skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Off to Edinburgh fer the day.
After brekies, we walk down our street and in 10 minutes we are at the Sterling train station. £7 for a round-trip ticket to Edinburgh, a great deal. It's about a 45-minute ride in a nice, comfortable rail car -- with no undesirables about. Couldn't ask fer more! We arrive in Edinburgh and the station is fab -- very European. Here's a photo of me wee devil, Jonny at the station...
Once out of the station, we hop on a tour bus to get acquainted with the city. Our informative guide tells us all about the city and it's famous castle. While touring the "Royal Mile" —which is name for the succession of streets which form the main thoroughfare of Edinburgh's Old Town—I am most fascinated by the "closes." A "close" is a narrow alleyway that runs south and north off the "Royal Mile." Each close has a name, usually associated with the owner of tenements on that close. More about the closes, later.
After our bus tour, we take a tour of Edinburgh's famous castle. The castle sits high upon a volcanic crag (as does our Stirling Cas
tle), but dates back to 600 AD. It houses the Scottish crown jewels, and was where Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI, the future king of England. We had a great guide and really enjoyed the castle (although...I hate to say it, but I'm still partial to our castle here in Stirling).
After the tour, we took a walk down from the castle and shopped for Scottish goods...namely plaid scarves and whiskey. Tired and hungry, we pop into a local Italian restaurant. Good... but we thinks we will stick to Scottish fare whilst in Scotland.
Jonny & I high atop Edingburgh Castle
A curvy street in Edinburgh
Edinburgh at 10:30 p.m.
Posing in front of a gothic church
A scenic close
The entrance to Mary King's Close (shudder)
After the meal, I go out in search of "Mary King's Close" -- remember the "closes" I spoke of earlier? Well, I heard that this one was the most haunted in Scotland... so, of course -- I must explore it (and Jon goes along with the idea to humor me). We find it by stumbling across another ghost tour about to start. Mary King's close is completely underground -- used in the 16th century, vacated because many of it's inhabitants died of the black plague. It was shut down and then built upon, only to be discovered later. It was eerie and fascinating. I didn't come in contact with a ghost, but I swear, on our way back to our flat in Stirling, we walked up our VERY SCARY back alley at midnight and I took a pic. There is a mysterious orb-like light in the foreground. Orbs are usually found in areas of high "ghost activity".
You be the judge.........
Do you see the orb?
Jon awakes me at 11:30 am!! Apparently, the Sominex worked too well!! If feel that I have slept the day away, but I forget that the sun sets at 11 pm, so not all is lost. I cook a full "Scottish breakfast" -- eggs, bacon, pancakes, OJ, putter about and finally leave the house at 3pm (the "magic" hour)! Again, too late to get a full tour of the castle, and it's gray and drizzling out side, so we hop into the car and take a ride to the Wallace Monument. Since the weather is not-so-hot, we hike up the path and take in the view from the base of it. We will return for the tour and a better day, but it was a nice visit nontheless. They have removed the statue of William Wallace that looked like Mel Gibson. I don't blame them. The monument on it's own is quite spectacular, and they light it up at night. (I will post a photo of the monument later)
We then hop into the car and visit the town of Bridge of Allan and the local golf course. Very quaint, but keep in mind...it's still raining. We decide to head on back to the flat, and once there we walk a couple of blocks towards the castle in search of the famous "beheading stone", thought to have been used for capital punishments in the 15th century. We end up meandering in the local graveyard, and can't find the stone, but find several old gravestones with the preface of "here lieth." My favorite being —
" Here lies the body
Of Margaret Bent
She kicked up her heels
And away she went"
Off to the flat for a cup of hot tea and dinner.... another ham and cheese panini in the George Forman grill that I found...yummy. Tea and biscuits. At 10pm we decide to head on down to the local pub "The Settle Inn" for a pint or two. We meet George, the friendly Scottish bartender with bad teeth and a wry sense of humor. Jon goes about trying a few whiskeys, and decides he likes the local one "Deanston." I drink two half-pints of Stella Artois and meet up with a nice local lady named Christine, who tells me I MUST visit the Trossachs area. She tells me it's VERY romantic, with it's lochs and scenery, so I have now put that at the top of my list ----along with going on a haunted castle tour...of course. I pull out my camera to take a picture of George, and it is then that I notice that the memory card is corrupt. Which means ALL photos from the first 3 days of this trip are destroyed. Oddly enough, this seemed to happen AFTER Jon and I took a stroll through the local graveyard! I felt I was being respectful, but maybe not enough. I am sad, but a shot of whiskey should make me feel better.
