We had a definite plan of action for our day with Hannah. We were going to do the Chainwalk, from our book on walks around Edinburgh. This walk involves a section along seaside cliffs that must be traversed by hanging onto chains that are strung along the side of the cliff. There are footholds, but they are too narrow to stay on without holding onto the chains. If the tide is high, the sea rages below you while you hold onto these chains. It sounded fun to us, but we didn't think Mom and Dad would be interested, so we saved it for a day with just Hannah. I should add that, if it sounds dangerous, the pictures on the internet show kids doing the walk. But then again, maybe Scotland's kids are built of tougher stuff than ours, since the helpful lady from the hotel in Glencoe had said "18 miles might be a bit much for the wee ones" a few days earlier, when we asked her about the difficulty of doing the Devil's Staircase walk.
But there was a problem. We had to return the car that day and the walk was ages away by public transport, some 2-3 hours each direction. After spending the better part of the previous day in a car, we had no desire to repeat the experience. So we scratched that plan and instead decided to hike up North Berwick Law, a bit of old volcano that our book said "should not be missed." This one was reachable by a quick 30 minute train ride, though the train only left once an hour.
But there was a problem. We missed the train by minutes. The next one wouldn't be coming until 2:40 pm, and that meant we would have to return on a rush-hour train, which costs extra. We decided to abandon the plan.
Instead, we hit upon walking up Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcano in Holyrood park, central Edinburgh.
But there was a problem. Grace was not feeling 100%. A strenuous uphill climb didn't sound like a good cure for her mild sickness.
So Hannah and I abandoned Grace to a Starbucks and headed up the hill/mountain ourselves.
On the way, we started to notice more and more well-dressed people. Men in formal kilts, women in dresses and fancy hats. We had begun to see them in the train station, but assumed they were all returning from a formal event somewhere else (the best dressed award goes to a guy we saw in the tickets line whose suit was black on one half and white on the other, like Two-Face. He had a matching black/white hat, and one black shoe, and one white shoe).
Anyway, all the people seemed to be converging on Holyrood Palace, the Queen's official residence in Scotland. Eventually we learned that there was a royal visit and garden party scheduled for today at the palace. As we headed up Arthur's Seat, we saw the unusual sight of hundreds of the best-dressed society standing in line - like COMMONERS!
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| From Scotland 2009 |
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| From Scotland 2009 |
The walk up Arthur's seat was not too difficult. It was certainly steep and we were gasping for breath, but it was over in 45 minutes and we had great views of the city and the garden party, even if it was a bit hazy.
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| From Scotland 2009 |
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| From Scotland 2009 |
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| From Scotland 2009 |
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| From Scotland 2009 |
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| From Scotland 2009 |
We headed down after enjoying the views and some food for a half hour or so, and met up with Grace again, who was feeling recovered by now. After a long hunt for the perfect dinner, we set upon frozen pizza for Hannah and me (Hannah has joined me in vegetarianism!) and roasted chicken for Grace and the parents (Grace finally had other people she could eat the meat with!). We finished up Braveheart that night, for the benefit of Hannah. My parents came back that evening from a great day in Glasgow - they reported that a tour guide said Braveheart's version of history was "absolute rubbish." We watched it anyway. FREEEEDOM!!!!
The next day was Grace and I's wedding anniversary (three years!), plus the last full day with my family. We got an early start and headed out to Linlithgow Palace (actually a ruin now) to take a gently (no hills) walk around the loch. By noon, we were in the unusual position of having already finished our walk for the day. We decided to finish up on some shopping odds and ends. Hannah got her shoes. Mom found her cashmere. I found some of that dangerously tasty honey-infused whiskey. While out, we got caught in some thunderous rain without our umbrellas. We were all helpless until we remembered that this was what taxis are for.
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| From Scotland 2009 |
That afternoon, Grace and I watched Wimbledon, which has become an annual tradition. This year, Andy Murray was a British phenomenon, the first Briton to have a shot at the title in 70 years. And he was Scottish, so the media was in a raving frenzy about him. That afternoon we watched Murray take apart Ferrerro. I remained convinced that he was not ready to beat Roger Federer, who, in my mind, has become elevated to something like Jedi-status.
The main event of the day, however, was Grace and I's anniversary dinner. Overwhelmed by choice, Grace and I had impulsively made reservations at the Forth Floor, a nice place on the top of a fancy department store that had good city views and served modern British/Scottish food. We didn't know how nice it was till we got there.
I think my family felt a little out of their element. There was a wine guy. There were lots of silverware. They put the nap on your lap for you (does anywhere in Iowa City do that?). Hannah wondered if they would feed us too. My dad asked for what he thought was a manly Belgian beer and ended up with a raspberry beer (which Grace graciously drank for him). Grace and I were a bit more used to the fancy stuff for two reasons. First, Cambridge was very fancy-schmanzy. Dress codes for dinner and all. Second, we had gone to a fancy restaurant the year before for our anniversary, called L'escargot (a gift from Mom and Dad). Two things hardly makes us connoisseurs, but I guess our advice in such places is to be confident and just fake it, like you belong there.
Mom and Dad ordered sea food, Hannah and I had the vegetarian option and Grace had something special - Highland Venison with quail egg! She says it was good. And we had a good time at the restaurant. Eventually dad located some beer more his style. Lovely anniversary gift.
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| From Scotland 2009 |
(Grace's Two Cents: Ha ha, Matt's not a vegetarian anymore!!! They gave us an amuse bouche (pre-appetizer) of smoked salmon and he ate it, because they just plopped it down in front of everyone. That means he's not a vegetarian anymore (no matter how much he insists to the contrary).)
(Matt's Response: An Anniversary indulgence, nothing more! I didn't ask for it, they just plopped it down and the fish was dead no matter what I did so I ate it! This is not taking the finger out of the dam! And it didn't even taste THAT good!)
(Grace's Response: That means you think it was 'good' to some unknown extent. Ha ha, soon it'll be burgers and steak that don't even taste 'THAT good'.)
2 comments:
Your photos of Scotland are amazing!
Thanks, but it's all inspired by you guys and your D90 photos.
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