Scotland, Days 7 and 8

Thursday, March 8:
At this point it felt like we’d been on vacation for a very long time – and not in a bad way. To me that meant we were having a restful vacation, which was nice. Once again we slept in and after watching some of the telly (*hee*) we headed out to Edinburgh. Since there was a train strike going on we opted to drive straight there since it was only 1 hour 15 min away. Upon parking the car in a car park, we found that we had to walk up this HUGE hill to get to Edinburgh Castle. And I mean huge – as in I couldn’t breathe when we got to the top. Edinburgh Castle was more interesting than Stirling Castle because they had actual exhibits about the history of the castle. But I have to say – total sidenote – when it comes to pure entertainment? So far nothing has topped Asheville, NC’s Biltmore Estate, which is how building tours should be. After spending quite some time in the Castle we walked the Royal Mile, which had mainly tourist shops and cafes. We went in search of Mary King’s Close, which is an alley that leads to a huge underground neighborhood where people actually lived. But at 7.50 pounds per person to get in, I felt the cost wasn’t worth it. So we drove back to Aberfoyle and had dinner at the only place we didn’t like during the whole trip. It was incredibly bad and it was no wonder the place was mostly empty when we were there.

Friday, March 9:
Another glorious late morning. At noon we headed to Glasgow for the first of two days there. The bartender in Callendar had recommend two days in Glasgow as opposed to Edinburgh. We walked around the main city centre in Glasgow – it was teeming with people. We visited the Gallery of Modern Art which was absolute crap. Seriously. It was just awful and we were SO glad it was free to get in. We went to a place called Wethersoon for lunch where I ordered a delicious dish that had five kinds of meat on the plate. Yum. The place was packed, but Denis said the bartender claimed the place was empty for a typical Friday! Yikes! At around 3:45 p.m. we decided to make a run for another art gallery that was open until 5 p.m. We knew we could get there in fifteen minutes and have a solid hour in the gallery. However, when we got there (after an all up-hill walk), we found it closed for renovations and the exhibits all located in another building across town. Grrr!!!! We walked to the nearby Willow Tearooms to warm up with tea and dessert. In honor of my mom, I did get some tea, but also ordered hot chocolate as a backup. And the toffee apple tart I ordered was amazing and I need to find the recipe online for that one. Afterwards we headed back down the hill, stopping in various shops along the way. We didn’t buy anything though, since most of our shopping was done. Headed back to the parking garage where our car was, and found the parking was really expensive – we’re talking NYC prices. We begrudgingly turned over the 11+ pounds (which is $20!) for five hours in the carpark. And since it was rush hour at that point, it took forever to get out of town and back to the timeshare. We chilled out for an hour or so and then opted to go to the resort restaurant for dinner since it was our last night there. I was actually impressed with the food since the chef can’t be excited about making the same 6-7 dishes every single night. But it was quite nice and well done. The remainder of the night was spent watching more local television (which will have it’s own separate post at some point, along with the music on the radio).