Evan and I were able to meet up with some friends over Thanksgiving and travel to Scotland. Spence & Vanessa Pennington are stationed at Ramstein AFB in Germany. Evan and I both know Spence from A&M. For those who care, he also played football for Raymondville...who Cuero tore apart our senior year in the playoffs. But I digress. We both met Vanessa for the first time and I'll say this, when they offered us the 3 oz. alcohol bottles before we got on the plane (at 9 a.m.) to mix with our drinks, we knew we were in for a fun time.
We arrived in Edinburgh and soon after drove to Glasgow in our rental car--a super nice Volkswagon. Evan reserved a Pinto or Corolla and we ended up with a great ride!
Vanessa read about a great eatery in the West End. We ate like kings and the food was delish. It was early afternoon and we had not eaten since 6 a.m. so things started out a little silly.
But when the food came, it was down to business. Smoked salmon for the guys. Goat cheese bruschetta for the girls. To end our meal, our waitress gave us a great compliment, after she allowed us a "wee chat" before she brought the bill. She talked to us for a minute and let us know she thought we were from England. You may think this is strange but when we walk all over these foreign places, I'm positive the natives can see AMERICAN written across our forehead so to hear her say that was a nice way to start our adventure.
The botanical gardens were right across the street.
Don't remember the names of these guys but they're carnivorous.
And hundreds of orchids were on display. These were my favorite.
Vanessa and Spence.
It's cold can you tell? It's also already dark and it's around 3:30 p.m.
After finding a place to stay right in the middle of all the action, we ventured out again to a few pubs but we couldn't pass up the cafe with crepes. We took them to go and then ended up around the corner feasting on them.
Here is our crepe and the famous IRN BRU. It's a traditional Scottish non-alcoholic drink that's advertised to stain your teeth and anything else it touches--orange. We had to try one and instantly Spence and Evan were in heaven because it tasted like Big Red.
This is a side street the crepe guy told us about filled with pubs on both sides and festive lights to show you the way. We hung out here a while. Everyone was very friendly and the fact that they spoke English was such a nice break--to understand and to be understood.
This didn't turn out that great but it's one of the only pics of all 4 of us.
Fish and chips for dinner and the guys with their Irn Bru.
We ended the night back where we started--Oran Mor, except this time we went to the bar. It is a converted church so if you can imagine sitting in this large area of alcohol yet surrounded by stained glass. The sanctuary is now the bar and where we ate lunch used to be the back of the church.
Again, not a great pic. But I had to show where the bathrooms were--in the steeple that is under construction on the left.
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