England and Scotland Day 13
England and Scotland
Day 13 - October 13, 2006 - Transfer to Edinburgh via St. Andrews
We were up at 7 AM and had our luggage ready and then went down for breakfast at 7:45. We found Kenny at the bus and before he got too busy we were able to thank him for the wonderful job he had done driving us safely on our England/Scotland adventure. We left the Atholl Palace at 9.
On our drive to St. Andrews, our last day in Scotland, Simone finally told us the directions and the ingredients for making haggis. Now, I know I am very glad I did not try any of it! She also gave us all our departure information as well as passed around an email and address sheet so we could share our contact information with everyone.
We traveled on the main motorway from Pitlochry to Edinburgh passing through Dundee where the first marmalade was made as a medical cure for Queen Victoria. En route to St. Andrews, Simone told us it was the home of the first university in Scotland and that medieval pilgrims came here to pray at the old cathedral which protected the relics of St. Andrew.
We stopped for a brief photo op beside the Old Course at St. Andrews, the most famous of all courses in Scotland. We also had great views of the North Sea and the beach where they filmed the running scenes from Chariots of Fire. Walking on and around this old course, which has hosted players from King James IV in 1502 to Tiger Woods five centuries later, was very impressive. We were all surprised at how open and available to tourists it was.
We got back on the bus and made our next stop at the ancient cathedral where we took a group photo in the graveyard. Then we were given some free time to walk around the town. We saw so many police officers and found out they are here because Tony Blair is visiting St. Andrews also.
We left St. Andrews at 12:10 and on our way Simone reminded us of the end of the trip form we will receive when we get home. We made a brief restroom stop at 1 PM in Cowdenbeath, Kenny's home town. We had our sub sandwich and chips and then were back on the bus.
Simone gave us the history of Edinburgh as we drove into the capital at 1:30. She also pointed out and gave us suggestions of places to visit as we have a very limited time in the city. We enjoyed a short driving tour of this charming city. One of the important sights included Robert Lewis Stevenson's home, one of Edinburgh's most famous sons.
We had a brief stop at our hotel to drop off the luggage and say goodbye to Kenny as he is driving back to Lymm for the last tour of the season. We left our luggage in the storage room because our rooms were not ready until 3:00.
We set off with a map of the city to explore. Our first trek took us all the way to the top of Calton Hill where we could look over the city in all directions. The view of the Firth of Forth and way out to the North Sea was very clear. In the other direction we could see the Palace of Holyrood and still further Edinburgh Castle.
When we hiked down the hill we stopped at the Old Calton Cemetery that is in terrible condition and has been sadly vandalized. We continued our walk along Princes Street past the Sir Walter Scott Monument and on to the Princes Street Gardens where we took photos and talked to people enjoying this sunny Friday afternoon. Gennie even had an ice cream cone - her first of the whole trip!
We continued our walk past the National Gallery of Art past the Edinburgh Castle and strolled down High Street or the Royal Mile to our hotel. By the time we returned at 4:30, we knew our luggage would be in our room so we went to the desk and got the key. When we got to the room we were surprised to learn that although it was supposed to have been cleaned, there were many telltale signs of the previous tenant!
The embarrassed housekeeping manager came to look around and immediately called for a new room assignment. There were only a limited number of rooms as a large group from France came into the hotel this evening. They finally found us another room, we moved all of our belongings, and then settled in for our brief stay. We spent our time looking at the photos from today and then organizing the luggage for our trip home tomorrow.
We shared our Farewell Dinner with our new friends and used this last evening together to comment on the highlights of the trip as well as to present Simone with a photograph for wonderful leadership on this tour.
Many of our group have very early flights so we said our goodbyes and returned to our room at 9 PM where we found a bottle of white wine courtesy of the housekeeping staff. We finished the journal and then got to sleep as we have a long flight tomorrow and as they say "miles to go" before we are in our home in Colorado.
Carlton Hotel -- Edinburgh, Scotland - - - Meals: B, D
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