New Year's Trip to Scotland and London Dec 2003
Well, Orange terror alert and cancelled Hogmanay street party notwithstanding, we are back from our trip and had a fantastic time. We arrived far too early at the airport, due to the ominous news coverage of long security lines, but had no trouble whatsoever. With the aid of prescription medication, we both managed to sleep a good deal of the flight, and landed in London early. The five-hour train ride to Edinburgh seemed to take longer than the flight!
It was good to be back in Edinburgh, one of our favorite cities, but it was Very Cold! Backpacking with a heavy winter coat, hood, scarf and gloves is a much different experience than going in the summer. We wimped out right away and took a taxi. Millfield Guesthouse was just as charming and welcoming as we recalled from our first trip, and we were very happy to be back. Our first night we were treated to dinner by some fellow MINI owners at a yummy veggie restaurant in the old town. We really enjoyed getting to know them over veggie haggis (and a few pints). It had been a long day for us, having covered well over 4,000 miles by plane, train, and automobile, and by 11 we were practically incoherent. We had our first lift in a right-hand drive MINI back to our room, which was disorienting, but fun.
Bright and early Monday, following a huge breakfast at our guesthouse, and lots of coffee, we headed out into the cold for our MINI run. About 10 or so MINIs met up, and took us on a drive to St. Andrews, which was absolutely incredible. The wild coast of the North Sea was breathtaking and we explored the cathedral ruins, and posed for a photo by the 18th hole, evidently quite a famous spot for golfers. We had a blast riding about in different people's MNIs, and trying to interpret their version of English. We rode back to Edinburgh via Craill, a lovely harbor village, and along the coast, with a super nice couple that we went for drinks with at the Caledonian in Edinburgh.
After experiencing the road from the "wrong side" we decided to take the train, rather than hire a car, up to Stirling, where we wandered about the hilly town, and made our way up to the castle. It was a great daytrip, and we really enjoyed the scenery and exploring the town. That night was the Night Afore festival, part of the Hogmanay celebrations, so we braved the cold for that, and had the opportunity to stand right up front at a bagpipers performance. I'm running out of adjectives, but it was amazing. Falling snow glittered, the men turned out in their full kilted regalia, and the bagpipes sent shivers right down my spine. The Night Afore also featured street theater performances from India, which were a lot of fun.
New Years Eve dawned colder than ever, and we started out the day with a brisk hike up Arthur's Seat for a fantastic view of the city. From there we visited Holyrood Palace, and made our way up the Royal Mile, ending up outside Edinburgh Castle, where you couldn't take two steps in a row for all the tour busses. We did some shopping on Princes Street, and stopped for tea before going back to rest up for Hogmanay.
At just about precisely the moment we left for the festivities, it started to bucket rain. Our hostess at our guesthouse fortified us with some hot mulled wine though, and we went in search of dinner. This was easier said than done, as evidently pubs stop serving food at mysterious times, and we hadn't made any dinner reservations for a restaurant. We ended up at an Italian café on Grassmarket, which was fine, and headed over with the masses to Princes Street, experiencing a total decimation of our umbrella along the way. We made our way to a few pubs, and heard around 10:30 or so that the fireworks were cancelled. We found a policeman near the gates, and learned that the entire event was cancelled due to "adverse weather conditions". This is Scotland, where there's really no such thing as good weather conditions. We joined the melee on Princes Street, which was rapidly deteriorating into chaos as tens of thousands of partiers in various stages of inebriation booed at the announcements ordering everyone to leave the area. We finally decided that with no fireworks, no concert and no countdown, there was nothing to keep us in the bedlam, so we managed to get a taxi back to our room, where we rung in the new year listening to Big Ben chime on our tinny little clock radio.
Naturally, New Years Day came with a beautiful sunrise and clear weather. This only lasted, however, until we got off the bus near Craigmillar Castle. We walked about a mile to the castle, only to find it was closed, and to be greeted with rain. Some visitors from New Zealand were there, and we all climbed the gate, but couldn't get past the outer courtyard. They kindly gave us a lift to the nearest bus stop though. We visited Edinburgh Castle in the afternoon, and it was more crowded than our first time there in the middle of tourist season. After searching high and low for a place to eat — it seems everything is closed for New Year's Day — we finally had a nice bowl of tomato soup, and climbed Calton Hill, where we found more stunning views of the city and the sea. Mary Kings Close was next; a walking tour of a preserved part of town from the 1400s, that had been walled up and built over centuries ago. It was a fascinating tour, though I didn't buy all the ghost stories. Leaving there, we stumbled onto a fantastic Indian New Years' Day Parade.
Friday we left early for London to meet Brian's sister. After a whirlwind tour of Trafalgar Square, Parliament/Westminster Abbey and Covent Garden, we met up with an acquaintance who took us out to a pub where we all proceeded to drink far too much. I learned that English cider is tasty, and quite powerful.
Our long night kept us from getting an early start Saturday, so squeezing in a trip to Harrods and the Tower of London was all we managed, along with a lot of walking in the cold air to awaken and refresh us. We slurped noodles for dinner at Wagamama, a fun eatery that was really quite good. Sunday we went to one of the street markets — I found a vintage Burberry coat — and later took a "flight" on the incredible London Eye.
From there we took a long walk to see Buckingham Palace. That night we went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour, which Brian had wanted to do since our last trip to London. Monday morning, with all the latest flight groundings still making the news, we got to the airport just in time — the Gatwick Express being very delayed — and had an uneventful flight back, which is all you can ask for.
