Tuesday, 3 April:
We all had flights out of London in the evening, but mine was the flight after the others. Their flight took off on time, but mine was delayed. It was supposed to take off at 7:25 but didn't until around 9. Francesca and Andrew had already landed in Scotland by the time I got on the plane, so they ended up chilling in a coffee shop for a while. At first we thought the delay was due to blizzard warnings that had been in Scotland for about a week at that point, but it turns out there was something going on with French air-traffic control that was messing up the whole network. Either way, we still all ended up safely in Edinburgh. When we picked up the rental car we found out we had been upgraded to a Prius which was awesome because it saved us a lot on fuel over the next few days. Driving from Edinburgh airport to Essendy House (Francesca's home) was my first experience driving on the wrong side of the road. At first it was a bit nerve wracking, but I think that I have been over here long enough now and separated enough from driving on the right side at home that it wasn't too hard to get used to it. It was super exciting to drive! When we got there, Francesca's parents greeted us with delicious lentil soup and pizza.
Wednesday, 4 April:
Essendy House is old, so no central heat. The walls are three feet thick and we slept with electric blankets. For that reason it was super nice to have coffee delivered to bed where I could sip it down and have my quiet time before venturing out into the crisp morning air. We were treated to a full Scottish breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs (mine had a double yolk) plus a French addition of a crissont. After breakfast, we had a tour of the grounds and then stopped to see an osprey nest at a wildlife sanctuary on a loch. There were red squirrels there, too.
Then we hiked up a foothill mountain (not really big enough to be a mountain but bigger than just a hill in my opinion... not sure what to call it). As we went up there was more and more snow and we crossed paths with some sheep. The view from the top was beautiful and we had a bit of a picnic lunch before descending. On the descent we came across a spot in the path that we decided must've been where the hobbits hid from the Black Rider in the first Lord of the Rings movie. Once we made it back to the car, we drove back across the river to Dunkeld where we explored a Medieval cathedral and walking around the town a bit.
We stopped in an antique shop and the lady inside asked if I had Scottish ancestry due to my red hair. I got to tell her that it's not natural but that I do have a bit of Scottish lineage and that my mom and younger sister have naturally red hair. I didn't mention that it comes from my grandma who was of the Dutch/German line... oh well, Grandad Davis was Scot-Irish and must have had some recessive gene for red hair. Then we stopped at the store on the way back to Essendy to get supplies for s'mores and American pancakes (Andrew is Canadian and therefore agrees with me that the flat English things called pancakes are totally crepes.). There aren't graham crackers here either, so we got chocolate Digestives (a kind of biscuit... yes, I know sounds weird but they're good). Somewhere on this drive we stopped to explore some church ruins along the road. The access to get inside the walls was very Secret Garden-like. It's a good thing we're all history nerds. In the words of Andrew, "After a short archaeological survey we think it's 17th century, damaged by fire."
When we got back to the house, we had tea with Tess and John (Francesca's parents). Tess had made an amazing ginger carrot cake. It also turns out that John used to be a field hockey goal keeper and they have friends who have a daughter who now plays at Wake Forest, whom I played with at the South Region training center last year! Small world! After tea, we hauled wood from all over the property so that we could build a bonfire. I drove a tractor and chopped wood for the first time. We were fed a hearty dinner along with John's ginger pudding creation and then proceeded to have our bonfire and s'mores. Overall, a great day.
Thursday, 5 April:
Coffee in bed again. Francesca spoiled me. Then before breakfast I ran a 10k loop from the house that kicked my butt. It was even more mountainous than the 10k race I did with Emberli out in the Waynesboro area this past summer. It started flurrying after I finished. That will tell you how cold it was, too. But the scenery made up for the difficulty! Beautiful country roads, mountains, valleys, and lochs! Tess was glad that I thought it was hard because she routinely runs that route and thinks it's difficult, too. After the run it was pancake time! Then Andrew and I were enlisted to move some beds and mattresses around to prepare for more people coming that night. Francesca's younger sister was coming home with three friends that night. One of which was another Canadian named Andrew haha. Then we hit the road for more site seeing.
First we drove to Meigle where we saw some Pictish stones. The Picts were early occupants of the land and the later phase of their stones are the earliest evidence of Christianity in Scotland. Then we went to Glamis Castle (from MacBeth). That was my first castle ever. It's still used now, so it's been slowly renovated over the years. I'd really like to go to one that's still very medieval-like. There were highland cattle grazing on the castle's land. They're so funny looking with their big, shaggy, ginger coats.
After that, we got in the car again and headed to St. Andrew's (Yes, the golf place.). There we saw the ruins of St. Andrew's cathedral and castle. They were really neat. The crypt of the cathedral has a lot of artifacts in it and some people were practicing MacBeth at the castle. St. Andrew's is on the water, so we got a really pretty view from the top of the cathedral tower and out on a dock. When we got back to Francesca's we had tea and dinner. So much food!
Friday, 6 April:
We drove back to Edinburgh, returned the car at the airport, and got a bus into the city. I'll definitely say that Edinburgh is a really cool city to visit. The old-style streets give it a lot of character. Among other things we saw St. Giles Cathedral, the Castle of Edinburgh, and the Scottish crown jewels. For lunch we ate haggis, neeps, and tatties. Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish made from a lot of ground up meat parts traditionally cooked in a sheep's stomach. I was surprised that I liked it, but I must say I prefered the veggie version. Neeps are mashed turnips and tatties are mashed potatoes. Francesca and I popped into the National Museum at one point while Andrew met a friend and were baffled by the sheer eclecticism of the collections and layout. Let's just say it could be done better.
At the end of the day, Francesca hopped a train home and Andrew and I flew back to London. It was a great few days! Thanks again to Francesca and family for the hospitality!
There are plenty more pictures on Facebook if you haven't seen them yet!
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