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Land of Lochs

May 2013
A fun trip from six years ago. Read more
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  • TravelerLand of Lochs
    Day 1

    Super Nice Scottish People

    May 5, 2013 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Oh my.......Overnight Flights are not my thing. I slept 2 out of the 6.5 hours of my flight, so I was very shaky upon arrival to Glasgow. Now, what was I doing landing in Glasgow when my tour starts in Edinburgh? I got a cheaper flight and had read online that it was super easy to catch a bus between the two cities (maybe for most people, not for me). I had already purchased the bus ticket online as I am super anal about having all my tickets for travel. The only ticket that I could get was for two hours after I arrived, so I thought that I would have to wait at the airport and twiddle my thumbs. Luckily, the super nice lady who sat beside me on the plane told me that was ridiculous. The shuttle bus to Glasgow City Centre leaves from the airport every ten minutes and that I could catch a bus to Edinburgh from Buchanan Bus Station. Thank goodness for nice and helpful Scottish people!

    The super nice Scottish bus driver from the airport let me use my ticket even though it was for a different time. He even helpfully pointed me in the right direction to where my next bus was going to be located. Thank goodness for super nice and helpful Scottish people.

    For the next leg of the journey, the driver checked my ticket and did not mention anything about the incorrect time, so I was grateful and settled in for the hour long bus journey. When we arrived in Edinburgh, people would randomly ( at least I thought so) hit the stop button and disembark. There were no announcements of stops, no digitalized signage within the bus either. WTF? Oh man.....thankfully, I asked the lady across the aisle, "Do they not announce the stops?". She replied no, asked me where I needed to get off and told me that it was the stop immediately after hers. We then had a pleasant conversation of my upcoming tour and she hoped that I would have a great time in Scotland. She suggested that when she got off the bus that I should go sit by the driver and to tell him where I needed to stop. I thanked her for her help and did exactly what she told me to do. Thank goodness for super nice and helpful Scottish people!

    Cab drivers in Edinburgh are.....wait for it.....super nice and helpful too! They are also very talkative.
    My hotel is great! My room is beautiful and I have a super view of older buildings and a river in the distance. I was so very exhausted, showered and decided that I would order room service and rest before taking a haunted tour of Edinburgh in the early evening.

    First thing: room phone didn't work . I was basically in my jammies and did not want to change and go to reception, I was able to flag down a cleaning lady in the hallway and she got her boss to see what the problem was. He was a charming young Polish man who kept calling me Madame, as I kept looking around the room to see who he was talking to. He explained to me that the hotel was installing new phone lines and was encountering some problems. Would I like to move to another room? I said no, I loved this room, never used the phone, only just this one time for room service. Well then, he took my order and he returned with my food about 15 minutes later. I thought it was delicious, unfortunately within an hour or two I started feeling a bit queasy. I chalked it up to jet lag and being overtired. I did not want to miss the Haunted Edinburgh tour that I was supposed to go on. I should have stayed in and rested.

    I went on the tour as scheduled thinking that I could handle it as it was only about an hour and a half long and that I had already paid for it. The young men running the tour were a hoot! It was both entertaining and educational! At about the hour mark, I got a splitting headache and started feeling extremely nauseous. Oh noooooo. I needed to leave then and there. I split from the group, flagged down a cab, talked to the super nice cab driver while mentally willing myself not to puke in the cab.

    I got to the hotel and my room just in time. I won't go into detail, let's just say that it was a miserable experience. I vowed to never eat again and I soooo wanted to be at home in my own bed. I was able to get a good night's sleep after four hours of intermittent heaving. I actually slept in. After my vow of never eating again, I went down to breakfast and ordered the plainest thing on the menu ( a scone) and ended up with Eggs Benedict with salmon. My stomach did a little turn, I sent the food back even though the surly ( if a five foot nothing Polish girl can look surly) waitress gave me quite the look. I ended up with what I wanted and my stomach seemed fine. I wanted to add that I don't think it was my room service meal that made me sick, rather my hamburger at Glasgow airport, I will never know.
    Whew! Longest post ever! So did I get food poisoning? I am going on a......wait for it....walking food tour of Edinburgh this afternoon. Wish me luck!!!!!    Read more

  • TravelerLand of Lochs
    Day 2

    Fabulous Food Tour

    May 6, 2013 in Scotland ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    Wow! What a Success!
    I took part in an Eat, Dine and Walk tour in the afternoon. Now gourmet food is not the first thing that pops into your head when you think of Scotland, is it? The food was so yummy! The alcohol wasn't half bad either!

