Les Flâneurs: Scotland

Showing posts with label Scotland. Show all posts

2019 UK Trip Wrap-up

Princes Street, Edinburgh

Accommodations.

We used Sawday's Special Places. They put you in touch with the owner of the home or hotel and you take it from there. We used Sawday for our stay in Paris in the fall of 2016 and had a simply fantastic experience. We weren't disappointed this time, either. Beats Air BnB, hands down. A strong recommendation.

Edinburgh. 2 Cambridge Square, AKA the Dynamite Club.
Notwithstanding the wonderfully and yes quirky space itself, three things the traveler will most likely find important in considering a stay at the Dynamite Club: (1) The breakfasts by Virginia were as good as any meal we ate in Edinburgh;.(2) Our breakfast companions -- there are only two rooms -- were fascinating and a genuine pleasure to spend an hour with in the morning. (3) And last but by no means least is the location. I mean, you are right at the base of the castle and within walking distance to just about everything and anything of interest in Edinburgh.

Bath. The Queensberry Hotel.
Three things to bear in mind here: (1) The hotel itself is wonderful; four Georgian townhomes wedded together, the original space once being the home of the marquess of Queensberry, yes that's right the guy who codified the rules for boxing; and our room (no. 14) was lovely with an enormous bathroom and two sinks, which was a nice touch. Also there was a Nespresso machine right outside our door. (2) The food was superb -- we ate at the bar for dinner the night we arrived (fish pie was scrumptious) and in the restaurant for breakfast, which was delicious: pitchers of smoothies next to the orange juice. I can only imagine what dinner must be like. (3) The staff were incredibly friendly and always willing and available to be helpful and of assistance. (4) And lastly is the location. The hotel is a ten-minute walk from the Roman Baths and the abbey and almost around the corner from the Circus and the Royal Crescent.

Food.

Ripon.
Royal Oak Inn. Fish n chips x 2, ham and eggs x 2, wine and beer for four £45.

Edinburgh.
Wagamama, noodle bowls x 2 £31.00
Balmoral Hotel, tea x 2 £110
Cafe Andaluz patatas gratinadas, albondagas and pollo rebozado, 2 glasses wine £31,00
Royal Yacht Britannia, cream tea x 1, cheese and chutney sand, 2 glasses rosé £43.00
the Grainstore, scallops, beef, fish 2 glasses wine £91.00
Amarone, pennette pomodorino, linguine polpettine, insalata, 1btl wine £54.00

St. Andrews. Nando's, sand x 2

Bath.
Pump Room, tea x 1, fishcakes, 2 glasses wine £71.00
The Chequers, fish n chips, burger, wine £56.00
The Circus, 2 x fish of the day, veggie starter, creme brulé, glass dessert wine Samos, 1 btl Assyrtiko £93.00
Queensberry Hotel Bar, £35.00

London.
Dorchester Hotel, tea x 2 £171.00
Le Pain Quotidian (St. Pancras Station), 2 tarts, 1 half soup-tartine, 2 glasses wine £46.00
Trafalgar Tavern (Greenwich), whitebait large, 2 sand of the day, bangers n mash, beer/wine for four, £68.00

St. Albans.
Chez Momtaj, 2 lamb shank, 2 seafood biryani, btle chablis £126
DavVero,
Prae Wood Arms, £67.00

Things seen and done.

Edinburgh. National Gallery, Princes Street Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens, Royal Yacht Britannia, Edinburgh Castle, Rabbie's Day Tours, Scotch Whiskey Experience.
St. Andrews. Castle and abbey.
Falkland. Palace and gardens.
Bath. Royal Crescent, The Circus, Jane Austen Centre, Abbey, Roman Baths, Bertinet Cookery School.
London. Cruise on the Thames, Greenwich, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens
St. Albans, Saturday market, the Old Town Hall.

General

Use the city tour buses to get a feel of the space.
Use your iphone or buy a local SIM card when you first arrive. SIMLocal is a chain that's in all the terminals at Heathrow.
Check your CC to see if you have the swipe 'n go feature -- if so, using the Tube is a breeze.

Edinburgh 27 September

Today we focused on going out of the city into the countryside, and to do that we signed up for a day trip to St. Andrews with Rabbie's Tours. This particular tour would take us to the fishing village of Anstruther on the North Sea then up to St. Andrews where we would spend the bulk of our time. From St. Andrews we would go to Falkland and the head back to Edinburgh. The tour was scheduled to last about 8-and-a-half hours, which proved to be about accurate.

The tour groups -- there were three of us -- congregated outside Rabbie's Cafe on Princes Street and at just about half past nine were ushered to our waiting bus vans.

After an hour and a half or so we pulled into the quaint old fishing village of Anstruther where public restrooms were available as were a few lovely views of the harbor and town. The town also boasted a kebab joint and a Turkish barber.

From Anstruther we drove up the coast to St. Andrews where we left the bus near the British Golf Museum. The Dunhill Golf Classic was underway but the inclement weather had us doubting whether anyone was playing. The important thing was were weren't scheduled to play so we could just enjoy the town. And, as our guide Martin said, if people stopped playing golf in Scotland due to the weather, people in Scotland would never play golf.

