Falling in Love with Scotland

Driving to Scotland was when we realized driving on the left side of the road seemed normal now. Traffic circles could be interesting when we get back to the US. (After years of driving and never understanding them, I've finally figured them out- in England, of course!)

We arrived in Edinburgh with five hours still left with the car, but since we didn't really know what to do with ourselves, and I was desperate for a nap after my poor night of sleep, we dropped it off and got a ride to our B&B. We were staying at Ashlyn House, and to be honest, when we arrived, I don't know how they weren't fully booked! GORGEOUS interior, right next to the Royal Botanical Gardens, huge rooms, quiet part of town... it was perfect! Our room was absolutely stunning. They decorated it in the Victorian style, but not too overdone like so many. It had high ceilings (maybe 12 feet?) with beautiful double moulding around it, pink and white printed walls (although not too pink as to be girly) that looked like they were cloth-covered on the top half, with patterned plaster (paper?) for the bottom half, a padded, printed headboard with partial canopy that matched the curtains to the huge five foot windows. Like I said, gorgeous. I crashed for two hours and woke up feeling much more myself. Not wanting to miss anymore than we absolutely had to (due to time constraints), we headed to the Royal Botanical Gardens.

To both of our Moms: if you need a reason for traveling overseas, this is it! Just look at the pictures. We spend hours wandering in there and only scratched the surface it seemed! And even the things we DID see I want to see again! Huge gardens with an amazing variety of plants, all seemingly in bloom.

Dinner was Italian at a local place down the street. We ordered a bottle of red wine, some soup for me (still the throat thing) and some calamari for Chris, as well as a pasta and chicken dish for him and a dish of chicken with caramelized onions and peppers in a white wine and butter/garlic sauce for me. Exquisite! The chicken was so tender and juicy, and the onions went perfectly with it! I've kind of fallen in love with caramelized onions this past year.

We walked back to the B&B and had an early night, since the next day we wanted to do Edinburgh.

I pretty much love Edinburgh, and mostly because of one woman I met in a Christmas shop who was a total kindred spirit- foodie and Christmas lover who got excited when talking about either of the two, especially when she could point us in the right direction for her favorite food (unfortunately, we'd already eaten, so we couldn't work them in :( :( but next time for sure!)

So, I'm getting ahead of myself, talking about food. Let's back up to say that I once again slept very well the previous night, and after a light breakfast (for me anyways), we headed for Edinburgh Castle, a must-see according to every guidebook and website. I should also do a disclaimer that states that we were starting to get a little run down, all this traveling at the frantic pace, so if you notice that we're doing less and less in each city, that's why. We're exhausted!

So, the Castle. It has a really interesting history, although difficult for me to relate to you, since I get all the Charleses and Edwards mixed up. And the Bruces, Stewarts, and all the other inter-marrying monarchs. Go to Wikipedia.

Anyways, awesome views and we got to see the Scottish Crown Jewels, after once again encountering the Great Heathen Army. I was getting hungry and cranky before too long though, so we headed to find a pub for some cheap lunch (and ok, yes, some hard cider. Sue me!) I got a bacon cheeseburger American style, Chris had Italian Chicken, and we both left happy campers. (Well, happy until we found out the other places that had awesome food and we were too full to eat at them...)

I have been collecting Christmas tree ornaments from each country I visit this year, so I was on the hunt for a Scottish one (Yvonne, I forgot an English one, please get me one so I don't have a hole in the collection!) as well as some earrings. That's when we met the sweetie in the Christmas shop.

We walked down the rest of the Royal Mile to see the Castle at Holyrood, where the Queen of England stays when she is in Scotland. We didn't go in, partly because we were tired, but also partly because I think I heard people talking about Prince Charles either coming or being there. So closed to visitors. Back to the B&B!

Since we had to get up at 4:30AM to catch our flight to Dublin the next day, it was another early night.