Edinburgh, Scotland
Woo Hoo! Time to go back to Scotland! Scotland has
ranked on the scale of "favorite countries" to #2. Yeah! This time, Jacob and I went and had the kids
stay at a friend's house. It was our first "without 
kids" trip ... we figured it's been 13 years 
since we had a kid-free holiday. There were some nerves before our flying, due to the recent bomb scare in 
London and the maniac Jeep smashing driver at the Glasgow Airport.
We flew in to
Glasgow - Prestwick, which is about 30 miles south of Glasgow. There was a lot of security (men with 
machine guns - wowsa!) which made me feel more secure. We rented a car to travel around in and 
then *woosh!* we were off to Edinburgh.
Driving to Edinburgh was very nice, albeit rainy. 
Our spirits were not dampened, nevertheless! There were spots of sunshine and we took a route 
through small villages (avoiding Glasgow ... I 
learned my lesson last time!) and it was beautiful!
One of the villages we drove through was Darvel, the birthplace of Sir Alexander 
Fleming, the Nobel Prize 
winning inventor of penicillin.
To the city centre and the castle! We
did see 
something interesting ... a double-decker bus with a "L" (learner) on it ... it doesn't take much 
to amuse me these days. ;)
When I bought the tickets and rented the car, I asked Jacob where 
he wanted to stay. He said that we could "wing it" and that we'll find 
(something when we get there. A co-worker (British) said there 
shouldn't be much trouble getting a room anywhere due to the recent 
threats to London and Glasgow.
Well, guess what!? The Queen hosted her
annual Garden Party and was in residence whilst we were there! I 
know ... RUDE! Well, we only had to be turned away once before we found
special holiday so we splurged.
After settling in, we walked to the city centre and walked around
(leisurely I might add!), looking at t-shirts and laughing (but not 
buying) at them. Lunch was at a pub (smoke-free since July 1 - woo hoo!) and Jacob had his favorite ... haggis (he will have it again for supper).
Oh, take a look at the picture of Jacob, standing in front of a statue of a bucking horse and a hotel - that hotel, the Balmoral Hotel, is where J.K. Rowling finished her 7th Harry Potter book on January 11, 2007.
We went to Gladstone's Land, the home of a prosperous merchant (Thomas Gledstanes) in the 17th century. He let out parts of the building to different tenants to make more moolah. The house has authentic decorations and 2 floors are furnished to give you a sense of the living conditions 300 years ago. The ceiling in the master bedroom was painted with fruit and flowers - it was really beautiful! No photography allowed ... I couldn't even sneek in a shot because there was an employee in every room. RUDE!
Next, we strolled to St. Giles' Cathedral, a focal point on the royal mile. The cathedral contains nearly 200 memorials honoring distinguished Scots and remembering Scottish soldiers. The picture of the Scot holding a head was one of our favorite!
Starbucks has the BEST caramel hot chocolate ... fyi. ;)
Continuing our walk down the royal mile, we ended up at Holyrood Palace, the royal residence of the Queen of England. Across the road from the palace is the new Scottish Parliament ... now, I don't want to offend anyone, but U.G.L.Y. is the only way I can describe the building. There were sticks o'plenty and it was a big, modern-art nightmare. It's only saving grace was the beautiful countryside and the palace nearby.
Okay, so now for a little more interesting history. There is a pub called At World's End and we noticed brass bricks in the street. It all made sense when we read that after the Battle of Flodden in 1513, a wall was erected to protect the citizens of the Burgh. The brass cobbles in the road denote the ancient gates to the city. As far as the inhabitants were concerned, this was the end of the world. Cool, eh?
On to supper and the Pub "Deacon Brodie". Deacon Brodie was an actual person who lived in Edinburgh in the 18th century. His double life is thought to have been the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's novel "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".
Supper at the pub was okay, but the conversation with the other patrons was better! At one point, the entire pub was inhabited by American's only! Jacob had a poached chicken stuffed with haggis and I had the roast.
We ended up going on a "most haunted" tour of a local cemetery - my sister Shelly and her hubby Chuck came here for their honeymoon and mentioned a scary cemetery tour and it sounded like fun!
