBASE AIN'T SHOWING YOU THE PICS, JUST REFRESH

http://www.pbase.com/lsyd/image/52862471.jpg

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it's more an 18th century courthouse than a castle...

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ah, art deco

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i couldn't decide between subdued, or cool sky, so here's both

http://www.pbase.com/lsyd/image/52878741.jpg

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the next day i met up with some of my fellow yanks for a fishing cruise...well, just a cruise, really

http://www.pbase.com/lsyd/image/52878753.jpg

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AND NESSIE SHOWED UP!!! LOOK CLOSELY!!!





































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you really didn't think i was coming back empty handed?

alternate takes:

kiss my arse

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friendly

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bonus train shots of the train ride back...which turned into something like the titanic sinking b/c the train got stopped just outside its final destination due to a lineside fire; so we were put on buses, which was push aside the old ladies and people with kids. i decided women and children first because i really didn't want to get back and go to class the next day. i got called "the nice american" for my patience.

http://www.pbase.com/lsyd/image/52878778.jpg

:cheers:

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Excellent! I have always wanted to see what Inverness looks like, looks very nice indeed. Will have to visit there sometime.

Oh and I love that fluffy green nessie - it's so cute!

You have taken me back years! I used to love going across that pedestrian suspension bridge as a kid, good memories of sitting alongside the river, especially after heavy rain. They were just about to build that precinct last time i was there, slightly disorientating.

Ahhh... Preston's Scottish counterpart jubilee city :)
Its a nice place, especially next to the river. The hotel I stayed in had a great view over the Firth and you could see the big bridge in Inverness.
The only problem is that its got an averagely crap shopping area. Oh well...
Great pics anyway. Nessie is down there somewhere.

Ahhh... Preston's Scottish counterpart jubilee city :)
Its a nice place, especially next to the river. The hotel I stayed in had a great view over the Firth and you could see the big bridge in Inverness.
The only problem is that its got an averagely crap shopping area. Oh well...
Great pics anyway. Nessie is down there somewhere.

I think Inverness was granted millenium city status in 2000, along with Brighton and Wolverhampton, Preston's city status came 2 years later as part of the queens golden jubilee celebrations. :)

Great pics. It looks like an interesting historical city. I think you should sell those pics of Nessie to the National Enquirer! :lol:

I think Inverness was granted millenium city status in 2000, along with Brighton and Wolverhampton, Preston's city status came 2 years later as part of the queens golden jubilee celebrations. :)
My mistake, or more the BBC's! It said that there was a town chosen from each of the home nations to become a city, and Inverness was one of them. I (or they) may be wrong.

nice photos syd - you really have been everywhere! i'll have to check it out for sure. just to kick off a little discussion while we appreciate the photos - do you believe in nessie? i do :)

Beautiful shots,just beautiful.Very Well Done. :applause:
And oh now I do believe in Nessie :)
:cheers:

Spent many happy times in Inverness, its a nice small prosperous city with attractive girls, friendly locals, a beautiful river and a great swimming pool. Not the biggest place in the World but cest la vie, Ive always loved it there.

I'm sure its lovely but i'm such an urban-ite i just could not live somewhere that small and that far away from everywhere else. I'd kill myself! Looks lovely though :)

thanks y'all.

i believe in nessie, i got a picture ;) other than that, yeah, there's probably some wierd large critter that got mistaken for something else. maybe it's even a plesiosaur?

i'd love to be old and in inverness. it just seems like a really nice place to retire.

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You have taken me back years! I used to love going across that pedestrian suspension bridge as a kid

The badoingy bridge! This bridge bounces more than any bouncy castle I've ever been on.

I grew up about 80 west of Inverness, and have that the fortune of being there far, far, too many times. I do question it being a city in the truest sense of word though. "Inverness is not a city... It's the fastest growing housing estate in Europe. It will never be a city." -- Riccardo Marini, Edinburgh City Council design leader.

^^
"badoingy" :pepper:

I spent a while driving round Inverness in the summer trying to find a good viewpoint to take some photos of the... city and the best view I could find with the limited time I had was from a doctor's surgery car park on this roughish estate. Not exactly the image of Inverness I wanted and perhaps the worst photo from my holiday... :( HOWEVER, note the signpost that says "Twenty's plenty" :happy:

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/4629/icam00493tb.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I guess because of it's isolated location, it is like the capital of the highlands which makes it quite important to the people there, it is the only place with decent facilities like shopping, nightlife etc for miles and miles, so they will look at it as their 'city' and although i've never been there I think it deserves it's city status.

:rofl:

tewnty's plenty.

I like it!

I guess because of it's isolated location, it is like the capital of the highlands which makes it quite important to the people there, it is the only place with decent facilities like shopping, nightlife etc for miles and miles, so they will look at it as their 'city' and although i've never been there I think it deserves it's city status.


Very true, i don't knwo the exact figures but whilst only what 70-100 thousand people live in inversness it must be the nearest big town for well over 150,000 people if not a lot more?

Norfolk is kind of the same and indeed any rural region, for most of the 500,000 or so people that live in the country side Norwich Yarmouth or Kings Lynn etc is the main centre giving those towns a much larger 'base' as it were to build services or retail on. Norwich competes retail and business wise with most other cities in the country despite being much smaller.

I visited Inverness twice this year (first time en route to Skye, second time whilst spending a fortnight on Skye and needing a transformer - the nearest place to purchase one was Inverness!). There seemed to be quite a lot of bad sixties buildings that I didn't expect. Not too impressed with Eastgate. Interesting arcades and great location scenically. A wee bit dour for my taste - Portree (pop about 4000?) seemed funkier with more edge!

Have to agree with you Fitzroy, Portree is a fabulous place, had many a great night spilling out of the pubs & bars there!

Very true, i don't knwo the exact figures but whilst only what 70-100 thousand people live in inversness it must be the nearest big town for well over 150,000 people if not a lot more?

Norfolk is kind of the same and indeed any rural region, for most of the 500,000 or so people that live in the country side Norwich Yarmouth or Kings Lynn etc is the main centre giving those towns a much larger 'base' as it were to build services or retail on. Norwich competes retail and business wise with most other cities in the country despite being much smaller.

Shrewsbury is similar, there are no other decent sized towns between here and the Welsh Coast, we get a lot of people coming from 50 miles into Wales to go to their nearest Marks and Spencer.

Inverness looks quite nice, it does seem to have a few nasty concrete bits though and many of the buildings could do with a scrub or a lick of paint to brighten the place up.

What's so funny about Twenty's Plenty?

Last time I was drunk in Portree it was after going to a gig, and then drinking with a good friend back in the town centre. After many Drambuies of all things, we realised we had to get back to her hers, which involved a £50 taxi ride. Oh yes, living in sparsely populated areas has its disadvantages.

The only problem is that its got an averagely crap shopping area.

Agreed the shopping centre is fairly poor, being full of the usual chain stores, especially the High Street, but go just off the High Street and there is a superb arcade with many individual shops and market stores selling local Scottish food, which is well worth a visit. Unfortunately Nessie, like most other big towns, has its fair share of Neds wandering around aimlessly, but I suppose that can't be avoided.

^ yup. i also found a great used bookstore in the city centre.

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^ yup. i also found a great used bookstore in the city centre.

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The place in the old church with the wood burning stove? That's great.