October Holidays - Part 2

I mentioned that my October holidays hit a snag when my sister Erica and friend Christine both had to cancel their trips fairly last minute. What could have been a bleak day for this Mueller turned out golden in the end. Christine found a good flight that will have her spending New Year's Eve with me in Scotland. Since the Edinburgh New Year's celebration is one of the best in the world, I really didn't want to go it alone - and now I don't have to!! The only snafooz to this plan is that both of us arrive in Scotland the morning of Dec. 30 - but I'm coming back to Edinburgh and Christine is flying into Glasgow. We have over a month to ponder that little predicament.

The other good news was when Erica was given the green light to take a long weekend for a visit. This meant I still had a few days that second week of break to do me stuff - I went to Rosslyn Chapel (of Da Vinci Code fame) with Louise and her family, did some hiking and exploring of Fife, and got some school work done prior to Erica's visit.

When Erica first gave me the big news that she was coming (she had kept leaving me messages like "Call me back - we have to talk..." and "I have some news" but then couldn't understand how I correctly guessed that she was now going to be able to come visit) she asked what the weather was like. She assumed that it was always rainy here and would have to pack appropriately. In all honesty, September and October had been absolutely lovely. Mid-50's, bright sunlight, really nice. Erica managed to jinx all that with a simple question. The entire week before her visit and during her visit was a rainy, rainy mess. There were pockets of nicer weather that managed to coincide with when we wanted to go walking around outside but by the weekend, even that luck had changed.

So I brought Erica around Fife that first day. We explored St. Andrews, visited the cathedral ruins, watched the breakers out in the water (roughest I have ever seen them), tried to visit the castle (but they were closed for lunch), and enjoyed afternoon tea in the Old Course Hotel. It was a great way to introduce someone to Scotland - especially a jet-lagged person. We meandered through East Neuk, a collection of quaint fishing villages in Fife, before heading back. Day 2 brought us north of Perth where we visited Blair Castle, the village of Pitlochry, and Edradour Distillery - Scotland's smallest. Erica even had the chance to meet my friend Louise and her kids (who put on a rather energetic pre-bed display that had me laughing when I know I shouldn't have).

Scotland clocks fall back an hour one week before the US and it happened to occur on this particular weekend. On Saturday morning, my friend Mindy, another Fulbrighter from Northern Ireland, was coming to spend a few days with me before exploring the rest of England. The following weekend was to be our Shakespeare weekend in Stratford-upon-Avon and she was using her October holiday to do Scotland and the Lake District. This meant yet another trip to the airport which was exciting but I was thrilled knowing that I had an extra hour to sleep in...or so I thought. Daylight savings comes into effect on Saturday night, not Friday night - a fact I know but didn't really think about until it was almost too late. By the time I realized we had slept in erroneously, we had 25 minutes before Mindy's flight (and it is a 40 minute drive). I basically screamed for Erica to get up, threw on clothes, and raced out the door. Fortunately, her flight was a bit delayed but she was definitely off and had her luggage before we got there.

And that was the day of getting soaked. We headed to Stirling Castle where it was pouring down buckets. It was cold and rainy all day - just awful. The real shame is that we weren't able to fully appreciate the castle whose place in Scottish history is fairly significant. Because the Forth River cuts into much of Scotland, Stirling rests in a location that for years significantly marked the "gateway" into the country. Many battles took place between the Scots and Brits around Stirling and the castle was frequently changing hands. It is truly located at the top of the town and has what I would imagine to be an amazing view (but we certainly couldn't tell). We then thought to venture up the nearby Wallace Monument (after William Wallace) but abandoned ship on that as well due to the weather. The best part of the day was sitting in a pub in Stirling in front of a fireplace trying to warm up - so nice...

Sunday was bit better as we did yet another palace - Scone ("skoon") Palace - home of the albino peacock- and Stanley Mills where there a great interactive exhibit on how water was used to power the mill. I would bring my kids there if that had anything to do with what I taught. Sadly, this was also the day I had to drop Erica at her hotel by the airport (she had a 6 AM flight so the airport hotel seemed a better option). We grabbed a bite at a local pub called the Bruce where for about 7 pounds we got a full meal (best fish and chips I've had so far) AND full afternoon tea with cakes and scones. Such a bargain.

Mindy sadly left the next morning (but I saw her a week later so that was nice) and I was off to face the reality of going back to work. It was so nice to have visitors, especially ones who bring new sneakers, 72 oz. bags of chocolate chips, and rainy weather.