Bits and Pieces

No one story in particular, so here's a bunch of little ones...

On flying here--
Tim was sitting next to a young couple and their small boy on the way to Edinburgh. They carried on a sippy cup for the wee Scot while in flight. Once we were in the air, the kid opened his drink and it went PSHHHHT! spraying apple juice on everyone in the vicinity.

On eating here--
I could get used to the salt and vinegar on fries. It's yummy.

On the food--
Cheddar cheese is not yellow or orange here. It's white. And tasty.

On the language--
French fries are called chips. Potatoe chips are called crisps. They have a gazillion flavors of crisps here. In fact, last night I went into a pub where I bought a bag from the hottest Scottsman ever (he kept calling me "Darlin'" and "Luv"--swoon!). He gave me a choice in crisp flavors including prawn cocktail, chicken and rice, onion and cheese and salt and vinegar.

More on the language--
On our way into Edinburgh airport a few minutes ago (we can't check in for another 20 minutes, so I thought I'd blog), we passed a traffic sign. We were coming into an area with a lot of speedbumps, so the sign warned: Humps for 300 yards. How exhausting.

On Hogmaney--
We happened to be in Edinburgh for the Scots equivelent of Mardi Gras. They had a beautiful fireworks display last night and have a huge midway set up on several city blocks. There's also a Christmas marketplace, where you can get mulled wine in real mugs (no paper or styrofoam here!). They also sell oranges stuck with cloves. Everyone is in the Christmas spirit around here. It seems they celebrate more between the holidays than before. They're playing and singing Christmas carols and there are trees and decorations in nearly every window.

On right now--
Tim is sitting a few feet behind me with our bags. There's a maintenence man sitting right next to him mumbling, making motions like he's pouring himself (and Tim) a wee dram.

On yesterday morning--
The daylight is short here. The sun's only up from about 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. While we were walking to the stop for our tour bus, a red fox popped out of the hedges and trotted along with us on the opposite side of the road.

On stereotypes--
While at Loch Ness yesterday, we saw a family walking a Scottie dog. I swear, if the dog could talk, he'd have a brogue.

On forgetting--
Last post I promised to explain the difference between a loch and a lake. A lake is something you find in England. A loch is a lake you find in Scotland, only more beautiful.

Time to catch our flight to London now. We'll catch up more tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

Some final thoughts on Scotland

We're leaving Scotland tomorrow, but I wanted to give you my impression of the Scots as a people before I go (so don't look for a post tomorrow, I'll be back the next day).

Scotland has a brutal history. The native Highlanders were literally cleared out by the British, similar to how Native Americans were treated. And yet, when you're there, you can feel the pull.

Scots are attached to their land. They're born to it. And they actually are in love with it. It's part of them in a way Americans can't understand.

And there's magic here. Not the hocus-pocus kind. But the kind that makes a man want to fight in and army that's outnumbered five to one or six to one (with Robert the Bruce or William Wallace). Or a man take on a group of seven bandits who murdered a friend--and win against them all.

They're hardy and strong. They've got personality like none other.

You've got to expereince this country. Not just the cities and the food. Or the kilts and the pipes. You've got to sit with a Scotsman. Learn what makes him tick.

You'll be glad you did.

We hae a Heilan' fling

You take the high road and I'll take the low road and I'll be in Scotland before you...

If you ever make it to Scotland, you MUST see the Highlands. Tim and I aren't ones for organized tours, but this, by far, was the best thing we've done so far. A Scotsman, Tim--believe it or not--toured us about 350 miles up to Loch Ness, stopping along the way to view the mountains and other historical spots. He also gave a history of the country for most of the way that really helped put it all in perspective. What kind of history, you say? Well....

Let's start with the Jacobites (JACK-o-bites). The true revoluntionaries of Scotland. They were Highlanders (yes, there's a difference between Highlanders and Lowlanders--I'll explain more later). They were also pretty well wiped out by the English (Sassenachs). The primary Jacobite clans included the MacDonalds, Frasers and Camerons. My clan, the Gordons (I verified this here--what better place??) were not Jacobites, but were a very powerful clan nonetheless. The Gordons were so powerful, they had their own regiment in Her Majesty's Army.

>Anyway, enough about history...we finally met Hamish the Heilan' Coo. Jolly chap. Loves eating neeps, tatties, carrots and most especially strawberries. But not so much on the citrus. "It runs roit tru him."

Listening to Tim the Tour Man all day really gave us a flavor for the Scots language. He actually belted out a sentence or two in Scots. Even now, we have no idea what he said. He could very well have called us all crazy Sassenachs and we smell funny. But it sounded charming, so we all laughed.

The only town you would have heard of that we visited today was Loch Ness. We think we may have seen the monster (maybe a duck)--and we got a photo...


So, I'll wrap this up with a Scottish saying--Lang may yer lums reek. For you Trekkies out there, it translates into, "Live long and prosper."

Whisky, wool and rain...oh my!

What a fun day today. Not just because of all we saw and did, but because the weather was so unpredictable. One minute--sun (I actually wore my shades for about 17 minutes!), the next minute it was pouring.

It rained so much, that on our way to Cadenhead's, a car drove by and completely soaked me with gutter water. I looked like I was wearing a leopard print coat. But we made it to Cadenhead's finally and Tim got his whisky lesson, taste and made a purchase. I, on the other hand, tucked up next to the heater with the store's dog, Maggie.

Funny story about Maggie. She took a liking to Tim and started licking the bottoms of his shoes. She was so intent on his shoes, that Tim accidentally stepped on her tongue--from which she emitted a bottle-shattering yelp.

