It started, logically enough, in Scotland. At Loch Ness, to be precise.
Hannah and I had taken a trip up to Edinburgh from London, where we had been staying in a flat in Bloomsbury for two weeks (on Great Russell Street, where Charles Dickens had lived). On our second rainy day in Scotland, we went on a bus trip that took us all around the country — touristy, I know, but sometimes there's no other way to get around. It was led by the sweetest old lady named Fran, who aggressively plied us with whiskey products and whose liltingly accented voice could make even statements like, "And then they dragged William Wallace from the castle, and he was hanged, drawn and quartered," sound positively charming.
We had been driving through the greenest, foggiest hills for hours when we came to Loch Ness. After rambling through Castle Urquhart and frolicking on grass that, as it turned out, we weren't supposed to walk on, we took a boat out onto the Loch. Much to our surprise, Nessie came out for a visit.
Upon our return to London, we made one of our many visits to the British Museum. There, we discovered a distant cousin of Nessie's.
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| The quality of the picture's not so great, but the family resemblance is uncanny. |
From this moment on, Nessie followed us everywhere. We even saw her on Rome's Palatine Hill, to see Augustus Caesar's frescoed palace:
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| We think this tree had a bit of Nessie ancestry in it. |
I couldn't count the number of times she's popped up (and yes, let's quash the rumors: Nessie is a girl). I haven't always had my camera on hand, unfortunately, but just this past summer I was able to capture one of Nessie's most striking visits yet. Sunset over Lake Michigan:
Such a long trip just to see us! It's flattering, really.
For your viewing pleasure: the first sighting.
