Edinburgh, Scotland

We’ve made the journey into Scotland today. We left the peace and quiet of our B&B this morning after a wonderful breakfast of Scottish pancakes, bacon, fresh fruit salad, freshly squeezed orange juice, hot toast, and a pot of tea. We headed north on the M6 (motorway, like our interstate roads). We paid extra money for me to be a driver on the rental car, but I’ve been a bit too nervous to try it yet. I’m a good navigator and I can see exactly what’s supposed to happen when I’m in the passenger seat, but the thought of actually being responsible for the driving is a bit frightening to me. Along the way, we filled up with gas, or petrol as it’s called here, and wow, it is so expensive here! We think our gas at home is expensive but today we put 9 gallons of gas in the car and it cost us over $70! Today’s interesting road sign was “caution: soft verge”. What is a verge??? And here’s one that’s so Britishly proper: “Do not use mobile phones whilst driving”. Say that with your best put-on British accent!

On the drive to Edinburgh we were struck by the number of tree farms we saw. Huge fir trees were growing along side the road, but then we’d come to an area where a whole square section was cut down for logging. Then other places new trees had been planted. These trees were beautiful Christmas trees…..only most of them were 50 feet tall.

We checked in at our hotel and once we got organized, we hopped a double decker bus outside the hotel and road the 15 minutes into downtown Edinburgh. The bus dropped us at the Waverly Bridge just down the hill from Edinburgh Castle, and we hiked our way up. We were a bit out of breath after our climb up a long, long flight of stairs to the Royal Mile (the road leading down from the castle). The castle was built during the 12 century on the core of an extinct volcano. It has served as a fortress, royal palace, military garrison, and state prison. There were gorgeous views from the castle, as you can see in these photos:

Here are Hubby and I at different places within the walls of the castle. I'm in front of St. Margaret's Chapel. She was the wife of Malcolm III and she was beatified by the pope after her death. The chapel was built as a memorial to her by her son, David I, in the 12th century and is the oldest building within the castle. Hubby is standing with the road leading to the top of the castle behind him.

Around mid-afternoon, we were a bit hungry so we stopped for a cup of tea and a scone with jam, and here’s a picture of that. Ladies, the U.K. is the place for tea! You can get a cup of tea everywhere and it is just a staple of life. Last night at the B&B, they had a book entitled, “Tea Room Walks in the Lakes District”. Every walk began or ended at a tea room! Wouldn’t we have a great time with that! A hike followed by a nice cup of tea with friends. Perfect!

After we left the castle we went into St. Giles Cathedral where John Knox directed the Scottish reformation (Scotland's Martin Luther). They had a magnificent new organ with gleaming silver pipes and some beautiful stained glass windows. Sorry the organ photo is blurry!

Outside the cathedral were two pipers who were street performers playing for money people would give them. We took their photo and then left them a bit of money.

We wondered further down the Royal Mile looking in shop windows and checking out the menus for dinner. Here's the view from the castle looking down the Royal Mile:

This part of the post is for Penoix: we also went into the tartan manufacturer's establishment where we could watch the tartan actually being made. We thought about you because they had power looms making the tartan, but they also had an exhibit of old looms and things to do with the textile industry. We knew you would have loved this. You could also buy tartan by the yard, or an already made for about $150. It takes 8 yards of tartan to make one kilt. My ancestor, Margaret Beacom was a power loom weaver and others in the Beacom family were bleachers and textile workers.

And now for Meals of an Ancestor Collector (and spouse): We had dinner tonight at the World's End Pub at 4 High Street (the Royal Mile). Jim had the steak and ale dinner (beef cooked in beer topped with puff pastry) with potatoes and vegetables. I had Scottish cheddar and caramelized red onion on foccacia bread with salad and chips (thick cut fries). Jim had a nice draft ale and I had a glass of pinot grigio (my usual). We didn’t have dessert but we did buy a hunk of fudge on the way back to the hotel, but please don’t tell anyone I told you that because I will deny it!

Now for some bits and pieces of things: They have here a Home Depot-like store called “B&Q”. Even their color is orange like HD. They also have TJMaxx here but it’s called TKMaxx, with the exact same kind of logo sign. Wonder why? At home we drink a lot of diet iced tea which is impossible to get here. You can occasionally find iced tea, but it won’t be diet. So we’ve been drinking water and sometimes Coke Zero (Brad will be shocked to hear that his Dad is actually liking it!).

Today’s interesting towns and villages:
Lockerbie (where Pan Am flight 103 crashed after it was brought down by terrorists)
Boreland
Motherwell
Bathgate
Holytown
Kirk of Shotts

Tomorrow we have a tee time at St. Andrews Golf Course of 12:08. We are not playing the “Old Course” where Tiger plays, but we’re playing one of their other courses for high handicappers like us. We have reserved clubs and shoes for the afternoon and we’ll get there a little early to browse the pro shop for golf balls and maybe a few souvenirs to bring home. More on that tomorrow! Till then, Ta Ta!