**Click HERE to look at pictures from our time in Edinburgh and Musselburgh**
Both: Hey everyone!
Jen: It's Jen and Greg with an update on our travels.
Greg: This time, we're talking about the couple of days we spent in Edinburgh, as well as the several weeks we spent in Musselburgh.
Jen: So before we get started, we just wanted to send a really huge thank you out to Craig and Denise, who let us stay in their flat in Musselburgh for an extended amount of time. We wouldn't have been able to do this kind of travel without them, and we just can't say thank you enough.
Greg: Definitely. We've covered before all of the Schengen area “shenanigans”, we like to say. Having the ability to stay for a long term in their flat really kept the clock moving over that 180-day period so that we could squeeze out an extra few weeks in Europe without violating the Schengen Zone restrictions. We're so grateful to Craig and Denise for enabling us to do this long-term travel.
Jen: Yeah, and to give you guys a little background on how we met them. It was actually a friend of an agent that I worked with at Realty Austin. Thank you, Donna, for introducing us to Craig and Denise. We had a dinner with them to kind of tell them about our plans and from the minute we met them, we felt very welcome with them and very comfortable with them.
Greg: Also, their family is SO awesome.
Jen: (laughs) Yeah, we went to dinner with them one night while we were there — the whole family — their daughter and son-in-law and the two grandsons. So it was good to see a familiar face while we were in Edinburgh and kind of get to spend some time with them as a family.
Greg: Yeah. And the conversation is always so good. I enjoyed that evening.
Okay, having said that, we're going to start with the train ride that we took from London to Edinburgh, specifically on that train ride, north part of what is still England before you get into Scotland, there is a town called Berwick, B-E-R-W-I-C-K.
Jen: Yeah, so we passed through this town, I knew it was coming, I was kind of following it on the map, and we passed over and it's a city on the water. And there's a lighthouse there, and I was able to take a picture of the sign too, so it was fun to see a little bit of home in England!
Greg: Yeah, I thought it was a neat little thing. Uh, for those who are not aware, Jennifer's original hometown is Berwick, Louisiana, and they have their own little lighthouse.
At the hotel in Edinburgh, there was a breakfast that they served. They had haggis —which Craig and Denise told us we needed to try haggis — and said, “We have a friend who's from South Louisiana who tried haggis in Scotland and told us that it was very much like boudin.”
Jen: And we did not believe them…
Greg: No, we scoffed.
Jen: (laughs) But it is…a lot like boudin. It was something that I was like, “I don't know if I'm going to try that,” but then I said, “Eh, we're here. Let's try it.” And it wound up not being that bad.
Greg: I thought good haggis was good because it does remind me so much of boudin. It had, even the, the seasoning. It's one of the few things that we've eaten in the UK that was properly seasoned.
Jen: (laughs) Yeah, that was a struggle.
Greg: But we also went somewhere, I want to say on the east coast, where they had haggis on their breakfast and it was dry and it was bitter and it was terrible.
Jen: Yeah, I think that was actually at St. Andrews.
Greg: Yes.
Jen: The golf course. (laughs)
Greg: Yes. So, if anybody ends up in Scotland try to find a place that does haggis well, and you may actually enjoy it.
Jen: Yeah, give it a shot.
Greg: Yeah. The next full day, we successfully walked all the way down the Royal Mile and back up, which was a little bit problematic because it's not a level road. On the way down, it was declined. Not too bad. But at this point, everywhere we had walked has been level and flat. So the walk back up the Royal Mile was an incline.
You know, not too bad. We'll find out much later when we hike somewhere else just how easy the Royal Mile turned out to be. But for us, it was challenging.
Jen: It's also not a mile. It was a lot longer...
Greg: Yeah.
Jen: Not a lot longer, but it was not a mile. It was longer than that.
Greg: Yeah, I agree. Especially when you're walking back uphill.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: But, we both got a very similar feeling from the Royal Mile. It seems very curated. It was kind of like, Disney Scotland in a way.
Jen: (laughs) Yeah it felt like Main Street, USA in Scotland.
Greg: Now, while the buildings are all legitimately old and belong there from a period well before the tourism was a thing, everything inside is the same retail stores. Like literally three to four locations all along the Royal Mile of the same three to four stores selling the same trinkets and touristy items.
Jen: Yeah, your wool scarves and the Scottish plaids.
Greg: So, we did not go in Edinburgh Castle originally in those two days, but we did go back a couple of weeks later. And Edinburgh Castle itself was…I don't know. Formidable might be a word. I mean, it's up on that rock. It is towering above the town. Inside, I mean, it wasn't what you might see in like Windsor Castle, or it definitely wasn't a palace like Versailles or Buckingham, but it wasn't intended to be. It's from an older time where castles meant to be fortifications.
Jen: Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. It was definitely more of a fortress.
Greg: Yeah. The thing I remember most, there's a little chapel far up on a hill inside Edinburgh Castle that is very old, and that was neat. Also, there was a museum to the Scottish Dragoons, which was a neat little walkthrough learning about how that unit came to be and the various ways that they have impacted major conflicts in UK history.
