Mimicking my most recent tweet, Scotland is absolutely beautiful. I don't think there is a superlative fantastic enough to describe how beautiful this country can be, and this is November -- a month on the cusp of winter where parts of the US normally would look desolate, dead or dying. I went with four friends into the southern Highlands this weekend and to two Eastern Scottish cities -- St. Andrews and Dundee. The country that I've seen here, even now, is green, vibrant, and alive. I have a strong urge to see as much as possible of this small nation while I'm here.
Eirik from Norway; Seva from Ukraine; and Nikolai and Paulina -- a married couple from Moscow, Russia were my company on this day trip. We rented a car -- a Vauxhall Insignia -- and drove north, first to Campbell Castle in a small town called Dollar, then to the seaside and home to St Andrews University, the English speaking world's third oldest university (after Cambridge and Oxford), then north to a typical Scottish city of Dundee which is about the population of Boise.
Although I took many photos of this trip, they're all film and they have not yet been developed. I did lend Eirik my camera and he took some photos, so I'll post some of them now, and mine later.
Castle Campbell
This castle was owned by the stinking rich Campbell family from 1500 until it was torched by Scots in mid 1600's for the Campbell clan's support of Oliver Cromwell in the War of the Three Kingdoms. This is set at the base of the Highlands (the "butt of the highlands" as someone so eloquently named it on the trip) and the hillsides are draped with heather and moss. We had a bit of a hike getting up to the castle's elevation but were rewarded with an amazing view of subsiding fog over the small town of Dollar. The castle itself was very impressive, especially with its spiral stone stairway and rooftop access.
St Andrews
A small town on the sea (reminding me a great deal of Whitby in East Yorkshire), St Andrews has charm, beauty, history, and community. We apparently rolled in during some sort of a traditional student weekend, where at 2pm the streets were crawling with Scottish undergrads, completely drunk and covered in face paint. They had to take pictures of themselves doing certain tasks around the town, such as laying on a stack of 5 people, retrieving love letters from baristas, stealing public signs, and finding treasure hunt items hidden in a graveyard. It was confusing for us at first, but became extremely amusing. Being near the sea, it sufficiently satiated my unrelenting desire to stand at a beach and smell fresh ocean air. The town also boasts the impressive St Andrews Cathedral, Scotland's largest church ruins. I really loved this city and may just investigate their available PhD programs.
Dundee
As many consider Edinburgh to be the "least Scottish city in Scotland" (probably due to the global multicultural essence of the city), we decided we wanted to see what a "real" Scottish city looked like, and I think we were all surprised. Dundee is not a large city, its population is only 150,000, but has a structure and architecture comparable to any historic European city. The city is centered around an enormous pedestrian district with pubs, cafes, and shops (Bon Marche still exists??) lined with public art, enormous churches, and beautifully preserved Victorian buildings. If the stones and spires typical of Scottish architecture were to be replaced with the Bavarian gingerbread styled paneling, it would not be difficult to convince someone they'd been transported to Old Town Frankfurt or Budapest. Dundee surprised me in the best of ways.
Home
After a long day (7am to 10pm), we returned home and ate a pizza. We also discovered that snooty pub owners get extremely angry if you try to eat take away at the bar. Jerks. So, we retreated to Eirik's flat, ate our food, and ended our evening.
On a separate note, I had a funny feeling returning to Edinburgh yesterday after the trip. When I arrived in September, it seemed like it was under such stressful and chaotic conditions, traveling as cheap as humanly possible -- a trillion delayed layovers, an overnight nightmare bus, avoiding taxi fare by hauling 100 pounds of luggage on my back across the city, skipping meals and eating peanuts... I was incapable of enjoying my arrival. This time, I feel like I got to do it over. I entered Edinburgh with my sanity and composure, fully able to appreciate where I had left and what Edinburgh meant. That first day, Edinburgh meant the end to a torturous blur and a space to pass out, but this time it meant something much more. Edinburgh this time meant a sense of security, a comfortable routine, a familiarity of environment, and a group of close friends. It's strange to see a city be transformed right in front of your eyes, but I'm glad it did. Returning to Edinburgh yesterday remade this city into a home.
