Our friends from Tucson, Mike and Kim, spent two weeks with us. Beside seeing Poland, we made quick trips to Berlin and Scotland.
“A lovely day” at Glamis Castle |
We flew from Poznan to Edinburgh on Ryan Air, a no-frills Irish airline. Ryan Air is an inexpensive way to get around Europe if your schedule offers some flexibility. Arrival and departure times are limited. I hope I don’t sound like I’m complaining. I’m just an amused observer; let me tell you more about how no-frills they are:
- If you don’t print your own boarding pass, you’ll pay them 40 euros ($65) to do it for you.
- The one carry-on passengers are allowed is smaller than most airlines, and ladies, if you’re carrying a purse, that counts as your one carry-on. Purses must be packed in your very small carry-on.
- If you want to check a bag, that will be 40 euros ($65).
- They not only sell food and beverages on the flight (nothing is complementary), they sell lottery tickets.
- There is no chance of sleeping on the flight, because of the continuous announcements, reminiscent of blue light specials at K-Mart.
- There are no seat-back pockets, making clean-up and turning the plane faster. Emergency info was printed on the seat-back.
The view from the backseat of our diesel Vauxhall |
We arrived in Edinburgh at 23:20, so we spent the first night at an airport hotel. The next morning we rented a car and headed to St. Andrew’s. Our husbands are both golfers and they were hoping to play the Old Course. That didn’t work out, and it’s probably just as well. If they had been drawn in the daily lottery, it rained so much that there would have been little pleasure in a very expensive round of golf. They did get in a rain-free round in Carnoustie.
Driving on the wrong side of the road will do this to you |
Our hotel patio |
We stayed in Dundee, a beautiful spot along the water, but did most of our sightseeing in Edinburgh and St. Andrew’s.
We did one of those hop-on, hop-off double-decker bus tours in Edinburgh, staying on for the entire route and then deciding what we wanted to see. A technique recommend to us by our world traveling friend, Sandy M.
In addition to the Castle and the Royal Mile, we stopped by the Spoon Cafe; a spot frequented by J.K. Rowling before she made it big with the Harry Potter books and the National Museum of Scotland.
The interesting pattern and color of this glass sculpture made it the first thing I wanted to see in the National Museum – it’s actually a lighthouse lamp.
We kept the coffee shop of the rich and famous theme going when we got to the town of St. Andrew’s. The sign says it all.
It was a windy day. I can assure you I didn’t position my bangs like that with mousse. |
St. Andrew’s is more than just the golf course. It’s home to Scotland’s first university founded in 1413 and the ruins of a castle and a cathedral.
The cathedral was destroyed during the Scottish Protestant Revolution.
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Ege
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madkasia
I think my husband and I looked exactly the same after driving on the wrong side of the road in Ireland 😉