Homeward Bound

Sunday morning coming down - I think I now have a better sense of what Kris Kristofferson was writing about.  Nary a moment's sleep and up at 05:30 for the long journey home.  We got up and finished throwing our stuff in suitcases and made our way to the tram station across St. Andrew's Square.  Apparently St. Andrew is an important historical figure in Scotland.  The tram system was really great and worked out perfectly.  We got to Edinburgh airport in plenty of time for the full Scottish breakfast (check) although I'm not sure my systems were functioning correctly.  Didn't really put much of a dent in it, but did eat some Blood Pudding for posterity.  Saw some tourists (Ryan and Chantal) at the airport who mentioned that I wasn't looking too spry.  We had a short flight and very short connection in Amsterdam, but made our connection to Calgary (at least Karen and I made it) with no time to spare.  Left some luggage behind but KLM flight was very comfortable and we were lucky to have the seat between us open.  Caught up on some sleep.

And finally, in the inimitable words of my late Father - Great Trip, glad to be home.

Game Day

Tour day three saw me barely biped, might have been over served again last night.  Not sure what time of what day we were facing as we located the tourists in the lobby for breakfast, such as it was.  As much as I had thought I'd like to find the full Scottish breakfast, the thought of Blood Pudding was not that appealing.  Noon start at the lobby bar (which never closed) for a couple of pints and distribution of the game tick's.  Apparently, New Zealand Rugby had donated a pair of tickets to "For the Love of the Game" and Logger generously passed those two along to Karen and I.  So while we would not be sitting with the group, I was very grateful to have excellent seats about 20 rows up at about the 30 meters out from goal in the west stand.  The G.O. had very presciently known that having very bright orange safety toques would be a wise notion when contemplating herding cats.  This proved to be a bit of brilliance.  Under the tutelage of Craig Joiner (former Scottish International) we were off from the Ibis circa 14:00 and walked along to Le Di-Vin et La p'tite folie wine bar and really enjoyed the walk, although after walking St. Andrews for golf and from the Cathedral back to the clubhouse, Karen's knee was holding us back a bit.  The knee brace didn't prove to be very helpful, neither while golfing nor walking around.  She really toughed it out with never a complaint.  The wine bar was great and enjoyed some fantastic charcuterie and might have had a little red red wine.  Greg was masterful in finding some John Smiths (smooth).  After a couple of those I felt the need to keep my pint glass and have it too.  So it was smuggled out and retained it right up to the stadium entrance where, sadly, my lacking skills at maintaining composure saw the security guard confiscate it while I wept as he threw it in a bin.  Oh well, will know better next time.  Anyway, back to the story.  We then had a rather long walk to I don't know where but in sight of Murrayfield (Murrayfield Hotel???).  This was a beer garden and they had beer there.  The girls got a Scottish flag emblazoned on their cheeks, which added some color.  In the knick of time, we got out of there and walked across to Murrayfield.  As mentioned, they took my pint glass at the gate, which hurt my feelings.  Once at our seats, I set out for something to eat and drink and found a fish and chip place.  Sadly, I mistook the sugar for salt.  Somehow Sugar and Vinegar isn't as appealing as Salt and Vinegar.  The Guiness was just fine, so we got that checked off.  The game itself was worth the effort as the Brave Scot's came within a whisker of a monumental upset.  Pre game 67,000 singing the Flower of Scotland then shouting down the haka made for an exceptionally memorable experience. Post game we stumbled into the tourists recognizable by their lovely orange hats, then it was a walk back to the wine bar.  It was miraculous that we found the place, thanks to some strategic photo's Karen had on her phone.  We fell behind after taking the wrong fork and having to back track while others hopped the fence (hopping the fence was not an option for us at that point but it was humorous to watch some other guy's attempt - the slow motion fall to the pavement).  Once at Le Du Vin We tried to poach a table with a "reserved sign" but the waitress would have none of it.  Darlene knew better with the next table showing a "reserved sign" so we settled in there to continue the revelry.  Where's Waldo?.  The tour group began to disintegrate at the wine bar, and at some point we decided to make our way back to the Ibis lobby bar (which never closes) for a cleansing ale and a sing along with some strangers who had gotten lost in the bar.  Had a great chat with Mike and Tammy and hope to see them when they next visit Calgary (Alberta that is).  After a rousing rendition of Lucille, I had to drag Karen off to bed in preparation for the long trip home next day.