Jon's first day of driving on the wrong-side of the car, on the wrong-side of the street, shifting with his left hand and navigating what seems like a "roundabout" at every corner! Quite a harrowing adventure, but we make in one piece to the car park in the center of town (whew!).
We decide to take a wee stroll on Port street and pop in for a bite to eat and a cup of coffee at Cisco's cafe. We start chattin' up the propieter, Bennie Tortolano. Quite a lovely fellow. Ends up he is half Italian, and his daughter lived in San Diego for quite awhile. He loved to go visit her and he misses his travels to California. He loves the old jazz standards and swing dancin', and did his best impression of Frank Sinatra. He brought up a subject having to to do with "only the good die young", and Jonny chimed in with "I guess I'll live a long time, then." Bennie's answer was "Oh, you're a wee devil, are ye?" So that is now what I call Jonny...."me wee devil." It's SO appropriate.
Subsitute photo of cute, Bennie Tortolano at Cisco's cafe
We proceeded to take a walk about the town, and passed many landmarks, including the old town jail, and the outside of the fabulous Stirling Castle. We will visit it later on, when we have more time to commit to it. We discover that our flat is in one of the most charming areas of Scotland - historically and visually. We are delighted. I am also feeling much better, and the Scottish whiskey helps heal me throat. We take off grocery shoppin' at about 8pm in search of "Tesco" market, but end up at Sainsbury's, which suits us fine. We buy £75 worth of grub (which translates to $160 dollars)....hopefully we will make good use of it. I find that some items are very expensive-- meats and certain veggies, but other items are very cheap -- you could buy a bottle of shampoo for 50 cents and a loaf of bread for a dollar! And the baked goods -- bread, biscuits, etc. are delicious! So much for the Atkins diet in Scotland! Of course, I buy some well-aged Scottish cheese and some local ham -- we are now set for Paninis for lunch every day!
We come home late and are greeted by our downstairs neighbor, Alistaire who kindly helps us bring up Jon's golf clubs that were misplaced by British Airways yesterday! What a nice chap. His wife is Sarah, and he has two young boys. We invited him up for a spot of tea, and we all talked until midnight. Quite a full, social day. And, since I have had trouble sleeping the past few nights, I decide to take a Sominex pill. Let's see how it works.
If some of you don't know already, Jon and I agreed to "house-swap" our home in the desert for a flat in Stirling, Scotland. It didn't take very long to decide to do this, since July in the desert is uninhabitable by most people's standards, and Scotland in the summer is grand and the sun sets at 11pm. Also, it has two of Jon's favorite things in life...golf and whiskey!
Beautiful Stirling Castle
I must first preface this entry by saying that I began journaling 3 days into the trip, and back-tracked. On the 3rd day, my camera card malfunctioned (yes David & Jake...that would be considered an Auntie Carolyn "technical difficulty"), and lost all photos of the first couple of days, so I will need to improvise.
Still fighting what I believed to be a flu, I tried to enjoy our "Upper Class" Virgin Atlantic seats from Boston to Heathrow. This proved to be a bit challenging, since my throat was on fire and I had the chills, so it was difficult to eat and sleep. I will hope to be healthier and in better spirits on the journey back. Once in Heathrow and through customs, we wound our way to the new, hip "Terminal 5" to catch our British Airways trip to Glasgow. We ended up on the last row of the plane, but it was a quick trip and we found our fellow house-swappers, Janette and Steve -- patiently waiting for us at baggage claim. Janette and Steve are a lively couple in their 30s and 40s (respectively), who work at a local school and have a long holiday off in the summer.
They proceeded to help us with our bags and drive us via the "scenic road" to their flat in Sterling -- which, by the way, happens to be next to this amazing 15th century castle! Janette's mum, Frances is there to greet us with a warm cup o' tea. Janette shows us around the flat -- which is quaint and tastefully decorated, and then they are off to the states. Jon & I take a long nap and when I discover that I have strep-throat -- decide to settle-in for the night.
Our fellow swappers Janette and Steve (Again, since I lost all me photos from the first two days, I took this pic from a photo in the living room. I think we did well in choosing them --- dont'ya think?)
tle), but dates back to 600 AD. It houses the Scottish crown jewels, and was where Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI, the future king of England. We had a great guide and really enjoyed the castle (although...I hate to say it, but I'm still partial to our castle here in Stirling).
