Scottish Culture

Over the weekend, I flew back up north to spend time with Em & Nick before they travel back to Oz. Our weekend of tourist activity included exploring Edinburgh Castle, navigating our way to and crossing the grand Forth Road Bridge and tasting the local cuisine...

Highlights of a Scot's grub include:

• Haggis - a traditional dish typically cooked like a sausage, but served without the intestine wrapping. The ingredients may include lung, heart & liver, with plenty of spices and oats thrown in for good measure. It certainly is not a meal that I could eat everyday, especially with the starchy companions, but I could warrant it on a special occasion.


• Irn Bru – a bright orange soft drink, similar to creaming soda but with a citris twist.
  
• And… Scotland is home to the deep fried mars bar (otherwise known as the “heart-attack on a plate”). I had a bite & not surprisingly, it was quite tasty!

[Photos: View of the New town from Edinburgh Castle; Edinburgh Castle with Ben, Em & Nick; Em with her deep fried mars bar; and the Scot's meal of Haggis & tatties.

Edinburgh Hogmanay 2008

I kicked off 2008 in Scotland as part of the Hogmanay festivities. Basically, the Hogmanay is a huge street party where partygoers dance, drink & watch the midnight fireworks explode over Edinburgh Castle. I travelled to Scotland with ‘Topdeck’ and spent my new year celebrations with friends Sarah & Fee. Amongst the more contemporary music options, we listened & danced to some traditional folk music on top of the covered ice rink and later enjoyed the brilliance of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers - a great rock band led by 3 rocking pipers!!

While most revellers spent a drizzly new year’s day catching up on a few winks, I headed on a three hour walk along the Firth of Forth foreshore, including a walk out to Cramond Island. As a tidal island, Cramond can only be accessed by the causeway during low tide.