Throughout the year, Perth will be active with people in and around the area celebrating and the town entertaining people with more than a hundred events. Culture and creativity had a fiery start and got into full swing with the Scottish Culture Minister, Fiona Hyslop, inaugurating the celebrations at the Perth Museum and Art Gallery.

Light shows, a special exhibition and street performers marked the opening and left guests stunned. The inaugration even showcased varying dance styles of the world-famous guest choreographer Mark Morris and Scottish ballet artistic directors. Ms. Fiona Hyslop said “The Perth 800 programme is a superb year-long programme of events, representing a well balanced mix of the old and the new, and showcasing the Fair City’s vibrant artistic and cultural scene. Culture and creativity are vital to a prosperous nation, extending the economic and social fabric of the country – Perth 800 offers a great opportunity to do that here.”

A free exhibition “Skin and Bone” which gives visitors an insight into Perth’s medieval past runs until August. It also includes items like the Perth Psaltr taken as loan from the National Library of Scotland. Perth Provost John Hubert had this to say about the celebration: “This is an important and historic anniversary for people here and throughout Scotland and we want to welcome visitors from home and overseas, especially our twin towns and the other Perths around the world, to come and celebrate it with us.”

Highlights of Perth 800:

• Perth 800 Film Festival: April
• The Perth Festival of Arts: May
• Perth Day – 2nd July
• Geocaching treasure hunt- July
• Auction Sale (antiques, collectibles, fine arts) at L.Burns auction house – July
• Lightnight Perth – November.

And so, if you are planning to make a visit to Scotland, here is place you ought not to miss and if you are not planning a Scotland holiday, here is a reason why you should!

West Highland Railway Line across the seasons!

Last year, when the Wanderlust magazine (a bible for independent minded travelers) introduced a new category “Best Rail Journey” to its list of annual travel awards, little did anyone guess who the winner would be. Speculations were that it ought to be the Trans-Siberian Express, Orient Express or the Trans-Australia. Few people even conjectured it could be the train through the fabled Alps in Switzerland, the Eurostar or the Cusco-Puno in Peru.

The winner-West Highland Line from Glasgow to Fort William and fishing port of Mallaig on the West coast of Scotland had more than a few surprised. But to those who have been to the place or who have experienced the 164 miles train journey themselves, the West Highland Line was the clear winner. This is the second year running that the West Highland has won this title and this accolade for sure will do wonders when it comes to publicity for Scotland Tourism.

UK’s most scenic rail route became the world’s number one outshining 400 other rail journeys nominated from across the world. Highlights of the journey included its awe-inspiring scenery, beautiful lochs, the highland cattle you get to see on the way, the 21-arch Glenfinnan viaduct which it crosses and the splendid views of the Isles of Eigg, Muck and Rum. The west Highland line and its scenery had already earned its share of fame worldwide (which of course it very well deserved) after the Glenfinnan viaduct (world’s first concrete rail viaduct at Glenfinnan) which it crosses featured in the Harry Potter movie series.

The awards attracted more than 3000 readers vote and gives travellers another reason to make this trip during their holiday. Wanderlust editor-in-chief Lyn Hughes said: “It’s great to see the West Highland Line once again topping the list – proving that you really don’t need to travel to far flung destinations to experience truly breathtaking scenery.”

Tip: The tickets are real cheap if you book in advance.

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The Cairngorm resort at a distance of just 20 minutes from Aviemore and lying at the foothills of the Cairngorm Mountains are mulled over to be the best ski resort in Scotland. Advanced skiers will love the runs with a maximum vertical drop of 400 meters. The resort has 12 lifts including Scotland’s only elite funicular railway (which can be used by non-skiers on their way down). In addition to the skiing slopes, one can also find a sledging park and amenities to serve freestylers.

Lecht is sited at a distance of some forty minutes from Grantown-on-Spey. The resort has green runs close to the car park, one black run and has its own snowmaking facilities which gifts it the most consistent snow conditions of Scotland’s resorts.
South of Cairngorm, about twenty minutes from Braemar is the Glenshee resort. It covers four mountains, three valleys and has the largest lift network in UK.

The Western Highland Resorts: Nevis Range and Glencoe:

Glencoe boasts ‘the steepest and most thrilling black-graded run in Britain’ and has seven lifts leading to 19 runs. Nevis Range is comfortably sited on Aonach Mor, the eighth highest mountain in Scotland. Thanks to its artificial slope, skiers will not be disappointed even in summer.

While on the forefront he is expected to meet the Queen, stay at the Buckingham and also convene a meeting with the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, it is also expected that he will be visiting Scotland’s two most important cities – Edinburgh, the capital city and Glasgow its largest city. As of now the draft itinerary includes Oxford, Birmingham and Edinburgh. He is also projected to address a crowd of thousands at the famous Glasgow Green. Though the details have not yet been fully confirmed, it is anticipated that the Pope will arrive at Scotland in the month of September, probably on the 16th and 17th.

Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church of Scotland had this to say about this much awaited visit “The Catholic Church expects and hopes to be able to welcome Pope Benedict XVI to Scotland later this year as part of his UK visit. Although we still await an official confirmation that the visit will take place we hope that the Pope will be able to travel to Scotland and look forward to welcoming him.”

With Gordon Brown extending an invitation during an audience, preparations have been in full swing and it looks like this historic event will overshadow the pastoral visit of Pope John Paul II in 1982. The visit follows constant overtures from Downing Street and the Catholic leaders over the past few years. In spite of the fact that there was no official confirmation from the Holy See or Downing Street, a spokesman for Mr Brown said last night: “The PM is obviously delighted at the prospect of a visit from Pope Benedict XVI to Britain. It would be a moving and momentous occasion for the whole country and he would undoubtedly receive the warmest of welcomes.”

While experts say that the responsibility to take decisions lies with the government and with people who have a firm hold in the political arena, the Government Ministers say that the responsibility lies with everybody – every single household, business premise owners and government authorities in Scotland, to help find a solution.  Rainfall recorded at Eskdalemuir observatory on November 20^th, surpassed that in 1931, the prior highest total so far recorded.

A few climate change expert opinions go like:

• There is a one degree Celsius rise worldwide, leaving natural weather far behind.
• An excerpt from what Professor James Curran of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said about the problem: “The weather outside your window at the moment is man-made and we don’t seem to be doing a very good job of it, do we?” (High time we think about it!)
• Something which has to be understood is that as people get along building more protection against this genre of eventualities, a stage will come when, the cost for protecting something exceeds its actual value.
• As a matter of fact, it has become quite difficult to shield everything from harm

It is about time people begun to devise clever plans to cope up with this problem as it is impossible for the government to protect every household. Constructing flood defences, permitting rivers to conduct themselves more naturally, is something anyone can work towards. If you find it hard to meet the expense, it is always better to reallocate yourself and household from flood prone areas.