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August 30, 2006

Last in weekend Scotland recap

Greg hasn’t a kilt, family tartan, bagpipes or a Scottish accent but still he claims to be a native. Since he seems to know the difference between a brae and a munro and can describe in detail 200 year chunks of Scottish history at a time, I’m going to believe him. Greg is one of my co-workers and has endeared himself to me by taking the family and me (and Quincy) on some excursions around Scotland. I’ve secretly (or now not so secretly) nicknamed him BFS (Best Friend in Scotland) for his efforts. I've gotten to see parts of Scotland I wouldn't have been able to see unless I'd hired/rented a car and endangered lives* to see the sites he's taken us to see in his car.

Sunday we visited Deep Sea World Aquarium in the Kingdom of Fife, then visited the beautiful coastal town of North Berwick (pronounced Barrick). The kids once again chowed down on a dinner of “chippies” while we sat on a wall near the beach. Andy will be jealous to see all the kite boarders and windsurfers when he sees my photos. Erik and my dad will be jealous to learn we played golf though, even if it was only slightly more complicated than a putt putt course. My guess is it was a 1-par course although I made it more of a 5 par course. Karsten tried playing golf too but then he realized he was having more fun pretending to be Clark Kent than playing golf.

On Monday our personal tour guide took us on an “off the beaten path” tour of Scotland. The best thing that happened on Monday is that instead of Karsten morphing into Clark Kent he morphed into a nice, quiet Peter Rabbit after we visited a Beatrix Potter exhibit in Birnham. Birnham is also famous for its part in Macbeth. “Toil toil boil and trouble…” was all I could remember from 10th grade Macbeth studies, but now little animals in quaint outfits will stand out in my memory even more. I couldn’t resist buying the Tale of Tom Kitten and other Beatrix Potter paraphernalia in the gift shop.

Next we visited what is claimed to be the most beautiful and ancient Christian site in Scotland, Dunkeld Cathedral. The Cathedral also has its own museum attached to it. I don’t think any churches in Seattle have any museum attached so I was quite intrigued to muddle through centuries and centuries of history. The cathedral is located next to a beautiful river Tay and some cathedral ruins. Greg said that was the area he’d want to retire in and I can see why.

We ended the day our last stop at the Drummond Castle Gardens. It was the perfect place for the kids to run around and me to imagine how luxurious it would be to live in a place with such impressive gardens. My little 2x5 garden strip at home hardly compares.

This lack of internet connection is cramping my blogging style! I’m having to make super long posts instead of my quick bites and all the effort is taxing my brain! I know next year when I’m sitting at home re-reading this I will be glad I made the effort, so I will force myself to continue on.

Trudging through my memory all the way back to Friday I’m recalling shopping behind Waverly station. I had a pang of homesickness when of all things I heard a flaming lips song playing in one of the stores. I never thought I’d associate the Flaming Lips with home but the last time I heard that song Andy had it playing on the ipod at home. Gro took the kids back home for the naps and I spent about 3 hours poking into little boutiques and finding my way home. I didn’t buy anything though! Now I’m panicking because I don’t have any shopping time left and hardly bought gifts for anyone – or even myself.

Saturday we met with Terry and his family again. Terry’s son Danny is Karsten’s own BFS. Danny is six, friendly and very worldly. He spent his first two years of life in Poland, the next four in the US and now he’s making Edinburgh his home. We took the kids to a Scottish ceilidh… well, as close to a ceilidh you can get to without whisky. Afterwards the kids still needed some running around so we hung out on the park near the Parliament building. Karsten went in the pond and got so wet I had to take Britta’s long johns/tights off and put them on to Karsten to wear around Edinburgh. He looked like a metrosexual ninja but that didn’t stop him from running the entire Royal Mile and down to the appliance department at the John Lewis store. We checked out some appliances with Terry and Madga then hit Pizza Hut of all places to end the day. We felt like it was a bit of an American cop out but the kids ate so much that any guilt we felt for not doing better to gastronomically branch out was overruled.

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* Bob has done damage to the hired/rented car in the one day he's been driving in the UK. I got an email from Ivan asking if he was okay and yes, he's okay. Everyone else should be okay if he just stays off the road! I've offered to loan Bob my red nail polish to cover up some of the scratches he's put in the car but he said it is the wrong shade.

Posted by jana at August 30, 2006 12:57 AM

Comments

Posted by: Robert Cottrell at August 31, 2006 3:59 PM