The first evening, we took a nice walk up Calton Hill, which offers a fantastic view:
From there, we continued our nice walk down the hillside and into town, passing the modern architectural wonder that is Scottish Parliament. Apparently, amazing as it was, we did not deem it picture-worthy as we were saving our camera battery (SOMEone forgot to pack the charger again).
We did deem this photo “worthy.” It’s the lovely cemetery where Adam Smith, known as the Father of Economics, is buried:
That night we enjoyed a lovely cross-culture supper of Scottish/Indian cuisine (Derek was particularly fond of Haggis samosas) and also learnt that Scottish people of Indian descent DO, indeed, speak with a Scottish accent. Which is not, necessarily, contrary to what someone might think. It’s just not what one's ears expect when being offered a curry.
The next day, we enjoyed the perks of the festival: lots of fun street vendors and food and performers.
Here are the street crowds, just outside St. Mary’s cathedral.
The masses of Festival-goers only increased throughout the day, especially as we roamed nearer to Edinburgh’s famous castle. We didn’t actually go inside the castle, mind you, the line was literally hours long.
We just snapped one illegal picture simply for blogging purposes:
That afternoon, we headed about 40 miles north-west of Edinburgh to a quaint little hamlet called Bridge of Allan, where we happened upon a wonderful little micro-brewery (aptly named Bridge of Allan Brewery, it was being run out of an old cottage centrally located just between high street and the Allan Water). We chatted up the fellow running the place, tasted several ales and purchased a few bottles for later consumption. In our quest to find a decent meal (and assuming this would be a chore, as many people have, for some reason, propogated the absurd notion that the outlook for finding eats in Scottish towns is grim) we opted for a light pasta at a modern and almost ritzy hotel restaurant. It was incredible! Honestly the best salmon I’ve ever tasted, and I don’t even like fish. I sent my compliments to the chef, to let him know his creation had nearly turned a non-fish-eating vegetarian into a pescetarian. I would gladly go back and order heaps of it right this minute.
It’s amazing how the majority of this travel blog is actually devoted to food.
Here's a quick map inset of the area we'd roamed throughout this trip, from London up to Newcastle. Then up to Edinburgh. The "A" marks where Bridge of Allan/Stirling is. Then, down to Glasgow, and finally back to London. (It's about 400 miles from London to Edinburgh).
View Larger Map
Well, anyhow. The next morning we struck out for a rainy walk to the William Wallace Monument, which was both farther away and a much more staggering view than either of us expected!
Here’s the view from the bottom of the hill upon which is set the memorial:
And from the top, just outside the monument:
After enjoying a delicious lunch of cheese sandwiches, olives, and a bottle of beer from Bridge of Allan Brewery (that really does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?) we headed across the town of Stirling toward its famous castle, where we did actually go inside.
Stirling Castle:
Looking back across Stirling at the William Wallace monument, and beyond:
Derek explores Stirling Castle:
And…that’s where the camera battery ran out! Which really was a bummer, because the castle was just fantastic. I mean, really cool. Wish you could have seen it.
LUCKILY…(yes, there is more) we were off to Glasgow to meet up with Paul and Noah (our brother and nephew, whom you met before in London). Even more luckily, Paul is a much better photographer than either of us.
We were scheduled to arrive several hours before them, however, and busied ourselves by finding a bus to the nearest distillery, called Glengoyne, about 30 miles north of Glasgow. We perched on the top level of a double-decker bus and were whisked off on an incredibly narrow road. Beyond the tree limbs whacking at our windows, we enjoyed beautiful views of the highlands “foothills” and some rather pretty little villages. Then, we were dropped off in something that can only be described as a little Whiskey heaven in the middle of nowhere. Blessing the wonderful bus networks in the UK, we opted for the “deluxe” tour (also known as the “drunken sailor tour”). We were thus offered a taste of 10-year-old, 17-year-old, 21-year-old, and a choice between the 12-year-old “regular” and the 12-year-old “cask strength” scotch whiskeys, as well as getting some important information about how the stuff was and is made. We were so impressed that we spent a bundle in their gift shoppe. We’re saving one bottle for a special occasion that might be coming up soon…
So, part of the reason we’d decided to meet Noah and Paul in Glasgow was for the World Championship Piping Festival.
We heard some absolutely wonderful music:
We also enjoyed walking around town and seeing the various sights and pubs—as the piping events were spread across town, it worked out as a great way to walk around, see some sights and then sit with a nice cold pint whilst enjoying some traditional music!
One of the great sights in Glasgow is the cathedral, which is massive and majestic and all other things you’d expect of a gothic cathedral in Scotland.
Again, credit to our Paul for the photos:
After having a look around inside, we explored the surrounding gardens and cemetery:
This caught our eyes: the grass had grown over some of the gravestones; someone had peeled the layers of sod back to reveal the inscriptions. The letters had made a mold for the sod to grow in—leaving the letters imprinted on the underside of the grass, as well. Neat!
