Haggis parts 2 and 3

Monday in Edinburgh—Haggis part II

 

Monday morning started at the Edinburgh Literary Museum celebrating the life and works of celebrated author/poets Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. They haven’t added the J.K. Rowling wing yet, but they are proud of her.

The museum was alright. I don’t think anyone should put it on your ‘must see’ list, unless you feel the need to see a lock of Robbie Burns hair or a china cup that was reported to belong to one of Scotts neighbors, and that there is a chance he may have used.

After the museum we jumped on one of the touristy hop on hop off buses that take you to the major sites and have a live guide giving a tour the whole way. After 2 days in town this gave us a chance to see what we had missed. We ended up hopping off at HolyroodHouse and touring it and the ruins of Holyrood Abbey. The palace is where the royal family comes on vacation for a few weeks in July. It is beautiful and very richly decorated as you might imagine. The ruins of the Abbey were a high point of the touring today. It is powerful to stand amongst the history there. (The Royal family must have felt this way, too since the palace is attached to the Abbey ruins)

 

At this point, we hopped back on the bus and finished the tour which ended just off Princes Street in New Town. Princes Street and the surrounding areas are the shopping district here (other than the tourist trap shopping near the castle), and we spent a couple of hours walking there and exploring the surrounding area.

 

Two pub stops and it was off to a fabulous dinner at Howie’s, Modern Scottish Cuisine, where Aaron had haggis spring rolls and lamb in a rosemary reduction and Meg had crayfish salad for starters and then for the main dish salmon fish and chips. This place was fantastic.

 

Tuesday in the Highlands

 

Highland Whisky, Waterfalls and Woodlands Tour.

 

Check the tour description since there is just too much to write about. That is close to what we did. Off the tour path we hiked to Castle Campbell near Dollar. Pictures will be better than words to describe the varying terrain and places of interest we saw today, and we took a LOT of pictures.

 

Our kilted bus driver provided many interesting facts and stories along with probably 50 songs somehow relevant to every place we passed.

 

One last note, we were told that there is 1.5 sheep for every man, woman and child living in Scotland, and I am pretty sure we saw most of them today. Also saw a few Highland Cattle- Aaron’s personal favorite.

 

We saw some awe inspiring scenery and it was a nice change to get outside the city and see what else Scotland has to offer. Tomorrow we are off to Dublin after Aaron gets in one last serving of haggis, oh and Meg has one more dram of whisky!