SCA, my kilt had nothing on scotland

sadly, nothing went on yesterday that will interest you. so i didn't bother blogging. literally the highlight was watching a show based on cars starring midgets. i would put it in game show category just guessing by the laugh tracks and lights. today however was event filled to say the least! edinburgh is a small city (big by scottish standards though) and i love it! tons of culture and shopping-what a great combo! our hotel is right by the edinburgh castle. (featured right) we have yet to tour it but everyone says its a must see. clearly its massive so im excited about it.

today was our first full day of scottish life. and it started early! our tour started at 9:30 and they request you come earlier than that and we had to take a cab to get there, AND breakfast at the hotel was a must. first of all i have to attend every continental breakfast ever in case they have mini preserves. they seem quite popular in europe. in the states they're obscenely difficult to come by. my roommate collects them, and she isn't abroad to obtain miniature preservatives this summer so we're going to have a joint collection when i get back! 

so the tour... i've never been one for tours, i much prefer to self navigate and explore my surroundings, clearly its served me well so far. however, im not fully against tours, they're informative and you are taken to your destination which would have otherwise probably been impossible to get to.  our 16 passenger van, driven by pete, was late. so i hopped across the street to my first international starbucks! surprise, just like most mass distribution it tasted the exact and delicious same as always. so now that pete is off on a bad foot with us he speaks... by speaking he is immediately forgiven and sin he has ever committed or that his children will ever commit. i fell in love with his voice. it seemed the safer choice because the salt in his salt and pepper hair was a warning..the wedding band was the kill shot. i could only love petes voice. 

as we left edinburgh we stopped on queensferry road where peasants used to make pilgrimages to take the ferry across to see st. sndrews. this bridge pictured is made entirely of steel, more than the eiffel tower, and none of it is welded! it was built in 1890 and is still in use for trains! of course the one for cars that was built in the 60s needs repair and is sinking... way to go engineering people (ahem alex carr) we had a photo opp moment and then headed on to our first fishing village of the day. 

now is a good time to look at the 13 people in the van. myself, mom and our driver are not under investigation. we have barry and alma from southern california/boston. favorite couple for sure. such angels, very knowledgable and sweet! would literally talk your face off and you'd say thanks afterwards. the ginger twins. yes i know twice the thrill for me! they're sisters from kentucky, different as night and day. one is chatty cathy and my best friend, shared her new book, we talked burberry bags, and eventually bonded enough for her to slug me in the arm. the other sister once remarked on the weather. thats it, and she never took off her sunglasses... it rained. moving on from my 4 favorites that leaves 9 people. in short two of those were teenage/early 20 year old girls who kept to themselves and seemed normal. down to 7. two more of those were a set of cig smokin cargo pant wearin lesbians. they were quiet but seemed nice. the final twosome is ozzy osborne and husband. they were a spanish couple. this poor woman (in her defense it was a windy day) literally looked like ozzy. and her husband was boring. judging by how they smelled i think they walked from spain and brushed their teeth with any dead sticks covered in mud they could find. i almost passed out the second ozzy raised her arms to adjust the AC (which was weak at best) keep in mind she is behind me and im still overcome by her BO. there are only 3 people on the bus i've yet to tell you about... the family. this man is bold enough to sit shotty on a tour, and talk petes face off about random thinks like being left handed. (true example) dad is too cool in his elvis shirt and jeans, a real cool dude kind of guy, but still maintains his macho of purple and blonde wifey. she is the type of woman i will never be. i guareentee her own husband hasn't seen her without make up on. and at the start of the trip her fake golden locks were curled into ringlets. she took pictures with her ipad (which dad didn't condone). and then there is kid. kid is about 11 or 12, somewhere in that awkward phase... sporting a harry potter tshirt im inclined to give him a chance, but then i observe. he has the hallmarks of a homeschool kid. must be constantly stimulated at all times, or being paid attention to by closest parent. he sat by mom and played video games WITH THE SOUND ON the entire ride. if he wasnt doing that he was leaning all over mom, hello age boundaries. he's a preteen. he lacked any social development skills. a bug that i killed (large bug, not a bee) one the bus window unpon reentry fell (to its death) in his seat. i sat down assuming no one would notice if they sat on a dead mosquito type bug. this was literally the most interesting debate topic a politician would ever speak on. was it a bug? someone killed it. how did it land here? can it sting me? does that mean its a bee? will you move it? are you afraid of it? i nearly lost it but i managed to keep from laughing/smacking them both upside the head by digging my fingernails into my palms. i'm still making fists involuntarily. i hate the family.

gulls love tide being out. 

once we stopped we had come to the village of fife. a fishing village that has a lot of dogs and ice cream. two plusses for me. their harbor is unique. once tide goes out, its all gone. the boats are on the ground. and they have two tides a day and they're massive, but move in and out slowly. i wish i had been able to stick around long enough to watch tide come in. its weird seeing a hundred or so boats on the ground. apparently scotlands most famous fish & chips were in this village. the family had to get some... they waited so long that the bus had to wait for them and our time at st. andrews (the principle destination for the day) was cut short by about 20 minutes. after the fishing village we headed to the golfer's mecca. i'm convinced every tee box is facing st. andrews. its incredible. a tee time is hard to get though, hard as in you're on a waiting list for a year and 1/2. so sign up now and start praying for good weather. 

the course is right by the beach so we moseyed down and noticed a difference, people here have dogs at the beach. they all seemed to love it and i played fetch with someone's border collie to the point that i looked up and was stuck in a tide pool. from dalmatians to sheepdogs any dog on the beach was in the water. so adorable. scottish dogs in general are fun. the ones in paris and venice seemed ready to snap off a pinkie for a snack. but here the owners are happy to chat you up while their dog goes belly up. this is a godsend because im missing my pooch terribly. today someone was teasing his dog about being worthless (a jack russell so it kind of was worthless) and he said "you're a total poodle" i was so close to informing him of his grievous error but i held my tongue. 

the garden, one of many lovely flowers

after st. andrews we headed to a palace. the name is escaping me currently as it is later here than there and i have another tour to wake up for in 6 & 1/2 hours... joy. but we weren't allowed any pictures inside. the amount of pictures i took in the garden more than made up for it though. this was the home of the first tennis court! we headed home at a rate of speed indy would penalize. i've never been able to use the word careering without being called dramatic, but we literally careened down mountain sides on one lane roads. pete was a speed demon. home my day tour tomorrow is just as exciting! i bet i get to see nessie.