St. Andrews

Day two saw us out of bed at 04:00 to ride a bus up to St. Andrews.  It was dark.  It was still dark when we arrived at the very deserted parking lot at the first tee of the Old Course.  It continued to be dark for a long time.  Once the dawn broke it wasn't much longer before they opened the registration.  Needless to say, we were first in line. It was quite a spectacle getting all of the golfing hopefuls organized.  I'd say their system could use some refinement, but they weren't listening to me.  Karen and I got a twosome at 9:10 with a nice pair of siblings from Andorra (Elyse and Benjamin).  We were surprised by the course and both of us were left to wonder what all the fuss is about.  We didn't keep score but Karen played really well and probably would have posted a good score if we had.  Played in 4 hours exactly and the weather was not terrible.  Karen's caddie, Colin was very helpful with club selection for Karen and she noted afterwards that he really affected her score as she would have been in loads of trouble otherwise.  Afterwards, Robin (driver) took us to the Clubhouse down the road and we had a nice lunch overlooking the 9th hole of the New Course.  Next up we were off to the Cathedral of St Andrews.  Very ancient church that was famous for heretic burning and Priest lynching.  The Lord works in mysterious ways.  Afterwards, we walked down the cobblestones along by the old castle.  Found a sporting goods store where I got my Scotland jersey on sale! To bad they had no mini rugby balls for my collection, because this proved to be the end of the shopping. Back at the course, we watched two of the "Dave's of our lives" finish and Logger make his 2 foot birdie put on 18.  He was rather pleased with himself.  Got organized in the van with Wee Mike the other driver, picked up some road pops and then collected some more tourists post lunching at the clubhouse.  Logger bought a bottle of Glenlivet too, which I mistakenly didn't believe could be consumed on the drive back to Edinburgh (dopey me).  Lots of Mike's, Dave's, Craig's and Phil's on this trip - the ladies were easier to keep track of.

Once back at the hotel, it was buff up time again and we were off to the New Club for dinner. The "New" club founded in 1787, oldest private dining club in Scotland.  My good friend and Scotch Club mate Geoff had loaned me his Dad's old Scotland Rugby knit sweater (Jumper?). It was a huge hit with the tourists.  Dinner at this private club was awesome and wrapped up on the rooftop patio basking in the glow of Edinburgh Castle.  Much revelry ensued and it might be possible that I got a little drunk.  Sadly, I was unable to locate the "Edinburgh Aardvark" (inside joke) for fish and chips well past midnight, reminded me of John o'Groats.  No one else on the cold, barren streets of Edinburgh at that time on a Friday night.  Probably lucky I didn't get separated from my wallet.

Travel Day (or two??)

We've been dragged into a junket to Edinburgh to watch a rugby game.  Who knew that would be appealing to me.  We departed Calgary Wednesday afternoon and had an uneventful flight via |KLM to Amsterdam.  Pleased with the service and comfort of the flight so would speak highly of KLM.  Unfortunately, there was a mechanical issue with the short second leg from Amsterdam to Edinburgh which resulted in at delay of about 75 minutes.  We already had a 4 hour layover in Amsterdam, if known, the extra time might have convinced us to tram into city center and look at hookers and maybe spark up a spliff.  Needless to say, that didn't happen.  Probably naïve to think we could have cleared customs, got on a train had lunch in city center and trammed back to Schiphol in the time allowed to make our connection.

Arrived in Edinburgh late but had no trouble getting on a tram to St. Andrew's Square station.  Lovely old Scottish woman providing commentary along the way (she's probably not that much older than me - just sayin). Walked across the square to find our hotel with a power outage.  No problem as the cooler was still dispensing something similar to cold beer.  Karen enjoyed a half pint while we waited for the power to return and check in. 

While in the lobby with our luggage, I looked across and spied Martin Johnson.  I says - hey, that's Martin Johnson.  I looks again and I sees Dana Lougheed.  I says Hey that's Dana Lougheed.  So I introduce myself to the World Cup Winning, British and Irish Lion and England Coach Martin Johnson (and Dana).

In our room, realized that I hadn't brought all of the required plug changers, so out I went to look around and found a small convenience store with what I needed, back to the very efficient sleeping space (hotel room), and got myself set up computer wise.  Tried to have a nap prior to getting buffed up for dinner.

Back at the lobby bar for a BDD and then off to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society private club for dinner.  Upon arrival, I see Richard Cockerill (Dick Cock) - famous England hooker, Leiscter coach, Toulon coach and now Edinburgh coach.  Additional rugby royalty to turn up later was former England 9 Jamie Hamilton.

Up several levels via an enormously narrow spiral staircase set in concrete and we had a fantastic dinner in a private room.  Spectacular table complete with name cards and pre-ordered menu.  Beer, wine to warm up, with very rare offerings of single malt whisky just to ensure no one was left under served. Logger distributed some tour gear to the tourists and a great time was had by all.  Did I mention the Ibis Lobby Bar doesn't close?