the world of plaid
29 march 2001

ever since our irish excursion last year, i've had the itch to visit scotland. klm {royal dutch airlines} rose to the occasion and put out a two for one offer on valentines day with the option of using it at a later date. we were so there along with our travel buddies, margie and tim. edinburgh has thousands of hotels to choose from and gary spent an entire sunday afternoon researching the options on the net. four hours later {i am not exagerrating}, he honed in on a great deal. it was time well spent, the hotel and our room, being directly opposite edinburgh castle. now there's a view to behold. by the time we arrived, we had already made great friends with our taxi driver, having a few good laughs about various subjects, including the royal family. he even volunteered a funny story about his own family. such is the genuinely warm fuzzy feeling you get from chatting with a scotsman and in comparison to the slightly more reserved dutch, this is a breath of fresh air.

since we weren't able to get the later flight on sunday, we intended to get out and about right away, maximizing our time. margie and tim were a bit more relaxed as they were able to get the evening flight on sunday. off we went into the pouring rain and bitter cold, across the street and up several flights of steps, huffing and puffing to get a closer look at the castle. of course we would visit it in detail the next day. a warren of cobblestone streets and medieval stone buildings comprise this area, known as the royal mile. along this stretch are very narrow alleyways called closes, leading back to inner courtyards housing private residences or pubs. in earlier days, if you wanted to open a business, you could lease the building from the city, open your shop in front off the street and live in the back; then you were required to purchase the land within a year and a day. in the fading light, we peered into many of these closes, curious to know what was on the other side, eventually making our way downstairs to a cozy pub with a glowing fireplace. when in scotland, drink scotch. only the good stuff, please. dalwhinnie is quite smooth and warms the inner recesses of the freezing bones. it goes well with crisps {potato chips} and what an ideal way to check out the local scene on a friday evening. it also gave us a chance to read the weekend events page. being the theatre lovers that we are, we made our way down the hill, but alas the play was sold out. spontaneity doesn't always pan out.

plan b steered us through more of the city with its up and down landscape as we passed by the expected array of pubs, shops, and restaurants. was i imagining that this major city in europe was much less crowded than every other city we had been in? there weren't throngs of people out on the streets but glancing into the bustling restaurants, we saw many diners, including lots of jet setters dressed to the nines. for some reason, the street scene was noticeably more sedate. too cold, perhaps? that's never stopped anyone in europe as far as i know. i must say i was puzzled and will always be by seeing a fair number of women wearing sandals and sleeveless dresses in that climate. fashion has its price, i suppose. after being turned away from a few trendy places, we found a great little turkish restaurant, had a lovely meal, hopped a taxi, and hit the hay. ok, the bed was lumpy but otherwise it was a great hotel.

touring edinburgh castle is a wonderful history lesson and a visual experience as well. the mist really descends upon the area as portrayed in all those hollywood movies. it's quite a sight with a myriad of cannons in the ready position and the scene propels you back a few centuries. the crown jewels were impressive as expected, harboring the largest pearls i've ever seen. st. margaret's chapel is not only the oldest building in the castle but also in edinburgh, dating from the 12th century. mary, queen of scots is a fascinating character to learn about, taking the throne at the ripe old age of nine months, and we saw the tiny room where she gave birth to james the sixth, future king of england. another interesting part of the castle was the history of the coronation of kings telling of the ritual of kneeling on the "stone of destiny", which you would think was a large slab of concrete if you didn't know it had great hisorical significance for this event. gary is now tackling a huge biographical tome of mary, queen of scots and if he finishes it in less than a year, i might go for it, as he assures me the author, antonia fraser, is an exceptional history writer.

we couldn't make a trip to scotland without trying to locate the mcbride clan's tartan. gary is indeed a mcbride and we found information saying that the mcbride tartan goes all the way back to 1992. that far back, eh? in the tartan mill, we were able to see the pattern on the computer screen, a really pretty green with some purple in it, but somehow it wasn't available. gary wanted to order a scarf but they didn't even have the cloth in stock and so this was turning into a very expensive proposition and finally we just walked away, empty handed, rather disappointedly. so much for trying to connect with your roots. the mcbrides are actually part of the larger macdonald clan but that pattern wasn't nearly as cool so no tartan for us. many of you know that tartan plaid is not my favorite by any means {no offense meant to anyone who loves the stuff}, but there was no escaping it in this city. boxer shorts, teddy bears, dumb looking hats with pom poms on top, and of course kilts. i had a great chuckle and had to take a photo of the groovy plaid bus stopped at a traffic light. later on we saw a yellow plaid car; only in scotland, i tell you.

