Busing around Scotland

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Day one of the three day highland romp bus tour and I am back to really enjoying myself. It was up early this morning to make sure I made my bus on time because the hostel I have been staying at in Edinburgh is a ways out of the city center. Yesterday I had a good Scottish day that started of with a sampling of haggis, which was dddddelicious! After I walked around and made sure I knew where my tour bus was leaving from and dropped in on another comedy show. I stopped in on the Scottish National Gallery (at the recommendation of my sister) which was absolutely impressive, and totally free! It was a fairly calm night at the hostel, but I met three friends and talked till about midnight while getting totally smashed on IrnBru (its an orange soda that is really popular in Australia, and this girl couldn't believe that me and the other American hadn't had it). So it was good clean wholesome fun and hilarious conversation and I woke up on time and refreshed.

Our tour guide is an awesome guy named Ewan who is really passionate about Scotland and is basically giving bus tours around his old childhood haunts. As we cruised out of Edinburgh we got some good knowledge about the layout, and I thought he was actually going to tear up when he started telling us about an hour tale of the tragic story of Mary Queen of Scots. We bussed up to St Andrews and saw the famous golf course, but I was blown away by the old church and the stunning locale perched on the white sandy beach. It was even fairly rain free all day which I certainly did not expect. Before St Andrews though Ewan gave us some local insight by showing us a church at Denino, well, not the church, but the ancient Celtic pagan worshiping grounds down the hill by the river. There was a bowl and a footprint carving from long before Christianity came to the highlands where Kings would have been crowned. Down some carved steps from the altar in a gorgeous little glen with a creek running by there were little trinkets and coins that people would leave in tribute to the earth and loved ones. It was really peaceful and I left a coin in the rocks and thought about how much better I've been feeling and all the people I care about especially the ones that have contacted me and supported me through the blog (thanks!!). We cruised through the lowlands of Fife and the farmlands as we headed for the highland fault line, while enjoying some eccentric and slightly rambling stories from Ewan (one of them was interrupted as he frantically waved at a passing car, it was someone he used to work with). We saw a picturesque cathedral on the banks of the river Tay with a great lawn and awesome old trees. After that we took a wee walk to a place called the Hermitage, or as I like to call it paradise. Wooded mossy footpath up to a spectacular waterfall, complete with legends of found poems about fairy land and huge salmon hurling themselves up the steep crashing water. We lingered for a while and a further sense of calm washed over me, it was awfully good to get some fresh air. Tonight we are in Pitlochry, a cute little town and me and new friends Donna and Felicity went for some Indian food and a pleasant stroll around the lake and back of the town while I sampled some of the local single malt whisky, the smallest distillery in Scotland, Eradour. I wish there were some more interesting people on the tour (two big groups of throngy Chinese that won't really socialize) but the two girls that I have met have been really fun and I can't wait to get to know them better. Tomorrow it's off to Inverness and I am awfully keen to take the plunge in Loch Ness. Good times yet again, Bony Scotland is grand!

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Photos

The National Gallery
Brilliant collection, and the price was right.

Our tour guide
There's Ewan, good guy

Ewan leads the way
The path down from the church to the ancient pagan worshiping grounds

The steps
Again carved into the rock these lead from the christening altar down to the river and offering area

My offering
The coin I left with loved ones in my heart and mind.

The river and cove
Very peaceful, ancient and mystical

St Andrews
The beach, the golf course and the town. Really cool.

St. Andrews Old Course
This is the free putting green, I sank a couple of balls.

A street in St Andrews
Who doesn't like a fart joke? It made me chuckle =)

The Church
The rectangular column marks the spot were St Andrews bones were buried

The Largest Hedge in the world!!!
Forgot to mention this in the text but Ewan was terribly excited to show us the biggest hedge in the world. Here it is!

An excellent tree by the cathedral
I'm sitting under it but it was a big tree

Crossing into Fairyland
The entrance of the Hermitage trail, aka paradise

The falls
You could see huge fish trying to swim up the river

Comments

[Mom]

[e-mail]
Hi Honey, Scotland sounds wonderful! Glad you're back to having a good time. Love, Mom

[Random Andy]

Irn Bru is scottish and about as far away from orange soda as you could imagine! Needed to point that out, have a good trip

[GrantH5185]

check
yeah I was more going for an orange colored soda, and I was aware it was scottish but i was saying it is apparently wildly popular in australia, like the only brand that can compete with coke. Thanks for the comment!!

[GrantH5185]

irn bru
and ya know, I'm gonna say that carbonation sugar and citric acid makes it fairly similar to orange soda