Christmas in Scotland

Our early Christmas at home was a whirlwind, so it was nice to have a relaxing Christmas in Edinburgh, Scotland since we had to be back over here during actual Christmas.  Getting there was an adventure though.  We had to be at the bus stop at 6:00 am on Christmas Eve (and that's not easy for me at all!)  We walked down, and when the bus arrived, the bus driver was trying to kick a passenger off.  The passenger refused, so he called the police!  While he was making the call, the passenger snuck out the back door!  Of course, he had made a mess in the back of the bus, so the driver had to leave to clean it up.  We were afraid we were going to have to try to find a taxi to take us to the airport, but he finally came back.  There is a small airport here that actually goes a lot of places (I'm sure we'll be using them quite a bit), but their security was tougher than any other we've gone through.  The lady in front us got into it with the security girl and had to leave.  They double scanned my camera and lens and went through our bags of liquids.  The flight itself though was uneventful, thank goodness.  We got to the MacDonald Holyrood hotel and were actually able to go ahead and check in even though it was not even 10:00 am yet.  We dropped off our stuff and went for a walk in the city centre.  Edinburgh is a fascinating place!  The city centre is completely old style.  Even the new stuff that has come in has to have the same type architecture so they don't lose the look.  We walked down Royal Mile and found several interesting shops.  LOTS of cashmere!  I got mine and Jennifer's ornaments and found several things that we either got or will get on our next trip for next year's Christmas presents.  We made it up to Edinburgh castle.  We stopped on our way back and ate lunch at The Deacon's House Cafe.  I wasn't crazy about the food (I should've known better because I'm not much of a sandwich person), but the story behind the place made it worthwhile.  There was a mural painted around the entire cafe depicting Deacon Brodie's life as an upright citizen by day and a thief by night.  He was found out and ran.  He was caught in Amsterdam and brought back to be hung.  Ironically, he had designed and built the gallows that were used to hang him.  The cafe is located in what was his work room and the vaulted ceiling in the kitchen, which we could see, date back to 1420.  There was a man eating in there that Mark said reminded him of my dad.  I started watching him and HE DID!  He resembled him some, but his mannerisms and things were so much like my dad!  The biggest likeness was when he put on his glasses and pulled out his newspaper :)  After we ate, we went back to the hotel to take a nap.  We actually slept through the afternoon snack of mulled wine minced pies.  I was so disappointed because I've never had either and really wanted to try them.  But they let us have some when we came downstairs to check about dinner.  The Christmas Eve meal was delicious!  I had fish and Mark had chicken.  It was no where near as plain as it sounds!!  They showed movies after that and we watched Christmas Vacation.  There's nothing like sitting in Scotland watching a movie where they sing the Star Spangled Banner and say the Pledge of Allegiance for a blessing.  We left before the 2nd movie so we could get ready for church.  We went to Canongate Kirk Church.  There was a royal wedding held there earlier in the year (Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall).  It was a very traditional service with scripture reading and hymns.  The hyms were mostly the same except the music to them was different.  Silent Night (can't remember what the title was for them) was the same tune but different words.  It turned midnight and Christmas Day as we sang this.  Very special feeling to be singing of the birth of Jesus as the day of his birth dawns.  Thank goodness O Come All Ye Faithful was the same in word and tune.  We slept late on Christmas morning and almost missed breakfast.  (Do you see the theme of the weekend?  Eat and sleep) :)  We came back from breakfast and got ready so we could go back for lunch.  I had the roast turkey and Mark had the ribeye.  We also had Christmas pudding for desert.  We finally decided that we needed to walk around some before supper because we were so full, so we went around Prince's St and back down the Royal Mile.  Edinburgh is beautiful at night!  I wish I could take good night pictures because they certainly don't do justice to the sights!  Supper was a buffet and I finally tried lamb.  I thought it was pretty good and so was the roast beef.  We went down to the bar to read and just kind of relax and met a very interesting Scots man.  He talked and talked and talked to us.  We finally went back up to the room when he went outside to smoke so that we could actually get some reading done :)  Monday was Boxing Day and we didn't have anything until the panto at 2:00.  So, I booked a mini facial at the spa.  I've never had anything like that before but you can rest assured it won't be the last time!  Mark went back down to the lobby to read while I was getting ready, but in a few minutes he came back in the room.  That same guy was back in the bar and Mark wasn't taking in chances on being spotted! lol  We went to the Cinderella panto (pantomime show).  We had no idea what it was or what to expect.  Apparently most or all of the lead roles are played by men (no matter the character) and that was the case in this, except Cinderella was played by a girl.  Her mother and the step sisters (one was a midget) were played by men.  It's actually like a spoof on the story with lots of jokes, some local, like about the soccer team, the trolley system, shopping, etc, and modern songs.  It was hilarious and very entertaining.  I am sure we will go to another one while we are over here.  They are a Christmas thing and it appears that it's local talent.  At dinner that night we were assigned tables and met some of the people that were there.  A nice couple from York sat beside Mark and gave us their number in case we would like to visit with them when we go see York.  They also gave us a list of things to see there.  There was supposed to be a dance after dinner, but that never really materialized :)  Tuesday morning was breakfast and check out.  They held our luggage and booked us a taxi for late that afternoon to the airport, then we were off to tour the castle.  It is an amazing place.  The history is hard to wrap your mind around.  In the building that houses the crown jewels, they have the complete line of royalty for Scotland and the 1st one was in 840 AD!!  Mark and I are both just in awe of the fact that these little old southerns have seen the crown jewels of England and of Scotland.  I loved St Margaret's Chapel.  It is still used for christenings, baptisms, and weddings.  The tour guide said the good thing about using for a wedding was you could only have 25 people there.  When I went inside, I couldn't see how you could get 25 people in there.  There were several things inside the castle that were closed since it was a holiday, but that made it a little easier.  You could easily spend hours and hours in there.  We were in there for a little over 2 hours.  As we walked away from the castle, there was a guy on the street dressed up as William Wallace.  We had to get our pictures made with him!  Mark loves that movie and quote: "you can take our lives but you can't take our freedom" in his best attempt at a Scotish accent :)  He also gave me a post card (a picture of his arse with a rose tattoo) before we left.  He was very funny and very interactive with the people around him.  We ate lunch at a pub called the Filling Station and yes, it was decorated like a gas station inside :)  It's chain but only in Scotland.  We went back to the hotel and since we had a little time before the cab came, I went back to the Canongate church to take pictures.  There is a cemetary that is on 3 sides of the church.  I took some pictures there and walked around looking at how old the headstones were.  We will definitely be going back to Edinburgh for a more guided type of sightseeing and going to other areas of the country!

Cheers Y'all!