UK Holiday - Day 3 - Edinburgh & Angus

Very full day!  You'll be happy to know that we did not sleep until noon today.  We got out by 8:30 and walked to Edinburgh's New Town.  (We had been in Old Town.)  New Town was built in the 18th Century, when Old Town became overcrowded and disease-ridden.

Today was our first day of rain.  It was cold and wet and we managed like the troopers that we are.  Our route took us through Princess Gardens, beneath the castle.  When the trees get leaves and the flowers bloom, that park will be breathtaking.

New Town was a great neighborhood with huge townhouses in a row around a park in the center.  It was very clear that the neighborhood was high end.  The sidewalks and streets were made of stone.  It reminded Tony of Back Bay in Boston with an 18th century Georgian flair.  It reminded me of the neighborhoods that the Jane Austin characters visit in "town" when they get away from their country houses.

Holyrood Abbey - no roof!

From bustling New Town, we took a taxi to the Holyrood Palace.  We thought we would pop out and take some pictures and run back to the hotel.  For some reason, we both were inspired to take a tour.  We are so glad we went in.  The palace is a working palace, which means that it is where the queen stays when she summers in Scotland,  In nearly every room, the tour told us how the room was used by the queen today.  It was incredibly informative and interesting (and neither of us would consider ourselves royal junkies).  We also saw Mary Queen of Scots's apartment in the palace, as well as some of her personal items.  Her story is actually quite dramatic and sad, but I appreciated that she was revered for her fair skin.  I think that may have been the last time fair skin was en vouge.

One of the most breathtaking parts of the castle tour was Holyrood Abbey.  The building was half destroyed, due in a large part to an earlier Protestant uprising.  Even in ruins, it was a moving experience.  There were ornate windows frames in stone (no windows), burial sites in from the early 1800s and an early stone altar.  From the outside, it was even more amazing.

After the palace, we high-tailed it up to our hotel, packed and got a taxi to the airport to pick up our car.  A word about Edinburgh taxi drivers.  Each one we had was friendly and chatted us up quite a bit, all while safely driving.  They all gave us a Scottish history lesson.  All of them showed genuine concern for us and wanted us to have a good time in their city. Our last taxi driver told us about the Edinburgh soccer team and its curse that may actually be broken this year.  He also told us how much he liked the American sitcom Taxi.  I think the humor of that may have been  lost on him.

We picked up our car at the airport amid my growing nervousness about driving on the wrong side of the road.  The man behind the counter talked us into an automatic.  God bless that man.  While I know how to drive a manual transmission, I would have no idea how to shift with my left hand.  I had a difficult enough time putting the car in drive with my left hand.

Tony Melucci is the most patient person I know.  He was a fantastic passenger and navigator and handled close calls with side mirrors like a charm.  I was obviously uncomfortable driving in the left side of the road and he built my confidence.  We drove to Guthrie Castle.  For those of you that don't know, Guthrie was my grandmother's family name.  We knew Guthrie Castle was closed to the public, but thought we might be able to snap a picture through the closed gates.  No such luck, but got a couple of pictures of the sign.  :)

From Guthrie Castle, we drove to Pitmuies Gardens.  It is a charming little place with Secret Garden-esque walls that surround the grounds.  We popped in with about 15 minutes before they closed, tempted to run through.  Good thing we didn't pay the 7 pounds, though; nothing was in bloom.  I have no doubt it is lovely in the summer, though.

From there, a harrowing drive through the city of Forfar to our incredible home for tonight.  We are staying Kinnettles Castle this evening.  When we arrived, the rain had cleared and we were able to walk the grounds that are basically a hillside and sprawling fields below.  They could have arranged for clay pigeon shooting for us,  had we asked in advance.  The exterior of the castle is both out of a fairy tale and something out of Wuthering Heights,  Our room is large with high ceilings and spectacular views.  I expected the castle to be cold, but we've been extra warm since we got here.

Before dinner we had small bites of haggis and blood sausage.  Both were not bad.  Dinner was very good, but even more impressive was dessert.  The hostess recommended the sticky toffee cake.  YUM!  It was  a sweet, toffee-flavored, warm moist cake, resting in a sea of rich toffee-flavored caramel and garnished with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream.  So decadent and delicious.  We are officially on vacation.

This castle has a floor of game rooms with a roulette room, a snooker room and a poker room. Tony and I played a little down there, including me beating him in poker (yippee!), but now we're back in the room, exhausted.  Tomorrow will be a long day of driving, so we have to get our rest.