Edinburgh, Scotland
Today was the best day! Josh and I both got an early start in opposite directions. I took the bus to the National Scottish Museum where I completely failed at managing my time and didn’t get to properly see most of the Scottish exhibits. I spent way too much time watching the leaf cutter ant colony and checking out the extinct animal taxidermy (I saw a Dodo and a Quagga which – fun fact – I did a project on in my AP Earth Science class in high school where Josh and I met).
Meanwhile, Josh caught the early morning train to Dunfermline with one of our travel companions. Josh and our travel pal, Randy, had both traced some of their ancestry to this town which was formerly the capital city of Scotland. Though Josh didn’t know much more than his family could be traced to the town via his paternal grandmother’s lineage, Randy had some real history there.
Randy’s Great ( x 17ish) Grandfather, David Ferguson, was the first Protestant minister of the town’s Abbey. He is buried in the graveyard there and honored with a plaque inside. Josh said they were the only two visitors for much of their time in the Abbey and surrounding areas.
Josh and I met back up with most of our group for a Scottish Food and Drink Tour at noon. The tour was really great.
We tasted Cullen Skink (Skink the Scottish word for soup) which was creamy and filled with smoked haddock, potatoes and leeks; haggis, neeps and tatties (neeps and tatties are ground turnips and mashed potatoes, respectively. Haggis is a traditional Scottish sausage made with ground lamb organ meat and oats); dark chocolate sea salt fudge, butter tablet, a Scottish version of fudge that was more hard and crumbly and so, so sweet; a Scottish cheese plate (with all Scottish cheeses – including a smoked cheddar, a hard goat cheese, a delicious brie and a mild blue cheese along with oat crackers and an apple cinnamon chutney); whiskey and afternoon tea with scones and clotted cream and jam.
The tour was a mix of history and food. Our tour guide, David, was a young guy who had worked in the food industry and customized this tour with a lot of thought put into to choosing great locations for the tastings. Also we had a couple of retired school teachers who had been on a hiking trip prior to their stop in Edinburgh.
After the tour I went out to do some souvenir shopping and to buy my dad a kilt, which he has promised to wear to church and share on Facebook! Josh, ever committed, dressed for the climb and took another stab at Arthur’s Seat. He says it was an easy climb once he got past where we had stopped the day before, but I’m not sure I believe him. The pictures he took were lovely though.
Tonight we had a 9:30 dinner reservation for the whole group at Tower. The restaurant is on the top floor of National Scottish Museum that I visited in the morning. It was a pretty swanky establishment with a great view of the Edinburgh Castle. They had an extensive wine list and Josh and I were able to have some Pinotage – our favorite wine that’s only made in South Africa. After dinner we were completely shocked when the rest of the group picked up our tab. They said it was a thank you for planning the trip. It was so nice and Josh and I were really touched.
Planning this trip has been really fun for us over the last few months. It was our travel goal this year to travel more with others and we are so glad for the opportunity to do this with such a great group of friends.
Comments