    I met up with my guide and two couples, one from New Zealand and the other from Australia. We called ourselves the Commonwealth Group! We met at the Hotel Du Vin which at one point had been a Poor House and Lunatic Asylum. It's most famous patient was an unfortunate young poet named Ferguson, who was talented, yet alcoholic. He managed to have had a few of his poems published before his sad demise. One day, he had too much to drink, fell, knocked his head and became uncontrollable. He was brought to the asylum, refused sustenance and died a horrible death. When Robert Burns visited Edinburgh, he was distraught to find out that the poet who had inspired him was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave in Canongate Cemetery. Burns paid for a proper headstone for his hero. That's the historical and literary part of the tour!
    Now onto the food and drink! We were served a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and our first nibble was panfried herring coated in oatmeal and served with a tomato chutney. If anyone in my family is reading this, you will know my reaction! I absolutely loathe herring (parents pickled it and the smell of it makes me gag). So, this was probably not the best thing for me to eat after my night of queasiness. Well, I tried it and loved it. Amazingly, my stomach loved it as well. We were served this because herring had been a major Scottish industry up until the 1930s.
    Our next stop was a funky little shop on the funkiest street in Edinburgh. The shop was called Liquid Deli. It started out selling artisanal flavoured olive oils and vinegars. It branched out into selling infused liqueurs and wines. We got to try as much as we wanted. I tried the raspberry vodka liqueur ( dangerous because it tasted like candy) and the elderberry wine which was very sweet!
    After that we stopped at a restaurant that served Californian inspired cuisine using locally sourced Scottish produce. The owner loves Napa Wines and the restaurant was called Calistoga. We had white wine and sea bream that was served on mashed potato, artichoke and a reduction of something or other. It was delicious! Again, supposedly I hate fish!

    We then stopped at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society where we had a single malt that had been aged 13 years. Let's just say that even mixed with water that there was no way that I could have finished it ( sacrilegious- I blame all the earlier alcohol). Our single malt was paired with haggis, neeps and tatties served layered in a small ramekin. This was surprisingly delicious. The trick was to take a small bite from the middle an then pour the whisky cream sauce into the hole in order to soak into the mixture. Yumm!!!

    The final stop for me was a French restaurant where again I had wine (red) and we had a charcuterie plate. I basically downed my wine ( how tres elegant of me) and I had to leave this lovely tour early in order to meet my tour group that I would be spending the next ten days with. I endured some very good natured ribbing from my Commonwealth pals, because they were sure that I would make a wonderful first impression on my new tour mates. Let's just say that I was feeling more than a little warm and fuzzy. Amazingly, my stomach held up to this self-inflicted yet yummy battering!!!
    I will add photos later when I locate my Scotland jump drive.    Read more

  • TravelerLand of Lochs
    Day 3

    A Castle, A Cathedral and A Palace

    May 7, 2013 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Highlights of Monday Night
    My tour guide and group are awesome. The welcome dinner had slightly stilted conversation but going to the pub afterwards allowed the conversation to flow.