Anyway, we walked the Royal Mile, toured the castle, checked out a woolen mill and saw tartans being woven.

We also each got a Scottish sweater. I made double sure mine was from Scotland (Tim's is Irish).

We just had drinks at a pub that has two sides. One for the common fella. The other for the hoity-toitys. We sat with some older gents on the hoity-toity side. Not because we're snobs, but because we really wanted to sit.

Time to get ready for tomorrow. We're off to the Highlands and Loch Ness, and the tour leaves early.

P.S. This is what's going on in our room right now...

Good Morning!

A full night's sleep in a real (well, two twin beds pushed together) bed felt wonderful. Around 6 a.m., the wind started howling and banging things around. At first Tim suggested a ghost, which I was willing to buy into but had no tolerence for so early in the morning, but then we hear the wind. Shhh!

So, we just finished our breakfast. Tim had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.


I had the continental, which was Scottish cheddar cheese, a hot crossed bun with brambleberry jam and a piece of toast. Yum! Carb load for me!

Then Colin, our host, brought out the haggis. He apologized for not bringing it out sooner, so we could have had it with the rest of our breakfast. But he said, on the bright side, "You can have it neat." Like scotch.

The verdict on the haggis--it's good. But it's not a breakfast food for us. It kind of tastes like ground hamburger seasoned and with gravey. If you ever get the chance, you should try it.

Well, off to try the shower. Then to the castle, Royal Mile and the Palace at Holyroodhouse.

It's all uphill from here...well, actually downhill

We've arrived in Edinburgh jetlagged, but safe and sound. We didn't sleep on the flights here (we had a 3.5 hour layover in Amsterdam) and we hit the town as soon as we pulled in.

And can you believe it--we came straight to our B & B. We didn't get lost once. Amazing.

So today we explored Edinburgh (we arrived at 11 a.m.). There's a huge festival in town for Hogsmany, which starts on 12/29, so there's carvinal rides and a midway right on the main tourist area, Prince's Street. Wall Street and Prince's Street have a lot in common--crowds, main-stream stores and teenagers with no fashion sense.

We spent a lot of time on the Royal Mile. As cheesy as it sounds, I hear bagpipes everywhere I go on this street. I keep telling myself it's just the kilt stores blaring music for the benefit of the tourists. I just hope it's not all the whisky...the things we do to stay warm!

The kilt talley is up to two. One was a real kilt-wearer, running between the raindrops with his kid trying to stay dry. The other was a show-kilt-wearer. He was standing on a street corner playing the pipes, and for a pound or two, you could take your picture with him. We passed on that. I'm holding out for Tim to try on a kilt. I have a feeling I'll be holding an awfully long time.

The shopping here is fun, but expensive. We ducked into an antiques store to get out of the rain and I found a watercolor of Paris (of all the cities--why not Edinburgh?) for half off. Besides the shortbread, it was our first official purchase.

Well, I'm getting sleepy and cold, so I'm calling it a night. Tune in tomorrow when we give our Chef's Reviews of haggis, fill you in on the castle and share our thoughts on whisky tasting.

Cheers!

Before we leave

Tomorrow we're on our way to Scotland. We've checked the forecast and it's for rain. But that won't matter much. It's Scottish rain, so that makes it charming, right?

I've been doing a little countdown of my own for the last week or so. It's the "One More Day of Long, Hot Showers and Full-Strength Hairdryers," countdown.

But I'm not complaining. I love travel.

See you on the flip. The next post will be from Edinburgh.

Packing Light

When we talk about our travels, we frequently try to sell others on the benefits of packing light. Very light. We each take one carry-on bag each, and, this trip, one personal bag.

I have to admit, I wasn't thrilled with this idea at first. Afterall, what if I needed a fifth pair of pants for some reason? And we haven't even talked about how many shoes to bring...

But the one carry-on has its advantages. First, we just grab our stuff and walk off the plane. No waiting by the baggage carousel trying to figure out which black suitcase is ours. Second, while the wheeled suitcase is convenient, it is not suitable for the quaint cobblestoned streets of Europe. You'd need baggage with a suspension for that. And third, it forces us to bring only what we need. Not what we want. But what we honestly need.

But back to the shoes. I know many of you are wondering how are we going to survive for nine days and only one pair of shoes. The answer is simple. Keens. We love our Keens. We had them last time we traveled and wouldn't consider traveling without them. They're comfortable and don't look too casual. Also, they're waterproof. We both highly recommend them.

So, now that we're packed, we're just about ready to go. Only when we packed, we both fit all of our stuff on one side of our bag. Unusual. Now we think we forgot a bunch of stuff. Who cares, right? We're going to a civilized country, where, if we need it, we can find toothpaste, socks or anything else we may have forgotten.

Oh, we've added a Highland tour to our trip. We'll spend the day traveling around on a bus with a Scot in a kilt who will introduce us to Hamish the Hairy Coo.

I can hardly wait.

On the Road Again

We got the itch again. European travel just calls to us.

We had the option of refinishing our kitchen (and you all know how much I love my cupboards) or going to Europe. We chose Great Britain.

Our holiday adventure begins Dec. 26, Boxing Day. We'll leave here in the afternoon and land in Amsterdam around 4 a.m. our time. Then, a quick flight to Edinburgh will get us there in time for a late breakfast at the Priestville Guest House.

After three days in Edinburgh, we'll hop another short flight to London, where we'll mingle with the Brits for a week.

We've rented an apartment while we're there, and we're looking forward to settling in to our new neighborhood--Chelsea.

Stay tuned to the blog as we travel through "The Mother Country."

Cheerio!