I know it has been a few months since we posted...sorry! I vow to catch up. Since we have last posted, we have been back to the states for a much needed visit with family and friends. We also went on a cruise vacation to the Caribbean that hit the spot. Armed with our two year visas, we are now back in the UK! Last weekend was Ken's 26th birthday and I planned a trip to Scotland to watch the British Open and sight see a little. We started off going up the west coast of England into Scotland, passing Birmingham, Manchester and then we landed in Glasgow, Scotland, for the night. We checked into our hotel, that I might add was a deal! It was definitely a small room, but we got it for half the listed price because we have a CAC card. We walked around downtown Glasgow that night and found a great little bistro to eat dinner. It was a champagne bar/bistro. They had a summer deal 3 courses and a bottle of wine for 50pounds. It was the best meal we have had in the UK, by far. It was called Urban Bar & Brasserie, delish!! If you are ever in Glasgow, eat there.
The next morning we headed off to Turnberry, where The Open 2009 (British Open we call it) is held. It started off a rainy dreadful looking day, but it actually turned out to be a mostly dry day. We had a few short bursts of rain, but not enough to stop play. I was so mad that they wouldn't let us take a camera in, so this is the only picture I got.
The grounds were beautiful! Now, it was not Augusta, but it was beautiful in its own way. Hotel and lighthouse set a great seashore atmosphere. It was extremely windy too! I couldn't believe it! I had to buy a sweater to go under my jacket and a headband that covered my ears. Tiger Wods teed off at 2:20 and we saw him tee-off at the third and putt at the 5th. After that, the crowd that followed him got too annoying, so we got lunch and tea and planted ourselves at the 17th green and watched all the players putt at the 17th. We stayed and had a front row seat to Tom Watson and then Tiger and Lee Westwood before we left. We also saw Davis Love III, Greg Norman, Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh, and a lot of the other names in golf. I just wish I had a camera!!! Oh well. After The Open we were so dog tired, we got something to eat and went to sleep! Not mentioned we didn't fell well. We both woke up with an even worse sore throat than we already had. I guess it was the change in weather. We went from 90s in Mexico and back at home to 13C (55F) in Scotland. The transistion was a little too fast for our own good.
The next morning we headed over to Edinburgh. We had no plan, just punched it in the GPS and looked in an atlas to see what was around. I had heard from a guy at work that the Edinburgh Castle was something to see. So, that was our first stop. We go there and the line was hours long, so we just took pictures from the outside and walked around the city centre. We went to the tartan mill and saw all the kilts and woolen blankets. Ken bought two tartan ties and I got a cashmere scarf as a souvenir of Scotland. After the sightseeing, Ken wanted to find a place to taste Haggis. If you don't know what haggis is, it is sheep insides, spices, oatmeal and other ingredients stuffed into a casing- traditionally the stomach lining. So we found a place to eat that had it as an appetiser. It was called fried haggis balls. Appetising name huh?! Well, he dug right in, but it took me a while to get the guts- no pun intended- to try it. It wasn't that bad of a taste. I think it was the texture that got me. One thing checked off the UK bucket list- try haggis.
Edinburgh was a great little city. I wish we would have had more time there. I fully intend to take a highlands tour out of Edinburgh sometime. We have a coworker that did it this weekend and I am anxiously awaiting his opinion. After Edinburgh, we headed to a scotch whisky distillery, Glenkinchie, right outside of the city. Again, no cameras were allowed, but we got a few of the outside. I would have to say that I prefer Tennessee whiskey, sweeter. It was interesting to see the process though. Glenkinchie is a single malt whiskey. That means that the one distillery produces all of the whisky with the Glenkinchie name; it is not blended. Glenkinchie is one of the single malts that is chosen for the biggest blended scotch whiskies, ie. Johnnie Walker black and red labels. Beauitful area around the distillery. Pictures just don't do it justice!
As we headed down the east coast of Scotland and England, I saw that there was an island with a castle in the atlas. It was called The Holy Island of Lindisfarne. What a site! Thank goodness we got there when we did. The causway that the access road is on goes under water during hightide. We got there pretty late and all the shuttles to the castle had stopped running, but we got to the island and saw the castle from afar. I fully intend to go back and explore the island more on another trip.
On the way to Newcastle upon Tyne and our hotel we saw a little sign for a town called Lamberton. Ken had to pull of the road and see where the road led. It didn't go too far and we ended up turning around because of the really small roads. But we have a town sort of named for Lambert!
We got to Newcastle and checked into the hotel. The hotel was awesome! If you are ever in England and looking for a great boutique hotel, check out Hotel Du Vin. Wonderful room, food and service! The whole hotel was a champagne and wine theme. They had flattened wine and champagne bottles framed, which was really neat. That would be a great idea for a special bottle of wine.We had a great time on this trip. It was a lot of traveling, driving and seeing beautiful countryside that unfortunately pictures cannot do justice. I cannot wait to go to the highlands of Scotland.
I will post a link to more photos soon.