    Tuesday:
    It was a sunny, gorgeous, warm perfect day for walking. Highlights of the walking tour included the story of half-hanged Maggie (she lived!!!!!) and was allowed to live even though she was supposed to have been hanged to death. The stories of Burke and Hare and the dastardly ways they procured bodies for the Medical School. They were caught when certain medical students recognized the formerly healthy prostitutes they had spent some time with only the night before (naughty doctors). So basically, they killed people and made money by selling the bodies to the medical school. We also learned about Deacon Brodie who inspired the story of Jekyll and Hyde, the irony being he designed the new and improved apparatus that was used to hang him. He was a respectable cabinet maker/locksmith by day and used his knowledge to break in and rob people in the evening.We also got to stand in the spot where he was hanged.
    Random Stuff: I love the beauty of the very old, very green and very mossy graveyards in Edinburgh. Is this creepy?
    Merlot goes very well with haggis. I love haggis.
    St. Giles Cathedral is beautiful. I also loved finding the hidden bagpiping cherub located in the woodwork of the side chapel.
    There are conflicting views of the dirty limestone buildings of Edinburgh. Many believe that the soot protects the vulnerable limestone. In the past, the cleaning solution used to restore the limestone actually contributed to its disintegration.
    I loved hearing about James Heriot, the local boy who made good by becoming jeweller to James I (of England) aka James VI of Scotland in the 1600s. He left his fortune to establish a school for fatherless children. It is now a very well regarded private school for the children of the rich and famous (J.K. Rowling's children go there). Fatherless children still go there for free- my guide is a widow and her children went there.
    Speaking of JK Rowling, we saw the graves where she supposedly got the names for some of her characters. We walked by the cafe where she supposedly wrote the first Harry Potter. I also later learned that a really sweet, older couple on the tour met JK Rowling by accident the night before the tour started. They asked the front desk people where to go to dinner and the restaurant they recommended had just been newly opened and I guess the chef was J.K Rowling's friend. She was eating at the restaurant that night, the older couple didn't know what the fuss was about. They apparently had never heard of her!!!!!!
    We also learned of Greyfriar's Bobby, a skye terrier that was famous for keeping guard over his owner's grave for 14 years. We visited the statue of the dog. It was sweet.

    The Scottish Museum rooftop has awesome views of Edinburgh. I could have stayed up there all day.
    Edinburgh Castle was built atop an ancient volcanic plug. It's a very forbidding place (dark and gloomy). I enjoyed the walk up to the castle and it was interesting to see the room in which James VI and I was born.
    Lunch at the outdoor cafe at the castle with Sandy (tour mate) and a random Swedish lady was hilarious, especially when the Swedish lady fell asleep, while we were talking to her. I said goodbye to both and walked all the way down the Royal Mile. My goal was to hike to the top of Arthur's Seat but I was too pooped. I went to Holyrood Palace instead which is the official residence of Queen Elizabeth when she is in Scotland. This was the perfect place for me. The dining room was so beautiful that I was nearly in tears, pale green walls with fancy plaster work ( no photos allowed). The room looked like a Wedgewood plate. I loved viewing the apartment of Mary, Queen of Scots and seeing where her husband and his gang murdered her Italian secretary. They also had some of her embroidery on display, she was extremely talented! The best bit was walking in the grounds where the ruins of a Catholic Abbey were located. It was very peaceful.
    I met up with half of the group and guide for a charming walk along the Leith for dinner at a pub. We held our own in a pub quiz with the locals. It was hilarious! We were a competitive bunch! I have the Yanks in my group fooled. They think that I am smart. The Cliffette Claven of Chatham strikes again! I was so glad to be in Scotland during the summer. It was Tuesday. It was especially long and hot! Ha Ha!    Read more

  • TravelerLand of Lochs
    Day 4

    Summer's Over

    May 8, 2013 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Various Descriptions of Scottish Weather

    There are two seasons: Winter and July
    There are four seasons in one day.
    There is no such thing as bad weather in Scotland, only bad clothing choices.

    Tuesday was truly a phenomenal anomaly. It was sooo nice. We were joking that I was the only person to come to Scotland to get a sunburn.

    Wednesday started off grey and just got greyer! I still had a lovely time because really, who comes to Scotland for the weather?