Jen: Yeah, I don't remember much about the castle other than like the cannons and that a lot of it was steep inclines and like different levels so it wasn't all flat.
Greg: Other than the Royal Mile, the next full day, Craig and Denise picked us up, and they drove us around Musselburgh, they drove us to a town they like to visit called Gullane, where Craig passed through a golf course that has hosted the British Open —for the golf fans out there — and I think he said it was the one where Mickelson won.
Jen: I think so, because I remember thinking, “Oh, Greg's dad would love this!”
Greg: Yeah, for those who don't know, Phil Mickelson is my dad's favorite golfer. So, Rosslyn Chapel was really great. First of all, every so often during the day, someone who works there will give you a full breakdown of everything related to the chapel inside the chapel, and Craig and Denise got us there to where we got tickets, we got in the chapel, we got seated, and it started within five minutes.
Jen: Yeah, a lot of the chapel itself was intricately carved stonework. There were different things to see everywhere you looked. Up on the ceiling there were, like, carvings of local flowers and animals and things like that. And then there was this really cool what they called the Apprentice Pillar. It was this really ornately carved pillar.
And the story behind it was really cool, too. So, the master stonemason of this project had worked on three or four other pillars in the church and decided on this one he wanted to do something better, something more elaborate. So he felt like he needed some inspiration. And went off to Italy — I think it was — for several months.
So his apprentice stayed behind, and one night he had a dream about this beautiful pillar that he wanted to create. So he did! When the master stonemason came back, he realized that this was better than anything he had ever done and was very upset with him. Got his hammer out and hit the guy over the head and killed him.
Greg: Yeah, they wanted the stonemason to live on in infamy, I guess. They carved into a portion of the chapel, this really tormented figure that represents the stonemason.
Jen: That was a neat story. It was also the set for a scene in the Da Vinci Code with Tom Hanks.
Greg: Other than the chapel and like we said, the small town, they showed us around Musselburgh and the flat and then they dropped us back off at the hotel. We then took another turn around Edinburgh and went down Victoria Street.
Jen: So Victoria Street is actually the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. Yes, eventually there will be an update without me mentioning Harry Potter, but this is not the one!
Greg: (laughs)
Jen: So, J. K. Rowling was from Scotland. A lot of her settings are based on places in Scotland and England, but if you've seen any pictures of Victoria Street online, it's the street with multicolored storefronts. Really cute!
Greg: Yeah. Also, while we were walking, Jennifer looks and sees this, I guess you'd call it a corps.
Jen: Yeah.
Greg: A pipes and drum corps walking. Not really playing, just kind of walking, and she's like, “I wonder where they're all going”, so we just decided to follow.
Jen: Yeah, and they wound up stopping in front of a cathedral in this little square. And started warming up and started playing. So we were able to see that. And I thought it was really cool. Scottish bagpipes and a drum corps. Then I realized they were actually from…Canada. It did lose a little bit of authenticity.
Greg: Yeah.
So another item worth mentioning is there are too many hours of sunlight in summertime in Scotland.
Jen: Yeah, so the first few nights when we were still up and it was pretty much daylight outside.
Greg: At 10:30 at night, like, it's daytime.
Jen: I'm sure my Alaskan friends will scoff at this and say, “amateurs”, but…
Greg: (laughs) Right?!
Jen: We were not used to it. (laughs)
Greg: Yeah. Also, the sun finally goes to sleep like midnight-ish. And it's back up 4:30.
Jen: Yeah, it works hard in Scotland —
Greg: I’m telling you…
Jen: —that sun! (laughs)
Greg: Yeah. So during the time in Musselburgh, we did a variety of things. For example, an archer statue and arrows that you can find throughout the town.
Jen: So it was like a neat little scavenger hunt. When we were driving around with Craig and Denise that day, he showed us the archer statue. But, this archer “shoots” these bronze arrows throughout the town, and each little arrow has a wish attached to it for the town. Like, in the community center it says, take care of the community, or something like that. So, I found a map, and was able to get the roundabout locations of these arrows, and we tried to find as many as we can. I think we found about half of them.
Greg: Besides the arrows that we searched for, we went to the Musselburgh race course. Which, interestingly, is also the place for Musselburgh's golf course. And Musselburgh's golf course is, arguably, the oldest golf course in the world.
Jen: Yeah, we say arguably because the people at St. Andrews Golf Course do not believe that it is the oldest golf course in the world. But it's in the middle of the track, basically. In the infield. So, that was really neat. Wasn't any golfers during the horse races, but I'd never been to a horse race before. I don't think Greg has ever been to a horse race before. And it was fun to experience with the locals!
Greg: Yeah, and, and there was a nice little track. It was well kept up. The buildings and everything were fairly newer, I think, and, you know, people were very pleasant. We chatted with numerous people while we were there. Other than the race course slash golf course, there was also the taxi parade.
