Break out your kilts and bagpipes, it's back to Scotland! After I announced my departure for France, my Dad hatched a brilliant plan to get the Hutcheson clan (well, my Dad, my sister and I) back to our motherland. Dad and I travelled from Caen to Paris--for just one night, it was torture to be reunited with my city and have to leave it again so quickly--and then to London, where we met up with Doo (that's my sister) at Heathrow. We had a couple nights there, and then moved on to Scotland, with the following itinerary: Edinburgh->Dundee->Braemar->Stirling->Edinburgh, where we caught a train back to London.
London was super cool. I'd been when I was in middle school, and I remember absolutely loving it, but I have to admit I remember only glimpses of the city itself. I loved running in Hyde Park. At my sister's insistence we rode the giant ferris wheel, the London Eye, which was predictably underwhelming (I told her so!). We ate in pubs for some authentic fare and good English ales, but we also experienced some upscale dining. Both were great, although as someone who
hates potatoes, I had some trouble avoiding them--they were EVERYWHERE, and served with everything.
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| The Hutcheson sisters ready for action- Day 1 in London |
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| Italian fountains in Hyde Park, London |
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| Hyde Park chairs- the sight of them just made me want to picnic... |
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| Big Ben & Parliament, seen from the London Eye. Discovery: I'm the only Hutcheson without a fear of heights.. |
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| The bartender at the uberchic Hakkasan Mayfair restaurant, in London. He's got his hand on my Rhubarb Margarita, which was an absolute masterpiece. He's not a bartender-he's an artist. Also super nice, despite his stern face here!! |
Let me just say right away: I am proud to be from Scotland. It's an amazing place--the
paysage is stunning and the people are mind-bogglingly kind.
I was blown away by Edinburgh, the beautiful capital of Scotland and a city which my sister and I seem physically incapable of pronouncing correctly. It's sorta like Eh-den-BURR...I think. It's divided into Old Town and New Town, though both seem old to me (classic American-in-Europe sentiment, I think). We stayed in a hotel just off the tourist-y Royal Mile, which is a cobblestoned street that leads up to the Castle, but at least it was very central and easy to find!
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| The park separating Old and New Town, Edinburgh |
Rest assured-Scottish pubs are fun, too. And it was much cheaper than London, which was nice. Our hotel happened to be on a street that is the go-to place for student bars and clubs, so my sister and I actually went out both nights. We "accidentally" crashed a Scottish frat party-turns out it was Welcome Week at the University, so it was a special event for freshmen, LOLZ-and had fishbowls of cheap booze, which felt all too familiar and yet unbelievably bizarre.
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| A pub in Edinburgh-look how cheap the pies are! NOMNOMNOM |
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| Breakin it down next to an Edinburgh club (awkward that my Dad took this photo?) |
I have to admit, though, that the highlight of Edinburgh was one of the last things we did: a walk up to the ruins of an old chapel in a park just next to Parliament. It was just stunning, and it was so cool to see people walking their dogs--scenery this stunning is part of their daily life, while I was having to pinch myself. SO cool.
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| Edinburgh seen from afar |
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| Chapel ruins, Edinburgh |
In Edinburgh, we rented a car, which proved to be a bold move. Here's the thing-the driving on the other side of the road thing was a big issue for us, not only as drivers but as
pedestrians. Our strategy became "Look both ways before crossing the street, then run and just hope you don't die." Driving was a bit of the same thing; on day one, we dented the car (Hutchesons-0, traffic cone-1). The car gave us the freedom to explore some smaller cities, including Dundee, where our family is actually from, and later, the Highlands, and Stirling.
In Dundee, the highlight was definitely getting to go to a Dundee United match. Europe's football culture is really cool; the pub next to the stadium was the place to be, and a very convivial atmosphere. Dad had a short conversation with a jolly lad, filled with much laughter. After, my sister and I asked what had been said. Dad's response? "No idea." To be fair, Dad was better than Doo and I--we couldn't understand the accented English to save our lives. We also tried to located some of the addresses of houses where our relatives lived, but none were still standing-my great grandfather's house is now an autoshop, and most of my other relatives' homes are now academic buildings at the University of Dundee. That was a little sad; all traces of the mighty Hutcheson line seem to have been wiped.
One of my favorite stops in Scotland was Braemar, in the Highlands (sheep and green hills galore, basically). We stayed in a little cabin at the Braemar Lodge, and went on a great hike that day before eating at the restaurant within the lodge and then playing card games in our cabin. It felt like a vacation within a vacation. En route to Stirling (close to Edinburgh and also known for a castle) we broke up the drive with a stop at Scone Palace, which was awesome. It has a really interesting history as the place where many Scottish royals were crowned, and now peacocks roam the grounds freely, each named for a monarch.
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| Central street in Braemar! |
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| A castle or country estate (sort of lost track) seen during our hike in Braemar |
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| Cappucino and a scone at the tea room at Scone Palace- HEAVEN. Scones and clotted cream are reason enough to visit the U.K., if you ask me. |
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| Scone Palace: "This is the Site of the enthronements of the Kings of Scots and of Scottish Parliaments." |
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| Goofy little guy with all the sod caught in his feet. I followed him for a while because he made me giggle. |
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| Scone Palace in all its glory |
Back in Edinburgh, we were only there long enough to drop our rental off at Hertz and catch our train back to London. Our last night in London was absolutely magic thanks to the amazing restaurant we found: Ffiona's. If you are in London, I would say this place is one that you absolutely cannot miss. It was one of the best dining experiences of my life, and this is mostly due to Ffiona, although the food is amazing as well. She is so cool and so quirky; being around her makes you feel lit up inside. People like her run wonderful, small restaurants where eating feels like a special gift, like an invite to a dinner party in a special friend's home. Seriously, it's amazing. GO THERE.
http://www.ffionas.com
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| Our meal at Ffiona's began with a round of Pimm's Cups, in a desperate attempt to be "quintessentially British." |
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| Dad at Ffiona' s. The place is tiny, but so adorable and cozy. |
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| No paper menus, just the chalkboard. I put on my glasses and did a dramatic reading of the menu (mostly for Dad's sake), but Ffiona took the empty seat at our table and sort of took ordering into her own hands- with great results! |
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| As one of our starters, we had the fig salad with pomegranate seeds and fresh feta. Not pictured, but we also had some really good grilled avocado, which I've never seen before. |
The next day (a Wednesday), Dad and Doo saw me off at St. Pancras train station, where I boarded the Eurostar to Paris, where I stayed in hostels until my train to Digne that Sunday morning. On Friday, my "twin" Anne (one of my best friends, who I met during my semester in Paris in 2013, and who is also doing TAPIF this year) arrived and we had a great reunion/Girls' Weekend before going to our new homes (hers just outside of Lille, in the North, and mine down South in Digne). But that's a whole other story...
