Great Scots! (part one)

We have returned from our trip to Scotland, and let's just say, AMEN to english speaking countries. The trip was enjoyable and quite refreshing to escape the daily routine of life in small town Germany. There were two parts to our trip, city and country, both of which are unique in their own ways. We did a lot of things, but we hope to give a glimpse into our week long vacation.

The City

Day One
The day started out with a wonderful flight on the extremely low-budget airline, Ryanair. This airline makes Southwest seem like you are flying in your own private jet. They set the standard for making you the most uncomfortable you can possibly be while flying as well as charging you for everything including the bathroom (I guess we are in Europe). Although it seems this airline is unsuitable, they happen to have a 90% on-time arrival rate, and our flight was no exception.

We normally like to take a picture of our lodgings, but since we forgot, we would like to let you know we stayed at 23 Mayfield. This B&B was a very nice house near the city and served traditional scottish fare for breakfast, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Lamb intestines anyone? Haggis is a traditional dish at anytime of day made of sheep's insides and mixed with oats and served like sausage. Rob, with the iron stomach, decided to have a sample, and said it tasted like LIVER. Yummo. Anyway, on to the activities.

First things first, Starbucks. Elizabeth made sure we hit up the Bucks before we went anywhere...she had been having major withdrawals since we've been in Germany. This also had the benefit of making the trip more enjoyable for her man(she had a cup in her hand at all times).
It also gave her the energy to walk up the famous Calton Hill. This is one of the highest points in the city and offers great panoramas of the city skyline. The Stewart Monument, The Scottish National Monument and The Nelson Monument all find their homes on top of Calton Hill, and make for some impressive photos. We did not stay long because of the weather...it's not what you think. Surprisingly for us it was not raining like you would suspect in this part of the world, but it was very windy. People assume we are used to the wind because we are from Chicago??? People need to get their facts straight. Regardless, we had to get off the hill for fear of losing Elizabeth and her ninety pounds.





In Scotland, the sun goes to bed well before the people. So, we spent the rest of the night, and if you're thinking 8 pm or later, try 3:30 pm or later, walking around Princes street and it's adjoining gardens. This street had many upscale shops and boutiques which we perused while waiting for dinner. We ended up eating at The basement . This is nothing like your Mom's basement...but an upscale bar and restaurant that served scottish fare. Nothing like a meat pie and some fish and chips to finish off our first day.

Day Two
We did three major excursions, The Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh Castle, and Mercat Tours.

The Royal Botanical Gardens is a huge nature park located in the northern part of the city. Although it was somewhat gloomy, we took pleasure in strolling through the gardens and seeing some of God's creation. Rob took this opportunity to practice his picture taking abilities which are still lacking (he thinks too hard). Elizabeth seemed to be preoccupied by searching for a bathroom because she just drank a Starbucks.




Edinburgh Castle is a major attraction for those visiting Edinburgh. This giant fortress sits atop a volcanic rock at the end of the Royal Mile (oldest and most famous street in all of Scotland). The structure and its surroundings is very impressive and will leave an impression on anyone. We spent a couple hours touring around and listening to our audio guide to give us a little more historical background about what we were seeing. We were lucky enough to see the famous One o'clock gun being fired at One o'clock. This happens every day except for a couple major holidays. Royal Guards walk around telling parents with little ones to makes sure their ears are covered, as the sound of the boom can be traumatic. So, Elizabeth followed the instructions and buried her head into my coat so she didn't die of a heart attack (she is becoming more and more like her parents each day). After awhile in the castle, we needed to refuel before our tour of the Historic Vaults.




If we made one mistake on this trip, it was taking this tour of underground Scotland. The underground vaults were created in the late 18th Century and abandoned by the 1830s only to be discovered again in 1996. These vaults have since made Edinburgh the capital of paranormal sightings. While we don't believe in ghosts, we thought this tour would be interesting and a little spooky. We were disappointed with all the hype because our guide spoke with such a thick accent that we had a hard time understanding a word he was saying. Our guide mentioned he never believed in ghosts until the day he married his wife, a practicing physic and medium, and now he is also a client. Weird, yea, you don't have to tell us, we were there. Surprisingly, we did not see a ghost, even though our guide resembled one.

Stay tuned for our second installment...The Highlands. Here is the link to the pictures.