The best part of the tour was the actual cemetery! (Greyfriar's Cemetery) I would have to rate it as one of the best cemeteries I have been to, and I have been to a ton over here! Not only was the ambiance amazing, the stories and history are interesting as well. Here are some fun stories:
* Greyfriar's Bobby (the famous Skye Terrier) is buried here. As the story goes, John Gray (a sheepherder) had a wee little terrier by the name of Bobby. After John died and was buried in the churchyard, Bobby was found sitting on his master's grave the next day. The dog was thrown out (dogs aren't allowed on this consecrated ground). The next day, Bobby was back. And the next day - and the next. Actually, Bobby ended up guarding his master's grave for 14 years. Bobby is buried in the vicinity of John Gray. Funny thing is, the John Gray buried here was the policeman John Gray ... ;)
* Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, received inspiration for her book by staying near the cemetery - there were a number of graves robbed at that time.
* Charles Dickens is said to have received the inspiration of a part of A Christmas Carol from the cemetery. He saw a grave marked "Ebenezer Scrooge ... a mean man" and thought the man buried must have been an exceptionally cruel man. Well, Mr. Dickens read his gravestone wrong - it said "meal man", not "mean man" (turns out Mr. Scrooge ... pronounced scroo-gee ... was a cereal merchant).
* Whilst writing her novel and looking out a big window of a nearby cafe - the Elephant House - J. K. Rowling was inspired by the cemetery and the boy's school nearby. Believe it - in the cemetery there is a man buried named Tom Riddle! ;)
After the tour, we headed out for the hotel - we must have walked 5 miles that day (or more)! ;) The rest was well needed and we woke to a nice breakfast at the hotel.
We traveled towards Prestwick and stopped at the seashore there. It was windy, but a beautiful day! Walking hand-in-hand was on the venue, along with a little "kissy-face, huggy-mush". ;) wink, wink
After the sea, we drove to Ayr, hoping to catch up on some souvenir shopping. Come to find, Ayr was a little bustling town! The Wallace Tower is seen over the town - a tribute to Sir William Wallace. According to tradition, near the spot the tower is, William Wallace made his escape from the town after the burning of the Barns of Ayr.
Well, that's our trip. It was a very casual, relaxing and interesting one! A big shout out to the Smith's for watching our kids and to the Campbell's for watching our Gabby! xxoo
ranked on the scale of "favorite countries" to #2. Yeah! This time, Jacob and I went and had the kids
stay at a friend's house. It was our first "without 
kids" trip ... we figured it's been 13 years 
since we had a kid-free holiday. There were some nerves before our flying, due to the recent bomb scare in 
London and the maniac Jeep smashing driver at the Glasgow Airport.We flew in to
Glasgow - Prestwick, which is about 30 miles south of Glasgow. There was a lot of security (men with 
machine guns - wowsa!) which made me feel more secure. We rented a car to travel around in and 
then *woosh!* we were off to Edinburgh.
Driving to Edinburgh was very nice, albeit rainy. 
Our spirits were not dampened, nevertheless! There were spots of sunshine and we took a route 
through small villages (avoiding Glasgow ... I 
learned my lesson last time!) and it was beautiful!
One of the villages we drove through was Darvel, the birthplace of Sir Alexander 
Fleming, the Nobel Prize 
winning inventor of penicillin.
To the city centre and the castle! We
did see 
something interesting ... a double-decker bus with a "L" (learner) on it ... it doesn't take much 
to amuse me these days. ;)
When I bought the tickets and rented the car, I asked Jacob where 
he wanted to stay. He said that we could "wing it" and that we'll find 
(something when we get there. A co-worker (British) said there 
shouldn't be much trouble getting a room anywhere due to the recent 
threats to London and Glasgow.Well, guess what!? The Queen hosted her
annual Garden Party and was in residence whilst we were there! I 
know ... RUDE! Well, we only had to be turned away once before we found
special holiday so we splurged.After settling in, we walked to the city centre and walked around
(leisurely I might add!), looking at t-shirts and laughing (but not 
buying) at them. Lunch was at a pub (smoke-free since July 1 - woo hoo!) and Jacob had his favorite ... haggis (he will have it again for supper).Oh, take a look at the picture of Jacob, standing in front of a statue of a bucking horse and a hotel - that hotel, the Balmoral Hotel, is where J.K. Rowling finished her 7th Harry Potter book on January 11, 2007.
