Thursday night we flew to Glasgow/Prestwick and spent the night in the quaintest Bed and Breakfast. The owner's name was Marion, and she was at the door as we were getting out of our taxi. We stayed in one of her two rooms with a huge xl king sized bed and a futon. She had an assortment of tea and hot chocolate and cookies for us. The next morning she made us a full scottish breakfast - toast, cold cereals, fruit, and yoghurt, juice and tea, eggs, tomato, mushrooms, potato scones, and meat for marla and katie. delish.
We then took the train to Glasgow and then to Edinburgh. The ride was gorgggggeous, and I can't express how much of a relief it was to see NATURE, to see GREEN! The ocean and all the grass and hills. Sheep and cows. Just what I needed. Plus, I adore train rides, so soothing, relaxing.
In Edinburgh we took a snazzy black UK cab to our next B&B, "Menzies Guesthouse" and put our stuff away. Then we walked to the royal mile and found our way to the Edinburgh Castle. My mission, of course, was to find "Mons Meg" the cannon that King James IV drug across Scotland to subdue the Lyles at Duchal Castle because they had backed an insurrection against him.
Found it!
At the castle, we also succeeded in finding men in kilts~ excellent. And of course, a few bits of history about the royal stewarts!
One of the things I'm looking forward to this summer about staying home is...(i'm afraid Dad will have a heart attack when he reads this)...learning about family history. Yes, I said it. But being in Scotland does make me very curious, to see where our family lived and how and such. And I have quite the high level of Scottish pride already, despite not knowing my whole background, so I must bring that side up to par :-P So I can transfer that pride to my chilluns~
Next visit after that was to the Tartan Mill! My photographic memory did me well, because I remember exactly how this looked when I was there with Mum, Dad, and Cathy 10 or so years ago! And its exactly how I remembered it :) at the top of the royal mile, right before the castle~ The weaving contraption wasn't set up though like last time, when we got to try weaving a bit. But I think it's just since it's not their busy season~ I did however fall in love with one of their uber long wool scarfs, Clan MacKenzie since they didnt have Stewart, plus I really like the Mackenzie tartan and we do have ancestors in the clan.
After that we grabbed a quick lunch (tuna and sweet corn sandwich, mmm) and hit up the "Scotch Whisky Experience." Oh yes, this isn't just a tour! It's an experience!! So we got our drams of whisky in souvenir whisky tasting glasses, then learned how malt and grain whiskies are made and blended. All sorts of modern gadgetry was used- A barrel ride, a ghost whisky noser projected in fluorescent green, spooky sound effects, and the like. All quite entertaining, and educational! haha. Though I must say, whisky is absolutely disgusting. The after-feeling is lovely, but the taste leaves much to be desired.
Après ca..we rummaged through the scottish grocery store and found some long-desired items -- cadbury eggs, cheerios, etc. Then dinner at a nearby Tavern. Fish and chips and a good belgian beer, of course! (Scottish Ale is a lil too hardcore for me). Though I'm disappointed they didnt ask me if I wanted peas or mushy peas!! :(
We rested that night at the B&B over "american" chocolate chip cookies and tea. Then the next morning we set off to hike Arthur's Seat! The most gorgeous hike~ We could see all of edinburgh -- the water, the mountains, everything.
A little video to prove how INSANE the wind was. Was so afraid of being blown off the edge! Though, fortunately the wind was blowing us up the mountain, so that may have made the hike a bit easier.
Almost to Arthur's Seat!- Video Here
I miss nature.
So then we walked the rest of the royal mile, made a few last-minute edinburgh purchases (namely amazing fudge (marzipan amaretto, mmm) and a pretty silver celtic ring), and had lunch at an awesome little soup/salad place. I had cream of veggie soup with a spinach and sweet potato salad and a ginormous piece of soft, fluffy wheat bread :) oh, and a spice cupcake with heavenly chocolate frosting. Very comfort-food esque. Then we visited the national gallery and took the train to Glasgow.
Trying to wrap this up...getting quite long...in glasgow we moved our stuff into the crazy hostel...Slightly sketchy yet humorous aussie guys abounding. Met and talked to some random people in the hostel. It would be interesting to spend a long time in a hostel...see what kinds of people come in and out. Anywho, had dinner at an awesome italian restaurant, amazing pasta -- tagliatelle with spinach, pine nuts, parmesan, and cream. Then went searching for night life, which resulted in "club campus." The place looked exactly like a U.S. frat party, complete with girls in way-too-short dresses and random fake street signs all over the walls. Twas a good time. We danced and had a few drinks, a fun night. Then we crashed in the hostel, only to be awakenedin 2 hrs by huge pounding at the door, which one of the guys in our 8-bed room had locked from the inside. I, being on the bottom bunk, was forced to go open the door, at which point 4 (assumingly drunken) aussie boys came stumbling loudly into the room, accompanied by loud music playing outside the window, and eventually made their way to their beds. All added to the humorous experience. We talked to one of them the next morning for a good bit, very cool guy (not to mention good-looking :P).
That morning Marla's long-lost-relatives had invited us for breakfast, so the nephew of the woman who invited us came to pick us up. The uncle had said he would be "wearing a kilt and driving a white mercedes convertible" haha, sad thing was we almost believed him. Must be that scottish jewish humor for ya. But they had a wonderful spread layed out for us -- big fluffy onion bagels, cream cheese, lox, egg salad, finger veggies, all sorts of yumminess. The conversation was fun and they seemed like a really cool family! Can I go live with them and stay in Scotland for the rest of the semester please? haha, just kidding.
Anyways, they drove us to the airport, and we spent our last pounds and took off.
Lovely trip, and whats even better....
Ironically enough, about 6 hours after I started typing this blog entry, I ended up planning my next trip to Scotland! haha. Didnt expect it to happen that soon, but spring break plans were made by my friends this weekend while I was gone, so they gave me all the info. We're going to London, then Edinburgh, then Dublin, and then flying to Italy for a week!! So excited!!! And the tickets were all pretty reasonable, Dublin to Italy being the most expensive.
Alright, wrapping up this insanely long and rambling post with some scot-specific vocab and a few necessary Scotland photos:
Scotland - L'Ecosse
Celtic - celte
Tartan - le tartan (that one's a bit tricky :P)
woolen mill - le filature de laine
ancestors - ancêtres
fish and chips -poisson frit et frites
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