New Year's Trip to Scotland and
London Dec 2003
Well, Orange terror alert and cancelled Hogmanay street
party notwithstanding, we are back from our trip and had a fantastic
time. We arrived far too early at the airport, due to the ominous
news coverage of long security lines, but had no trouble whatsoever.
With the aid of prescription medication, we both managed to sleep a
good deal of the flight, and landed in London early. The 5 hour
train ride to Edinburgh seemed to take longer than the flight!
It was good to be back in Edinburgh, one of our favorite cities,
but it was Very Cold! Backpacking with a heavy winter coat, hood,
scarf and gloves is a much different experience than going in the
summer. We wimped out right away and took a taxi. Millfield
Guesthouse was just as charming and welcoming as we recalled from
our first trip, and we were very happy to be back. Our first night
we were treated to dinner by some fellow MINI owners at a yummy
veggie restaurant in the old town. We really enjoyed getting to know
them over veggie haggis (and a few pints). It had been a long day
for us, having covered well over 4,000 miles by plane, train, and
automobile, and by 11, we were practically incoherent. We had our
first lift in a right hand drive MINI back to our room, which was
disorienting, but fun.
Bright and early Monday, following a huge breakfast at our
guesthouse, and lots of coffee, we headed out into the cold for our
MINI run. About 10 or so MINIs met up, and took us on a drive to St.
Andrews, which was absolutely incredible. The wild coast of the
North Sea was breathtaking, and we explored the cathedral ruins, and
posed for a photo by the 18th hole, evidently quite a famous spot
for golfers. We had a blast riding about in different people's MNIs,
and trying to interpret their version of English. We rode back to
Edinburgh via Craill, a lovely harbor village, and along the coast,
with a super nice couple that we went for drinks with at the
Caledonian in Edinburgh.
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After experiencing the road from the "wrong side" we decided to
take the train, rather than hire a car, up to Stirling, where we
wandered about the hilly town, and made our way up to the castle. It
was a great daytrip, and we really enjoyed the scenery and exploring
the town. That night was the Night Afore festival, part of the
Hogmanay celebrations, so we braved the cold for that, and had the
opportunity to stand right up front at a bagpipers performance. I'm
running out of adjectives, but it was amazing. Falling snow
glittered, the men turned out in their full kilted regalia, and the
bagpipes sent shivers right down my spine. The Night Afore also
featured street theater performances from India, which were a lot of
fun.
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New Years Eve dawned colder than ever, and we started out the day
with a brisk hike up Arthur's Seat for a fantastic view of the city.
From there we visited Holyrood Palace, and made our way up the Royal
Mile, ending up outside Edinburgh Castle, where you couldn't take
two steps in a row for all the tour busses. We did some shopping on
Princes Street, and stopped for tea before going back to rest up for
Hogmanay.
At just about precisely the moment we left for the festivities,
it started to bucket rain. Our hostess at our guesthouse fortified
us with some hot mulled wine though, and we went in search of
dinner. This was easier said than done, as evidently pubs stop
serving food at mysterious times, and we hadn't made any dinner
reservations for a restaurant. We ended up at an Italian café on
Grassmarket, which was fine, and headed over with the masses to
Princes Street, experiencing a total decimation of our umbrella
along the way. We made our way to a few pubs, and heard around 10:30
or so that the fireworks were cancelled. We found a policeman near
the gates, and learned that the entire event was cancelled due to
"adverse weather conditions". This is Scotland, where there's really
no such thing as good weather conditions. We joined the melee on
Princes Street, which was rapidly deteriorating into chaos as tens
of thousands of partiers in various stages of inebriation booed at
the announcements ordering everyone to leave the area. We finally
decided that with no fireworks, no concert and no countdown, there
was nothing to keep us in the bedlam, so we managed to get a taxi
back to our room, where we rung in the new year listening to Big Ben
chime on our tinny little clock radio.
Naturally, New Years Day came with a beautiful sunrise and clear
weather. This only lasted, however, until we got off the bus near
Craigmillar Castle. We walked about a mile to the castle, only to
find it was closed, and to be greeted with rain. Some visitors from
New Zealand were there, and we all climbed the gate, but couldn't
get past the outer courtyard. They kindly gave us a lift to the
nearest bus stop though. We visited Edinburgh Castle in the
afternoon, and it was more crowded than our first time there in the
middle of tourist season. After searching high and low for a place
to eat - it seems everything is closed for New Year's Day - we
finally had a nice bowl of tomato soup, and climbed Calton Hill,
where we found more stunning views of the city and the sea. Mary
Kings Close was next; a walking tour of a preserved part of town
from the 1400s, that had been walled up and built over centuries
ago. It was a fascinating tour, though I didn't buy all the ghost
stories. Leaving there, we stumbled onto a fantastic Indian New
Years' Day Parade.
Want to see the photos?
continue to
London
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