Jen: Oh yeah! That was neat. Um, I had joined the “Musselburgh Folks” Facebook group just to kind of see what was going on in the community while we were there. And somebody had posted about this annual event, apparently it's been going on for 76 years. That the Edinburgh taxi drivers get together and decorate their taxis. There's a big parade. They take terminally ill children and kids with special needs, let them ride in the taxis with their family and kind of have this parade. The whole community actually comes out and watches it. Kids get to shoot water guns at the crowd, the crowd shoots back. So it's a lot of fun!
Greg: Yeah. And the taxis really kind of went all out. There were ones decorated as, like, superheroes. There were balloons aplenty. People who drove the taxis were dressed up. So it was really, I think, a fun time for everyone involved.
Jen: Yeah, for sure.
Greg: So another interesting thing that was not just in Scotland, but around the world, we would not have experienced if we were not at the flat - the Northern Lights.
Jen: Yeah! I was super excited about this when I found out that they were going to be spectacular up in Scotland. And the area in front of the flat was a big green space, so we were able to actually just walk right out the door. And it was a little bit different than what we were expecting to see. You know, all the images you see on TV of the green flashing lights and the motion and the brightness just wasn't really there.
I think it was partially because of the light pollution, we were kind of near the city. But I did learn that the iPhone picks them up very well. So I took some pictures and was sending them back to friends at home. And Greg was like, “You better put a disclaimer on those ‘cause that is NOT what we saw.”
Greg: I just think it's unfair to tell people, “Look at this cool thing!”, when the only reason it looks like that is because it's some color enhanced, time-lapse video.
Jen: It was still pretty though, especially when you looked at it…through the iPhone! (laughs)
Greg: Yeah. So other than those events, Craig and Denise told us, “Well, if you like Indian food, there's a good place.” And we went and we agree. It was a very good place for Indian food. It was called Gurkha.
Jen: Yeah. And the waiter there was the same person every time we went, I think. And pretty much every dish we ordered was “the best dish to mankind.”
Greg: Yes. I would say, “Hey. What's your specialty here?” And he would point and say, “This is the best dish to mankind!”
Jen: (laughs) So he was a lot of fun. Very good food for sure.
Greg: When we're on the topic of food, we should mention, essentially, the official — I guess, maybe unofficial — national dish of the United Kingdom…fish and chips. And I'm gonna say now, I don't care if I have British friends listening. I don't care if there are people who love fish and chips, I will take a Louisiana fish fry over fish and chips, 90 percent of the time or more.
Jen: Wish you could see his face as he said that. He's serious for sure.
Greg: I am. Fish and chips in the UK is bland. They all use the same batter. They're pretty much all using the same fry… I defy anyone who goes on and on about fish and chips to tell me the real difference between the fish and chips we got at a tourist trap and the fish and chips we got at a place recognized for being the best fish and chips in the UK. They're barely any different.
Jen: Sadly, though, I think my favorite part of the whole thing was the mushy peas, which is a side dish and I love peas. I like fried fish and french fries, but I'll give it to you. I was definitely wanting real fried fish by that point.
Greg: Yeah, I want seasoning. I want flavor.
Really, because we were there for so long, our routine in Musselburgh effectively was just look outside the window at this great view. Because the window looked right out to, uh, kind of a bay area called the Firth of Forth. Let me say that again - the Firth of Forth. I don't understand it. Maybe… look it up, I don't know.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: Um, you know, we would wake up after the sun because the sun is up —
Jen: Always…
Greg: — at four something in the morning. And then basically you see this great view, you enjoy it, you feel happy.
And then we would work on updates or we would look for arrows. We went grocery shopping several times. There were three different grocery stores within walking distance. I will not go on about how every one of them was inferior to HEB.
Jen: (laughs) You're not going to go off about the grocery stores?
Greg: No, I just made the one comment —
Jen: Ok.
Greg: —which should drive it home. HEB is great.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: We would also just watch British TV sometimes. And, because we wanted to sort of commemorate our time there and do something really neat, we went ahead and booked a sail around the Firth of Forth.
Jen: Yeah. So it was on a catamaran, but it was a beautiful day for sailing.
Greg: It was a very fun time. We also saw some things around the Firth of Forth that were interesting, like an old castle. Uh, some jellyfish…
Jen: (laughs) I didn't think there were going to be jellyfish in Scotland, but there were a lot of them.
Greg: As far as Musselburgh and Edinburgh goes, that's pretty much about it. And I think the next update or two, we're going to stay with updates in and around Scotland because we have to talk about our time at St. Andrew's. We have to talk about our time doing Glasgow and Oban as well as our tour of Inverness, Loch Ness, and then Isle of Skye.
Jen: All beautiful places.
Greg: Yes. We really, really enjoyed the Scottish Highlands. We just hope that, uh, everybody can appreciate our description of the Highlands as much as we appreciated actually seeing them.
Jen: Yeah. I don't know if we'll be able to describe what we saw adequately, but we're gonna try.
Greg: Yeah.
So, thanks for checking in!
Jen: And we'll see you at the next stop!
