September 27: Today we boarded a four-hour train for London
that would take us to Edinburgh and then we would catch an hour-long train to
Dundee where my mom’s cousin, Barbara, was going to be picking us up. The train
ride was pretty, as much of the view was of vivid green farmland and beginning
of autumn trees.
This would be the first time I would meet Barbara and she
was just as nice as she could be. She picked us up from the train station and
took us to her house where we would be staying for two nights. Her house is in
the most picturesque location. Built by her father, this was her childhood
home. The backyard garden was beautiful! She took us along the fence line
giving us a little history of where the trees and plants came from. The house
sits on an acre of well kempt land and it’s just so cozy and peaceful. She
cooked us a perfect spaghetti dinner complete with a dessert using the fruit
she grows herself. It was such a great first night in Scotland and amazing to
meet some relatives I had never met before.
Glamis Castle |
September 28: Today, began a little less typical than most
of our travel days. We THOUGHT taking a ferry from Edinburgh to Dublin (our
last stop of the trip) would be the cheapest and easiest way. We were wrong.
After talking with Barbara, she told us that a flight would be the best and
most efficient way. So, last night we tried to book it online, however, the
website would not take any of our cards for some unknown reason. So Barbara was
nice enough to take us to a travel agent first thing in the morning to get the
tickets booked. They even had trouble with the site. And to avoid an extra
charge using our American credit card, Barbara was sweet enough to put it on
her card allowing us to pay her back in cash. Whew!
After that unforeseen travel hiccup, Barbara drove us 15
miles from Dundee to see Glamis (pronounced Glaums) Castle, the childhood home
of the Queen Mother. Located at the end of a stunning drive in. A small paved
road lined with rolling hills and huge canopy trees. It embodies a castle in
every sense on the world. We took a guided tour (no pictures allowed) of some
of the staterooms and were given a great history of the 600 year old, still
inhabited castle. After the tour we grabbed a small bite to eat at the castle
restaurant before beginning our driving tour.
Dundee and the surrounding areas of Scotland are just
beautiful. By no means overly populated, the natural beauty is still at the
forefront of this place. Barbara drove us along the coastline pointing out
little towns and giving us a brief history of each. It was so wonderful because
when you travel, you don’t get the chance to see much of the countryside as
it’s hard to reach those using public transportation. I’m so glad she took the
time to drive us around. I loved the little antidotes of family history she
would weave in; all so interesting. I could definitely live here. There is just
something some homey about it.
September 29: Today Barbara drove us to the little town of
St. Andrews; home to the university as well as the birthplace of golf. Andrew
had been looking forward to this day for quite some time. The town is so
charming. And just this year, the university celebrated its 600th
birthday! We weren’t aware that the Alfred Dunhill golf tournament was going on
on the famous Old Course, so we were not able to walk along it. Instead we had
to admire it from afar. We were able to watch a few players play the 18th
hole…Andrew was in golf heaven and he’s determined to return in 2015 for the
Open that will be played there.
Andrew at St. Andrew's |
Edinburgh is beautiful. Their house is within walking
distance to the city center which is super convenient for us. After chatting
for a little while over a pot of tea, Barbara had to return home as she was
leaving town the next morning. It was sad to day goodbye to her because it was
just so wonderful to spend time with her. Jamie then thought to drive us to the
city center and give us a map so we could explore a bit before making our way
back to their house.
Andrew and I with Barbara at St. Andrew's |
Walking the main streets of the city was so fun. Everything
is just so….well…Scottish! We took in a few sites before making our way back to
Jamie’s for dinner. At dinner we sat with Catherine, Jamie’s partner, and Robin,
Jamie’s older brother. It was a
delicious home-cooked meal and great conversation. We ended up talking until
about 10:45pm. It was just a wonderful day!
September 30th: Jamie went with us to visit
Edinburgh Castle. A royal castle built in the 12th century and
continued as a royal living place until 1603. It was pretty cold atop that
hill, but the view was well worth it. We had such beautiful views of Edinburgh
from every angle. The castle has several mini-museums, from military to the
crown jewels. We spend a little over two hours walking around listening to our
audio guides.
We left the castle and made our way to meet Robin and
Jamie’s cousin nephew, Jimmy, who works in a local pub. More distant relatives,
yeah! We sat there chatting and eating lunch where I was able to sample Haggis,
a Scottish traditional dish.
Edinburgh Castle |
After lunch, Robin took us on a bus to go and visit his
mother, my grandmother’s sister, Dorothy, in the nursing home. I never in a
million years thought I would have the chance to meet all this family, let
alone a 99 year-old great aunt. Dorothy does not look 99 at all. There would be
moments where the light went off and she knew who I was, in relation to her,
but then it would sadly fade away. She mentioned that she thought my
grandmother was so witty, which made me laugh as it’s still true today. We
stayed there for about 30 minutes before taking a beautiful canal walk back to
Jamie’s house.
October 1: Andrew and I headed out for the day and our first
stop was The National Museum of Scotland, right in the city center. It’s a
wonderful museum with so many aspects. We especially enjoyed the interactive
science portion! We spent about two hours just walking around and taking
everything in.
"I just want to meet the queen!" |
The rest of the day we spent moseying around the famous
Royal Mile street and enjoying all the little shops we went in an out of. We
also made our way down to the parliament building which is a building of very
unique architecture, and then we took some photos of one of the Queens Scottish
palaces, Holyrood House. We decided not to pay to go in, but we snapped some
photos from the outside.
We walked, and then walked some more before returning to
Jamie’s house to throw in a small load of laundry before taking them both out
for a ‘thank-you-for-letting-us-stay” dinner. Tomorrow is another ½ of
Edinburgh exploration before we fly out later that evening for our final stop;
Ireland!
October 2: Today we decided to walk around and explore more of the 'new town' even though it dates back to the 1700s. The architecture was beautiful and we enjoyed the day just killing time before leaving for our flight at 5:00pm. And believe it or not, on our way back to Jamie's house to pack, we ran into Robin walking the streets. He told us if we had 20 minutes to spare, we should join him for a look around the National Portrait Gallery. We walked the two floors as he gave us a brief Scottish history based on the portraits we saw. I just can't believe that we ran into one of only five people we know in this city! Small, small world.
Scotland was such a wonderful place to visit. I felt so blessed to have been able to meet and stay with family members I had never even met. The way they opened up their homes to Andrew and I just show how kindhearted and generous the Scots truly are. We had an absolute fantastic time in Scotland!
Scotland was such a wonderful place to visit. I felt so blessed to have been able to meet and stay with family members I had never even met. The way they opened up their homes to Andrew and I just show how kindhearted and generous the Scots truly are. We had an absolute fantastic time in Scotland!
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