A Rainy Day!

CAR ALARM…. BEEP BEEP, WONK, WONK…..6:30AM….

“Monika, is that our car alarm?”  Monika reached SLOWLY over to get the keys.  “MONIKA, GET THE KEYS AND PRESS UNLOCK!”  Being awoken in the midst of my sleep, I was admittedly cranky.  It seemed as soon as Monika grabbed the keys, the alarm stopped.  Instead of being scared about the prospect of our car being stolen or vandalized, I was content that it must have been someone elses car.  We both rolled over and went back to bed.   

            We woke up closer to 9:30 and felt refreshed, even though we had been sleeping in tight quarters all night.  If Monika was on her back, I was on my side.  The single bed on the bottom bunk just didn’t allow both of us to choose our sleeping position.  Although the hostel was brand new and the bed looked as if it had just been built, it squeaked as Monika went on the top bunk earlier in the day.  With the image from the movie Step Brothers in my head in which the bunk bed collapses and squashes Brennan, I just couldn’t sleep underneath a full grown adult in a bunk bed.

            We showered and made our way to the car.  RAIN!   We hopped in our Leon and headed out down the A-9 from Inverness towards St. Andrews.  Passing through the Cairngorms National Park, we decided that we needed to get off of the main highway in order to get a better look at the Scottish countryside.  We were now out of the Western Highlands, and the scenery was quiet different along the countryside, but still just as beautiful.  Small village after small village lined the little road as we meandered through the flooded Scottish villages. It started raining in the early morning hours and did not let up all day.  The already saturated countryside was flooded.  Some of the roads had standing water of up to 1.5 feet.  In a couple of the flood areas that we had to navigate through, the water was just as high as the top of the wheels and I wasn’t sure that our little Leon would make it through.  Luckily for us, we didn’t get stuck although we did have to make some detours because of closed roads due to the flooding. 

            We decided to stop in Blairgowrie on our way towards Dundee.  We ate lunch at the Blair House, a small restaurant in the middle of town.  We had Panini pressed sandwiches, coleslaw and salad.  Monika also enjoyed some tea!  The food was excellent and we chatted with the older lady that was sitting behind our table.  Nice little town with inviting and friendly people. 

            We continued on our way towards St. Andrews.  Passing through Uncle Doug’s hometown of Dundee, we were surprised by it’s size.  Driving through many small villages, Dundee seemed much bigger and we got lost in the town trying to locate the Tay Bridge.   We eventually found our way to St. Andrews.  It was STILL raining.  It made our visit to the Old Course much shorter than anticipated.  We got some quick photos of the 1^st teebox, the ancient clubhouse and of some of the crazy golfers who were trying to play their round in the 3 inch standing water across most of the course.  We decided to take refuge in the British Golf Museum right next door.  It was 4pm and the crowd of Asian tourists were just leaving.  The museum was only open until 5pm and we were the only ones in the museum at such a late hour.  I was amazed at some of the ancient golf artifacts, which were on display at the museum.  From leather stitched and feather filled golf balls of the early 1800’s to the Claret Jug.   We were taken through golf’s rich history from it’s home at St. Andrews.  The museum was excellent! 

            Although St. Andrews town looked very nice, we weren’t in the mood to go touring in the middle of the downpour.  Instead, we jumped back in the car and headed to Edinburgh.  The drive seemed to take forever.  The water filled roads made high speeds impossible.  It took nearly 3 hours to get from St. Andrews to Edinburgh. 

            We checked into our hotel, The Easy Hotel.  The smallest room you’ve ever seen but in an absolutely amazing location.: facing the Edinburgh Castle.  The room size didn’t surprise us as we had stayed with this hotel company when on vacation in Budapest.  Just enough room for the bed, toilet and shower…no room to even open your suitcase!

            We didn’t spend any time in the hotel; instead we headed out to Miros Mexican Cantina.  Just down the street from our hotel, this restaurant was a great find.  Excellent dinner and great margaritas!  Monika had enchiladas and I had Diablo chicken.    Both were great but neither could beat the appetizer.  Chile con casa dip, to die for!

            Walking away from the restaurant with some gunpowder in the belly for later, we headed down Rose Street.  This area is very popular for pubs and restaurants.  A restaurant with live Scottish music playing, and 6.50 pound bottles of wine was just the kind of place we were looking for.  The musicians didn’t possess the skill set as the band from the previous night in Inverness, but it was still pretty good. 

            A late night walk around the Castle and a quick stop at the Sainsbury’s (supermarket) was all the energy we had before we called it a day!

   

Rainy Day Driving

St. Andrew's Ancient & Royal Clubhouse - No Girls Allowed!

Claret Jug in Golf Museum

2012 Site of British Open

Our Final Countdown until the Open started!

On the First Tee!

Miro's Mexican Food

Edinburgh Castle