Scottish Haggis Neeps and Tatties

If you don’t understand any of those words, don’t worry because before this past week, I didn’t know what any of them meant either. Then I saw them on a menu and decided I would not order said dish since I didn’t know what it was (ok, I knew what Haggis was only because I had looked up typical Scottish cuisine before our trip and knew it was something I would not touch with a ten-foot pole or should I say ten meter pole since I’m in Europe). Haggis can be described as “a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours (complements of Wikipedia). Here is a picture of haggis, neeps and tatties (neeps and tatties are turnips and potatoes).

Well, I didn’t try typical Scottish cuisine but I still had a blast on my trip to Edinburgh (the capital of Scotland) with my roommate Tad. Luckily, Tad had connections in Scotland (he taught with a girl down in Honduras who lives in Scotland). She is currently attending St. Andrew’s University and so that was our first stop. It was such a cool town – it was full of students and really just had that college town feel. It made me want to go back to my college days (wow, that makes me sound really old). We toured around the city with Laura - here are a few pictures from around the campus and by the sea.



The highlight of Tad's time in St. Andrews was definitely going to see the Old Course at St. Andrew's. Tad worked at a golf course for many years in high school and in the summers during college and was so thrilled to see the golf course and the famous bridge where golfers such as Jack Nicklaus posed. We went there during the day to see the course and upon Tad's request, we returned at night for him to get a picture on the bridge!
Here's the bridge...

...and Tad in all his glory

Here we are with our awesome host in St. Andrews - Laura.

On a completely random side-note - I found the mixer that I will one day own (it's a good thing the store was closed or I might have come home with a mixer).

We spent the night in St. Andrews and caught a bus early in the morning back to Edinburgh to begin a full day of touring. Edinburgh was so beautiful and one of my favorite parts was the contrast between how green the grass and trees were compared with the dark bricks on a lot of the buildings. There are two parts to Edinburgh - Old Town and New Town. We spent all day Thursday exploring Old Town. We walked down the Royal Mile (it's a mile stretch between the Palace of Holyrood/Scottish Parliament and the Edinburgh castle).
I don't really know what this is but it was on the main drag (Princes Street)

The view of the castle from Princes Street (there was always a haze when we were there)

St. Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile (had a beautiful organ inside but it was 3 pounds for a photo pass and well, we didn't really want to pay for that)

Of course, there were reminders of our "home" country - a random bull and Spanish flag. Viva Espana!


We decided to fork out the money to go inside the castle - nothing is cheap when you are paying in pounds (about 1.7 dollars) but it was worth it. It has parts that are 900 years old. We got a 1/2 hour free tour and then did some exploring of our own. The Scottish crown jewels are located here along with war museums and other educational opportunities.
Here are some pictures from around the castle



Another random side-note - we happened to walk by a little convenience store on the walk up to the castle and I noticed they had Dr. Pepper. Now, Tad and I both love Dr. Pepper so of course we went in and bought one and then got weird stares when I took the following pictures.....


It was worth it! :-)

Now, Tad and I made a deal before we went into the castle - if we did something that he wanted to do (go to the castle) we could also do something that I wanted to do. My choice: Camera Obscura. It's a famous attraction in Edinburgh and the main part is a 360 degree camera that lets you see the city of Edinburgh - also included in the entrance fee....hours of entertainment with things such as distorted mirrors, optical illusions, heat cameras, etc. We released the inner child in both of us and it was a blast!
Tad and I as midgets

Two of my heads with Tad's body

Tad as an Asian

Heat cameras - yes, please

Em, what happened? why are you so small?

We had dinner on Thursday at a cool restaurant called the Villager and I had hummus for the first time in 7 months!!! I was beyond excited.

On Friday, we visited another cathedral

We also saw a block with a TGIFriday's and a Starbucks - oh America.

We also couldn't resist eating lunch at Pizza Hut on our last day because the pizza in Spain is horrible and we wanted some real pizza.

The flowers and scenery in general in Edinburgh were amazing!

Overall it was a great trip and although Scotland was not on my "list" of places that I wanted to visit, I am glad that I went. Everyone was so friendly and I absolutely loved the culture - including the accent (though sometimes I questioned whether or not they were actually speaking my native language!)