    We left Edinburgh and started the day off at Culross Place in Culross on the Firth of Forth, a restored 16th Century home of a wealthy merchant. Its outer walls were stained yellow to display wealth and status. A gross, yet interesting tidbit, typically merchants and their guests didn't leave the dinner table to use the loo. There was a servant with a chamber pot who stood near the table (origin of the term right hand man) and both men and women would use it without leaving the table. This occurred because you didn't want business deals to happen without your knowledge and this may have happened if you left the table to do your "business". New info: apparently Highlander may have filmed some episodes here. I don't know, I have never watched the show.

    We then went to St. Andrew's (home of golf) and also home to St. Andrew's University where William met Catherine. We drove by the beach where the opening sequence of Chariots of Fire took place and giggled as our tour guide played the theme at full blast. We drove by the first two holes of the old St. Andrew's Golf Course. Some people remained there, but a few of us went into town as it had started to rain. Sandy, Barry, Dave, Karen and I went to a really great restaurant called the Doll's House for lunch. After that, Sandy, Barry and I braved the elements (horizontal, driving rain) to walk through the ruins of the cathedral. We had so much fun! We laughed so much, we just had the giggles as we struggled with collapsing umbrellas and fogged up camera lenses.
    We later enjoyed a bracing walk to the ruins of the castle. The wind was whipping off of the North Sea and I nearly took flight using my umbrella as a sail. I have only one picture of the castle as my camera lens was covered in raindrops. Ooops.

    Sandy and I went shopping and bought cashmere scarves. Of course, I didn't look at the price because that would make sense. I think that I may have yelped just a little bit at the cash register when the saleslady rang up my purchase. Justify,justify, justify......I will wear that scarf for the rest of my life! Ummmmmmm.......2019 - I don't know where it is!    Read more

  • TravelerLand of Lochs
    Day 5

    Four Seasons in One Day

    May 9, 2013 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    Our hotel in Kenmore is supposedly the oldest hotel in Scotland. Robbie Burns wrote a poem on the wall above the fireplace and it is preserved there under plexiglass. I didn't get to stay in the hotel proper but in a building across the road. This was probably my worst room of the tour. The carpets were dodgy and you could hear lots of noise coming from the other rooms.

    We went to the charming village of Dunkeld which was the birthplace of Alexander Mackenzie (2nd Prime Minister of Canada). I took a picture of his house ( at least I hope it was his house). There used to be a bronze plaque by the door but apparently they took it down for cleaning or repairs. I could also be pulling your leg.

    This truly was the day of four distinct seasons. I stood in front of the church in Dunkeld and took pictures of it in the rain. I went into the church for five minutes, I came outside to blinding sunshine. I then retook pictures of the exterior of the church.

    We then spent about 45 minutes walking through a beautifully forested area to view the Black Lynn Falls. In that brief time, it was sunny, it rained, it was sunny and rainy at the same time, it was rainy, then it was sunny with gentle hail. It was a hoot!

    Our final activity of the day was lunch and a tour at a whisky distillery. Was it wrong of me to have wine with my lunch at a distillery? Yes! Man, I have learned an awful lot about the production of booze on my time off. I hope that I can fit this into the curriculum somehow!

    Interesting tidbit: The foam at the top of the big vat of fermenting barley,yeast and water is called the barm. It is stinky and releases a lot of CO2. If you stick your head into the vat, you get very dizzy and lightheaded. This is where the term "barmy" comes from to describe someone who is a bit crazy.    Read more

  • TravelerLand of Lochs
    Day 6

    A Very Good Day

    May 10, 2013 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Friday
    An absolutely perfect morning where I took advantage of the noise made by the old biddies in the room above me who woke up before the crack of dawn. I was up and raring to go at six am to search out the cursed castle near Kenmore. The sun is fully out by 5 a.m. I took a leisurely walk through the deserted gold course on the Teymouth Estate and it was so peaceful and beautiful. I was the only human out and about walking along the path. I could have been scared, but was not. My mind was at peace, I enjoyed the sunshine, fresh air and the parklike setting.

    Back to the curse: Apparently, a long time ago, the Campbells (lords of the land near Kenmore in Perthsire) booted out a bunch of Macgregors from their homes. A Macgregor woman cursed the Campbells by saying that the end of their line would die alone and blind. Well, approximately 300 years later, in the 1920s, the last of the Campbell line died without any heirs and was blind.