So we strolled up Scores Street to the ruins of the St. Andrews castle and from there to yet another set of ruins, but this time it was the St. Andrews Cathedral.

side entrance to the castle

view of the ancient cathedral from the castle

From the castle it was less than five minutes -- in the rain mind you -- to the cathedral. It's possible to climb to the top of the tower but we skipped that portion, thank you. Still, the little museum inside the visitor center held a wealth of old tombstones that had been recovered and preserved from the very earliest burials here.

while this wasn't a terribly old burial it nonetheless had a wonderfully poignant inscription

lots of the burials were blocked off because of unstable ground

inside the museum - reportedly St. Andrew's sarcophagus

After leaving the cathedral we walked up Market St. to find a place for lunch and opted for Nando's, a chain specializing in grilled chicken.

Sadly, the rain was still falling quite heavily by the time we got back to the bus and arrived in Falkland. Equally unfortunate, however, was the Falkland palace turned out to be a waste of time. Poor signage, confusing layout and an ambiguity over which particular century fell into which part of the palace -- much of it renovated and/or recreated elsewhere on the property -- made this a very perplexing place to spend any time.

But we were soon back on the bus and heading south once again to Edinburgh. Our guide kindly stopped at a lovely overlook on the south side of the River Forth to let us take some wonderful photos of the bridges, both the new Queensferry Bridge and the older Forth Road Bridge, the latter heavily restricted to most traffic because of problems with the infrastructure.

Near St. Cuthbert's kirkyard along Princes St. we caught sight of a bit of street graffiti that seems to sum up the state of things in at least three countries:

Tomorrow it's time to meet up with Richard and Pauline for the drive back to St. Albans. Don't click around!

Edinburgh 26 September Hop on hop off

"Hop on hop off." That pretty much describes today’s activities. Indeed, this was the one day we probably travelled the most and saw the most in Edinburgh. And I have the photos to prove it. In fact, since this was probably our most attraction-heavy day in Edinburgh, there are lots of photos in this post. Don't say I didn't warn you. . .

After another lovely breakfast and chat with Dominique and Yves, from 2 Cambridge Street we walked around the corner and down a few steps into St. Cuthbert’s Kirkyard. We followed the central path through the cemetery that eventually opens onto Princes Street Gardens, which parallels Princes Street above and to our left. This area was originally underwater and was notorious for being the refuse area for the inhabitants of the Castle and Old Town on the rock above. Anyway, it’s a lovely spot for a quiet stroll in the city. And so we did.

We strolled down the gardens, passing a lovely if not subtle monument to the memory of Robert Louis Stevenson, a local boy who made good (he is in fact buried in Samoa). We also passed a moving memorial placed by the Norwegians who were supported and sustained during the Second World War by the people of Edinburgh.

One we reached the end of the gardens we climbed the stairs which took us back to street level and found our objective: one of the numerous street hawkers for the hop-on-hop-off buses. We chose the Majestic Tour bus (blue and yellow) since they seemed to offer just what we were looking for: first stop for us was the Royal Botanical Gardens.

breakfast

just off Lothian Road and two minutes from the Dynamite Club

Princes Street Gardens entrance to St. Cuthbert's kirkyard

memorial to Robert Louis Stevenson

Norwegian Brigade Memorial

memorial to Sir Walter Scott

entrance to the Botanical Gardens. . .

where your shoes are automatically cleaned as you enter and exit

Nepal Garden

part of the "glasshouses," or greenhouses

petrified tree

entrance to the glasshouses

alpine garden

wall garden

crevice garden - notice all the signage!

We had a short 10-minute or so wait for the next bus and it was off to the Royal Yacht Britannia, located at Ocean Terminal.

Once we were dropped off we made our way into the mall -- for in fact that's what Ocean Terminal is, a large indoor shopping mall along the old wharves -- and took the lift up to the entrance to the yacht. The tour lasts about an hour-and-a-half but we added a bit more time by opting to have lunch in the tea room located on what was once open deck but now a glass enclosed restaurant.

tugs helping to dock the German Naval frigate F-222

the tea room

mature cheddar whipped with mayonnaise -- delicious!

and a glass of sparkling rosé, of course

state dining room

the drawing room

After leaving the yacht we made our way back through the mall and outside to the bus stop. It wasn't long before the double-decker Majestic bus hove into sight (a bit of nautical lingo for you) and it was off back into town. Our next stop, the last of the day, would be Edinburgh Castle and the end of the Royal Mile.

Indeed, we got off at the last of the stops along the Royal Mile and walked up to the Castle. We strolled through the various buildings -- a few closed to the public - and mostly enjoyed the incredible views of the city and its environs.

cell in the prison

prisoners' quarters, back to the American War of Independence

National War Memorial

inside the Great Hall

the Soldiers' Dog Cemetery

looking out to the Firth of Forth

Megs Mons cannon

rear of the National War Memorial

down the Lang Stairs and to the exit

Leaving the castle we took a narrow alleyway down the hill heading for Grassmarket St. at the base of the rock, where we stopped for a glass of wine at a pizzeria named Made in Italy. We then made our way up the street a short walk to our final stop of the day, dinner at the Grain Store.

The food was incredibly good and at the end of the meal a couple at a nearby table turned to us and clarified a point we had been discussing about the military term "Roger, wilco." It seems that they were celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary and had met while serving in the Marine Corps on embassy duty. We had a nice chat swapping stories less about war than about being Marines.

Just after leaving the restaurant as we were crossing Grassmarket St heading for home we noticed a large memorial flush with the pavement, remembering April 2, 1916, when a Zeppelin airship dropped a bomb on that very spot. History is always so close here.