on to a leisurely lunch at "the witchery", an ancient restaurant made of stone and appropriately lit with lots of candles to add to the atmosphere. we gravitated toward some fish dishes and stayed far away from the haggis choices. i can only imagine what that goo is actually made of. now it was time for some post lunch, serious shopping. we were on a mission and since most of the stores close at 6pm in some european cities {amsterdam also}, we had to go into power shop mode. we had recently been on a search for a new winter dress coat for gary but of course this is the wrong season, since every store has their summer collection in full swing. we got lucky and found exactly what we wanted in the department store, marks and spencer, affectionately known as "marks and sparks". then onto gap to feed my habit. gary actually outshopped me in that store and is really stylin' these days. back to the hotel for a rest before dinner and our evening's activity.

edinburgh has quite a "dark" side as part of its history, on which the tourist industry has greatly capitalized. we signed up for the "withchery tour" to get the lowdown on the city's seedy past. we ended up going without margie and tim, as she had a cold and wasn't feeling well. { i now have that cold }. anyway, we met up with our tour guide, adam lyall, deceased, and about twenty other people. being dead since 1811, he naturally had a very white face and was dressed in a hooded cloak. this was a walking tour and we followed him through dark alleys and stopped at different locations, gathered closely around him as he presented us with tales of infamous characters and their roles in this dark chronology. all the stories were true and he did a great job of relating them with theatrical flair. witch burning was fairly popular in days gone by and to illustrate some points on the subject, he picked me right out of the crowd to be the witch. he put me in thumb screws, a nasty torture device, and turned the angry mob against me. i had no choice but to confess that i was indeed guilty as charged and then instructed me to let out my most convincing scream. it was fun being on stage for that moment and we all had a great laugh over my performance. in all seriousness, it must have been an horrendous time in history, not only for "witches", but for anyone accused of a crime, as their torturous demise was made to be a public spectacle.

one of the lighter scenarios was the account of how slop buckets were emptied. edinburgh was a walled city and so buildings were constructed vertically, sometimes reaching as high as twelve stories up. before the days of toilets, folks would just throw the stuff out the window and if you were unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, well....... there was a warning that was shouted at a certain time each night, "gardy loo", taken from the french "garde l'eau", meaning, watch the water. of course, the problem was it wasn't just water and to dramatize this, adam's assistant came running through the alley, catching us off guard and threatening to shower us. it seemed real enough that we quickly put up our umbrella, feeling pretty foolish, ending up laughing hysterically. there were other fascinating accounts of macabre goings on in previous centuries and this tour was a great way to grasp the experience. history should always be taught this way!

in our one and a half days there, we managed to pack in a few events, but really we could have stayed much longer. edinburgh is a very inviting city with its rich history and friendly population. i would love to go back and take in some theatre, museums, botanic gardens, and castles. not to mention getting up into the highlands. also the edinburgh festival happens in august and summer must be grand, despite the millions of tourists descending upon the place. but for now, i feel fortunate to have gotten over there for even just a mini visit!! we're off to warmer climes for our next trip, which could possibly be our new place of residence. i'll be expounding on that in my upcoming edition.

in closing, let me give a brief update on the foot and mouth crisis, which has now been discovered here in the netherlands. airport security is very tight these days, even before checking in at the desk. don't even think about buying meat or cheese snacks to take on the plane, it's no longer an option. lines are even longer than usual both leaving and coming back here and there are notices and pamphlets in the airports reiterating what you can and cannot transport. you get the feeling no one really knows quite how to handle it and the whole situation is quite devastating. i really feel for the farming communities, especially after having to deal with mad cow as well. here's hoping for an expedient solution and that it never reaches the states or anywhere else.

happy spring, all, and please send some to this part of the world!

with love and cheers,

deb