T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
Scotland is full of castles. We could spend years here and never get around to seeing them all. And the ones we have seen (much like churches in Italy) start to blend together in our memories so we’re not sure what was where. Doune Castle, however, stands out from the castley crowd.
Read moreScotland: in search of the Holy Grail at Doune Castle
Edinburgh is full of surprises. One minute you’re in a bustling city center, and the next you’re wandering down a shady trail, surrounded by trees and hearing only the sounds of the nearby stream.
We recently hopped in the car and headed south of the border* for a weekend with the delightful Brummagemerins. Birmingham probably wouldn’t have ranked high on our must-see list without fun people to visit there, but we’re very glad we went, for both the company and the sights.
I was so looking forward to the arrival of the Fringe programs this year, I even marked it in my calendar. Yes, all of the shows (over 3,000 of them) are listed on the website, too, but for browsing purposes the paper catalog is much more fun.
Like most tourist-centric European cities, Edinburgh is full of open-topped double-decker hop-on-hop-off bus tours.
Last weekend we drove down to visit some friends in Birmingham. Along the way, spring was in full bloom.
Down at the lower end of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, across the street from the queen’s summer house, you’ll find the architectural anomaly that is the Scottish Parliament. You’ll have no trouble picking it out from the surrounding medieval buildings that make up Old Town.
On our recent bout of being tourists in our home town, we headed up the Royal Mile to the Scotch Whisky Experience. Edinburgh itself doesn’t contain any whisky distilleries, so tourists in the city seeking knowledge of Scotland’s great liquid usually end up here.
Read moreEdinburgh: experiencing the Scotch Whisky Experience
There are a plethora of walking tours on offer in Edinburgh, with good reason: it’s a highly walkable city, bursting with history, architecture, and monuments all within a relatively compact city center. In the months since we’ve moved here, we’ve walked all over the place, but always in the disorganized manner of those who are not on a walking tour. It was time to change that.
This year of doctors and hospitals has distracted us from all the fun that is usually involved in one’s first year as an expat in a new country. Years have various flows in different cultures, with different events and celebrations punctuating the passage of time. Now that Scott is healthy and about to return to work, we were able to exhale and look around us and enjoy our first Christmas in the UK.
Read moreMore notes from Christmas in the UK: hampers and crackers and puddings, oh my