The Freezing Castle (Edinburgh)

   On September 6th, we took off to Edinburgh. This was the day that I mentioned earlier, saying it was absolutely freezing, rainy, & miserable. That pretty much sums it up, but we tried to make the best of it & ended up making memories along the way!

   Edinburgh Castle is the focal point of Edinburgh. It's at the top of the Royal Mile, which is a mile long street leading up to castle at the top of the hill. The Royal Mile packed with shops & plenty of Scottish tweeds & tartans to go around. That day we got some royal exercise.

Photo Credit: Dad

   We weren't expecting it to be so cold, so we didn't even bring coats! Just to impress on you how freezing it was, Mum bought us two scarves trying to make us a little bit warmer. I already had a scarf but no gloves, so I just wrapped my new scarf around my cold hands. I did take my hands out of the scarf every now and then to take pictures for you guys. Oh the things I do for you . . .

   I will now mention that my family & I came to Edinburgh on our last England trip, back in 2005. Believe it or not, it was 10x more freezing then than it was this time around. All our Edinburgh memories are rather cold.

   The castle itself was fascinating, so it's a pitty I mostly ducked my head & wanted to go inside a building to get warm.

   Here's a before & after picture! Eight years makes a difference. (And yes, that really was me under all those layers. You'll just have to take my word for it.)

Photo Credit: Dad

Photo Credit: Dad

   One of my favorite parts of Edinburgh Castle was seeing The Honours: The Scottish Crown Jewels. Unfortunately you aren't allowed to take pictures of them, but there is one fascinating story about them that I'd love to recount to you. 

   The crown, scepter, & sword of state were used at the coronations of Scotland's monarchs as far back as 1543. When the Parliament of England & the Parliament of Scotland were dissolved in 1707 & the Parliament of Britain was formed, the Honours of Scotland no longer had a symbolic purpose. Therefore, they were locked in a chest in Edinburgh Castle and almost forgotten for over a hundred years. 

   When a group finally went to regain the Honours in 1818 they were afraid the jewels might have been stolen during their hundred year rest. But when they broke into the chest's lock & lifted the lid the Honours were safely inside. My favorite part of the story is that there was one more item found in the chest besides the crown, scepter, and sword of state. It was a silver-gilt wand. No one knows why or how it got there, it's all a mystery. It would make an excellent historical fiction novel!

Photo Credit: Dad

   After we finished exploring the castle we warmed ourselves up with tea at a nice cafe. Then we went back out to face the elements to do a bit more shopping on the Royal Mile. I bought a cute pink cardigan at my new favorite clothing store, Ness! They have the loveliest things.

   The next day was a mix of more walking around the city, resting in the hotel room, & saying goodbye to Aunt Kim & Uncle David. We had such a great time with them & were so sad to see them go!

   We enjoyed our stay in Scotland very much, even if our last day was so dismal. We found Scotland to be very laid back and friendly. Almost all the people, especially our waiters & waitresses, were so kind & went out of their way to give us great service. Definitely hoping I can go back one day!

P.S. On our train to Edinburgh we sat behind a lively group of women throwing a hen party, which is the British version of a bachelorette party. They were quite a boisterous lot with plenty of champagne for the whole weekend! =) We asked if we could take their picture & they happily agreed. Even though it's kind of blurry, it captures the atmosphere of coach rather well. 

Photo Credit: Dad

Guys, I Want a Castle (St. Andrews Part III)

   On September 5th we visited Guthrie Castle. Our family name came from these Guthries, though we aren't actually blood relatives. The oldest part of the castle is the square tower which was built in 1468. The rest of it was added in 1848.

   The castle grounds have been turned into a golf course (they like their golf in Scotland), but there is a garden in front of the house. Calling it a garden is such a vast understatement. I just wandered around imagining I was in Wonderland. 

   You normally aren't allowed to go in the garden, but the nice ground workers let us in. Thanks nice ground workers! Exploring the garden was one of my top four favorite experiences from this trip. I snapped lots of pictures, enjoy!

P.S. I've tried to convince dad we need to grow some hedges back home. But the fact that these hedges took one-hundred and sixty years to grow might put a damper on my plans...

The Scottish Countryside (St. Andrews Part II)

   The place we stayed on our first few days in Scotland was actually right outside of St. Andrews in Dundee. We drove through beautiful Scottish countryside to get to our lovely B & B. Dad went for a walk that evening and came back with some stunning sunset pictures!

   September 5th was full of traveling all over the Scottish countryside. We had one of our favorite meals at the cutest farm shop in Dundee! It was cozy, they had excellent food, & we had the best time exploring the shop after lunch. Aunt Kim & Mum bought various food goodies & I bought some chocolate (of course).

   That afternoon we went shopping in St. Andrews. It was rather cold again, so I stayed in a book store while everyone else went to view the St. Andrews castle ruins. I wish I could have gone, but I was still feeling poorly, so I knew all the wind & cold wouldn't be the best.

   I rejoined them for hot drinks after they were done exploring. We went to the cafe where Kate Middleton met Prince William for coffee! How cute is that?! They are properly proud of their adorable couple here in Britain!  

   We enjoyed the farm shop so much that we went back to their Steak Barn for supper! It was such a unique place, there were these huge crates stacked up for walls, which gave it an outside-but-inside feel. The food was excellent (again) & we had a absolutely delightful waitress. If you ever make it to Dundee you should visit the Balgove Larder Farm Shop!

   We explored one other place that afternoon, which was another one of my four favorite events from the trip. I got lots of pictures, so it's getting it's own post. Stay tuned!   

 P.S. All pics in this post were taken by dad (except the last one, since he's in it). =)

The Home of Golf (St. Andrews Part I)

   On the 4th of September I woke up sick. Bad timing, right? It was just a cold or virus, but I still felt poorly. It lasted the duration of our trip, but I managed to survive.
   Since I was feeling under the weather I stayed in our hotel room to rest while everyone else went out to tour York for the morning. (But I got to watch Netflix, so I think I had the better end of the deal.)

   Despite my illness, late morning we grabbed a train bound for St. Andrews, Scotland! The first game of golf was played in St. Andrews in the 1400s. Also, the beach is where the famous running scene in Chariots of Fire was filmed. It was also very cold.
 

   Since the sky always looked like rain was imminent, it gave St. Andrews a majestic & wild feel. It's amazing how the weather effects your view of a place. Later in our travels we had one day that was absolutely freezing, rainy, & miserable (more on that day later) which obviously colored our view of that place. But on this trip overall we were blessed with decent weather. I find it interesting how weather effects your mood & your view of a new region.