Two weeks ago now, we were in St Andrews Scotland (thinking of you Meg K!) where Brian was conducting some collaborations with a fellow physicist at the University. St Andrews University is the third oldest in the UK (after Oxford & Cambridge) and also famously known to us celebrity trackers as the Uni that Prince William and Kate Middleton went to and where they met! And of course, for my golf-loving family, St Andrews is where golf was basically invented, and has the oldest golf course in the world, which is still being used. We just made a 3-day weekend out of it, which was nice to get out of Oxford for a bit. Brian went up on Thursday on the train, and I followed on Friday afternoon. St Andrews is just Northeast of Edinburgh, in the Fife Kingdom, on the ocean. It took about 7 hours on the train to get there - but that didn't feel too long with good reading material.
It's a small village town really, and has 3 main roads to explore. There is an amazing castle ruin with tunnels dug underneath from centuries ago during a attempt to storm & overthrow the monarchy; there is an amazing cathedral ruins with an enormous and elaborate (still being used) graveyard; and then currently, seven different golf courses, golf shops, members-only old boy golf societies, and men wandering about town with their golf kit (stuff).We stayed in a nice local trendy hotel b&b and enjoyed our hot breakfast every morning. Especially since we were in Scotland, Bri was pumped about his scrambled eggs & salmon. I went for the traditional Scottish breakfast (which is pretty much the same as full English or Irish breakfast) but with the addition of a slice of Haggis. (Which if you really want to know is seasoned sheep's stomach, and I will say is pretty tasty, but only in the context of a little bite.)
Before I arrived on Friday, Brian was taken to a neighboring village for lunch - and he got to experience the best Chippy in all of the UK! There are annual awards for the Fish & Chips shop throughout the country, and this particular one had just won the award. I was a bit envious I have to admit that I missed out. He claims they were pretty good . . . but it was still just deep fried fish & chips!
We enjoyed our full day Saturday wondering really - seeing all of the 3 main areas I mentioned above. I enjoyed the golf stuff and took some photos by the key St Andrews Golf spots. These pics are from the Old Course, where golf began 600 years ago. The Old Course sustains around 42,000 rounds of golf a year. 50% of tee times are by lottery, Saturdays can't be booked, and it's closed on Sunday, so we were able to walk around right on the course. There are an additional six golf courses in and around St Andrews, catering to all skills and pockets. I went into the main Clubhouse and it was pretty impressive!Dinner was more yummy salmon at just a local restaurant, including some of the best beer we've found in the UK. There is the craft brew pub in Scotland in the Cairngorms region, and it had some tasty stuff! Was very pleasantly surprised to learn that the Scots also have a better palate for beer, than their Southern English counterparts!
Sunday was really just a travel day back home - although much less enjoyable than Friday's trip. Fewer trains run on Sunday, but everyone else is trying to head home too, so it was packed sardines for most of the way. But all in all it was a great little trip.
1 comment:
Just wondering if Brian realizes he was in the town that his Scottish ancestors are from. His great, great, great, great grandfather Frederick McLaren was born in Edinburgh sometime in the 1700's. This is on his grandpa Smith's side of the family.
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