    The present incarnation of Teymouth Castle was built in the 1800s. The Ryder Cup will be held near this area in a year (2014). Two different companies have gone bankrupt trying to turn the castle into a luxury hotel and golf course. It looks like the curse is still at work! I forgot to mention that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited this castle.

    My wow moment occurred on my solitary peaceful walk. I spied a deer and it spied me, we both stood very still staring at each other from a distance. I teared up. I was able to take a few pictures. Later on, I spotted three more deer as they walked across a path onto the golf course. It was truly a perfect early morning. I was able to take some lovely pictures of Kenmore itself in the sunshine. Later on in the morning, the group visited a nearby Crannog ( recreated prehistoric dwelling) which was kind of interesting.

    Some interesting tidbits about the area of Perthshire:
    - Queen Victoria made Scotland a very popular vacation spot during her reign
    - many rich English and Scottish people built mock castles in the countryside
    - many middle class families vacationed here as well, in lovely middle class homes
    - one of the most famous being Beatrix Potter when she was a child, her stories are based on her experiences here (Macgregor the farmer) not on the Lake District where she lived after she made her money
    - we drove past JK Rowling's restored Victorian mansion located near Aberfeldy
    - she is very private, but down to earth, apparently takes her own cans to the recycling depot
    - Alan Cumming is from Aberfeldy and helped to restore the Art Deco theatre there - my entertainment gossip knowledge came in handy when I told the guide that he was performing in the Scottish play on Broadway ( a few years later, I saw him reprise his role as the Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret on Broadway)
    - we were briefly in Krief, the hometown of Ewan MacGregor - we learned that his mom is a sweetheart

    We were on the road today heading towards Inverness, and in the afternoon, the weather held out long enough for us to enjoy a sheep herding demonstration. It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of ooohing and awwing over the lambs and the border collie pups. I got to bottle feed a lamb and hold a very baby puppy! While sitting on a boulder, a border collie came up beside me and shook all the mud and sheep shit he was covered in onto my coat. I sighed, wiped myself off and petted the poor beastie. What else could I do? Thankfully, it rained later on in the day and I think that got rid of most of the stench.

    I'm awful.....as much as I loved the wee little lambies, it didn't stop me from enjoying a lamb shank at dinner in Inverness. It was delicious!    Read more

  • TravelerLand of Lochs
    2
    Day 7

    A Battlefield, A Castle and Old Rocks

    May 11, 2013 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    The Battle of Culloden was basically a slaughter that occurred on the morning of April 16th, 1746. The Jacobite forces that wanted to put Bonnie Prince Charlie on the Throne were defeated by the English. 1500 Scots died while only 50 English died. This was the last major battle ever fought on British soil. This battle also was the beginning of the mass migration of Scottish people to the New World. It was very sad being here. There were random markers and a large memorial cairn that told of where certain clans perished. What cheered me up were the Hairy Coos that were feeding nearby.

    We had lunch at Cawdor Castle ( built many centuries after the time of Macbeth). It is a real castle that is lived in today. The former Earl of Cawdor was a real partier in the Sixties and Seventies and basically ran through his fortune. When he died, he left the castle to his second wife and not to his eldest son from his first marriage, the current Earl of Cawdor. This was a huge scandal, but nothing could be done about it. It turns out, the second wife has a great business head on her shoulders and the castle makes tons of money from tourism. The rooms on view were lovely, but of course, now pictures were allowed. I went on one of the nature walks behind the castle and again I was alone with my thoughts. I walked for about half an hour and realized that I had better turn back or I would miss the bus.

    We then went to Clava Cairns which is an ancient burial ground and the rocks apparently have some sort of cosmic energy. I hugged a rock and felt nothing. I need to become more openminded.

    We finally made it back to Inverness in the pouring rain. Then the sun shone at 9 pm. That is how I got a decent picture of Inverness Castle. Very interesting weather. Also there were many giant rabbits and many giant rabbit holes located in the sloping yards along the river.    Read more

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