Already at 8:00 am, we saw some eager Royal-watchers headed with bouquets of flowers toward Canongate church. Wonder if Prince Harry went with her to church…. Doesn’t look like it from this news ad: http://entertainment.stv.tv/showbiz/261393-the-queen-visits-canongate-kirk-ahead-of-zara-phillips-wedding/
First stop on the tour was South Queensferry, not far from Edinburgh. There are two bridges at South Queensferry. Both took 7 years to build. The first was built in 1890, at a cost of 3 million pounds. The second in 1964, at a cost of 21 million pounds.
Very narrow, windy streets through this little town.
We also stopped at Aberdour Castle, the oldest stone built castle still standing (somewhat) in Scotland. Owned by William the Earl of Morton.
Next stop was the fishing village of Anstruther. Reportedly home to the best Fish and Chips in Scotland, however we weren’t stopping there for lunch. (Boo.) We did get a coffee and stroll around the town. The tide was out, so the photos of the beach we took where we walked are very different than those on the city’s website.
Kevin snuck a picture of me with my coffee, looking disheveled from the bus trip….
He also took a picture of a sign in the coffee shop restroom, he found amusing.
Some golfballs in the window of an antique/collectibles shop:
Finally, we arrived in St. Andrews and of course, the Old Course at St. Andrews. Being Sunday, there was no golf, as is the tradition (unless there is a tournament). For our golfing friends, we took some photos. You can take photos on the 18th green, so this is the flag for the 18th hole.
The Clubhouse. What a dump.... :)
The other main attraction in St. Andrews is the University, where of course Prince William and Kate Middleton went to school. St. Andrews is the oldest university in Scotland, founded 1413. (Teaching began in 1410.) Kevin and I walked around the campus and took some photos. Imagine going to school on a campus right next to the North Sea.... Town population 17,000. Campus 9,000.
Again, another dump of a campus.... those Scots.
From the back courtyard, St. Salvator's tower is just at the end of this building on the right (cut off):
The crest of the holy hand-grenade....
One of the residence buildings, St. Salvator's Hall:
Went across the street to St. Andrew's Castle ruins, and the North Sea.
The beach behind the castle:
People were my kind of height... a doorway to a house in town:
On our walk about town, we encountered a pristine Triumph TR6. Took this for Dad and Chris.
The owner walked up as we were taking a picture and we spoke with him briefly. I explained there were British car lovers in my family. He got this car, a 1974, from Norfolk, Virginia 24 years ago. They had it brought over and switched the driving gear back over to the right. In 24 years, it has only 16000 miles on it. They drive it only on good days and its not had any Canadian winters.
After that, it was back to Edinburgh for packing up and preparing to go back to Glasgow and the flight home. We had our last dinner at a Mexican place (quite an array of international fare this trip - everything but Scottish food). The popped arrangements of Bon Jovi tunes, sung by a mellow female voice and accompanied by Jethro-Tull sound flute obligatos, was a fun and surreal way to end our trip.
We'll definitely go back for a real vacation some time, so we can see all Scotland has to offer. All in all, it was a successful library trip, with some nice touristing here and there. Certainly didn't take for granted the opportunity to walk around and study in a place with such history.
Hope you've enjoyed the blog.
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