My "steely blue eyes" take in more sights in Thurso and Nairn

Hello again, folks,

I am trying to get you to Nairn as quickly as possible, but first, I must mention our  effervescent hostess at 4 Princess BnB in Thurso.

The very small sign indicates the  premises of the 4 Princess  BnB
(Source: http://bstatic.com/images/hotel/org)

She was, as my travel journal for the rest of Sept. 11 attests:

 ... very very talkative, but pleasant. She said my steely blue eyes were "evidence of my Norwegian ancestry." [I thought that was so cool: so I have steely blue eyes. Wow. As far as I was concerned, she could carry on and just talk and talk. But to continue with my journal record:]

We settled ourselves in our very small room, which fortunately had its own bathroom in the room, not off the corridor outside, as in Stromness and Fort William. 

Then we walked up the street for dinner —  nice cheese appetizer, which was a mistake, alas, for my innards later on. I had a teriyaki stir fry — many veg (onions, broccoli, carrots, green peppers) but no noodles. Greg had a fish platter. 

It was rainy and cool the evening we made our way to the Holborn Hotel and the Red Pepper
Restaurant  (Source www.nightmove.co.uk)

We sat at the table to the right by the wall . The night we were there the place was packed.
 (Source www.nightmove.co.uk).

Home by 8:30 pm — watched Poldark, the trial episode. I fell asleep, woke at  1:00 am, awake for  two to three hours. Grrrr.

September 12, 2016

We probably could have caught the 9:00 am train to Inverness, but we didn't rush. Nice breakfast: yogurt, fruit, scrambled eggs, dry toast for me. Pain and diarrhea, so I  took a whole codeine and felt better after a while. I would likely be enjoying the trip much more if I felt better. 

Our hostess again regaled us ... [in fact she had me laughing so hard at her comments about the state of my health, I almost didn't notice my stomach cramps on the way to the washroom.]

Then we headed out; it looked like rain and was very windy. We came to the train station and took turns going for walks. I found a nice park, The Mall, by the river.  

[This afternoon while writing this rather dull account, I decided to spice it up by adding Internet pictures and of course, more information: viz. "The Mall dates from Victorian times, but the new foot bridge was completed in 2009 after the old one washed away in a flood in 2006. The new bridge ... goes across the river in a single span." Source: https://www.geocaching.com/geocache] 

Source: http://www.caithness.org/bridges/gallery.php?gallery=0&image=5.
Photographer: Bill Fernie, and  taken on a much nicer day!

Then, while Greg walked, I  read a book by Trollope I had bought at a used bookstore:

It was a charming cubbyhole. Source: http://caithness-business.co.uk/business.php?id=1053

Now we are waiting for the imminent arrival of the train back to Inverness.
***
The train was delayed 15 minutes and seemed to go rather slowly at other times with the result that we missed the connection to Nairn by just a couple of minutes. Our conductor was miffed that they wouldn't hold the train. However, the next one came in just under an hour [for the 15-minute or so trip to Nairn].

Our BnB at Nairn, Cawdor House, is a stone's throw away from the station. A very enthusiastic young German couple run it, and we have a bigger room that we have had so far.

The outside of Cawdor House on a day very like the one on which we arrived.
 (Source: booking.com)

The postmodern photo-art was created by our host.
 (Source: booking.com)

[We decided to explore Nairn High St. and walked down to the shopping area. On the way, we ran into the young woman from the BnB taking the laundry into a laundromat. We all said hello, and later I reflected that being the arty one in the family, i.e., her husband, had its uses]. 

We walked to a park by the sea shore (nearby, the Moray Firth joins the North Sea). I put my hand
 in the water just to feel close to PEI (Source: booking.com)

The BnB proprietors recommended the Classroom Bistro down the street, where we had a very nice meal. I had sea bass, boiled potatoes and mixed vegetables cooked just right. 

Source: www.theclassroombistro.com

Back at our BnB, our TV wouldn't work, so we read our books.

***
And that is the end of the excitement for that day.