We went to Gladstone's Land, the home of a prosperous merchant (Thomas Gledstanes) in the 17th century. He let out parts of the building to different tenants to make more moolah. The house has authentic decorations and 2 floors are furnished to give you a sense of the living conditions 300 years ago. The ceiling in the master bedroom was painted with fruit and flowers - it was really beautiful! No photography allowed ... I couldn't even sneek in a shot because there was an employee in every room. RUDE!
Next, we strolled to St. Giles' Cathedral, a focal point on the royal mile. The cathedral contains nearly 200 memorials honoring distinguished Scots and remembering Scottish soldiers. The picture of the Scot holding a head was one of our favorite!
Starbucks has the BEST caramel hot chocolate ... fyi. ;)
Continuing our walk down the royal mile, we ended up at Holyrood Palace, the royal residence of the Queen of England. Across the road from the palace is the new Scottish Parliament ... now, I don't want to offend anyone, but U.G.L.Y. is the only way I can describe the building. There were sticks o'plenty and it was a big, modern-art nightmare. It's only saving grace was the beautiful countryside and the palace nearby.
Okay, so now for a little more interesting history. There is a pub called At World's End and we noticed brass bricks in the street. It all made sense when we read that after the Battle of Flodden in 1513, a wall was erected to protect the citizens of the Burgh. The brass cobbles in the road denote the ancient gates to the city. As far as the inhabitants were concerned, this was the end of the world. Cool, eh?
On to supper and the Pub "Deacon Brodie". Deacon Brodie was an actual person who lived in Edinburgh in the 18th century. His double life is thought to have been the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's novel "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".
Supper at the pub was okay, but the conversation with the other patrons was better! At one point, the entire pub was inhabited by American's only! Jacob had a poached chicken stuffed with haggis and I had the roast.
We ended up going on a "most haunted" tour of a local cemetery - my sister Shelly and her hubby Chuck came here for their honeymoon and mentioned a scary cemetery tour and it sounded like fun!
The best part of the tour was the actual cemetery! (Greyfriar's Cemetery) I would have to rate it as one of the best cemeteries I have been to, and I have been to a ton over here! Not only was the ambiance amazing, the stories and history are interesting as well. Here are some fun stories:
* Greyfriar's Bobby (the famous Skye Terrier) is buried here. As the story goes, John Gray (a sheepherder) had a wee little terrier by the name of Bobby. After John died and was buried in the churchyard, Bobby was found sitting on his master's grave the next day. The dog was thrown out (dogs aren't allowed on this consecrated ground). The next day, Bobby was back. And the next day - and the next. Actually, Bobby ended up guarding his master's grave for 14 years. Bobby is buried in the vicinity of John Gray. Funny thing is, the John Gray buried here was the policeman John Gray ... ;)
* Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, received inspiration for her book by staying near the cemetery - there were a number of graves robbed at that time.
* Charles Dickens is said to have received the inspiration of a part of A Christmas Carol from the cemetery. He saw a grave marked "Ebenezer Scrooge ... a mean man" and thought the man buried must have been an exceptionally cruel man. Well, Mr. Dickens read his gravestone wrong - it said "meal man", not "mean man" (turns out Mr. Scrooge ... pronounced scroo-gee ... was a cereal merchant).
* Whilst writing her novel and looking out a big window of a nearby cafe - the Elephant House - J. K. Rowling was inspired by the cemetery and the boy's school nearby. Believe it - in the cemetery there is a man buried named Tom Riddle! ;)
After the tour, we headed out for the hotel - we must have walked 5 miles that day (or more)! ;) The rest was well needed and we woke to a nice breakfast at the hotel.
We traveled towards Prestwick and stopped at the seashore there. It was windy, but a beautiful day! Walking hand-in-hand was on the venue, along with a little "kissy-face, huggy-mush". ;) wink, wink
After the sea, we drove to Ayr, hoping to catch up on some souvenir shopping. Come to find, Ayr was a little bustling town! The Wallace Tower is seen over the town - a tribute to Sir William Wallace. According to tradition, near the spot the tower is, William Wallace made his escape from the town after the burning of the Barns of Ayr.
Well, that's our trip. It was a very casual, relaxing and interesting one! A big shout out to the Smith's for watching our kids and to the Campbell's for watching our Gabby! xxoo
1 comments:
MAN!!! I LOVE SCOTLAND!!
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