Scotland

From the high ground to the underground

18.08.2008

Edinburgh Castle - beautiful castle overlooking the city of Edinburgh. The crown jewels are housed here, like they've been over the past few hundred years or so since they were re-discovered in an old chest. The history is actually quite fascinating with Mary, Queen of Scots, William Wallace and all but I'll leave that up to you to research. We saw the crown jewels after spending 20 minutes or so in a queue and they are well...royal. It was also cool to see the old prisons for POWs and for soldiers behaving badly.
Ghost Tour - We went on a ghost tour of Scotland on Saturday night (apparently they are very popular here) and it was ok. The guide was a nutter and I had to go pee the whole time, but held it for close to 2 hrs..
Mary King's Close - Sunday we spent in the underground of Scotland checking out the historic Mary King's Close. A close is basically a very narrow street with tiny rooms on both sides that were pretty much dwellings. While we went underground, we actually say the real Mary King's Close which is now housed underground, imagine a thin narrow street with a strong incline, cobblestone pathways, pretty cool stuff.
We also saw the most haunted place in Scotland (also in Mary King's close) and was also featured on the TV show 'Most Haunted' (sorry no pics allowed!!)
The most famous ghost here was that of 10-year old Annie, who died of the plague back in the day but visitors still report feeling a tug when they are in her bedroom, where her parents left her to die.
Talisker Whisky - one of Scotland's famous 6 whiskies and I won this drink against Richard when we bet on the men's rowing 8's Olympic final (Canada vs Great Britain) Goooooooooooold!! Oh, and im bringing back a bottle of this stuff when I come back to Canada..heheh get ready boys..

Posted by dnaman 5:32 AM Archived in Tourist Sites | Scotland Comments (0)

Golfer's paradise - playing St. Andrews Links

"To win at St Andrews is the ultimate." Tiger Woods

16.08.2008 - 16.08.2008

St Andrews golf course - Saturday morning, after 3 hours of sleep, Richard and I jumped into our rental car and made the 1.25 hr journey to the home of golf, St Andrews. It didn't matter we had 3 hours (though we were both super bleary-eyed) but we were going to play in the golf mecca, well the Eden course since the Old course is infamously booked up to a year in advance! The Eden course was opened for play in 1914, a par 70, ~6200 links style course with some parts running alongside the old course and other parts against the backdrop of the sea. IT WAS SO SICK to play real, true links golf in St Andrews although fortunately for us, we had pretty good weather, no rain and just a bit of the winds on the back 9.
Shot a 98..well I broke 100 at least...and only lost 2 balls.
Visited the old course, the 18th hole, and saw the infamous small bridge that players cross over on the 18th. I definitely have to plan a boys trip back to Scotland for a week of links-style golf!

Posted by dnaman 18.08.2008 4:42 AM Archived in Events | Scotland Comments (1)

Festivals galore in Edinburgh!

Fringe, Tattoo..

15.08.2008 - 16.08.2008

Fringe Festival 2008 - one of Edinburgh's biggest festivals that runs throughout the month of August complete with buskers, street performers, comedy acts, musical/theatre acts, etc. Royal Mile street was packed with people and performers and there was always something different going on every 20 metres or so! Will definitely try and go back again! I could spend the whole day just walking up and down the street catching all the various street performers and stopping for a pint or whisky among all the street-side bars/restaurants/cafes..
Our apartment, Festival Apartments, had a fantastic location, just steps from the Royal Mile. Unfortunately it was an older apartment with a sub-par bathroom (mildew on the shower curtains) and water-stained ceilings so we pretty much only used it to sleep and store our stuff during the day.
Tattoo military festival - very popular worldwide-known military festival with military bands from all over the world doing various performances against the backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. Tickets are sold out well in advance, usually you need to buy tickets one year in advance to get in! So on Saturday night, we ended up waiting about 1.5 hours at the bottom of the hill leading up towards the castle to catch a glimpse of the bands. To be honest, all we saw were groups of people lining up and we had no idea what they were waiting for but after a long time and fireworks going off, we finally were treated to some bagpipe playing and all the bands marching (well, running) down the hill towards their buses. I think I'll wait to see the actual Tattoo on the BBC later this month.
Tried haggis for the first time! Its good!! Sort of tastes like mince beef, but yeah I had it for breakfast the second time!
What? It rains in Scotland? Only rained for a short while on the Sunday afternoon we were going home, we really got lucky with good weather all weekend!