We left around 10 am on Friday for Scotland. As I think I
mentioned, my dad rented a nine passenger Mercedes van for us to use while my
grandparents and aunts are here, so that’s what we’re riding around in. We
drove for around two and a half/three hours, then stopped in Gretna Green for
lunch. This was my first experience trying to read a Scottish menu and it
was…interesting to say the least. I played it safe and just ate fish and chips
(fries). My ability to be adventurous with food has some limitations. :)
While in Gretna Green, we got to see a guy playing the
bagpipes for a wedding, which was pretty neat. I also enjoyed seeing all the
“Bruce clan” gifts in the souvenir shops there. After we left Gretna Green, it
only took around an hour and a half for us to get to our hotel in Stirling. We’re
staying in Stirling while we’re here because it’s the most centrally located to
all the places we want to visit while we’re here. The hotel is absolutely beautiful
from the outside – huge and sitting on the top of a bluff overlooking
Stirling’s town centre and breathtaking landscape views. Unfortunately, the
room I’m staying in with my parents and brother only has a bed and pull-out
couch, even though my Mom thought she got the biggest room available. Although
Trey and I could technically fit on the pull-out couch, it is extremely small.
Barely what I would call a full-size bed. So, we had a twin bed rolled in for
Trey. Needless to say, our room is quite a sight with all these beds. Oh, and our view is of
the backside of the hotel so no beautiful views for us (sad day) but my aunts and
grandparents have good views in their rooms so we ate least get to see those :)
We planned on eating dinner in the hotel but did not plan on
there being a wedding reception taking place, so the waiters were kind enough
to bring us food in a suite that’s probably just for relaxing or meetings or
something. I ate a toasted ham and cheese type of sandwich* and potato chips,
which is probably the closest thing to American food I’ve had outside of my
parent’s house while I’ve been in the UK. Listening to our server’s Scottish
accent was definitely a treat. :) *I say “type of sandwich” because there were some extra Scottish type sauces or
garnishes in it that I didn’t recognize, but it tasted good anyway.
On Saturday, we ate breakfast in the hotel and then drove
over to Stirling Castle for the day. When my parents came to Scotland a few
years ago, they went to this castle and everything was about Robert the Bruce,
but now they hardly have anything about him. It’s all about King James V and
other people that are more recent. It was still cool to learn about our ancestry and the castle itself was spectacular. We made several pictures with
the Robert the Bruce statue in front of the castle :) The ticket into the castle
includes a guided tour, which we took pretty quickly after getting there, and
then we just so happened to hear a parade going on way down below the castle so
we were able to hear some of that and get pictures. We ate lunch at a little
café on the castle grounds and then walked through some of the historical
museums that have been added since my parents have been here. We ate dinner at a restaurant in Stirling called Papa Joe's. We actually ended up eating there twice during our trip because the food was so good :) I had steak fajitas and they were fantastic--not quite like they would taste in America, but close enough :)
On Sunday, we did a little family devotion in the hotel and then headed to St. Andrew's for the day. We didn't actually play golf on the Old Golf Course, but we did take pictures on the 18th hole :) We toured the British Golf Museum and walked on the beach where Chariots of Fire was filmed. Pretty cool, huh? :) I'll just go ahead and add right now that the weather in Scotland was FREEZING. and I mean November or February in Alabama "cold". It was almost always raining and the wind on top of the mid 50 degree weather made for a such a cold trip that you had to wonder whether or not it was really July. So being on the beach in this weather was pretty weird.
On Monday, we went to Edinburgh. We toured Edinburgh Castle and walked down the Royal Mile. For those of you who don't know, the basic set up of the Royal Mile is Edinburgh Castle sits on top of a hill and you make your way downhill on the Royal Mile until you reach Holyrood Palace, where the Queen stays when she visits Scotland. The Royal Mile is made up of tons of shops and cafes. I got a Bruce clan pattern scarf in one of the shops there :) We went off a side street at some point to go to The Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling started writing her ideas for Harry Potter. Going to the birthplace of Harry Potter was definitely a thrilling experience :)
On Tuesday, we drove back to Stafford. We stopped a little over halfway for lunch at Burger King (so maybe we miss American food a lot, okay?).
Overall, it was definitely a fun trip to "the motherland" :)
My grandparents and aunts will be here through Saturday, when we take them to the airport at the same time we pick up my dear friend Taylor, who will be spending a week with us.
Keep checking for updates on the adventures I take Taylor on! :)
Grace and Peace.
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