Great chieftain o' the puddin-race

hotel @ St. Andrew's golf course
Sorry for the long delay, but I have been having a very eventful last few days that have kept me from being able to sit down and organize my thoughts/events in a comprehensive manner. As it's been forever since my last good post, I give myself permission to make this one extra long.

I left Norwich by train at 8 PM Sunday night, arriving at London Liverpool Street 2 hours later. A 20ish minute tube ride took me to Victoria. A walk of 10-15 more took me to Victoria coach station, where I waited for my bus for about half an hour. It arrived at about 20 past 11 in the form of a gigantic purple double-decker with a trailer behind. Megabus was, indeed, MEGA. I was all excited when it seemed that I would have my own seat until some guy sat down just as we were about to depart. This meant any sleeping to be done would require window-leaning. I awoke at 2 AM to an announcement of our arrival in Birmingham. I immediately fell back asleep. At 7 AM, I opened my eyes, wide awake, and had no clue where we were. A sign reading, "Lanarkshire county" or somesuch did not help. I simply thought someone violently misspelled Lancashire. And so, I had entered Scotland.

At 8 AM, I found myself in Glasgow, where we had about half an hour to stretch our legs. Therefore, I can say that I've legitimately been to Glasgow. Many people alighted here, so I left with my own seat. A while later, we made a stop in Perth, then Dundee a few minutes past schedule at about 10:28. I saw Michel and Monir waiting for me on the platform. For those of you who are unaware, we met through their website- www.hberlioz.com. Look back at my post from 12 or 13 Dec 2007 and you can read about our first encounter.

The three of us waited for a few minutes until a bus came to take us to very near their house. We spent the evening talking about Berlioz at sporadic instances (of course, what else would we do?!), me being shown the house, and me drooling over all things Berlioz-related. At 8, their neighbors, Kaye and Len (real Scots!), joined us for a tasty supper. Monir made rice to Iranian specifications, and Michel made a casserole (US: "stew") to go over top. We all had a nice little chat about many things.

Wednesday was spent touring seaside fishing villages. Michel chauffeured us to Anstruther, Crail, Pittenweem, and Elie before heading back to St. Andrew's. We visited the harbours of the first 3 and a beautiful old (built by 1370) church in the last. At lunch, I consumed the tastiest hot chocolate of my life next door to where we ate dinner tonight. Hold on a moment for that tale! Michel dropped Monir and I off in town upon our return. I happened upon a local bakery called, "Fisher and Donaldson's!" They apparently have delicious cakes, which I believe. I had the best doughnut of my life there. It was fudgey-mapeley frosted with vanillaish pudding inside. Unlike anything I have ever tasted. The late-night supper concluded with a fruity-puddingy concoction that I do believe will be gracing the table at the Givens dinner in the spring.

Today, Monir and I headed to Edinburgh. She had to pick up a paper from her flat there (I just took a brief pause to run upstairs to the loft and take pictures of a beautiful Scottish sunset!), so I tagged along. After some sauntering, we made it to the Tartan Mill where I finally acquired a Clan MacDonald ladies' kilt. The handy cafe above the mill happened to have haggis, so no further sauntering was required except that of making our way to the bus station to head back.

After a short rest and bit of tea back at the wh'oooose (US: noun: "house"), Chauffeur Michel took us back to Pittenweem for this super-hyped fish and chips bar's wares. They were everything I had been hoping and MORE! To explain just how good they were: I am that person who doesn't eat the little crispy chips (US: "fries") because they're too crispy, flavourless, and dry. I also don't tend to eat the breading on my fish for the same reasons. Below, you will find before and afters of my vinegar-and-salt covered newspaper-wrapped fish and chips.

In short, Scotland= 1) the best food, ever: Haggis, fish and chips, doughnuts, desserts, and more! 2) it's awesome to see businesses that include your name, not to mention two in one day, when you're accustomed to never seeing it anywhere 3) it's strange to blend in so well. My hair, skin, eyes, etc. hide me quite well. 4) I don't want to leave- it's won me over. Scottish food is delicious, Scottish clouds are beautiful, Scottish skies are beautiful, Scottish people are lovely, Scottish (highland) cattle are awesome-looking (do a google search), no one's in a rush- I love how laid back it feels here, etc. etc. Come here if you think I'm just waxing poetic. Oh, there's also the point that I've spent my time here being as nerdy as possible by talking about Hector every waking moment and looking at memorabilia, etc. And so, the truth comes out.

a harbour, haggis, before/after fish and chips