Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Scotland

Well, here I am!

I arrived today at Dalkeith Palace just outside Edinburgh, Scotland.  So far everything has been great.  The four of us girls are in one room and getting along quite well. Three of us arrived at the airport within an hour of each other and shared a taxi from the airport.  It was quite exciting--we were barely out of the airport when we got into a accident at a roundabout.  Ok, it wasn't really an accident, but that sounds way more interesting!!

There was a little old manin the car in front of us who apparently couldn't get his car out of gear and slid back into the cab. It all took place at the super high speed of two miles per hour.  After our very nice, Polish driver got out and sorted things out, the little old man hugged him, then we were on our way to the house.

We got here and couldn't get in, but finally did and then we walked into town with Glen to get some breakfast.  We ate at Cafe Troy and it was good!  I had fresh orange juice, bacon, egg and chips.  Then we walked through town.  We stopped at the Salvation Army where I bought a fascinator, then we went to Morrison's which is a grocery chain.  I bought some water and Jammie Dodgers and us girls admired the alcohol isle with its cans of hooch, etc.

We came back to the house, took a nap and then walked around the grounds a little before supper.  For supper I'm not sure if she said Scottish Pie or Cottage Pie but it was delicious.  After a brief class session we were all off to bed.

Day 2

We all slept pretty well, though it is pretty warm in our room.  We got up, bathed, went down and met the others for breakfast. Then Dr. Joyce Miller came in to give us a brief history of Edinburgh.  It was really interestinf to find out that being called a burgh was really an econmic staus.  Our co-leader, Jessica, then told us about the history of Dalkeith Palace.  We broke for lunch and a walk into Dalkeith to buy two-week bus passes.  Then we had a free afternoon and I walked around to take some pictures, but it started to rain.  It didn't rain for long and we went out for a walk down to the stables and past the orangerie.  It was not a real stressful day, but that was nice because we were all pooped out.

Day 3

Four of us chose to go along with another group to St. Andrew's.  It was our first time out of Dalkeith so it was nice to go with a group.  We took the bus into Edinburgh, took a train to Leuchars, and then a bus to St. Andrew's.  We walked around town and saw the cathedral ruins, the castle ruins, and then ewent to the golf course.  One of our classmates really wanted to get a picture on the bridge on the 18th hole, so we did that.  Then we went and watched the Highland Games.  That was fun, but by the end my poor ankle was getting sore, and come to discover I had a blister on my arch.  We stopped at Morrison's on the way home and had a little picnic on the grounds.  Though I couldn't care less about golf, I enjoyed the sea breeze and the quaint town.


 






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