Today's adventure was a journey out to St. Andrews, the Home of Golf as some would call it. The purpose of the trip was two-fold, to see the world famous golf course and to visit the university, a place my mom considered attending for a Ph.D. This would have happened while I was in high school.
As I told her in an email today, "I don't think I would have appreciated moving there in high school, but my 25-year-old self is in love with the idea."
It definitely helped that today was the most gorgeous day (weather-wise) of the trip so far. My cheeks might have even gotten a touch pink. (Don't worry, I was wearing sun screen!)
The trip involved a walk, a train, and a bus, plus a lot of walking around town. As we waited at the train station this morning there was a parade involving taxis and a lot of balloons. I still haven't figured out what they were celebrating.
Once we made it to St. Andrews, we visited the student store. I purchased a sweatshirt. I couldn't help myself. There's something about a university store that just cries for a piece of clothing to be purchased.
Then we wandered around town after a stop by the visitor's center for a map. We saw the old cathedral, stone pier, ruined castle, and then made our way towards the golf course. There were sandy beaches butted up against the edge of the course. There was even a mini-golf course.
After strolling back to town, we sat down for a cold drink before beginning our journey back. The bartender refused my tip. I still haven't really figured out tipping here in the UK. Hints anyone?
In Edinburgh, we came back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. Our plan was to go out later and catch some music. The woman at the front desk of the hotel recommended a place, but the music ended up being what we might hear played by an aging hippie back home.
Luckily our server gave us ideas for other places to check out music. Hopefully we'll have energy for that tomorrow after we walk the Royal Mile.
Now it's off to bed. Time to rest the feet for A LOT of walking tomorrow. And mentally prepare for the rain headed our way. Summer was nice while it lasted.
(Just imagine the glorious sunny weather and water and old buildings and golf. Difficulties uploading continue.)
They add gratuity to the cost of things, if I remember correctly.
ReplyDeleteWoodley says that music by an aging hippy sounds truly frightening. :) We're excited to hear what you think of The Royal Mile. I especially liked checking out the gigantic cannon - Mons Meg and I think they might have an "officer's dogs cemetery" or maybe that was another Scottish castle - I can't quite remember. Of course my other favorite thing was seeing The Crown Jewels! Just remember to keep walking... Also on the Royal Mile we did "The Real Mary King's Close" tour. It was pretty interesting and a little spooky. Link: http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/ It was neat to learn a bit about the history and to see what was underneath our hotel, or nearby our hotel. We stayed at The Witchery By The Castle which is right below the castle. Also, the strange stadium seating was set up when we visited there on our honeymoon as well except that would have been at the end of June. We never found out what it was for. Woodley's favorite part of our stay in Edinburgh was visiting The National Museum. They had a really neat loom and a lot of history about Scotland.
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