Kilt It

Despite popular American assumptions, Scotland isn't all plaid, kilts, whisky and beer.  In all fairness, though, those things are plenty, particularly in the tourist frequented city of Edinburgh, which is where Adam and I spent Saturday and Sunday getting lost.  While we haven't been many places (YET), this trip definitely ranks highly on our list of coolest cities around, which we realized sometime on Sunday afternoon as we were wandering around fantasizing about which victorian home we'd purchase and where we'd shop and eat on a regular basis.  

The trip started with a bright and early train ride up from Brum.  It was just under 4 hours, but the train is affordable (£30 p/person round trip), scenic and enjoyably lazy.  I napped and read (The Girl on the Train, naturally) and Adam just read. I can sleep anywhere, possibly even standing up, but poor Adam doesn't share my narcoleptic tendencies, so he worked his way through The Girl with all the Gifts. Fun fact, they were shooting the film version of this book, starring Glen Close, in Brum last month.

Upon arrival, we walked the 40 or so minutes to our flat for the night which was an Airbnb rental.  This was our first experience with Airbnb.  For a mere £31 we had a conveniently located little flat to sleep in and our host just happened to be American, so we had some good conversation and got great tips for our sightseeing.  I highly recommend this lodging option for any friends looking to make stops in several cities and save some quid.

View of Calton Hill from the walk to our Airbnb

It was windy and somewhat cool, but the sun finally came out as we made our way up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle, stopping in at St. Giles Cathedral along the way.  We'd been told you could spend hours at the castle, and you can.  We spent around 3 hours touring and taking in this massive center of the city.  In addition to the history and cool architecture, it provides exquisite views of Edinburgh.  It probably pained Adam a bit that he could almost see St. Andrews across the river while the Open was going on, but thankfully his visit to that exact tournament and course 5 years prior lessened the sting.

View from Edinburgh Castle

Where they keep the crown jewels

Castle War Museum

War story reenactments inside Royal Dining Hall

Daily 1300hr cannon fire

After the castle, we stopped for refreshments at The Elephant House, famously known as the site where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter.  I couldn't help myself, and the tea and brownie were quite nice.

We then made our way back across town to the Scott Monument, which is incredible.  It's a beautiful monument, but I laugh a little thinking back on it's location.  It's just across Princes Street, which is a shopping strip, and on the other side is a large ferris wheel and park - I highly doubt the juxtaposition was intentional, nonetheless, it's a beautiful monument, and cool that a writer has such a large one in his honor.  Kudos Scotland for recognizing that not only politicians and royals deserve statues.

Sir Walter Scott Monument

And when in Scotland, do as the Scots do and drink some Scotch.  We finished off our sightseeing at the Scotch Whisky Experience which boasts the world's largest collection of scottish distilled whisky.  It was fancy, and tasty.  I've always liked whiskey, but I now have a new appreciation for the gold liquor, a more refined palate and swirl technique when tasting.  We finished off the night with some tasty italian and called it a night.

Small portion of world's largest Scotch collection - all unopened

We crossed off much of our to do lis t on Saturday, so we slept a little later than usual on Sunday and took our time walking across the city, finding a cosy brunch spot where I got the first real bacon (not ham) since crossing the pond. We then headed to the Royal Botanical Garden.  It was a nicer day weather wise than anticipated so we just meandered around new town.  It was about that point when I heard the words "we could live here" come out of both of our mouths.  We imagined Sunday morning strolls down those streets and even signed a petition to prevent an old building from being torn down.  We felt at ease, at home.  It was just charming, truly.  We could have spent more time there, but were quite satisfied with the 30 or so hours we had.  I have a feeling we'll be back.

We plan to take it easy this coming weekend.  We still have some flat nesting to do and Brum (and I imagine all of Britain) really comes alive during the summer months.  It seems there's a street festival or market every weekend.  People tell us, and we see it, that Brits live and die by the weather.  When it's nice out, everyone's out.  One of my new favorite pop ups in the city of late are these owls.  Those who know me well know the owl isn't my favorite creature... well really I don't like birds in general, but I digress. As I was saying, there are 89 of these across Birmingham and I'm making it a personal mission to see as many as possible this month.  Thankfully I have a handy dandy map to help.

My favorite so far - she lives in our neighborhood

For those of you wondering, I'm still unemployed, so why not go owl hunting in my spare time?  Maybe Kate will come up to see the owls, though I'm not sure the town is a favorite of the royals.  We once heard someone say about Brum that the Queen closed her blinds on the train when passing through the city, so there's that (I can't find any trace of evidence confirming this story on the internet, but the media tends not to speculate on the royals much, they leave that to their press corp).  

I've been aching a bit inside seeing all of the beach photos back home, so next weekend we're going to the British beaches! Brighton to be precise.  I think there are lots of pebbles versus sand, but I don't care.  I also don't care if it's only 70 degrees.  If I don't get some sun soon, I'll turn clear.   Till next time mates!